Real Brazilian Portuguese & Culture
The Reggae Scene in São Luís do Maranhão When the reggae movement was first taking roots in Brazil during the 1970′s, it’s influence was seen to be the strongest in Brazil’s Northern region. Reggae completely took over the music scene in the Brazilian state of Maranhão, especially in the capital city São Luís. So much, in fact that [...]
THE 7 MOST IMPORTANT BRAZILIAN MUSICAL ARTISTS Pioneers, virtuosos, icons or stars, the men and women celebrated on this list of Brazilian music artists make up a select and special group. Taking their art with them to eternity, these 10 Brazilian singers, instrumentalists, composers, conductors and producers continue to enchant us and to inspire new generations [...]
Popular Music in Brazil A Brazilian study recently surveyed top Brazilian radio stations and revealed what types of music that Brazilians listen to the most. The Brazilian radio stations that were surveyed were the following: Jovem Pan FM (São Paulo), Transamérica (São Paulo), FM O Dia (Rio de Janeiro), Beat 98 (Rio de Janeiro), Cidade [...]
FAMOUS BRAZILIAN SERTANEJO SINGERS & SONGS It’s no secret that Sertanejo music is one of the most popular and most played rhythms in Brazil today. With lyrics that are mostly romantic and upbeat, Música Sertaneja has more and more listeners every single day, and that loyal fan base is growing rapidly. Sertanejo, much like today’s modernized forro [...]
WHO IS GUSTTAVO LIMA? This is one of my favorite songs lately. It is called “Balada” or “Gusttavo Lima e Você” by the Brazilian Sertanejo sensation Gusttavo Lima (yes, there are two t’s in his first name, a bit unusual but that’s not a typo). Música Sertaneja, Sertanejo music is a very special genre that is extremely [...]
A Little Bit About Brazilian Forro Arguably my favorite Brazilian dance, Forró originated in the Northeast of Brazil, and is also known asarrasta-pé, bate-chinela, fobó, and forrobodó. Danced to the music of the same name, the movements have a variety of influences: indigenous ritual dances, traditional Dutch and Portuguese rhythms, German folk dance, and African hip movements. The dance is [...]
Brazil’s Nightlife Brazilians like to party. It is said in Brazil that although people don’t make a lot of money, there always seems to be enough for one to go out to have fun, or at least to share a couple of Skols at the local bar. The Brazilian word for party is balada, or [...]
THE BRAZILIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM The Brazilian national anthem (Portuguese: Hino Nacional Brasileiro) was composed by Francisco Manuel da Silva in 1831 and had been given at least two sets of unofficial lyrics before a 1922 decree by President Epitácio Pessoa gave the anthem its definitive, official lyrics, by Osório Duque-Estrada, after several changes were made [...]
Rock in Rio 2011 Recap (Part I) I’m sure that by now you’ve heard that Rock in Rio is going on in brazil. It’s about half way over, so I thought I’d write this post as a recap of what has gone on so far. By the way, the whole festival is being shown live [...]
Brazilian Music: Legião Urbana The notorious song Eduardo e Mônica, by the band Legião Urbana has always been adored in brazil and it is also one of my personal favorites. Just so you know, this song is very long and is sung very quickly, so don’t get stressed out if you need to listen to it many [...]
Learning To Dance Samba These youtube videos that I found from The Travel channel document one woman’s quest to get her butt to move like a brazilian’s (while dancing samba). Her goal is to be able to dance like a brazilian in time for Carnaval in Bahia, it’s very funny…
Cassia Eller’s ”O Segundo Sol” Translated To English Here’s a beautiful song by Cassia Eller, a famous Brazilian singer and songwriter who sadly died some years back. Eller still has a devoted following in Brazil, and her popularity after her untimely and unfortunate death has continued to grow. I’ve translated the song into English, and it has [...]
Tribalistas Song “Velha Infancia” Translated to English Tribalistas was never a band, rather a trio of extremely talented Brazilian solo artists who came together to make one album. They are: Marisa Monte, Arnaldo Antunes and Carlinhos Brown (all really great artists). The result was an album, also called Tribalistas, and if you are not going to pay [...]
“Alagados” by Os Paralamas do Sucesso, in English This is one of my favorite Brazilian songs, and the music video, (a music videos is called a ”clipe” in Brazilian Portuguese) is just as joyous as the song itself, while at the same time shows and talks about the reality of living in the favela. (For some reason I couldn’t embed the [...]
HOW TO LEARN PORTUGUESE In my opinion, the best way to learn Brazilian Portuguese (or any language) is to expand your vocabulary by gradually memorizing lists of related words. This technique will help orient your mind to making connections between words in a certain category or taxonomy, which will facilitate your retrieval of the newly [...]
AGUAS DE MARÇO IN ENGLISH In Honor of Spring, I thought I’d post a song called “Aguas de Março,” (“Waters of March”) sung beautifully by Elis Regina and Tom Jobim, with the complete lyrics translated into English. An added bonus, this song has a bunch of GREAT vocab words! Enjoy! É pau, é pedra, A stick, a stone, é o fim do caminho [...]
Who is Raul Seixas? Raul Seixas is hands down one of my favorite Brazilian rock atrists. This song is one of his best, in my opinion, and also one of the most popular, it even made an appearance in the fantastic film, City of God, (Cidade de Deus) from 2002. Finding great music and learning the [...]
