Curitiba to Rio and Back: Brazilian Popular Music
By Roberto Muggiati I made two trips to Curitiba, in late January and early February. Both had to do with music. At the Oficina de Música, on its amazing 30th edition, I interviewed – on separate days – three music writers and historians: Zuza Homem de Mello, Sérgio Cabral and Patricia Palumbo. At the Paço da Liberdade,we discussed the present More...
Michel Teló is on Top
Take a test. In a group of friends, say “Nossa, nossa…” There is a great chance that you will hear back “Assim você me mata. Ai, se eu te pego. Ai, ai, se eu te pego.” (You will More...
That Was the Year that Was
Broken and loose footnotes on 2011 By Roberto Muggiati I stepped into the New Year with a broken foot, a mysterious fracture with no visible cause to account for it. On the first days of January 2011, I crept More...
Sérgio Mendes, Brazil’s Greatest
By David Curry Hello-Alo-Hi-Oi Sr. Rubin: I own a substantial amount of Brasilian music from the 60s, 70s and 80s, with a little contemporary BossaCucaNova thrown in. I’ve often asked myself, who is the More...
Super Astor
By Roberto Muggiati Astor Piazzolla’s music is migrating more and more towards a classical repertoire. The other night I went to the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro to listen to the Gershwin Piano Quartet. More...
George Harrison: Living in the Material World
HBO and Martin Scorsese will present the much anticipated two-part biographical piece, George Harrison: Living in the Material World. The film focuses the imaginative and inspired eye of one of cinema’s More...
Rock in Rio 2011 to Draw 315,000 Tourists
Joss Stone The City of Rio de Janeiro Tourism Secretary (RIOTUR) released a study on the economic impact of Rock in Rio in 2011, predicting 315,000 tourists will visit the city and spend R$653.6 million (about US$425 More...
João Gilberto, Montreux Jazz Festival
By Roberto Muggiati João Gilberto João Gilberto is now 80 years old, but when I saw him at the Montreux Jazz Festival he was 54. He was at the height of his form, singing like never before. I watched him up close More...
Music on the Internet: Legal or Illegal?
By Alexander Burbello The habit of downloading music on the Internet has been growing year-by-year for several reasons, mainly due to the rapid and easy methods for obtaining a song and listening to it in different More...
The Great Piano Family
By Roberto Muggiati I met Lícia Lucas in London, in 1963. The last time we saw each other, I picked her up at the home of the English family with whom she was staying, near Richmond Park. On the way to a pub More...