subject: eu estou aqui
January 1, 2008
2008 will be great! (sounds like a cheer w/ the rhyme) Amazing night last night– the fireworks were unbelievable. I watched them w/ Romulo & friends on top of an apartment building right on the beach in Copacabana. We went to his Aunt’s house beforehand for a party, and afterwards went 
to Monique do Cavaco’s apartment for a roda, where her husband obligingly made me my 1st caipirinha of the trip. I got the whole roda to count down to the NYC Times Square live ball-drop broadcast on TV (which was 3:00 AM Rio time). Back to Romulo’s, where I am staying for a couple of days, by 5:00 AM. It sure ain’t Providence 🙂 Hanging w/ R & his gfriend Mariana and some friends today.
best to all~
m
subject: na Urca
January 3, 2008
Queridos~ I am now in my funky-but-cool apartment in Urca. It turns out that it’s all mine, as the owner is away (it’s a 1-bedroom, so he’d have to be, but that probably rules it out for March). I’ve got a balcony overlooking the beach, a piano, a great collection of jazz CDs (Rodrigo is a jazz pianist) & sheet music & all the other necessities. I’m settling in today– buying all the soap/milk stuff. I can’t get the internet connection in the apt. to work, so for now I’m in my handy internet cafe. & Handerson (my fave internet guy) is back! I’m going to a new roda in Sta. Teresa tonight, near Bar do Mineiro, so I’m definitely slipping over there for a ginger cachaca! It’s sunny, hot, noisy, wonderful here in Urca– the beach is packed & traffic is mad. Hope y’all had a happy new year. I’ll try to send some lo-res pics of the fireworks on the next email. It’s a mite hard for a Mac girl to figure out all the PC stuff, despite lessons from Alex.
tchau/bjs.
m
subject: musica todos os dias
January 7, 2008
Queridos~ I have been playing so much since I last wrote. Had a great lesson w/ Joel on Friday 2:30 until 8:30. I played Cochichando from memory & he really liked my variations. Also Eu Quero e Sosego, but not entirely memorized– and he was pleased by my interpretation– a really big deal, because this is Joel– the maestro of interpretation. And I played other choro for him too, but I’m writing these names because they come back again tomorrow… I gave him a copy of my new mandolin method– just came in the mail the day before I left. He really liked it & said I need to write a 2nd one now that I’ve studied w/ him. TaxiPaulo took me there & home– great to see the man.
Saturday was Romulo’s bday party– a grand roda! I played there from ~noon until 6:30. TaxiPaulo came to get me then because at my lesson Joel said he was playing @ a roda @ Bar Ronaldo (aka Bar Original) in Sta. Teresa that started @ 5:00 & I should come by. But I wanted to stay @ Romulo’s because he IS my v.best friend in Rio. So TP & I started out, having both been given directions, but Sta Teresa is v.complicated & of course Joel, who gave us the directions, doesn’t drive…
Well we drove around asking everyone & listening in all the bars, but no Joel. Just as we were giving up, TP sees Henrique Cazes and, of course because this is Rio & I’m lucky in Rio, TP recorded an LP by HC many years ago & HC (most famous cavaquinho player & choro historian in Rio) remembers him & the roda is at someone’s house that is right there, up a steep walking hill.
TP comes up w/ me to check it out– he’s good like that. They’re on break & Joel is talking on the other side of the swimming pool @ this gorgeous house. We go over & Joel introduces me to the guy he’s talking to– um grand bandolimist– who turns out to be the bandolimist in Tira Poeira– one of my favorite bands. Joel then grabs my hand & drags me over to Yamandu & Ze Paulo Becker (2 of the most famous guitarists in Rio) & proceeds to tell them all about me & how wonderful my method is. I manage to aqueeze in how much I like their music (really a Bill&Ted “I am not worthy” moment).
Joel then drags me into the roda room & sits me on the bench next to his daughter, who is next to him. TP hangs out for a bit & splits. The roda started @ 4:00 & it’s 7:00, but this is Rio so people keep arriving & when they start again there’s an excellent woman flutist (don’t yet know her name) & HenriqeC & Joel & ZeP (Yamandu isn’t playing, neither is the Tira guy– they just stand & appreciate) & then Ronaldo do Bandolim arrives & his brother Rogerio Sousa– incredible 7-string player– and Roberto Cazes– H’s brother– a fabulous percussionist & others. This is turning into a legendary jam. I cannot believe my luck. The music is awesome & I’m sitting between & just behind Joel & Ronaldo– muito legal!! Unfortunately the light is bad for pics, and my battery is almost shot, so only 1 bad pic, below.
At one point Ronaldo hands me his bandolim & splits to stretch his legs. I’m itching to noodle along, but completely intimidated. Joel notices me holding it though & asks if I want to play. “Nao aqui!!” I beg, but he insists & he is the one person I can’t say no to. He says to just play Cochichando because I know it by heart. So I agree. & he gives me a big intro–Americana, classical, his student, loves choro– so everyone is on my side. & he makes me play his mandolin & sit in his chair. Well, yes, now I am thourghly terrified & excited. Rogerio asks gently what I’m going to play & nods approval @ Cochhichando so I play the intro & we’re off. & I remember it (thank-you oh angel of difficult runs!) & play lots of cool stuff. & this is a debut so I’m to play the whole thing, I realize as I continue. & then I’m done & there’s huge applause & Ronaldo is back & is amazed. We’ve been friends but somehow he’s never heard me play a note.
So I get up but Berto Cazes say, no you need to play another. & yes, the standard convidalo is 2 tunes. So i guess I did OK. I play the first couple of notes of Eu Quero, & the best rhythm section in the world of choro kicks in & I’m off, vaguely remembering that I don’t really remember this tune w/out music… I fumble a bit but get back on track. I try to hand off to Ronaldo & finally get him to take a B-section & I’m in a just-go-for-it mood so I play counterlines that are actually cool & Joel is behind me yelling “muito musical” (and in my imagination pointing down at me) & I somehow get back to the melody in time to end the piece. Whoa! I am totally wiped out. But it was fine, my debut in the big leagues.
TaxiPaulo has arrived back while this is going on & gives me a thumbs up. & I know I did well because Henrique Cazes then launches into Desvairada– a killer tune. They would have regrouped w/ a groove tune if I’d messed up. & then Ronaldo played an awesome polca & I stumbled over to drink a beer w/ TP say good-byes & we go. As we are walking down the hill I realize that I want to play at this level & I can. Just need to get going on the know-by-heart thing. A big moment.
The computer just crashed & I lost the rest of this email… Will try again but probably more briefly…. Yesterday was the roda @ San Sebastao, the Sunday afternoon regular where I started my visit a week ago. Then I went to a roda da samba w/ my friends Jorge & Miriam (B remembers). Today as I started this email session I was free all day, but (since this is Rio) now I’m having dinner w/ my friend & mandolinist Sergio, & Arismar do Espirito Santo (who I played w/ @ RIC) is in town for 1 day from Sao Paulo so I’ll go hear him play @ Semente later– if I can find it again (B&A remember).
And have I mentioned how happy I am to be immersed in Brazilian music 24/7? Sorry if this was too much for some of you. Feel free to opt out of this group mail if you like. But I’m writing this for myself as much as you. So I will remember back in frigid New England 2 weeks from now that all this really did happen.
beijinhos~
m
back to sunny
January 10, 2008
Queridos– well it has been raining for 2 days & I have a cold, so that’s the downside of paradise 🙂 But today is sunny, if cool. It’s not actually as hot here as it was last March– just lucky my friends say, it should be. Not much to report. Another great lesson w/ Joel yesterday– working on Brazilian waltzes & their ornamentation. My portugues is better, somehow, and TaxiPaulo brought me some all-portugues kids’ grammar books to study.
As my students often say in their class reports–here’s some “fun facts”– Electric hot water in my shower has 2 settings– “summer” and “winter”. The summer setting is cold all the time; the winter setting was hot once but cold ever since. (Does it know I’m cheating?) “segunda-feira” (2nd day) is Monday not Tuesday– I know that but just missed a concert because I showed up a day late– rats! “Muito legal” means very cool & has nothing to do w/ legality. If a concert is scheduled to start @ 8:00, it just means you’re lucky if the doors open @ 8:00 & the concert won’t start for at least another hour– maybe an hour & a half. Goes for classical as well as club shows. Shows @ Semente start @ 11:00 PM & I don’t know how long they last– never made it that far.
I’m off to Rio Sul Shopping to buy another music folder, as I out-growing mine by leaps and bounds. Thanks to all you who have replied to these group musings– it’s great to read you here.
beijinhos (little kisses)
abracoes (big hugs)
m
subject: a week left
January 13, 2008
Queridos~ played in a great roda @ Praca Sao Salvador today. really good players & lots of people there just to listen. I love this roda– we’re all just going for it and it’s so new. I’m learning lots of new tunes– every week I get Romulo to print out some new ones that I just heard. I had my camera & got some friends to take pics so I can remember in cold old new England. There was a really good clarinetist– I went out to lunch w/ him afterwards– and a harmonica player– first time I’d heard one @ a roda & it sounded great!
It’s taken a turn to hothot here. Thursday I went to the beach for the first time, at 10:30 AM, & I only lasted 45 minutes & left feeling like I had sunstroke. My friend Sueli told me later that you should be off the beach by 10;00 AM, so I didn’t feel like such a wimp. Today, the beach outside my apt. was already filling up when I got up @ 8:00, and 12-hours later it’s still full. so clearly she wasn’t speaking for all Cariocas ;-). It’s been up around 34 or 35 (this is why I hate centigrade– does that sound hot? no! now 100 degrees– that’s a concept that says as hot as is humanly possible to take)
I wrote a waltz Saturday. I was supposed to go to Mage but wires got crossed so I ended up on my own. I had studied waltzes w/ Joel at my last lesson & woke up w/ one in my brain. I do hope that I wrote it & am not just channeling some remembered fragment. but I’ll play it for Joel Thursday & he’ll tell me if it belongs to someone else– he knows every Brazilian waltz. The 3rd part is definitely mine– i wrote an Austrian landler– I thought it would amuse him.
The carnaval bands are starting to play out now, getting ready for the big event in a few weeks. I’m going to try to hear one play @ a bloco (neighborhood street party) this week. The rhythm section is the thing there– can’t wait to hear one. There are also rehearsals @ the Samba Schools, but they start around midnight & are in dangerous neighborhoods, so I’d have to find someone to go w/ who knows what is up & likes samba (most of my friends are choroes– it’s a different mindset.) but they’re not a good idea for a solo gringa…
I hope all is well w/ y’all. I did breathe a sigh of relief when some of you told me it was up to 60 after the single-digit phase. Hope I don’t have to shovel out my driveway first thing. but it will be good to see y’all, and even to start teaching. my life here is so wonderful, but it’s also somehow surreal to walk to the local open air Sunday market and buy fresh papayas & mangos & have coconut water machete-ied out for you. guess it’s hard to take the New England out of the girl. But a good month of snowy days should put me right 😉
Raphael– a 7-string player from today just called & is trying to put another session together for tonight… so maybe my day isn’t winding down yet! [I did go over to his apartment and endeared myself to Luiz, the main guitarist @ Sao Salvador, by sightreading anything he put in front of me. Fun session!]
bjs.
m
subject: the kindness of strangers & new discoveries thereby
January 16, 2008
Queridos– I just finished reading a funny book my friend Mitch gave me for Christmas– hence the odd use of language…
My kitchen sink clogged up a couple of days ago, so I went off to the grocery, dictionary in hand, hoping there was an obvious can of Draino. There wasn’t. So I took the closest-looking thing to the fruit guy who enjoys speaking a little English w/ me. He enlisted the manager & we decided it was fine. But just as I was about to check out he races up & says, no, it’s for floor drains & will ruin the sink. Whew. So I’m back in the products aisle trying to use portugues & mime to get the idea across that I didn’t want to clean my sink or unclog my floor drain. Suddenly the lightbulb went off in the brain of a girl clerk who races back to the back corner of the store & emerged w/ a lime green (this IS Brazil) sink plunger. What a great idea– looks like a little elf hat & works like a charm!
Yesterday I went to a new-to-me music store, Toca da Vinicius in Ipanema. There were many must-haves in the CD & book departments & I chatted w/ the couple in charge a few times. When I went to check out, sadly, I discovered they didn’t take VISA. I asked if they could hold the stuff for me (about $200 worth) until the next day & I’d come back w/ cash. So the owner packed it all up in 2 bags and handed them to me and said, here, come back tomorrow to pay for it. So I did that today. Would this ever happen in the US?
I asked my internet guy if he knew of any rooms for rent in the neighborhood for March & he said yes & sent me to his building to meet his wife, and it turns out that they have a room to rent– only to people they know, but that now includes me. The building is the oddest thing– open spaces where you wouldn’t expect, no windows where you would expect (it’s built on the side of the 1st hump of the Pau de Acucar) & stairs that look right out of an Escher drawing.
The guys @ Trapiche rocked the joint yesterday. Tonight I’m off to hear Deo & Bruno Rian & Sergio Prata play an all-Jacob concert. Tomorrow is my lesson w/ Joel. I still hope to hear some carnaval music– maybe TaxiPaulo will take me to a samba school ensaio. I’m meeting Paulo Sa on Friday, and my band is having an all-night party in my honor Saturday & when we wake up (if we sleep) Romulo will drive me to the airport as I leave early Sunday. (The delights of hanging out w/ 20-30-year-olds)
It rained like crazy for a couple of hours yesterday so today is much clearer, sunny. Hope all goes well for y’all. Happy birthday to my mom tomorrow! Happy birthday to my niece Ellis today– (Ellis, I’ll lend you my pod earrings when I get home; sorry yours self-destructed).
bjs.
m
subject: home soon
January 19, 2008
Queridos– It’s my last day in Rio… sigh… Romulo is going to pick me up w/ all my stuff in about an hour & we’ll go to his apt. to meet the rest of the band. & then it’s play all night until I fly home tomorrow AM.
I’ve been low key these past couple of days. Had a great lesson w/ Joel on Thursday– he loved the waltz I wrote for him, and, yes, it IS mine– not someone else’s I was remembering. It came out so fast & so completely that I was doubting it. I met Paulo Sa in centro yesterday for a long & productive meeting about our Bandolim book project. Then hung out w/ Rodrigo (pianist whose apt. I’ve been in) & Mike (Canadian friend of Ray) on the wall outside of the Urca Bar drinking beer & eating their great fish soup. It was too hot to sleep last night w/ no hint of a longed-for breeze. Can’t believe I’m going home to winter!
But it’ll be good to see y’all– and that’s the upside of leaving this magical place.
soon-
m
subject: skies still blueMonday, January 21, 2008
Queridos, I woke up this morning & missed the sound of children squealing in delight on the Urca beach. But when I finally opened my eyes the sky was blue and I thought I’m in… Providence… and it’s… winter… and then I smiled and went back to get my 3 hours of missing sleep due to the time change.As always, my house seems incredibly large, and my belongings overwhelmingly many. But I’m going to the movies w/ friends in a couple of hours & will get all my syllabi ready for RWU tonight & tomorrow & so the other half of my life picks itself up and I jump on. How lucky I am to have 2 lives I love.
Just wanted to let you know that I am back, and I will see many of you very soon, I hope.
beijinhos~
m
