This morning I really felt like getting out a bit, so I opted to get a "lotação" - a smaller and in this case more comfortable bus - and go to Bourbon Country Shoping. It's not that close to Goethe, so I had a chance to stare out of the window, absorb the views passing by and generally think of the past few weeks. The goal of this journey was to check out the "Livraria Cultura", a huge book store with a very good music section, which was supervised by this gentlemen - Alexsandro Gustavo Prinz Canal - who knew me by name and helped me find some interesting books on the social history of popular music in Brazil.

After a very nice and funny chat at lunch with Rosa, José and Eric, I had an hour of Portuguese with José. He is really a great guy, very considerate, polite and smart. I am totally lucky that he has agreed to teach me.

Right after that, it was time for another rehearsal with Mimo Ferreira. This time he brought bunch of cymbals and other stuff, as I asked for some sustained sounds as well.

Here is his blog.

He played me on youtube some very groovy clips of Hugo Fattoruso, this great Uruguayan pianist, doing the candombe. The sound and the rhythms of the tambores are truly great.



No video here, but amazing tambores sound.



Then we switched to "ciranda", a Brazilan genre, usually somewhat more stately and often melancholic in character.
Here is a clip of the great Lia Itamaracá, the queen of ciranda.



Now I agreed to write a ciranda for our upcoming concert and the recording date. Let|s see how this goes...


And the best news of the day - no, what am I saying, of the month - Eric managed to figure out the way to hook me up with a good stable internet connection. HURRAAAAAAH!!!!!