MUSIC
Getting into the Forró culture
Zeu Azevedo
In its fifth edition, the Forró London Festival offers a rare opportunity to immerse into one of Brazil’s most popular rhythms. Participants have the chance to learn how to dance in a series of workshops and trying new moves at parties that happen in places like Guanabara, Grace Bar and Stoke Newington Hall. Among the musical attractions are Geraldinho Lins, Os 3 Do Nordeste, Luiz Bernardo, Zeu Azavedo and ForroBamba. The festival is led and organized by Carlos Andre, who for more than 12 years teaches the steps of forró for a diverse audience.
Forró London Festival
When: 25-28 February
Where: Various locations
Entrance: £89 (weekend pass)
Info: www.forro.co.uk
Criolo is highlight at Latin music festival
La Linea Festival has built a respectable reputation bringing to London prominent names in Latin music. And this year is no exception. In April, the British capital receives the Brazilian rapper Criolo, the Portuguese fado singer Ana Moura, the Cuban singer Daymé Arocena and Chilean cumbia band Chico Trujillo, among other attractions. In addition to playing in London, on April 24th, at Koko, Criolo will also perform in other English cities: Cambridge (21/4), Bristol (22/4), Leeds (23/4), Brighton (25 / 4) and Manchester (26/4).
La Linea Festival
When: 19-27 April
Where: Various locations
Entrance: From £12
Info: www.comono.co.uk
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EXHIBITION
Mario Cravo Neto: ‘A Serene Expectation of Light’
The work of the Brazilian photographer Mario Cravo Neto explores the cultural heritage of Bahia, like Candomblé and its African roots. The exhibition – the first in solo format in the UK – comprises two series, ‘The Eternal Now’, in black and white, produced in the 1980s and 1990s, and ‘Laróyé’, coloured, produced in the 2000s, during the latter part of Cravo Neto’s career (he died in 2009). The first combines human beings with inanimate objects and animals, while the second depicts the urban life in Salvador.
When: 15 January – 2 April
Where: Autograph ABP, Rivington Place, London EC2A 3BA
Entrance: Free
Info: www.autograph-abp.co.uk
Rosângela Rennó: ‘Rio-Montevideo’
The first solo exhibition of Brazilian artist Rosângela Rennó in the UK presents images of photojournalist Aurelio Gonzales and uses 20 analogue projectors. Taken between 1957 and 1973, the pictures were hidden in the walls of the then office of the Communist newspaper El Popular before the military coup in Uruguay, and were discovered by chance 30 years later. Rennó highlights the stories of a time of upheaval in that country and in Latin America, debating national amnesia phenomenon caused by the censorship imposed by the military regimes.
When: 22 January – 3 April
Where: The Photographers’ Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies St, London W1F 7LW
Entrance: Free before 12pm; £2,50 advanced; £3 door
Info: www.thephotographersgallery.org.uk
Claudio Tozzi: ‘New Figuration and the Rise of Pop Art’
The exhibition focuses on the key work of the Brazilian painter, designer and visual programmer Claudio Tozzi career, between 1967 and 1971, one of the most repressive periods of the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985). To produce art that could circumvent censorship, and also avoid punishment, Tozzi and others were forced to adopt different techniques that usually ended up polarizing artists and curators. The work of Tozzi, predominantly around urban and social conflicts themes, throws a particular light on the politics of the Brazilian Pop Art that time.
When: 23 January – 24 March
Where: Cecilia Brunson Projects, Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3GD
Entrance: Free
Info: www.ceciliabrunsonprojects.com
Julieta Schildknecht: ‘Stone Valley’
In ‘Stone Valley’, the Swiss-Brazilian photographer Julieta Schildknecht creates a metaphorical dialogue between the environmental transformation of today and the man’s relationship with nature. Its layered images generate surreal situations that can be seen both as perception and memory issues as how to change between physical and mental landscapes. Layers are an accumulation of random, fragmentary and subjective impressions, more surrealistic than naturalistic representations of nature, in a continuous search for a geo-cultural consistency.
When: 27 January – 22 February
Where: Sala Brasil, 14-16 Cockspur Street, London SW1Y 5BL
Entrance: Free
Info: www.culturalbrazil.org
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PERFORMANCE
A sound journey to the depth of Amazon
In ‘The Encounter’, Simon McBurney takes us to the Amazon humid depths in a narrative that has the evolving presence of binaural technology. In 1969, the photographer Loren McIntyre was lost in a remote part of the Brazilian rainforest during a search by Mayoruna people. Mixing scenes from his own life with the details of the journey of McIntyre, McBurney incorporates objects and sound effects for this performance in solo format that seeks to recreate a tropical landscape. Broadcast direct to the public through headphones, an innovative sound connects to the power of imagination, instigating our perceptions of time, communication and awareness.
‘The Encounter’
When: 12 February – 6 March
Where: Barbican Theatre
Entrance: £32–£42
Info: www.barbican.org.uk
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Originally published in the Brasil Observer edition 35
