Batuki di Bangu

Carnaval starts today

Hello Substack friends,

Today is the official start of Carnaval in my hometown of Rio de Janeiro. For me, growing up in the West Zone of Rio, Carnaval was never about the huge parades that you see on videos. It was about dressing up in the cheapest possible way, sometime with a pillowcase over your head and bedsheets as an outfit and spending your days squirting water at passersby (while getting soaked yourself). On some years, I might get a clovis costume, essentially a satin overall with a wire mask, such as this:

My son Ariel in his clovis costume, sometime in the 1980s. Photo by JSN

My good friend José Emílio Rondeau, who publishes a great Substack newsletter -

FAROL

has published a detailed account (in Portuguese) of the thrills of being a clovis in Bangu, in the area where both of us grew up.

While I am on the subject of the carioca neighborhood of Bangu, here is a recording of my composition Batuki di Bangu, recorded in 2003 for the Latin Grammy-nominated album Canto do Rio with my Seattle-based Quinteto (myself on Rhodes, Chuck Deardorf on bass, Mark Ivester on drums, Jeff Busch on percussion and the alto sax duo of Harvey Wainapel and Hans Teuber. In addition, I used a recording of Pernambuco, the former percussionist from Hermeto Pascoal’s Grupo, doing one of his amazing vocal interpretations.

The groove is a batuque, a very primal afro-Brazilian beat, and the minor melodies are ideal to generate the energy of this tune:

Here is a video of the Quinteto in action in New York’s Symphony Space in 2005 playing Batuki di Bangu:

Whatever your plans, I hope you will enjoy Carnaval!

Cheers,

Jovino