Seattle Subsonic

Beyond Ipanema: A Story of Brazil’s Musical Exports

June 1st, 2010

Hey, we have a guest writer! Written by my friend Heidi ….
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Today I had the pleasure of viewing Beyond Ipanema at the Seattle International Film Festival. This film is a music documentary that transcends barriers of classification due to the fact that is less a love letter to Brazil than it is a sharing of musical ideas and influences between the United States and Brazil. Many musicians who became well known and influential for their impact on the styles had to do so outside of their own country to be recognized on a larger scale. Carmen Miranda was the first major influence from Brazilian culture to impact Hollywood and was a smashing success as an export from Brazil to the United States. Next came the Tropicalista movement, and musician David Byrne, unearthed many names from Brazil including Tom Ze.
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“I found myself becoming more intrigued by how these artists all influenced each other and the evolution of their craft.”

This was all leading up to the biggest explosion….Bossa Nova. This came in to its popularity when American Jazz was really on its way out due to the increasing popularity of rock music by the Beatles and Rolling Stones. This Bossa Nova had a bass line that incorporated new rhythms that nobody had heard before and it took off like lightning! Sergio Mendes, Caetano Velosa, Joao Gilberto and the Mutantes were all huge exponents of this nuevo style. It was also really beyond music in that it was about politics, culture, technology and the development of a real “world music” — whereas before it seemed to be music you couldn’t fit into any category. There are so many musicians I learned about in this film that I would like to discover for myself through hearing their music.

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The film also introduces viewers to the Frederick Douglass Academy, where Samba is part of the regular music program. Hundreds of students have mastered Brazilian rhythms under the guidance of (non-Brazilian) music teacher Dana Monteiro. From the regular classes, a group of about 40 kids was formed and they have been performing under the name Harlem Samba. The public high school has also organized educational trips to Brazil, where students were exposed to Samba masters.

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Director, Guto Barra, does a fantastic job of melding together the different and varied stories of Brazil’s musical exports and tells us about the many projects that take place when people from different cultures get together to create new styles. Actually, this is when the most fascinating part of the story takes place. I found myself becoming more intrigued by how these artists all influenced each other and the evolution of their craft. Now with the advent of the internet and the global nature of our world it is not so necessary to travel so far to get the real influence of the culture. I recall a line in the film where someone said (I don’t recall who it was), “Geography is not so important now but rather it is the artist’s essence”. That stayed with me.

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There’s one more showing of this film, June 4 @ 5 pm at the Kirkland Performance Center
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