The Sound Politics of Funk Carioca - Bruno Verner & Eliete Mejorado talk Funk Carioca at Sound System Outernational
SOUND SYSTEM OUTERNATIONAL: Sonic Entanglements:
Jamaica, Europe and Brazil
Bruno Verner & Eliete Mejorado (TETINE / SLUM
DUNK) discuss the sound of Funk Carioca - the
intense lo-down Miami-bass driven sound from Rio’s favela parties (aka Baile
Funk) emerged in the 80’s. Topics include the role of Female MC’s in
Rio's Baile Funk scene, the influence of Funk Carioca’ sound,
beat-making and style on producers of bass culture around the world and its
subsequent mainstream international popularity
***After the talk Bruno Verner and Eliete
Mejorado play a set of new and old school Funk Carioca
The Sound Politics of Funk Carioca –
excerpts from a conversation with Bruno Verner & Eliete Mejorado at Sound
System Outernational 1 - Janeiro 16th, 2016 at Goldsmiths University
Bruno Verner: It’s a lot to compact in 15 minutes.
But we should start by saying it all changes in Brazilian Culture with the
release of the record Funk Brasil in 1989. That’s the beginning of the Funk
Carioca sound. According to the great DJ Carlos Machado, the guy who had the idea to produce the compilation
and record Brazilian funks with lyrics in Portuguese was Cidinho Cambalhota but
then he was killed and DJ Marlboro took over the project and suggested the
project to Polygram Brasil which released it. So in 1990’s with the success of the album (in its first volume) funk
productions began to appear in commercial radio stations from Rio and Sao Paulo
and in mainstream media. Funk Brasil was a big hit. It sold around 100.000 copies.
And Funk became the official music of the hills. There’s how the first tracks
of funk carioca appeared. And it was mostly made by people living in the
favelas or connected to the scene and the parties in the hills.
Eliete Mejorado: However, the image, the sound and the
idea the Brazilian ‘middle class’ propagated about Funk Carioca or Baile Funk
was always dismissive … “oh no, this is not good enough to represent our
culture”. The was always a massive propaganda
against it – actually and unfortunately there still is. The cliché was always
the same. “This is not music, these people say and sing horrible things”.
Bruno Verner:
Or…they would go ‘it is too machista or it is too homophobic’. And in
reality what happens is quite the opposite. If one thinks of the politics of funk
carioca from the point of view of the female MCs it all gets much more complex
than simply stating the tracks, the discourse and the lyrics are misogynistic, aggressive,
machista and all. We have to have in mind that Funk Carioca is a culture that
brought spontaneous sexual politics, feminism, queerism and attitude to the
agenda again.
Eliete Mejorado: It is not like Bossa Nova where all
the girls are “good” and “honest” you see? They are not honest at all. And not good at
all. They say what they think. They talk about what they believe. They talk
about their sexual experiences. They talk about what they like. And very
loudly. And I mean it, loud! And they are not scared of anything, so the middle
classes in Brazil became terrified and began hating them. For them, Funk
Carioca girls, I mean artists, are an
example of something that you should not show to your kids.
Bruno Verner: At the beginning of the 2000’s the artists
formed their ‘bondes’ which took the form of singing & dance ensembles.
This is the beginning of the so called Funk Sensual scene which starts at
Cidade De Deus with artists such as Deize Tigrona and Bonde das Bad Girls…..
but also with Bonde Faz Gostoso, Vanessinha do Picachu. Waleska Popozuda and
many others. They were all responsible for transforming the understanding of
the style and for making it a frankly post-feminist event like no other in the
world. Not to mention the combination of the raw chanting and rapping they
brought to the music and the addition, or better, the incorporation of Tamborzao
- one of Funk Carioca’s most notorious
sonic identities. I’m talking here in terms of beat and rhythmics. I’m talking about a sonority which somehow is
also directly influenced by religious drumming and therefore also linked to religious
such as Camdomble or Macumba. This made an enormous difference in the scene in
the beginning of the Noughties. The new beat was add to as second layer to DJ’s Battery Brain's famous "808 volt" which used to be the
common beat used in most of the funk tracks, almost like a preset. Tamborzao brought a totally new sonority to the tracks
and consequently interfered in the way new funks would be produced for ever. In
Denise Garcia’s film Eu Sou Feia Mas To Na Moda, there’s a great scene with
producers in action in a studio, going through different Tamborazao samples. This
period of productions marked the beginning of what was later known as the Funk
Sensual scene. The popularization of Tamborazao made Favela Funk bass-heavier and also
more “Brazilian” if compared to the earlier productions of the late 80’s and
90’s. This transformation changed the scene of Funk Carioca forever in the
context of Brazil and internationally, and in my opinion made the style’s
production universal if we think in different contexts for bass culture. Likewise,
this change marks another phase for the style. It was also the first time women
and trans were taking over the whole scene and becoming MCs, dancers with
different voices and styles. Again if we compare it to the productions in the
90’s when everything was still very dominated by men who were the singers, the producers,
the owners of clubs and DJs.
It was
definitely a more masculine scene as a whole in the 90’s.
Eliete Mejorado: And violent. Should we show something?
Eli Mejorado: This is an excerpt of “Eu Sou Feia Mas To Na Moda” which
translates as “I’m Ugly But Trendy”
from the verses of Tati Quebra Barraco’s
lyrics. In 2004 filmmamker Denise Garcia directed the film and Bruno and I
co-produced it here in London.
The movie was
premiered it at Brady Arts Centre in Whitechapel before it was exhibited in
Brazil. Check out, this is Deize Tigrona doing her Injeçao (Injection).
Bruno Verner - And this is the late Ramona Gitty, a
queer dancer and friend of Deize.
In this track
although you cannot hear it now there are the horns …. Oh yes...now you can!
These are the horns which American super star DJ Diplo and M.I.A famously
sampled and then used on in their song “Buck Done Gun”. They were into Funk
Carioca, and listening to our radio shows at Resonance Fm and probably had our
compilation Slum Dunk Presents Funk Carioca. But this is another story.
As I told, the first productions of Funk Carioca were
extremely influenced by Miami Bass. So most of the tracks had the Volt Mix beat
on it. Then in 2000 with the process of“nationalization” of Funk Carioca and
introduction of Tamborzao, which had been invented by a producer called Leo.
Eliete Mejorado: Tamborzao is influenced by Camdomble
and Macumba. So There’s Ogan beat there.
Ogan of Candomble who drums to call the Gods. The Macumba points. The Iansã
point. There’s Oxum which is the Goddess of beauty. The queen of the Waterfalls.
The queen of the bracelets. This is all
there somehow mixed in the funk tracks and incorporated in the style. Funk
Carioca artists are probably granddaughters and grandsons of Samba players.
Eliete Mejorado: Let’s see this short clip by Tati (Tati /
Barracao I & II).
Bruno Verner: This is to contrast the idea that Funk
Carioca is normally driven by men. It is actually not. Tati is superstar and
she has the whole audience with her. In Brazil, it also faced a lot of
prejudice because of the dance. People normally think it is vulgar. And this is
also because of the content of their lyrics which are direct and in your face.
There are two kinds of female MCs. Sometimes they put themselves in the
position of the “lover" and sometimes in the position of the “loyal”.
Eliete Mejorado: There are the battles between the
girls and there’s also the prohibited funks (proibidoes) which are mostly about
the reality of drug dealing, the killings and so on. They tell what is really
happening. The stuff you are not supposed to talk about in commercial funk tracks.
Bruno Verner: It’s pretty much about the stuff which is
not radiophonic and it does not go outside the hills. It speaks about the politics
of organized crime, drugs, drug dealers etc etc. proibidões in Portuguese mean
literally the tunes which are prohibited. They are more difficult to find it as
well. You have to have connections but you’ll
find them with some street vendors (camelos), where an entire pirate and Cdr
culture takes place.
Eliete Mejorado: We should play this Bonde do Tigrao
here.
Bruno Verner: To finalise we’ll play a track from our compilation “Slum
Dunk Presents Funk Carioca” which was released back in 2004 on Mr Bongo Records.
This was the first Funk Carioca album to be released outside Brasil. We’ll play
a classic track by Bonde do Tigrao called “Cerol Na Mao”.
This is also
just to say that there is a great deal of cannibalization and re-antropofagia
taking place. For instance, here we see and hear the producers’ influences
which are literally sampled and then displayed narratively to form the base for
the track. Cerol Na Mao is produced with parts of Head Hunter by the industrial
Belgian group Front 242. There’s a lot
of sampling going on here.
Bruno Verner: Listen!
Eliete Mejorado: And then comes the Tamborzao
Bruno Verner: And then comes Headhunter from Front 242.
Eliete Mejorado: Thank you. This is just to say bye bye!
Bruno Verner: Thank you!
Labels: baile funk, bass culture, bruno verner, eliete mejorado, funk carioca, goldsmiths university, in conversation, sound politics, Sound System Outernational, tetine, the politics of funk carioca
posted by Bruno Verner @ 08:31
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