Salvador Bahia Brazil Matrix
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  • From Brazil with love →
  • @ Ground Zero
  • El Aleph
  • If You Can't Stand the Heat
  • Harlem to Bahia to the Planet
  • Why a "Matrix"?

From Brazil with love →

@ Ground Zero

 

Have you, dear friend, ever noticed how different places scattered across the face of the globe seem almost to exist in different universes? As if they were permeated throughout with something akin to 19th century luminiferous aether, unique, determined by that place's history? It's like a trick of the mind's light (I suppose), but standing on beach or escarpment in Salvador and looking out across the Baía de Todos os Santos to the great Recôncavo, and mindful of what happened there, one must be led to the inevitable conclusion that one is in a place unique to history, and to the present*.

 

 

"Chegou a hora dessa gente bronzeada mostrar seu valor / The time has come for these bronzed people to show their value..."Música: Assis Valente of Santo Amaro, Bahia. Vídeo: Betão Aguiar.

 

*More enslaved human beings entered the Bay of All Saints and the Recôncavo than any other final port-of-call throughout all of mankind's history.

 

These people and their descendants created some of the most uplifting music ever made, the foundation of Brazil's national art. We wanted their music to be accessible to the world (it's not even accessible here in Brazil) so we created a platform by which everybody's creativity is mutually accessible, including theirs.

 

El Aleph

 

The network was built in an obscure record shop (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar found it) in a shimmering Brazilian port city...

 

...inspired in (the kabbalah-inspired fiction of) Borges' (short story) El Aleph, that in the pillar in Cairo's Mosque of Amr, where the universe in its entirety throughout all time is perceivable as an infinite hum from deep within the stone.

 

It "works" by virtue of the "small-world" phenomenon...the same responsible for the fact that most of us 7 billion or so beings are within 6 or fewer degrees of each other.

 

It was described (to some degree) and can be accessed via this article in British journal The Guardian (which named our radio of matrixed artists as one of ten best in the world):

 

www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/apr/17/10-best-music-radio-station-around-world

 

With David Dye for U.S. National Public Radio: www.npr.org/2013/07/16/202634814/roots-of-samba-exploring-historic-pelourinho-in-salvador-brazil

 

All is more connected than we know.

 

Per the "spirit" above, our logo is a cortador de cana, a cane-cutter. It was designed by Walter Mariano, professor of design at the Federal University of Bahia to reflect the origins of the music the shop specialized in. The Brazilian "aleph" doesn't hum... it dances and sings.

 

If You Can't Stand the Heat

 

Image above is from the base of the cross in front of the church of São Francisco do Paraguaçu in the Bahian Recôncavo

 

Sprawled across broad equatorial latitudes, stoked and steamed and sensual in the widest sense of the word, limned in cadenced song, Brazil is a conundrum wrapped in a smile inside an irony...

 

This is not a European nation. It is not a North American nation. It is not an East Asian nation. It straddles — jungle and desert and dense urban centers — both the equator and the Tropic of Capricorn. Brazil absorbed over ten times the number of enslaved Africans taken to the United States of America, and is a repository of African deities (and their music) now largely forgotten in their lands of origin. It was a refuge (of sorts) for Sephardim fleeing an Inquisition which followed them across the Atlantic (that unofficial symbol of Brazil's national music — the pandeiro — was almost certainly brought to Brazil by these people). Across the parched savannas of the interior of Brazil's culturally fecund nordeste/northeast, where wizard Hermeto Pascoal was born in Lagoa da Canoa (Lagoon of the Canoe) and raised in Olho d'Águia (Eye of the Eagle), much of Brazil's aboriginal population was absorbed into a caboclo/quilombola culture punctuated by the Star of David. Three cultures — from three continents — running for their lives, their confluence forming an unprecedented fourth. Pandeirista on the roof. Nowhere else but here.

 

Oligarchy, plutocracy, dictatorships and massive corruption — elements of these are still strongly entrenched — have defined, delineated, and limited Brazil.

 

But strictured & bound as it has been and is, Brazil has buzz...not the shallow buzz of a fashionable moment...but the deep buzz of a population which in spite of — or perhaps because of — the tough slog through life they've been allotted by humanity's dregs-in-fine-linen, have chosen not to simply pull themselves along but to lift their voices in song and their bodies in dance...to eat well and converse well and much and to wring the joy out of the day-to-day happenings and small pleasures of life which are so often set aside or ignored in the European, North American, and East Asian nations.

 

For this Brazil has a genius perhaps unparalleled in all other countries and societies, a genius which thrives alongside peeling paint and holes in the streets and roads, under bad organization by the powers-that-be, both civil and governmental, under a constant rain of societal indignities...

 

Which is all to say that if you don't know Brazil and you're expecting any semblance of order, progress and light, you will certainly find the light! And the buzz of a people who for generations have responded to privation at many different levels by somehow rising above it all.

 

"Onde tem miséria, tem música!"* - Raymundo Sodré

 

And it's not just music. And it's not just Brazil.

 

Welcome to the kitchen!

 

* "Where there is misery, there is music!" Remarked during a conversation arcing from Bahia to Haiti and Cuba to New Orleans and the south side of Chicago and Harlem to the villages of Ireland and the gypsy camps and shtetls of Eastern Europe...

 

Harlem to Bahia to the Planet



Why a "Matrix"?

 

I was explaining the ideas behind this nascent network to (João) Teoria (trumpet player above) over cervejas at Xique Xique (a bar named for a town in Bahia) in the Salvador neighborhood of Barris...

 

Like this (but in Portuguese): "It's kind of like Facebook if it didn't spy on you, but reversed... more about who you don't know than who you do know. And who doesn't know you but would be glad if they did. It's kind of like old Myspace Music but instead of having "friends" it has a list on your page of people you recommend. Not just musicians but writers, painters, filmmakers, dancers, chefs... anybody in the creative economy. It has a list of people who recommend you, or through whom you are recommended. It deals with arts which aren't recommendable by algorithm but need human intelligence behind recommendations. And the people who are recommended can recommend, creating a network of recommendations wherein by the small world phenomenon most people in the creative economy are within several steps of everybody else in the creative economy, no matter where they are in the world. Like a chessboard which could have millions of squares, but you can get from any given square to any other in no more than six steps..."

 

And João said (in Portuguese): "A matrix where you can move from one artist to another..."

 

A matrix! That was it! The ORIGINAL meaning of matrix is "source", from "mater", Latin for "mother". So the term would help congeal the concept in the minds of people the network was being introduced to, while giving us a motto: "We're a real mother for ya!" (you know, Johnny "Guitar" Watson?)

 

The original idea was that musicians would recommend musicians, the network thus formed being "small world" (commonly called "six degrees of separation"). In the real world, the number of degrees of separation in such a network can vary, but while a given network might have billions of nodes (people, for example), the average number of steps between any two nodes will usually be minuscule.

 

Thus somebody unaware of the magnificent music of Bahia, Brazil will be able to conceivably move from almost any musician in this matrix to Bahia in just a few steps...

 

By the same logic that might move one from Bahia or anywhere else to any musician anywhere.

 

And there's no reason to limit this system to musicians. To the contrary, while there are algorithms written to recommend music (which, although they are limited, can be useful), there are no algorithms capable of recommending journalism, novels & short stories, painting, dance, film, chefery...

 

...a vast chasm that this network — or as Teoria put it, "matrix" — is capable of filling.

 

  • Bill Pearis
    I RECOMMEND

CURATION

  • from this node by: Matrix+

This is the Universe of

  • Name: Bill Pearis
  • City/Place: Brooklyn, NY
  • Country: United States

Life & Work

  • Bio: Bill Pearis is a senior editor at BrooklynVegan.

Media | Markets

  • ▶ Twitter: soundbitesnyc
  • ▶ Instagram: soundbitesnyc
  • ▶ Website: http://www.brooklynvegan.com

YOU RECOMMEND

Imagine the world's creative economy at your fingertips. Imagine 10 doors side-by-side. Beyond each, 10 more, each opening to a "creative" somewhere around the planet. After passing through 8 such doorways you will have followed 1 pathway out of 100 million possible (2 sets of doorways yield 10 x 10 = 100 pathways). This is a simplified version of the metamathematics that makes it possible to reach everybody in the global creative economy in just a few steps It doesn't mean that everybody will be reached by everybody. It does mean that everybody can  be reached by everybody.


Appear below by recommending Bill Pearis:

  • 0 Brooklyn, NY
  • 0 Editor
  • 0 Journalist
  • 0 Music Critic
  • 0 Writer
  • Derrick Hodge Film Scores
  • Rick Beato Record Producer
  • Morgan Page DJ
  • Shankar Mahadevan Singer
  • Sarah Hanahan New York City
  • Fred P Techno
  • MARO Multi-Instrumentalist
  • June Yamagishi R&B
  • Nubya Garcia Composer
  • Inaicyra Falcão Bahia
  • Howard Levy Keyboards
  • Sharita Towne Printmaker
  • Issa Malluf Arabic Percussion
  • Maria Drell Produção Cultural, Cultural Production
  • Oscar Peñas Jazz
  • Robert Glasper Record Producer
  • Cinho Damatta Brasil, Brazil
  • Adam Rogers Guitar
  • Joey Alexander Composer
  • Jimmy Dludlu AfroJazz
  • Nduduzo Makhathini Fort Hare University Faculty
  • Jennifer Koh Classical Music
  • Mino Cinélu Drums
  • Welson Tremura University of Florida Faculty
  • Damon Albarn Singer-Songwriter
  • Fantastic Negrito Guitar
  • Etienne Charles Caribbean Music
  • Gregory Hutchinson Drumming Instruction
  • Arifan Junior Produtor Cultural, Cultural Producer
  • Donna Leon Crime Novels
  • Eddie Palmieri Puerto Rico
  • Ivan Sacerdote Brazil
  • MonoNeon Composer
  • Isaac Julien Installation Artist
  • Askia Davis Sr. Writer
  • Jorge Washington Bahia
  • Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Los Angeles
  • Horacio Hernández Havana
  • Garvia Bailey Radio Producer
  • Yelaine Rodriguez Wearable Art
  • Thundercat Composer
  • Ron Miles Jazz
  • Jorge Glem Cuatro
  • Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin Author
  • Menelaw Sete Pintor/Painter
  • Tyshawn Sorey Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Al Kooper Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Bebel Gilberto Brazil
  • Ricardo Bacelar Ceará
  • Karim Ziad Algeria
  • Linda Sikhakhane Composer
  • João Teoria Bandlíder, Bandleader
  • Alexandre Vieira Brasil, Brazil
  • Vincent Herring Manhattan School of Music Faculty
  • Gringo Cardia Graphic Design
  • Willie Jones III New York City
  • Doug Adair Braver Angels
  • Branford Marsalis Saxophone
  • Sérgio Pererê MPB
  • Wayne Escoffery New York City
  • Negrizu Salvador
  • Bongo Joe Records Record Label
  • Jubu Smith Guitar
  • Roque Ferreira Brazil
  • Barney McAll Jazz
  • Aneesa Strings R&B
  • Ubiratan Marques Música Afro-Brasileira, Afro-Brazilian Music
  • Ron Carter Author
  • Adriano Souza Brazil
  • Fred Hersch New York Jazz Academy Faculty
  • Eric Alexander New York City
  • Yazhi Guo 郭雅志 Jazz
  • Abderrahmane Sissako Screenwriter
  • Echezonachukwu Nduka Musicologist
  • Carl Joe Williams New Orleans
  • João Callado Samba
  • Silas Farley Ballet
  • Anthony Hamilton Los Angeles
  • Bobby Sanabria Percussion
  • Nigel Hall Funk
  • Theon Cross Composer
  • Cale Glendening Cinematographer
  • Weedie Braimah Pan-African Culture
  • Hélio Delmiro Rio de Janeiro
  • Raymundo Sodré Salvador
  • Tal Wilkenfeld Bass
  • Steve Cropper Recording Studio Owner
  • Adam Rogers Composer
  • Sombrinha Rio de Janeiro
  • Michael Cuscuna Writer
  • Walmir Lima Samba
  • Tony Trischka Bluegrass
  • Bebel Gilberto Bossa Nova
  • César Orozco New York City
  • Pasquale Grasso Guitar
  • Plamen Karadonev Balkan Music
  • Tessa Hadley Bath Spa University Faculty
  • Chris Boardman University of Miami Frost School of Music Faculty
  • Ed O'Brien London
  • Bright Red Dog Improvising Collective
  • Angel Bat Dawid Singer
  • Dwandalyn Reece Singer
  • Garth Cartwright Journalist
  • Cássio Nobre Guitar
  • Maciel Salú Cavalo Marinho
  • Magda Giannikou Composer
  • Ayrson Heráclito Candomblé
  • Arifan Junior Produtor Cultural, Cultural Producer
  • Andrew Finn Magill Appalachian Music
  • Jane Ira Bloom Saxophone
  • Iroko Trio São Paulo
  • Leigh Alexander Public Speaker
  • Yvette Holzwarth Theater Sound Design
  • Kenny Barron Composer
  • Andrew Finn Magill Forró
  • Marcel Camargo Cavaquinho
  • Los Muñequitos de Matanzas Cuba
  • Rosa Cedrón Galicia
  • Melanie Charles Brooklyn, NY
  • Grant Rindner Writer
  • Scott Yanow Writer
  • Lula Galvão Arranger
  • Tony Allen Afrobeat
  • Gilsons Salvador
  • Rayendra Sunito Record Producer
  • Liz Dany Choreographer
  • Luciana Souza Brazilian Jazz
  • Kiko Loureiro Progressive Metal
  • Linda Sikhakhane Johannesburg
  • Ben Harper Singer-Songwriter
  • Mario Ulloa Guitar
  • Daru Jones Record Producer
  • Sam Harris Composer
  • Wynton Marsalis Composer
  • Camille Thurman Composer
  • Chris Boardman Orchestrator
  • Cássio Nobre Ethnomusicologist
  • Brenda Navarrete Percussion
  • Deesha Philyaw Columnist
  • Jeff Ballard Percussion
  • Lenna Bahule Brazil
  • Dr. Lonnie Smith R&B
  • Marcelinho Oliveira Artistic Director
  • André Becker Bahia
  • Mavis Staples Chicago
  • Gêge Nagô Samba
  • Jaques Morelenbaum Brazil
  • Hélio Delmiro Samba
  • Shirazee New York City
  • Moreno Veloso Singer-Songwriter
  • Arismar do Espírito Santo Samba
  • The Brain Cloud New York City
  • Tal Wilkenfeld Guitar
  • João Rabello Rio de Janeiro
  • Ubiratan Marques Música Clássica Contemporânia, Contemporary Classical Music
  • Armandinho Macêdo Frevo
  • Sara Gazarek Los Angeles
  • Jane Ira Bloom Contemporary Classical Music
  • David Binney Record Producer
  • David Sánchez Georgia State University School of Music Faculty
  • Sam Dagher Author
  • Nelson Faria YouTuber
  • Carlinhos Brown Record Producer
  • Tony Kofi Flute
  • Ceumar Coelho Minas Gerais
  • Tony Austin Drums
  • Leigh Alexander Short Stories
  • Carlinhos Brown Percussion
  • Bhi Bhiman R&B
  • Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh Flute
  • Laura Beaubrun Choreographer
  • Mykia Jovan Singer-Songwriter
  • Arismar do Espírito Santo Choro
  • Hélio Delmiro Guitar
  • Chubby Carrier Louisiana
  • Hugo Linns Pernambuco
  • Paddy Groenland Ireland
  • Ramita Navai Iran
  • Hank Roberts Ithaca, New York
  • David Mattingly School of Visual Arts Faculty
  • Sebastian Notini Percussão, Percussion
  • Zebrinha Salvador
  • Nubya Garcia Saxophone
  • Zigaboo Modeliste Second Line
  • Alicia Hall Moran Opera
  • Luiz Santos New York City
  • Emmet Cohen Composer
  • Alex Clark Cinematographer
  • Elif Şafak Novelist
  • Mauro Refosco Compositor de Filmes, Film Scores
  • Kendrick Scott Composer
  • Andy Kershaw DJ
  • Oscar Bolão Percussion
  • Fernando Brandão Samba
  • Roberta Sá Samba
  • Oded Lev-Ari Composer
  • Laura Cole Singer-Songwriter
  • Scott Kettner Pandeiro
  • Adam Cruz New York City
  • Doug Wamble Record Producer
  • Brad Mehldau Film Scores
  • Bodek Janke Berlin
  • Musa Okwonga Berlin
  • Hélio Delmiro Jazz
  • Jovino Santos Neto Brazilian Jazz
  • Jeremy Danneman Multi-Cultural
  • Itamar Vieira Júnior Writer
  • Ramita Navai Tehran
  • Mingo Araújo Composer
  • João Callado Painter
  • Lazzo Matumbi Reggae
  • Fred Dantas Ethnomusicologist
  • Şener Özmen Multimedia Art
  • Natalia Contesse Author
  • Wouter Kellerman Alto Flute
  • Wayne Escoffery Yale Faculty
  • Asanda Mqiki Jazz
  • Saul Williams Writer
  • Little Simz London
  • Dave Douglas Jazz
  • Colson Whitehead Writer
  • Geovanna Costa Brasil, Brazil
  • Jurandir Santana Timple
  • Orquestra Afrosinfônica Brasil, Brazil
  • André Vasconcellos Baixo, Bass
  • Lucian Ban New York City
  • Henrique Araújo Composer
  • Leo Genovese Argentina
  • Alain Pérez Singer
  • Lauranne Bourrachot Paris
  • Neo Muyanga African Music
  • Marcus Miller Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Issa Malluf Percussion
  • Benny Benack III Singer-Songwriter
  • Sombrinha Singer-Songwriter
  • Cristovão Bastos Brazil
  • Shaun Martin Ropeadope
  • Cinho Damatta Guitarra, Guitar
  • Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh Ireland
  • Dwayne Dopsie Singer-Songwriter
  • Las Cafeteras Chicano Music
  • Shabaka Hutchings Jazz
  • Tele Novella Psych Pop
  • Catherine Russell Jazz
  • Beth Bahia Cohen Viola
  • Ryan Keberle Jazz
  • Tomo Fujita Guitar
  • Luciano Salvador Bahia Guitar
  • Tommy Peoples Irish Traditional Music
  • Bernardo Aguiar Brazil
  • Jorge Alfredo Roteirista, Screenwriter
  • Eli Degibri אלי דג'יברי Composer
  • Kim André Arnesen Norway
  • Herbie Hancock Piano
  • Matt Garrison Jazz Fusion
  • Dave Holland Bass
  • Gringo Cardia Rio de Janeiro
  • Rosa Passos Bahia
  • Larissa Luz Singer-Songwriter
  • Casa PretaHub Cachoeira Afroempreendedorismo, Afro-Entrepreneurship
  • Tshepiso Ledwaba University of South Africa Staff
  • Ben Okri Short Stories
  • César Camargo Mariano Brazil
  • Gilad Hekselman Photographer
  • Philip Glass New York City
  • Kiko Horta Piano
  • Daedelus Berklee College of Music Faculty
  • Alexandre Vieira Contrabaixo, Double Bass
  • Richard Galliano Musette
  • Michael Pipoquinha MPB
  • Parker Ighile Multi-Cultural
  • Ravi Coltrane Composer
  • Askia Davis Sr. Writer
  • Carlinhos Brown Multi-Instrumentalist
  • The Rheingans Sisters England
  • Adonis Rose New Orleans
  • Angelique Kidjo Africa
  • John Harle Guildhall School of Music & Drama Faculty
  • Horácio Reis Choro
  • Lula Galvão Choro
  • Restaurante Axego Restaurant
  • Helen Shaw Theater Critic
  • Wayne Krantz Jazz
  • Tambay Obenson Cultural Critic
  • Carwyn Ellis Rio de Janeiro
  • Jonathon Grasse Minas Gerais
  • Philip Sherburne DJ
  • Edil Pacheco Salvador
  • Malin Fezehai Eritria
  • Chico César Singer-Songwriter
  • Larnell Lewis Jazz, Funk, R&B, Soul
  • Matt Glaser Berklee College of Music Faculty
  • J. Velloso MPB
  • Jeremy Pelt New York City
  • Chico César São Paulo
  • Arthur Jafa Filmmaker
  • Amy K. Bormet Jazz
  • Carwyn Ellis Alternative Indie
  • Chris Speed Avant-Garde Jazz
  • Bob Mintzer Big Band Leader
  • Anat Cohen Israel
  • Itamar Vieira Júnior Novelist
  • Daniel Jobim Singer-Songwriter
  • Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah Trumpet
  • Kiya Tabassian كيا طبسيان Iran
  • Georgia Anne Muldrow Singer-Songwriter
  • Andrew Dickson Art Critic
  • Tommy Orange Writer
  • Echezonachukwu Nduka Piano
  • Vânia Oliveira Dança Afro
  • Gonzalo Rubalcaba University of Miami Frost School of Music Faculty
  • Tank and the Bangas Hip-Hop
  • Paulão 7 Cordas Cavaquinho
  • Larnell Lewis Toronto
  • António Zambujo Fado
  • Amitava Kumar Writer
  • Patty Kiss Salvador
  • David Fiuczynski Multi-Cultural
  • Samba de Nicinha Samba de Roda
  • Maria Drell Bahia
  • Dezron Douglas New York City
  • Jack Talty Record Label Owner
  • Anna Webber Avant-Garde Jazz
  • Yosvany Terry Saxophone
  • Marc Ribot Free Jazz
  • Greg Osby Jazz
  • Jorge Washington Cultural Producer
  • Tom Bergeron Niterói, Rio de Janeiro
  • Carlos Henriquez Northwestern University Faculty
  • Jennifer Koh Contemporary Classical Music
  • Lolis Eric Elie New Orleans
  • Custódio Castelo Produtor de Discos, Record Producer
  • Sharita Towne Video Artist
  • Philip Ó Ceallaigh Translator
  • Rissi Palmer Durham, North Carolina
  • Avishai Cohen אבישי כה Bass
  • Mou Brasil Jazz Brasileiro, Brazilian Jazz
  • Arthur Verocai Arranger
  • Kenny Garrett Multi-Cultural
  • Jerry Douglas Americana
  • Bukassa Kabengele Brazil
  • Ronell Johnson Trombone
  • VJ Gabiru Salvador
  • Guga Stroeter Record Producer
  • Saileog Ní Cheannabháin Sean-Nós Singer
  • Bebê Kramer Brazil
  • Terreon Gully Drums
  • Ivan Bastos Salvador
  • Martin Koenig Folk & Traditional
  • Magda Giannikou Piano

 'mātriks / "source" / from "mater", Latin for "mother"
We're a real mother for ya!

 

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