Salvador Bahia Brazil Matrix

The Matrix Online Network is a platform conceived & built in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil and upon which people & entities across the creative economic universe can 1) present in variegated detail what it is they do, 2) recommend others, and 3) be recommended by others. Integrated by recommendations and governed by the metamathematical magic of the small world phenomenon (popularly called "6 degrees of separation"), matrix pages tend to discoverable proximity to all other matrix pages, no matter how widely separated in location, society, and degree of fame. From Quincy Jones to celestial samba in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro to you, all is closer than we imagine.

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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.

 

  • Brad Ogbonna
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  • Name: Brad Ogbonna
  • City/Place: Brooklyn, NY
  • Country: United States
  • Hometown: Minneapolis, MN

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  • Bio: Brad is a photographer and filmmaker based in Brooklyn, New York.

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  • ▶ Article: http://www.pdns30.com//gallery/2018/index.php
  • ▶ Article 2: http://mspmag.com/arts-and-culture/how-a-nigerian-american-from-roseville-ended-up-at-the-obama-portrait-unveiling/
  • ▶ Article 3: http://www.thefader.com/2016/10/03/brad-ogbonna-photographer-interview

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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 Brad Ogbonna:

  • 1 Brooklyn, NY
  • 1 Filmmaker
  • 1 Photographer

Nodes below are randomly generated. Reload for a different stack.

  • Case Watkins James Madison University Faculty
  • Jim Farber Music Critic
  • Cut Worms Brooklyn, NY
  • Dani Deahl DJ
  • Mika Mutti Los Angeles
  • Randy Lewis Writer
  • Clint Smith Black American Culture & History
  • Jovino Santos Neto Piano
  • Joe Lovano Composer
  • Woody Mann Writer
  • Deesha Philyaw Literary Critic
  • Donna Leon Crime Novels
  • Aderbal Duarte Salvador
  • Germán Garmendia YouTuber
  • MicroTrio de Ivan Huol Bahia
  • Mulatu Astatke Ethio-Jazz
  • Rema Namakula African Music
  • Christian McBride Bass
  • Alicia Svigals Composer
  • Matt Ulery Chicago
  • Paulinho da Viola Singer-Songwriter
  • Johnny Lorenz Essayist
  • Brenda Navarrete Havana
  • Renee Rosnes Composer
  • Bianca Gismonti Composer
  • Tatiana Campêlo Choreographer
  • Doug Adair TechBeat
  • Corey Henry Tremé
  • Sarah Jarosz Americana
  • Jason Parham Editor
  • Gonzalo Rubalcaba Afro-Cuban Jazz
  • Christopher Seneca New York City
  • Bob Reynolds Jazz
  • Casa Preta Teatro, Theater
  • 小野リサ Lisa Ono Guitar
  • Caetano Veloso MPB
  • Dan Nimmer Composer
  • Alexandre Vieira Bahia
  • Melanie Charles Soul
  • Fernando César Violão de Sete
  • Tyler Gordon Artist
  • Aderbal Duarte Guitar
  • Dadá do Trombone Bossa Nova
  • Barney McAll Composer
  • Glória Bomfim Rio de Janeiro
  • Ryan Keberle R&B
  • Walter Pinheiro Frevo
  • Dale Barlow Composer
  • Bobby Vega R&B
  • Cory Wong R&B
  • Cassie Kinoshi Bandleader
  • Moreno Veloso MPB
  • James Strauss Classical Music
  • Milton Primo Brazil
  • João Rabello Classical Guitar
  • Tito Jackson Pop
  • Jason Moran New England Conservatory of Music Faculty
  • Casa da Mãe Choro
  • Léo Rodrigues Choro
  • João Callado Samba
  • Damon Albarn Theater Composer
  • Mike Moreno New York City
  • Kiko Loureiro Author
  • Gary Clark Jr. R&B
  • Carwyn Ellis Multi-Cultural
  • Neo Muyanga Writer
  • Simon Brook Writer
  • Tom Bergeron Jazz
  • Jon Cowherd Composer
  • Keyon Harrold R&B
  • Marcus J. Moore Writer
  • Giba Conceição Salvador
  • Larissa Luz Brazil
  • Melanie Charles Experimental Music
  • Camille Thurman Bass Clarinet
  • Spok Frevo Orquestra Frevo
  • Billy O'Shea Copenhagen
  • Shankar Mahadevan India
  • Andrew Huang Multi-Instrumentalist
  • John Waters Ireland
  • Miguel Zenón Saxophone
  • Chris Potter Saxophone
  • Ron Miles Trumpet
  • Ron Miles Jazz
  • Rita Batista Jornalista, Journalist
  • Nora Fischer Classical Music
  • Jamael Dean Los Angeles
  • Stan Douglas Photographer
  • Henrique Araújo Cavaquinho
  • Monarco Samba
  • James Carter Clarinet
  • James Sullivan Writer
  • John Archibald Journalist
  • Teresa Cristina Brazil
  • Adriene Cruz Tapestry Crochet
  • Moses Boyd England
  • VJ Gabiru DJ
  • Pasquale Grasso Guitar
  • Ana Luisa Barral Choro
  • Zé Katimba Cavaquinho
  • Jared Jackson Short Stories
  • Danilo Caymmi Film Scores
  • Fernando César Composer
  • Matthew Guerrieri Washington, D.C.
  • Azi Schwartz החזן עזי שוורץ New York City
  • Ron Miles Composer
  • David Byrne Painter
  • Marc-André Hamelin Boston
  • Nigel Hall Singer
  • Marcus Teixeira EMESP Tom Jobim Faculty
  • Nubya Garcia London
  • Jam no MAM Jam Sessions
  • Juliana Ribeiro MPB
  • Raelis Vasquez Drawings
  • PATRICKTOR4 Bahia
  • Serwah Attafuah Graphic Designer
  • Vincent Valdez Mexican-American Art
  • Aurino de Jesus Chula
  • Rowney Scott Faculdade da UFBA, Federal University of Bahia Faculty
  • Shoshana Zuboff Author
  • David Binney Composer
  • Saul Williams Poet
  • Ellie Kurttz Photographer
  • Gian Correa Guitar
  • Keith Jarrett Composer
  • Dhafer Youssef ظافر يوسف Multi-Cultural
  • Romero Lubambo Brazil
  • Keyon Harrold Composer
  • Katuka Africanidades Editora de Livros, Book Publisher
  • Goran Krivokapić Classical Guitar
  • Kenny Garrett Multi-Cultural
  • Lavinia Meijer Classical Music
  • Aaron Parks Jazz
  • Yoruba Andabo Havana
  • Harvey G. Cohen King's College London Faculty
  • Uli Geissendoerfer Composer
  • Lynn Nottage Playwright
  • Geovanna Costa Cantora-Compositora, Singer-Songwriter
  • Doug Adair Americana
  • Luizinho Assis Jazz
  • Kyle Poole Composer
  • Sarz Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Nelson Faria Author
  • Dave Weckl Drums
  • Doug Adair Braver Angels
  • Jean-Paul Bourelly Avant-Blues-Rock
  • Molly Tuttle Nashville, Tennessee
  • William Skeen Baroque Cello
  • Joe Lovano Composer
  • Gabriel Geszti Acordeon, Accordion
  • Laércio de Freitas MPB
  • Vinson Cunningham New York City
  • Michael Olatuja New York City
  • Tambay Obenson Journalist
  • Ken Dossar Educator
  • Missy Mazolli New York City
  • Tambay Obenson Cultural Critic
  • Jason Reynolds Writer
  • Beeple Concert Visuals
  • Mauro Refosco Brooklyn, NY
  • Giorgi Mikadze გიორგი მიქაძე Classical Music
  • Avishai Cohen Trumpet
  • Pharoah Sanders Saxophone
  • Jamel Brinkley Short Stories
  • Menelaw Sete Salvador
  • Alex Clark Documentary Filmmaker
  • Questlove Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Pedrito Martinez Percussion
  • David Binney Los Angeles
  • Marcus Strickland Composer
  • Questlove Songwriter
  • Awadagin Pratt Classical Music
  • Ravi Coltrane Record Producer
  • Magda Giannikou Greece
  • Diana Fuentes Havana
  • Martin Fondse Arranger
  • Lenna Bahule Brazil
  • China Moses Voiceovers
  • Adriana L. Dutra Documentary Filmmaker
  • Isaias Rabelo Piano
  • Luiz Santos Drums
  • Imani Winds Multi-Cultural
  • Guillermo Klein Jazz
  • Mona Lisa Saloy New Orleans
  • Henrique Araújo Escola de Choro de São Paulo Faculty
  • Norah Jones Piano
  • J. Cunha Bahia
  • Danilo Caymmi Record Producer
  • Anders Osborne Blues
  • Deesha Philyaw Columnist
  • Corey Henry Funk
  • Jubu Smith Bass
  • Fábio Zanon Royal Academy of Music Visiting Professor
  • John Santos Puerto Rico
  • Aaron Goldberg Piano
  • Kiko Freitas Drums
  • Frank Olinsky Artist
  • Gamelan Sekar Jaya Bali
  • Jennifer Koh Violin
  • Elio Villafranca Cuba
  • Victor Gama Composer
  • Ronell Johnson Second Line
  • Priscila Castro Música Afro-Amazônica, Afro-Amazonian Music
  • Nathan Amaral Violin
  • Stephanie Foden Bahia
  • Adriano Giffoni Author
  • Jubu Smith Blues
  • Manuel Alejandro Rangel Caracas
  • Hamilton de Holanda Bandolim
  • Mestrinho Singer-Songwriter
  • Doug Wamble Composer
  • Mateus Aleluia Candomblé
  • Nublu Istanbul
  • Marisa Monte Singer-Songwriter
  • Nate Chinen Jazz
  • Melanie Charles Actress
  • Rick Beato Recording Engineer
  • Jessie Montgomery Composer
  • Grant Rindner Journalist
  • Bill Hinchberger Journalist
  • Scott Devine YouTuber
  • Giorgi Mikadze გიორგი მიქაძე New York City
  • Paulo Aragão Samba
  • Antonio García Jazz
  • Otmaro Ruiz Piano
  • Vijay Iyer Composer
  • MonoNeon Experimental Music
  • Stacy Dillard R&B
  • Luis Perdomo Composer
  • Roberto Fonseca Composer
  • Andy Kershaw DJ
  • Philip Cashian London
  • Shemekia Copeland Chicago
  • Ceumar Coelho Minas Gerais
  • Afrocidade Bahia
  • Márcio Bahia Brazil
  • Arifan Junior Samba
  • Lenine Singer-Songwriter
  • Alfredo Rodriguez Cuba
  • Brandon Seabrook Avant-Garde Jazz
  • Gabriel Policarpo Ritmista
  • Sahba Aminikia Contemporary Classical Music
  • King Britt Live Producer
  • Gringo Cardia Video Director
  • Mauro Senise Rio de Janeiro
  • Ben Wendel Composer
  • Karim Ziad North African Music
  • Mingus Big Band Big Band
  • Sandro Albert Record Producer
  • Mauro Senise Composer
  • Shemekia Copeland Blues
  • Bejun Mehta Opera
  • Tonynho dos Santos Flugelhorn
  • Nubya Garcia England
  • Dave Holland Bass
  • Maria Rita Bossa Nova
  • Gord Sheard Multi-Cultural
  • Luciana Souza Singer
  • Ron Miles MSU Denver Music Faculty
  • Dadá do Trombone Bossa Nova
  • Áurea Martins Brasil, Brazil
  • Edivaldo Bolagi Produtor Musical, Music Producer
  • Congahead World Music
  • Justin Kauflin Jazz
  • Ryan Keberle Manhattan School of Music Faculty
  • Yasmin Williams Singer-Songwriter
  • Simon Shaheen Composer
  • David Chesky Jazz
  • Jake Oleson Brooklyn, NY
  • Frank Beacham Videographer
  • Magary Lord Semba
  • David Simon Journalist
  • Margaret Renkl Journalist
  • Julie Fowlis Traditional Scottish Music
  • Anthony Hervey New York City
  • Antonio Sánchez Composer
  • Yelaine Rodriguez Multimedia Art
  • Gregory Tardy Clarinet
  • Jupiter Bokondji Kinshasa
  • David Fiuczynski Composer
  • John Santos San Francisco State University Faculty
  • June Yamagishi Jazz
  • Jeff Tang Brooklyn, NY
  • Horácio Reis Violão Clássico Brasileiro, Brazilian Classical Guitar
  • Cassandra Osei Historian of Latin America & African Diaspora
  • Loli Molina Buenos Aires
  • João Parahyba Percussion
  • Amit Chatterjee Indian Classical Music
  • Steve Coleman Multi-Cultural
  • John Patrick Murphy Forró
  • Wolfgang Muthspiel Guitar
  • Caroline Shaw NYU Faculty
  • Cleber Augusto Poet
  • Brett Kern West Virginia
  • Darren Barrett Flugelhorn
  • Oscar Bolão Percussion
  • Carlos Malta Pife
  • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Writer
  • The Brain Cloud Americana
  • Joshua Abrams Film Scores
  • Allen Morrison Jazz History Lecturer
  • Plamen Karadonev Accordion
  • Fidelis Melo Assessor de Comunicação, Public Relations
  • Richie Barshay Drums
  • Scott Yanow Music Critic
  • Jon Cowherd Piano
  • Michael Doucet Cajun Music
  • Jovino Santos Neto Flute
  • Beats Antique World Fusion
  • Corey Ledet Creole Music
  • Archie Shepp Composer
  • John Morrison Sample-Flipper
  • Roy Ayers Composer
  • Seth Swingle Multi-Cultural
  • Saileog Ní Cheannabháin Theater Composer
  • Márcia Short Cantora, Singer
  • Tedy Santana Salvador
  • Nahre Sol Classical Music
  • Kim André Arnesen Oslo
  • The Bayou Mosquitos Tex-Mex
  • Leci Brandão Surdo
  • Catherine Russell New York City
  • Mike Moreno Aaron Copeland School of Music Faculty
  • Irmandade da Boa Morte Cachoeira
  • Ariane Astrid Atodji Yaoundé
  • Shamarr Allen Trumpet
  • Dan Trueman New Instrument Creator
  • Louis Michot Cajun Music
  • Colson Whitehead Writer
  • Adam Neely YouTuber
  • Craig Ross Record Producer
  • Mono/Poly Experimental Music
  • Bruce Molsky Banjo Instruction
  • Anthony Hervey Actor
  • Dave Jordan Roots Rock
  • Jeffrey Boakye Writer
  • Bob Telson Piano
  • Nelson Faria Brazilian Jazz
  • Tito Jackson Soul
  • Fantastic Negrito Blues
  • Mike Moreno Composer
  • Bobby Vega Rock 'n' Roll
  • Julia Alvarez Latin American Literature
  • Luciana Souza Brazil
  • Derek Sivers Singer-Songwriter
  • Martín Sued Buenos Aires
  • Tab Benoit Music Venue Owner
  • Kermit Ruffins Trumpet
  • Frank Negrão Salvador
  • Mestre Barachinha Nazaré da Mata

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

 

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