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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...

 

It 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..."

 

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.

 

  • Byron Thomas
    I RECOMMEND

CURATION

  • from this node by: Matrix+

This is the Universe of

  • Name: Byron Thomas
  • City/Place: EVERYWHERE
  • Country: United States

Life & Work

  • Bio: Byron Thomas is a keyboardist, pianist, music director, and programmer.

    Among much else he works with Lana Del Rey and Alicia Keys.

Media | Markets

  • ▶ Twitter: itsMr_Thomas

Clips (more may be added)

  • 5:18
    Lana Del Rey Introduces Band Members/Tour Mates
    By Byron Thomas
    423 views
  • 1:16
    Lana Del Rey singing "Cry Me a River" at the Chateau Marmont
    By Byron Thomas
    127 views
Previous
Next

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 Byron Thomas:

  • 1 Keyboards
  • 1 Music Director
  • 1 Piano
  • 1 Programmer
  • Pedro Martins Jazz
  • 小野リサ Lisa Ono Jazz
  • Nabih Bulos Los Angeles
  • Paulo César Figueiredo Produtor Cultural, Cultural Producer
  • Jakub Józef Orliński Opera
  • Henrique Araújo Cavaquinho
  • David Sacks Jazz
  • Afrocidade Hip-Hop
  • Ed O'Brien London
  • Rodrigo Amarante MPB
  • Vanessa Moreno Brazil
  • John McWhorter Author
  • Elizabeth LaPrelle Appalachian Music
  • Michael Janisch Funk
  • Milford Graves Composer
  • Luizinho Assis Brasil, Brazil
  • Maia Sharp Guitar
  • Bing Futch Americana
  • John McLaughlin Composer
  • Rayendra Sunito Record Producer
  • Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Music Producer
  • Bai Kamara Jr. Singer-Songwriter
  • Rick Beato Atlanta, Georgia
  • Tambay Obenson Writer
  • Greg Osby Saxophone
  • Camille Thurman New York City
  • Kim André Arnesen Norway
  • Bernardo Aguiar Rio de Janeiro
  • Darren Barrett R&B
  • Dadi Carvalho Rio de Janeiro
  • Derrick Hodge Record Producer
  • Matt Garrison Jazz Fusion
  • Joel Best London
  • Vincent Valdez Drawings
  • Christian McBride Bass
  • Oscar Bolão Rio de Janeiro
  • Zebrinha Cineasta Documentarista, Documentary Filmmaker
  • Mônica Salmaso MPB
  • Darius Mans Economist
  • Nubya Garcia England
  • Varijashree Venugopal Jazz
  • Kevin Hays Singer-Songwriter
  • Dan Tyminski Nashville, Tennessee
  • Tank and the Bangas Hip-Hop
  • Arto Tunçboyacıyan Duduk
  • Custódio Castelo Fado
  • Jorge Pita Bahia
  • César Orozco Piano
  • Jim Lauderdale Nashville, Tennessee
  • Jimmy Duck Holmes Singer-Songwriter
  • Cláudio Jorge Brazil
  • Anthony Hervey Actor
  • Marcus Miller Bass
  • Mona Lisa Saloy Writer
  • Papa Mali New Orleans
  • Tierra Whack Philadelphia
  • Myles Weinstein Percussion
  • Weedie Braimah Ropeadope
  • Rotem Sivan New York City
  • Eli Teplin Los Angeles
  • Tigran Hamasyan Armenia
  • Vânia Oliveira Coreógrafa, Choreographer
  • Jon Otis Drums
  • Jimmy Cliff Singer-Songwriter
  • David Sacks Jazz
  • Mart'nália Rio de Janeiro
  • Irma Thomas Soul
  • Arthur L.A. Buckner YouTuber
  • Jam no MAM Jazz Brasileiro, Brazilian Jazz
  • James Martins Crítico Cultural, Cultural Critic
  • Tiganá Santana Salvador
  • Oteil Burbridge Funk
  • Inaicyra Falcão Cantora, Singer
  • Miles Mosley Double Bass
  • John Francis Flynn Rough Trade, River Lea
  • Gabrielzinho do Irajá Composer
  • Gord Sheard Ethnomusicologist
  • Sunna Gunnlaugs Jazz
  • Kimmo Pohjonen Helsinki
  • David Sacks Latin Jazz
  • Michael Doucet Zydeco
  • Ben Wolfe New York City
  • Adenor Gondim Bahia
  • Stephanie Jones Classical Guitar
  • Joel Best London
  • Turíbio Santos Choro
  • Jocelyn Ramirez Online Cooking Classes
  • Django Bates Theater Composer
  • Keyon Harrold Hip-Hop
  • Hilton Schilder Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Ben Okri Novelist
  • David Binney Los Angeles
  • Jon Faddis Composer
  • Edil Pacheco Record Producer
  • Paulinho da Viola Brazil
  • Carrtoons Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Mestre Barachinha Pernambuco
  • Jack Talty Record Producer
  • Gonzalo Rubalcaba Composer
  • Las Cafeteras Son Jarocho
  • Jonga Cunha Salvador
  • Mary Halvorson Avant-Garde Jazz
  • Glória Bomfim Samba
  • Mateus Aleluia Filho Cantor-Compositor, Singer-Songwriter
  • Ceumar Coelho Singer-Songwriter
  • Munir Hossn Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Marc Cary Multi-Cultural
  • André Mehmari São Paulo
  • Luis Perdomo Composer
  • China Moses Jazz
  • Quatuor Ebène Classical Music
  • Miroslav Tadić Guitar
  • Dadá do Trombone Salvador
  • Eduardo Kobra Artista da Rua, Street Artist
  • Anoushka Shankar Sitar
  • Mike Moreno Manhattan School of Music Faculty
  • Irma Thomas R&B
  • John Zorn Record Label Owner
  • PATRICKTOR4 Bahia
  • Tab Benoit Music Venue Owner
  • Yasushi Nakamura Jazz
  • Donny McCaslin Brooklyn, NY
  • Brian Lynch Trumpet
  • Carl Joe Williams Painter
  • Fabian Almazan Record Label Owner
  • Vijay Iyer Jazz
  • Papa Mali Swamp
  • Menelaw Sete Salvador
  • Brandon Coleman Los Angeles
  • Nara Couto MPB
  • Martyn House
  • Ilê Aiyê Bahia
  • Gel Barbosa Luthier
  • Edivaldo Bolagi Brasil, Brazil
  • Pururu Mão no Couro Salvador
  • Edgar Meyer Multi-Cultural
  • THE ROOM Shibuya Shibuya
  • A-KILL Graffiti Artist
  • Stephen Guerra New York City
  • Xenia França MPB
  • Aaron Parks Ropeadope
  • Luedji Luna Singer-Songwriter
  • Gamelan Sekar Jaya Gamelan
  • Dafnis Prieto Drums
  • Oleg Fateev Amsterdam
  • Carlos Aguirre Piano
  • Gino Sorcinelli Music Production, Rapping, Sampling, Beatmaking
  • Lucio Yanel Composer
  • Ana Moura Singer
  • Mestre Nelito Chula
  • Billy O'Shea Novelist
  • Rudresh Mahanthappa Jazz
  • Otto Singer-Songwriter
  • Patricia Janečková Soprano
  • Nelson Cerqueira Bahia
  • David Bragger Mandolin Instruction
  • Barry Harris Educator
  • Daphne A. Brooks Yale Faculty
  • Horácio Reis MPB
  • Kronos Quartet Contemporary Classical Music
  • Imanuel Marcus War Correspondent
  • Alessandro Penezzi Guitar
  • Alain Mabanckou Writer
  • Paul McKenna Scottish Traditional Music
  • Plamen Karadonev Balkan Music
  • Gustavo Di Dalva Brazil
  • Pasquale Grasso Guitar Instruction, Master Classes
  • Cedric Watson Cajun Music
  • Sombrinha Samba
  • Tyshawn Sorey Avant-Garde Jazz
  • Regina Carter Violin
  • Daniel Jobim Singer-Songwriter
  • Kiko Loureiro Heavy Metal
  • Tonynho dos Santos Música Afro-Baiana, Afro-Bahian Music
  • Tonynho dos Santos Flugelhorn
  • Ivan Sacerdote Bahia
  • Nicholas Daniel Music Director
  • Karim Ziad Paris, France
  • Frank Negrão Blues
  • Eddie Palmieri Composer
  • Calypso Rose Singer-Songwriter
  • Diedrich Diederichsen Cultural Critic
  • Emicida Brazil
  • Cécile Fromont Writer
  • Jeremy Danneman Jazz
  • Brenda Navarrete Percussion
  • Jaques Morelenbaum Songwriter
  • John Medeski Experimental Music
  • Marcela Valdes Journalist
  • James Gadson Drums
  • Sam Eastmond Jazz, Klezmer, Jewish, World, Downtown
  • Anna Webber Brooklyn, NY
  • Diedrich Diederichsen Academy of Fine Arts Vienna Faculty
  • Vijay Iyer Composer
  • Byron Thomas Music Director
  • Missy Mazolli Classical Music
  • André Muato 8 String Guitar
  • Chano Domínguez Composer
  • Andra Day Singer-Songwriter
  • Antônio Pereira Amazonas
  • Helen Shaw New York City
  • Lenine Brazil
  • Jakub Knera Poland
  • Hamilton de Holanda Rio de Janeiro
  • Justin Stanton Trumpet
  • Isaiah Sharkey Composer
  • Patty Kiss Bahia
  • Karim Ziad Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Beth Bahia Cohen Kabak Kemane
  • Joshua White Piano
  • David Castillo Trumpet
  • Dwandalyn Reece Washington, D.C.
  • Keshav Batish Multi-Cultural
  • Eric Galm Caribbean Studies
  • Walter Ribeiro, Jr. Singer-Songwriter
  • Andrew Dickson Art Critic
  • Shaun Martin Hip-Hop
  • Justin Kauflin New York City
  • David Ritz Los Angeles
  • Imanuel Marcus Journalist
  • Fernando Brandão Berklee College of Music Faculty
  • Arthur Verocai Singer-Songwriter
  • Terrace Martin Record Label Owner
  • Buck Jones Brasil, Brazil
  • Goran Krivokapić Classical Guitar
  • Dafnis Prieto University of Miami Frost School of Music Faculty
  • Léo Rodrigues Côco
  • Don Byron Dance Performance Scores
  • Ivan Lins Rio de Janeiro
  • Maia Sharp Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Vijay Gupta Contemporary Classical Music
  • Vincent Valdez Printmaker
  • Taylor Ashton Visual Artist
  • Robert Randolph Soul
  • King Britt Live Producer
  • Geraldine Inoa Playwright
  • Nubya Garcia Jazz
  • Doug Adair Country
  • Clarice Assad Piano
  • Lucía Fumero Composer
  • Zeca Pagodinho Brazil
  • Jeff Preiss Producer
  • James Brandon Lewis Jazz
  • Linda May Han Oh Jazz
  • Zebrinha Diretor Artístico, Artistic Director
  • Nancy Viégas Fotógrafa, Photographer
  • Roque Ferreira Chula
  • Giovanni Russonello Electoral Politics
  • Jake Oleson Filmmaker
  • James Shapiro Writer
  • Asanda Mqiki Afro-Soul
  • Richard Rothstein Author
  • Adanya Dunn Canada
  • Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram Guitar
  • Brian Lynch Latin Jazz
  • María Grand R&B
  • Musa Okwonga Rapper
  • Antonio García Arranger
  • Tab Benoit Baton Rouge
  • Gord Sheard MPB
  • Donald Vega Piano Instruction
  • McCoy Mrubata Saxophone
  • Fábio Zanon Royal Academy of Music Visiting Professor
  • Danilo Brito Brazil
  • Gilad Hekselman Jazz
  • Lilli Lewis Americana
  • Ronaldo Bastos Brazil
  • Saileog Ní Cheannabháin Sean-Nós Singer
  • Dudu Reis Bahia
  • Adonis Rose Percussion
  • Gilmar Gomes Singer-Songwriter
  • John Doyle Dublin
  • OVANA Xangongo
  • Malin Fezehai Photographer
  • Tony Austin Television Scores
  • Gerald Clayton Los Angeles
  • Keita Ogawa Percussion Samples
  • Clint Smith Poet
  • Andrew Huang Toronto
  • G. Thomas Allen Singer-Songwriter
  • Philipp Meyer Novelist
  • Paulão 7 Cordas Violão de Sete
  • Perumal Murugan Tamil Literature
  • Johnny Lorenz Essayist
  • Rosângela Silvestre Brazil
  • Kiko Horta Piano
  • Joel Best Sculptor
  • Chris Dave Composer
  • Jonga Cunha Bahia
  • Thiago Espírito Santo Jazz
  • Paulão 7 Cordas Music Director
  • Angelique Kidjo Africa
  • Chris Boardman Orchestrator
  • Bob Lanzetti Composer
  • Tony Kofi Saxophone
  • Thomas Àdes Conductor
  • Jussara Silveira Samba
  • Jill Scott Jazz
  • Aindrias de Staic Cainteoir Gaeilge
  • Alex Conde Flamenco
  • Eddie Palmieri Latin Funk
  • Allen Morrison Songwriter
  • Lula Galvão Brazilian Jazz
  • Third Coast Percussion Chicago, Illinois
  • Inon Barnatan New York City
  • Walmir Lima Salvador
  • Ana Luisa Barral Mandolin
  • Dadi Carvalho Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Niwel Tsumbu Guitar
  • Colm Tóibín Literary Critic
  • Mingo Araújo Percussion
  • Mateus Alves Bass
  • Asma Khalid Journalist
  • Eliane Elias New York City
  • Yola Singer-Songwriter
  • Bodek Janke Germany
  • João do Boi Brazil
  • Mariana Zwarg Universal Music
  • Safy-Hallan Farah Somalia
  • Fernando César Brasília
  • Lula Galvão Guitar
  • Ron Miles Jazz
  • Anouar Brahem Tunisia
  • Guillermo Klein Jazz
  • Catherine Bent Jazz
  • Robert Glasper Jazz
  • Tatiana Eva-Marie Swing
  • Donna Leon Crime Novels
  • Jorge Glem Venezuela
  • Matthew Guerrieri Music Writer
  • Munir Hossn Brazil
  • Dorian Concept Record Producer
  • Manolo Badrena Afro-Latin Music
  • Fred P Deep House
  • Paquito D'Rivera Saxophone
  • Cristovão Bastos Choro
  • Avishai Cohen New York City
  • Brandon Coleman Composer
  • Meklit Hadero Singer-Songwriter
  • Lolis Eric Elie Journalist
  • Lina Lapelytė Vilnius
  • Michael Doucet Accordion
  • Yvette Holzwarth Violin
  • Jorge Alfredo Salvador
  • Hisham Mayet Filmmaker
  • King Britt Record Producer
  • Renee Rosnes Composer
  • Şener Özmen Turkey
  • Paul McKenna Glasgow
  • Mateus Aleluia Filho Salvador

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

 

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