CURATION
-
from this page:
by Matrix
Network Node
-
Name:
Cyro Baptista
-
City/Place:
New York City
-
Country:
United States
-
Hometown:
São Paulo, Brazil
Life
-
Bio:
Cyro Baptista's list of credits resembles a "Who’s Who" of contemporary music. He embarked on extensive tours with Yo-Yo Ma's Brazil Project, Trey Anastasio's Band (of Phish), John Zorn's Electric Masada, Herbie Hancock's Grammy-winning "Gershwin’s World," as well as Sting and Paul Simon's "Rhythm of the Saints."
His collaboration spans a diverse spectrum of artists, including David Byrne, Kathleen Battle, Gato Barbieri, Dr. John, Brian Eno, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Robert Palmer, Melissa Etheridge, Laurie Anderson, John Zorn, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Michael Tilson Thomas, Daniel Barenboin, Bobby McFerrin, Wynton Marsalis, Yo-Yo-Ma, Medeski Martin & Wood, Spyro Gyra, Trey Anastasio from Phish, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Santana, and Sting. Additionally, he has worked with esteemed Brazilian musicians such as Milton Nascimento, Caetano Veloso, Ivan Lins, Marisa Monte, and Nana Vasconcelos.
Cyro has contributed to five Grammy-winning albums: Yo-Yo-Ma’s "Obrigado Brasil," Cassandra Wilson's "Blue Light 'Til Dawn," The Chieftains' "Santiago," Ivan Lins' "A Love Affair," and Herbie Hancock's highly acclaimed "Gershwin's World." His main project, Beat the Donkey, was the subject of a documentary recorded for the prestigious WGBH-TV Boston program 'La Plaza,' which won 3 New England EMMY Awards in 2002 and continues to be broadcasted on PBS stations nationwide. Cyro collaborated with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra for a modern jazz concert celebrating Brazilian Carnaval.
The debut album of Beat the Donkey, released by TZADIK, was selected by The New York Times as one of the ten best alternative albums of 2002. Readers of JAZZIZ and DRUM magazine voted it as the "Best Brazilian CD of the Year" and named Cyro "Best Percussionist of 2002." Downbeat Magazine's 51st annual critics' poll recognized Cyro as a "Rising Star" in percussion.
His first solo recording, Villa Lobos/Vira Loucos, which intertwines his compositions with those of the brilliant Brazilian composer Heitor Villa Lobos, has been hailed as "the most courageous, bright, funny, dramatic, and imaginative work in recent memory."
Blue Note Records released Supergenerous, a duo CD recorded with guitarist Kevin Breit (KD Lang, Cassandra Wilson). Billboard described Supergenerous as "pure aural pleasure," while the Washington Post praised it as "a marvelous debut that manages to feel outside and intimate at the same time."
Beyond all this, Cyro has been involved in composing music for Nickelodeon's children's television programming.
Português:
Os créditos de Cyro Baptista se assemelham a um "Quem é Quem" da música contemporânea. Ele fez extensas turnês com o Projeto Brasil de Yo-Yo Ma, a Banda de Trey Anastasio (do Phish), o Electric Masada de John Zorn, o premiado com o Grammy "Gershwin’s World" de Herbie Hancock e "Rhythm of the Saints" de Sting e Paul Simon.
Sua colaboração abrange um amplo espectro de artistas, incluindo David Byrne, Kathleen Battle, Gato Barbieri, Dr. John, Brian Eno, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Robert Palmer, Melissa Etheridge, Laurie Anderson, John Zorn, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Michael Tilson Thomas, Daniel Barenboin, Bobby McFerrin, Wynton Marsalis, Yo-Yo-Ma, Medeski Martin & Wood, Spyro Gyra, Trey Anastasio do Phish, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Santana e Sting. Além disso, ele trabalhou com respeitados músicos brasileiros como Milton Nascimento, Caetano Veloso, Ivan Lins, Marisa Monte e Nana Vasconcelos.
Cyro contribuiu para cinco álbuns vencedores do Grammy: "Obrigado Brasil" de Yo-Yo-Ma, "Blue Light 'Til Dawn" de Cassandra Wilson, "Santiago" de The Chieftains, "A Love Affair" de Ivan Lins e o altamente aclamado "Gershwin's World" de Herbie Hancock. Seu principal projeto, Beat the Donkey, foi tema de um documentário gravado para o prestigiado programa 'La Plaza' da WGBH-TV Boston, que ganhou 3 Prêmios Emmy do Novo Inglaterra em 2002 e continua sendo transmitido em estações da PBS em todo o país. Cyro colaborou com Wynton Marsalis e a Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra para um concerto de jazz moderno em celebração ao Carnaval brasileiro.
O álbum de estreia do Beat the Donkey, lançado pela TZADIK, foi selecionado pelo The New York Times como um dos dez melhores álbuns alternativos de 2002. Os leitores das revistas JAZZIZ e DRUM votaram-no como o "Melhor CD Brasileiro do Ano" e nomearam Cyro como "Melhor Percussionista de 2002". A pesquisa anual de críticos da revista Downbeat Magazine reconheceu Cyro como uma "Estrela em Ascensão" na percussão.
Sua primeira gravação solo, Villa Lobos/Vira Loucos, que entrelaça suas composições com as do brilhante compositor brasileiro Heitor Villa Lobos, foi aclamada como "o trabalho mais corajoso, brilhante, engraçado, dramático e imaginativo em memória recente".
A Blue Note Records lançou Supergenerous, um CD em duo gravado com o guitarrista Kevin Breit (KD Lang, Cassandra Wilson). A Billboard descreveu Supergenerous como "puro prazer auditivo", enquanto o Washington Post o elogiou como "uma estreia maravilhosa que consegue ser externa e íntima ao mesmo tempo".
Além disso, Cyro esteve envolvido na composição de música para a programação infantil da Nickelodeon.
Clips (more may be added)
The Integrated Global Creative Economy
Wolfram Mathematics
Bahia was final port-of-call for more enslaved human beings than any other place on earth throughout all of human history...refuge for Sephardim fleeing the Inquisition...Indigenous both apart and subsumed into a sociocultural matrix which is all of these: a small-world matrix (see Wolfram). Human society, the billions of us, is small-world. Neural structures for human memory are small-world. This technological matrix positioning creators around the world within reach of each other and the entire planet is able to do so because it is also small-world...
In small worlds great things are possible.
Alicia Svigals
"Thanks, this is a brilliant idea!!"
—Alicia Svigals (NEW YORK CITY): Apotheosis of klezmer violinists
"I'm truly thankful ... Sohlangana ngokuzayo :)"
—Nduduzo Makhathini (JOHANNESBURG): piano, Blue Note recording artist
"Dear Sparrow: I am thrilled to receive your email! Thank you for including me in this wonderful matrix."
—Susan Rogers (BOSTON): Director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory ... Former personal recording engineer for Prince; "Purple Rain", "Sign o' the Times", "Around the World in a Day"
"Dear Sparrow, Many thanks for this – I am touched!"
—Julian Lloyd Webber (LONDON): Premier cellist in UK; brother of Andrew (Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Phantom of the Opera...)
"This is super impressive work ! Congratulations ! Thanks for including me :)))"
—Clarice Assad (RIO DE JANEIRO/CHICAGO): Pianist and composer with works performed by Yo Yo Ma and orchestras around the world
"We appreciate you including Kamasi in the matrix, Sparrow."
—Banch Abegaze (LOS ANGELES): manager, Kamasi Washington
"Thanks! It looks great!....I didn't write 'Cantaloupe Island' though...Herbie Hancock did! Great Page though, well done! best, Randy"
"Very nice! Thank you for this. Warmest regards and wishing much success for the project! Matt"
—Son of Jimmy Garrison (bass for John Coltrane, Bill Evans...); plays with Herbie Hancock and other greats...
Dear friends & colleagues,

Having arrived in Salvador 13 years earlier, I opened a record shop in 2005 in order to create an outlet to the wider world for Bahian musicians, many of them magisterial but unknown.
David Dye & Kim Junod for NPR found us (above), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (he's a huge jazz fan), David Byrne, Oscar Castro-Neves... Spike Lee walked past the place while I was sitting on the stoop across the street drinking beer and listening to samba from the speaker in the window...
But we weren't exactly easy for the world-at-large to get to. So in order to extend the place's ethos I transformed the site associated with it into a network wherein Brazilian musicians I knew would recommend other Brazilian musicians, who would recommend others...
And as I anticipated, the chalky hand of God-as-mathematician intervened: In human society — per the small-world phenomenon — most of the billions of us on earth are within some 6 or fewer degrees of each other. Likewise, within a network of interlinked artists as I've described above, most of these artists will in the same manner be at most a handful of steps away from each other.
So then, all that's necessary to put the Bahians and other Brazilians within possible purview of the wide wide world is to include them among a wide wide range of artists around that world.
If, for example, Quincy Jones is inside the matrix (people who have passed are not removed), then anybody on his page — whether they be accessing from a campus in L.A., a pub in Dublin, a shebeen in Cape Town, a tent in Mongolia — will be close, transitable steps away from Raymundo Sodré, even if they know nothing of Brazil and are unaware that Sodré sings/dances upon this planet. Sodré, having been knocked from the perch of fame and ground into anonymity by Brazil's dictatorship, has now the alternative of access to the world-at-large via recourse to the vast potential of network theory.
...to the degree that other artists et al — writers, researchers, filmmakers, painters, choreographers...everywhere — do also. Artificial intelligence not required. Real intelligence, yes.
Years ago in NYC I "rescued" unpaid royalties (performance & mechanical) for artists/composers including Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Mongo Santamaria, Jim Hall, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd (for his rights in Bob Marley compositions; Clement was Bob's first producer), Led Zeppelin, Ray Barretto, Philip Glass and many others. Aretha called me out of the blue vis-à-vis money owed by Atlantic Records. Allen Klein (managed The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles) called about money due the estate of Sam Cooke. Jerry Ragovoy (Time Is On My Side, Piece of My Heart) called just to see if he had any unpaid money floating around out there (the royalty world was a shark-filled jungle, to mangle metaphors, and I doubt it's changed).
But the pertinent client (and friend) in the present context is Earl "Speedo" Carroll, of The Cadillacs. Earl went from doo-wopping on Harlem streetcorners to chart-topping success to working as a custodian at PS 87 elementary school on the west side of Manhattan. Through all of this he never lost what made him great.
Greatness and fame are too often conflated. The former should be accessible independently of the latter.
Matrix founding creators are behind "one of 10 of the best (radios) around the world", per The Guardian.
Recent access to this matrix and Bahia are from these places (a single marker can denote multiple accesses).
Across the creative universe... For another list, reload page.
This list is random, and incomplete. Reload the page for another list.
For a complete list of everybody inside, tap TOTAL below:
TOTAL