Madhuri Vijay via Matrix

Madhuri Vijay

THE INTEGRATED GLOBAL
CREATIVE ECONOMY

promulgated by
The Brazilian Ministry of Culture

fomented by
The Bahian Secretary of Culture

fomented by
The Palmares Foundation
for the promotion of Afro-Brazilian Culture

fomented by
The National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples

I CURATE/pathways out

Network Node

Name: Madhuri Vijay
City/Place: Kula, Hawaii
Country: United States
Hometown: Bengaluru, India

CURATION

from this node by: Matrix+

Life & Work

Bio: Madhuri Vijay was born and raised in Bangalore. She is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, and her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Best American Non-Required Reading, Narrative Magazine, and Elle India, among other publications.

The Far Field is her first book.

Contact Information

Contact by Webpage: http://madhurivijay.com/contact
Management/Booking: REPRESENTATION
Claudia Ballard
WME
[email protected]

PUBLICITY
INDIA
Jaseya Fazili
[email protected]
USA
John Mark Boling
[email protected]
UK
Karen Duffy
[email protected]

Media | Markets

▶ Book Purchases: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MBGQK78/
▶ Website: http://madhurivijay.com

Quotes, Notes & Etc. NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2019 BY THE WASHINGTON POST, THE ECONOMIST, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, BOOKBROWSE, THE TIMES, BOOKLIST, THE AUSTRALIAN, AND HUDSON BOOKSELLERS

In the wake of her mother's death, Shalini, a privileged, naive and restless young woman from Bangalore, sets out for a remote Himalayan village in the troubled northern region of Kashmir. Certain that the loss of her mother is connected to the decade-old disappearance of Bashir Ahmed, a charming Kashmiri salesman who frequented her childhood home, she is determined to confront him. But upon her arrival, Shalini is brought face to face with Kashmir's politics, as well as the tangled history of the local family that takes her in. When life in the village turns volatile and old hatreds threaten to erupt into violence, Shalini finds herself forced to make a series of choices that could hold dangerous repercussions for the very people she has come to love.

PRAISE FOR THE FAR FIELD

“Consuming . . . Vijay’s command of storytelling is so supple that it’s easy to discount the stealth with which she constructs her tale, shifting time frames with seamless ease and juggling a wealth of characters who cling to the heart. The show-stealer is Shalini’s mercurial mother, an ‘outrageous queen’ of capricious gestures. Vijay smartly resists psychoanalyzing her, implying that the china-shop bulls in our families can be survived but never entirely explained away.” – NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

“Ambitious . . . Vijay’s descriptions of the mountains, the people and their everyday lives are beautiful, and that makes the hidden ugliness all the more disturbing; this is a seriously impressive debut.” – THE TIMES

“A beautifully nuanced tale in these times of no nuance . . . A febrile tension pulsates on each page of this coming-of-age story. The Far Field is an accomplished debut.” – THE HINDU

“A masterful piece of fiction. Vijay writes with an assurance surprising in a first-time novelist, and is a delight to read. And while this is an in-depth expansion on the history and people of Jammu and Kashmir (humane but never sentimental), it is her protagonist who compels most, as Shalini watches her certainties gradually taken away from her and then returned laden with nuance and complexity.” – OBSERVER

“Vijay probes grand themes—tribalism, despotism, betrayal, death, resurrection—in exquisite but unflowery prose, and with sincere sentiment but little sentimentality . . . Kashmir itself emerges in vivid details: the taste of salted chai, the ‘dark rise of the mountains, freckled with their hundreds of glittering homes.’”" – NEW YORKER

“The Far Field is most poignant when it exposes the unintentional havoc of good intentions . . . For the vast majority of us, who hear of the troubles in Kashmir only as a faint strain in the general din of world tragedies, The Far Field offers something essential: a chance to glimpse the lives of distant people captured in prose gorgeous enough to make them indelible — and honest enough to make them real.” – WASHINGTON POST

“Ms. Vijay is an effortlessly assured prose writer . . . The book’s length led me to expect something slow and atmospheric, but to my surprise I snapped it up in two sittings . . . The Far Field is illuminating about the persecutions in Kashmir, but at its heart it is about the ironclad laws of class by which all India is ruled.” – WALL STREET JOURNAL

“What makes this compelling book so page-turning is not the larger political situation but the drama of small, fraught human interactions . . . Vijay’s mastery of traditional narrative skills wouldn’t be out of place in a classic 19th-century novel . . . The Far Field is an impressive performance. It will be fascinating to see what Vijay does next.” – SUNDAY TIMES

“A courageous, insightful and affecting debut novel.” – THE ECONOMIST

“Madhuri Vijay's supremely accomplished debut novel . . . is an expansive and wonderfully immersive work . . . gives us a brilliant outsider's view of an exotic, off-the-beaten-track realm and a compelling portrayal of a character gradually unraveling due to forces beyond her control. This is a stunning novel that skillfully grapples with the complexities of human relationships. Madhuri Vijay's career looks very bright indeed.” – MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE

“Luminous in outlining a young woman’s struggle to shape her own life . . . One of Vijay’s gifts is that she can make us feel for a protagonist who knows so little, yet yearns so deeply for something beyond her cushioned life . . . [A] remarkable story, and Vijay is likely to be a talent to watch.” – FINANCIAL TIMES

“Stunning . . . The Far Field chafes against the useless pity of outsiders and instead encourages a much more difficult solution: cross-cultural empathy.” – PARIS REVIEW

“The Far Field is a book about big ideas . . . It’s a lot to ask of a novel, but Vijay knows exactly what she’s doing. Precise, restrained and possessing a lightness of touch that eludes most writers, The Far Field is most thrilling in its heralding of a voice that is completely assured, and conveys a rare emotional wisdom while sidestepping any hints of the mawkish.” – INDIAN EXPRESS

“Loss can make a detective out of anyone . . . It can also, as Madhuri Vijay so thornily illustrates in her debut novel, The Far Field, blind us from all that’s around us . . . The Far Field becomes a layered examination of pressing Indian political conflicts . . . Here is a singular story of mother and daughter — a loving, broken bond so strong it touches, changes, and hurts countless lives beyond theirs.” – ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

“Arresting . . . captures Kashmir’s everyday horror with exhilarating, puissant prose . . . The Far Field stands as an important reminder that all privilege is, in the end, political.” – BOMB MAGAZINE

“Vijay's descriptive powers and eloquent prose work brilliantly . . . Vijay's writing is socially astute, exploring taboos of mental illness, female sexuality and religious indifference . . . remarkably vivid.” – SHELF AWARENESS

“Vijay is an astute chronicler of the everyday emotions that roil seemingly calm lives, whether in Bengaluru or in Kashmir. She is also a sharp observer of the myriad ways in which the Indian aspirational classes gloss over the state violence in Kashmir.” – INDIA TODAY

“History, class prejudice, Indian politics, grief, guilt and the limits of compassion intertwine in this enthralling debut.” – NEWSWEEK

“Hauntingly beautiful . . . The Far Field is rich in poignancy, in story and characters.” – HINDUSTAN TIMES

“In Madhuri Vijay’s exquisite debut novel, The Far Field, grief propels a young woman to northern India, where she seeks answers about her mother’s past. She meets people and communities constantly on the brink of political violence, upending her assumptions about herself and her country.” – ELLE

“The book’s first and final chapters end with the same direct phrase: “I am thirty years old and that is nothing.” Between the first and second time the reader sees these words, a story exploring the passage of time and the repercussions of one’s actions sets out to ask the charged question of what it is that we spend our lives searching for.” – VANITY FAIR

“An impressive debut.” – COSMOPOLITAN

“Vijay provides that alchemical mix of political examination with personal journey that deepens all great novels . . . At times brutal, but always tuned to the desperately sweet longing for human connection, Vijay has created a necessary and lovely work that transcends 2018!” – SOUTHERN LIVING

“Deals with big questions—Indian politics, class, history and sexuality—through beautiful prose.” – HUFFINGTON POST INDIA

“Vijay is brilliant in capturing the anomie born of deep loneliness and repressed, raw emotions . . . The Far Field, while tracing a difficult narrative of vast political, cultural, and humanitarian import, does not offer easy, totalising, and predictable resolutions.” – SCROLL INDIA

“Go read this absorbing and remarkable first book. And look out for future writing from Madhuri Vijay.” – DECCAN HERALD

“Vijay intertwines her story's threads with dazzling skill. Dense, layered, impossible to pin—or put—down, her first novel is an engrossing tale of love and grief, politics and morality. Combining up-close character studies with finely plotted drama, this is a triumphant, transporting debut.” – BOOKLIST (starred)

“[R]emarkable . . . an engrossing narrative of individual angst played out against political turmoil . . . Shalini’s misguided attempts at love, fulfillment, and friendship are poignant. Vijay’s stunning debut novel expertly intertwines the personal and political to pick apart the history of Jammu and Kashmir.” – PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred)

“Dazzling . . . Vijay’s prose is exquisite, florid and descriptive at times, spare and pared back at others. The story keeps twisting unexpectedly until the end, keeping emotions fraught, questions percolating. [The Far Field is] a scintillating novel from a truly gifted writer.” – BOOKPAGE (starred)

“Narrating Shalini's journey in chapters that alternate between past and present and utilizing strong characterizations throughout, Vijay has crafted an engaging, suspenseful, and impressive debut.” – LIBRARY JOURNAL

“Vivid . . . [E]legant, calm prose and intense evocations of people and places . . . A striking debut.” – KIRKUS REVIEWS

"The Far Field stands out as a debut novel because it displays two acts of courage: one, at just about 450 pages, it has heft . . . Vijay is not afraid to tell a long and complex story on a large canvas . . Her second act of courage is presenting her reader people that are not easy to like — almost every one of her characters is deeply flawed, motivated by a constellation of impulses that are not always noble. This is a mature book, even when it wears its political heart on its sleeve.” – Arshia Sattar, EXPLOCITY BANGALORE

“The Far Field is an irresistible blend of moral subtlety and intellectual precision. Ingeniously conceived and elegantly written, it is a first novel of startling accomplishment.” – PANKAJ MISHRA, author of Age of Anger

“A strikingly unusual book full of beauty and surprise.” – SONIA FALEIRO, author of Beautiful Thing

“Vijay’s characters are compelling and beguiling, and she superbly balances the complexity of her narrator against the conflict in Kashmir without allowing the latter to be reduced to a mere backdrop. The Far Field is incisive and utterly enthralling.” – SIDDHARTHA DEB, author of The Beautiful and the Damned

“The Far Field is remarkable, a novel at once politically timely and morally timeless. Madhuri Vijay traces the fault lines of history, love, and obligation running through a fractured family and country. Few novels generate enough power to transform their characters, fewer still their readers. The Far Field does both.” – ANTHONY MARRA, author of The Tsar of Love and Techno

“I loved this novel. Shalini is an utterly convincing narrator, particularly in her naïveté, which might very well serve as a metaphor for her country's refusal to see what it has wrought in Kashmir. Madhuri Vijay has written a brilliant and important book.” – LIAQUAT AHAMED, author of Lords of Finance

“I am in awe of Madhuri Vijay. With poised and measured grace, The Far Field tells a story as immediate and urgent as life beyond the page. I will think of these characters – tender and complex, mysterious and flawed, remarkably real to me – for years to come, as though I have lived alongside them.” – ANNA NOYES, author of Goodnight, Beautiful Women

“I had to remind myself while reading The Far Field that this is the work of a debut novelist, and not a mid-career book by a master writer at the height of her powers . . . Only the very best novels are experienced, as opposed to merely read, and this is one of those rare and brilliant novels.” – BEN FOUNTAIN, author of Beautiful Country, Burn Again

“This riveting and utterly unique book faces the most troubling and insoluble questions with a bold, keen clarity that has no patience for anything less than the most complete truth . . . The fierce and wonderful undertow of Vijay’s flawless prose masterfully propels this story about loyalty, about how we create and sustain and protect and inevitably break down our bonds with other people.” – MERRITT TIERCE, author of Love Me Back

“Utterly immersive and vividly realized, The Far Field is that rare gem of a novel which effortlessly transports the reader into distant, unfamiliar terrain through the force of a story deeply anchored in the humanity of its characters. Madhuri Vijay’s debut marks the arrival of an astonishing new talent.” – ELLIOT ACKERMAN, author of Waiting for Eden

“Stunning in its artistry, in its engagement with the world and the personal, this is a profound and monumental achievement composed with rage, vulnerability, humor, grief, and mystery. How dangerous this novel is, in the very best of ways, and how grateful I am for this writer and for her creation.” – PAUL YOON, author of The Mountain

Clips (more may be added)

0:12:24
#JCBPrizeTea: Madhuri Vijay and Prayaag Akbar
By Madhuri Vijay

334 views
0:38:41
First Page: Sharin Talks to Madhuri Vijay, Author of The JCB Prize Winner 2019, The Far Field
By Madhuri Vijay

270 views

Madhuri Vijay Curated
pathways in

What's Been Happening?

A video was posted re Madhuri Vijay:

#JCBPrizeTea: Madhuri Vijay and Prayaag Akbar
How should we respond to the world's injustice? Madhuri Vijay and Prayaag Akbar on what is personal, what is political.
- August 17, 2020
A video was posted re Madhuri Vijay:

First Page: Sharin Talks to Madhuri Vijay, Author of The JCB Prize Winner 2019, The Far Field
Meet the author of this year's winner of The JCB Prize for Literature, Madhuri Vijay. The debut author won India's richest literary prize for her exceptional novel, The Far Field. The Far Field is a truly remarkable tale of longing and loss set agains...
- August 17, 2020
A category was added to Madhuri Vijay:

India
- August 17, 2020
A category was added to Madhuri Vijay:

Novelist
- August 17, 2020
A category was added to Madhuri Vijay:

Writer
- August 17, 2020
Madhuri Vijay is matrixed!
- August 16, 2020

ENGLISH (pra Portuguese →)

✅—João do Boi
João had something priceless to offer the world.
But he was impossible for the world to find.
So for him, for incandescent Brazil, for the entire creative world, new ways...
✅—Pardal/Sparrow

PATHWAYS
from Brazil, with love

THE MISSION: Beginning with the atavistic genius of the Recôncavo (per the bottom of this section) & the great sertão (the backlands of Brazil's nordeste) — make artists across Brazil — and around the world — discoverable as they never were before.

HOW: Integrate them into a vast matrixed ecosystem together with musicians, writers, filmmakers, painters, choreographers, fashion designers, educators, chefs et al from all over the planet (are you in this ecosystem?) such that these artists all tend to be connected to each other via short, discoverable, accessible pathways. Q.E.D.

"Matrixado! Laroyê!"
✅—Founding Member Darius Mans
Economist, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
✅—Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
President of Brazil

The matrix was created in Salvador's Centro Histórico, where Bule Bule below, among first-generation matrixed colleagues, sings "Chegou a hora dessa gente bronzeada mostrar seu valor... The time has come for these bronzed people to show their worth..."

Music & lyrics (Brasil Pandeiro) by Assis Valente of Santo Amaro, Bahia, Brazil. Video by Betão Aguiar of Salvador.

...the endeavor motivated in the first instance by the fact that in common with most cultures around our planet, the preponderance of Brazil's vast cultural treasure has been impossible to find from outside of circumscribed regions, including Brazil itself...

Thus something new under the tropical sun: Open curation beginning with Brazilian musicians recommending other Brazilian musicians and moving on around the globe...

Where by the seemingly magical mathematics of the small world phenomenon, and in the same way that most human beings are within some six or so steps of most others, all in the matrix tend to proximity to all others...

The difference being that in the matrix, these steps are along pathways that can be travelled. The creative world becomes a neighborhood. Quincy Jones is right up the street and Branford Marsalis around the corner. And the most far-flung genius you've never heard of is just a few doors down. Maybe even in Brazil.

"I am thrilled to receive your email! Thank you for including me in this wonderful matrix."
✅—Susan Rogers
Personal recording engineer: Prince, Paisley Park Recording Studio
Director: Music Perception & Cognition Laboratory, Berklee College of Music
Author: This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You

"Many thanks for this - I am touched!"
✅—Julian Lloyd Webber
That most fabled cellist in the United Kingdom (and Brazilian music fan)

"I'm truly thankful... Sohlangana ngokuzayo :)"
✅—Nduduzo Makhathini
Blue Note recording artist

"Thanks, this is a brilliant idea!!"
✅—Alicia Svigals
Founder of The Klezmatics

"This is super impressive work ! Congratulations ! Thanks for including me :)))"
✅—Clarice Assad
Compositions recorded by Yo Yo Ma and played by orchestras around the world

"Thank you"
(Banch Abegaze, manager)
✅—Kamasi Washington

Bahia is a hot cauldron of rhythms and musical styles, but one particular style here is so utterly essential, so utterly fundamental not only to Bahian music specifically but to Brazilian music in general — occupying a place here analogous to that of the blues in the United States — that it deserves singling out. It is derived from (or some say brother to) the cabila rhythm of candomblé angola… …and it is called…

Samba Chula / Samba de Roda

Mother of Samba… daughter of destiny carried to Bahia by Bantus ensconced within the holds of negreiros entering the great Bahia de Todos os Santos (the term referring both to a dance and to the style of music which evolved to accompany that dance; the official orthography of “Bahia” — in the sense of “bay” — has since been changed to “Baía”)… evolved on the sugarcane plantations of the Recôncavo (that fertile area around the bay, the concave shape of which gave rise to the region’s name) — in the vicinity of towns like Cachoeira and Santo Amaro, Santiago do Iguape and Acupe. This proto-samba has unfortunately fallen into the wayside of hard to find and hear…

There’s a lot of spectacle in Bahia…

Carnival with its trio elétricos — sound-trucks with musicians on top — looking like interstellar semi-trailers back from the future…shows of MPB (música popular brasileira) in Salvador’s Teatro Castro Alves (biggest stage in South America!) with full production value, the audience seated (as always in modern theaters) like Easter Island statues…

…glamour, glitz, money, power and press agents…

And then there’s where it all came from…the far side of the bay, a land of subsistence farmers and fishermen, many of the older people unable to read or write…their sambas the precursor to all this, without which none of the above would exist, their melodies — when not created by themselves — the inventions of people like them but now forgotten (as most of these people will be within a couple of generations or so of their passing), their rhythms a constant state of inconstancy and flux, played in a manner unlike (most) any group of musicians north of the Tropic of Cancer…making the metronome-like sledgehammering of the Hit Parade of the past several decades almost wincefully painful to listen to after one’s ears have become accustomed to evershifting rhythms played like the aurora borealis looks…

So there’s the spectacle, and there’s the spectacular, and more often than not the latter is found far afield from the former, among the poor folk in the villages and the backlands, the humble and the honest, people who can say more (like an old delta bluesman playing a beat-up guitar on a sagging back porch) with a pandeiro (Brazilian tambourine) and a chula (a shouted/sung “folksong”) than most with whatever technology and support money can buy. The heart of this matter, is out there. If you ask me anyway.

Above, the incomparable João do Boi, chuleiro, recently deceased.

Why Brazil?

Brazil is not a European nation. It's not a North American nation. It's 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.

Brazil 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 — the hand drum in the opening scene above — 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 a scintillatingly unprecedented fourth. Pandeirista on the roof.

Nowhere else but here. Brazil itself is a matrix.

PORTUGUÊS (to English →)

✅—João do Boi
João tinha algo inestimável pro mundo.
Mas ele era impossível pro mundo encontrar.
Aí para ele, para o Brasil incandescente, pro mundo criativo inteiro, novos caminhos...
✅—Pardal/Sparrow

CAMINHOS
do Brasil, com amor

A MISSÃO: Começando com a atávica genialidade do Recôncavo (conforme o final desta seção) e do grande sertão — tornar artistas através do Brasil — e ao redor do mundo — descobriveis como nunca foram antes.

COMO: Integrá-los num vasto ecosistema matrixado, juntos com músicos, escritores, cineastas, pintores, coreógrafos, designers de moda, educadores, chefs e outros de todos os lugares (você está neste ecosistema?) de modo que todos esses artistas tendem a estar ligados entre si por caminhos curtos, descobriveis e acessíveis. Q.E.D.

"Matrixado! Laroyê!"
✅—Membro Fundador Darius Mans
Economista, doutorado, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
✅—Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Presidente do Brasil

O matrix foi criado no Centro Histórico de Salvador, onde Bule Bule no clipe, entre colegas da primeira geração no matrix, canta "Chegou a hora dessa gente bronzeada mostrar seu valor..."

Música & letras (Brasil Pandeiro) por Assis Valente de Santo Amaro, Bahia. Vídeo por Betão Aguiar de Salvador.

...o empreendimento motivado na primeira instância pelo fato de que em comum com a maioria das culturas ao redor do nosso planeta, a preponderância do vasto tesouro cultural do Brasil tem sido impossível de encontrar fora de regiões circunscritas, incluindo o próprio Brasil.

Assim, algo novo sob o sol tropical: Curadoria aberta começando com músicos brasileiros recomendando outros músicos brasileiros e avançando ao redor do globo...

Onde pela matemática aparentemente mágica do fenômeno do mundo pequeno, e da mesma forma que a maioria dos seres humanos estão dentro de cerca de seis passos da maioria dos outros, todos no matrix tendem a se aproximar de todos...

Com a diferença que no matrix, estes passos estão ao longo de caminhos que podem ser percorridos. O mundo criativo se torna uma vizinhança. Quincy Jones está lá em cima e Branford Marsalis está ao virar da esquina. E o gênio distante que você nunca ouviu falar tá lá embaixo. Talvez até no Brasil.

"Obrigada por me incluir neste matrix maravilhoso!"
✅—Susan Rogers
Engenheiro de gravação pessoal para Prince: Paisley Park Estúdio de Gravação
Diretora: Laboratório de Percepção e Cognição Musical, Berklee College of Music
Autora: This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You

"Muito obrigado por isso - estou tocado!"
✅—Julian Lloyd Webber
Merecidamente o violoncelista mais lendário do Reino Unido (e fã da música brasileira)

"Estou realmente agradecido... Sohlangana ngokuzayo :)"
✅—Nduduzo Makhathini
Artista da Blue Note

"Obrigada, esta é uma ideia brilhante!!"
✅—Alicia Svigals
Fundadora do The Klezmatics

"Este é um trabalho super impressionante! Parabéns! Obrigada por me incluir :)))"
✅—Clarice Assad
Composições gravadas por Yo Yo Ma e tocadas por orquestras ao redor do mundo

"Thank you"
(Banch Abegaze, empresário)
✅—Kamasi Washington

A Bahia é um caldeirão quente de ritmos e estilos musicais, mas um estilo particular aqui é tão essencial, tão fundamental não só para a música baiana especificamente, mas para a música brasileira em geral - ocupando um lugar aqui análogo ao do blues nos Estados Unidos - que merece ser destacado. Ela deriva (ou alguns dizem irmão para) do ritmo cabila do candomblé angola... ...e é chamada de...

Samba Chula / Samba de Roda

Mãe do Samba... filha do destino carregada para a Bahia por Bantus ensconced dentro dos porões de negreiros entrando na grande Bahia de Todos os Santos (o termo refere-se tanto a uma dança quanto ao estilo de música que evoluiu para acompanhar essa dança; a ortografia oficial da "Bahia" - no sentido de "baía" - foi desde então alterada para "Baía")... evoluiu nas plantações de cana de açúcar do Recôncavo (aquela área fértil ao redor da baía, cuja forma côncava deu origem ao nome da região) - nas proximidades de cidades como Cachoeira e Santo Amaro, Santiago do Iguape e Acupe. Este proto-samba infelizmente caiu no caminho de difíceis de encontrar e ouvir...

Há muito espetáculo na Bahia...

Carnaval com seu trio elétrico - caminhões sonoros com músicos no topo - parecendo semi-reboques interestelares de volta do futuro...shows de MPB (música popular brasileira) no Teatro Castro Alves de Salvador (maior palco da América do Sul!) com total valor de produção, o público sentado (como sempre nos teatros modernos) como estátuas da Ilha de Páscoa...

...glamour, glitz, dinheiro, poder e publicitários...

E depois há de onde tudo isso veio... do outro lado da baía, uma terra de agricultores e pescadores de subsistência, muitos dos mais velhos incapazes de ler ou escrever... seus sambas precursores de tudo isso, sem os quais nenhuma das anteriores existiria, suas melodias - quando não criadas por eles mesmos - as invenções de pessoas como eles, mas agora esquecidas (pois a maioria dessas pessoas estará dentro de um par de gerações ou mais), seus ritmos um constante estado de inconstância e fluxo, tocados de uma forma diferente (a maioria) de qualquer grupo de músicos do norte do Trópico de Câncer... fazendo com que o martelo de forja do Hit Parade das últimas décadas seja quase que doloroso de ouvir depois que os ouvidos se acostumam a ritmos sempre mutáveis, tocados como a aurora boreal parece...

Portanto, há o espetáculo, e há o espetacular, e na maioria das vezes o último é encontrado longe do primeiro, entre o povo pobre das aldeias e do sertão, os humildes e os honestos, pessoas que podem dizer mais (como um velho bluesman delta tocando uma guitarra batida em um alpendre flácido) com um pandeiro (pandeiro brasileiro) e uma chula (um "folksong" gritado/cantado) do que a maioria com qualquer tecnologia e dinheiro de apoio que o dinheiro possa comprar. O coração deste assunto, está lá. Se você me perguntar de qualquer forma.

Acima, o incomparável João do Boi, chuleiro, recentemente falecido.

Por que Brasil?

O Brasil não é uma nação européia. Não é uma nação norte-americana. Não é uma nação do leste asiático. Compreende — selva e deserto e centros urbanos densos — tanto o equador quanto o Trópico de Capricórnio.

O Brasil absorveu mais de dez vezes o número de africanos escravizados levados para os Estados Unidos da América, e é um repositório de divindades africanas (e sua música) agora em grande parte esquecido em suas terras de origem.

O Brasil era um refúgio (de certa forma) para os sefarditas que fugiam de uma Inquisição que os seguia através do Atlântico (aquele símbolo não oficial da música nacional brasileira — o pandeiro — foi quase certamente trazido ao Brasil por esse povo).

Através das savanas ressequidas do interior do culturalmente fecundo nordeste, onde o mago Hermeto Pascoal nasceu na Lagoa da Canoa e cresceu em Olho d'Águia, uma grande parte da população aborígine do Brasil foi absorvida por uma cultura caboclo/quilombola pontuada pela Estrela de Davi.

Três culturas - de três continentes - correndo por suas vidas, sua confluência formando uma quarta cintilante e sem precedentes. Pandeirista no telhado.

Em nenhum outro lugar a não ser aqui. Brasil é um matrix mesmo.