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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.

 

  • Richie Pena
    I RECOMMEND

CURATION

  • from this node by: Matrix+

This is the Universe of

  • Name: Richie Pena
  • City/Place: New York City
  • Country: United States

Life & Work

  • Bio: Richie Pena works and has worked with Natalie Grant, Babyface, Toni Braxton, David Foster and Andrea Bocelli, among others...

Contact Information

  • Email: [email protected]

Media | Markets

  • ▶ Twitter: RichiePenaNYC
  • ▶ Instagram: richiepena

Clips (more may be added)

  • 0:45
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    By Richie Pena
    210 views
  • 1:44
    Spaun TL USA Bubinga Kit - Artist Richie Pena with Oskar Cartaya
    By Richie Pena
    155 views
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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 Richie Pena:

  • 1 Drums
  • 1 New York City
  • 1 Programmer
  • 1 Writer
  • Oscar Bolão Photographer
  • Djuena Tikuna Amazonas
  • Dave Jordan Americana
  • Liberty Ellman Audio Engineer
  • Sammy Britt Delta State University Faculty
  • Donald Harrison Composer
  • Seth Swingle Banjo
  • Bombino Singer-Songwriter
  • Shuya Okino Music Producer
  • Luíz Paixão Cavalo Marinho
  • Sam Reider Piano
  • Maciel Salú Composer
  • Moreno Veloso MPB
  • Alê Siqueira Brazil
  • Sharay Reed Chicago
  • Teodor Currentzis Classical Music
  • Martin Koenig Balkan Music
  • Tom Piazza New Orleans
  • Aderbal Duarte Guitar
  • Richie Stearns Appalachian Music
  • Nabih Bulos Violin
  • Shez Raja Tabla
  • Brian Jackson Flute
  • Jared Sims Flute
  • Jen Shyu Dancer
  • Jimmy Duck Holmes Mississippi
  • James Martins Crítico Cultural, Cultural Critic
  • Damon Albarn Singer-Songwriter
  • Karsh Kale कर्ष काळे Indian Classical Music
  • Dave Douglas New York City
  • Brian Stoltz Songwriter
  • Ari Rosenschein Singer-Songwriter
  • Dadi Carvalho Bass
  • Jocelyn Ramirez Chef
  • Jon Faddis Jazz
  • Carlos Henriquez Latin Jazz
  • Ben Wendel Jazz
  • Jessie Montgomery Educator
  • Frank Olinsky Parson's School of Design Faculty
  • Roy Nathanson Arranger
  • Carlos Lyra Guitar
  • Marcus J. Moore Editor
  • Pedro Aznar Guitar
  • Shuya Okino Radio Presenter
  • Vânia Oliveira Brasil, Brazil
  • Pallett Iran
  • Scotty Apex Record Producer
  • Tank and the Bangas Spoken Word
  • Nelson Ayres Brazil
  • Di Freitas Viola Caipira
  • Will Holshouser Accordion
  • Jonathan Scales New York City
  • Antônio Queiroz Samba Rural
  • Di Freitas Brazil
  • Adriano Giffoni Composer
  • Ari Hoenig New York City
  • Yazz Ahmed Bahrain
  • Wadada Leo Smith Composer
  • César Camargo Mariano Record Producer
  • Gilmar Gomes Percussion
  • Richard Galliano Bandoneon
  • Dan Tyminski Nashville, Tennessee
  • Negrizu Coreógrafo, Choreographer
  • Taylor Ashton Visual Artist
  • Samuca do Acordeon Forró
  • Tomoko Omura Jazz
  • Joana Choumali Visual Artist
  • Karsh Kale कर्ष काळे Composer
  • Nomcebo Zikode Singer-Songwriter
  • Ilê Aiyê Bloco Afro
  • Gustavo Di Dalva Singer
  • Tobias Meinhart Saxophone
  • Luciano Salvador Bahia Theater Composer
  • Raymundo Sodré Forró
  • Del McCoury Bluegrass
  • Donny McCaslin Brooklyn, NY
  • Immanuel Wilkins NYU Faculty
  • Safy-Hallan Farah Somalia
  • André Vasconcellos Jazz
  • Bebel Gilberto Bossa Nova
  • Asa Branca Brazil
  • Marcela Valdes Journalist
  • Ryuichi Sakamoto Composer
  • Nabihah Iqbal Radio Presenter
  • Susana Baca Singer-Songwriter
  • João Rabello Choro
  • Philip Sherburne DJ
  • Tessa Hadley Writer
  • Mauro Refosco Marimba
  • Bisa Butler Black American Culture & History
  • Kirk Whalum Memphis, Tennessee
  • Harish Raghavan Jazz
  • Maria Rita Brazil
  • Michael Formanek Composer
  • Kimmo Pohjonen Finland
  • Juçara Marçal Brazil
  • Dale Barlow Flute
  • Tal Wilkenfeld Guitar
  • Mateus Aleluia Filho Salvador
  • Robb Royer Songwriter
  • Marcello Gonçalves Rio de Janeiro
  • Alain Mabanckou Novelist
  • Julie Fowlis Scotland
  • Jason Marsalis New Orleans
  • Luciano Salvador Bahia Piano
  • Courtney Pine Bass Clarinet
  • Ben Azar Guitar Instruction
  • Morten Lauridsen Composer
  • Jorge Washington Bahia
  • John Archibald Journalist
  • Bertram Ethnomusicologist
  • António Zambujo Fado
  • Cainã Cavalcante Brazil
  • David Braid Classical Music
  • Guga Stroeter Candomblé
  • Zé Luíz Nascimento Salvador
  • Mart'nália Brazil
  • RAM Haiti
  • Lucio Yanel Gaucho Culture
  • Seth Swingle Old-Time Music
  • Jakub Józef Orliński Countertenor
  • Helado Negro Ecuador
  • Thundercat Singer
  • Michel Camilo Music Director
  • Alisa Weilerstein Cello
  • Richard Rothstein Author
  • Eamonn Flynn Keyboards
  • Fatoumata Diawara African Music
  • Joe Chambers Jazz
  • Tommaso Zillio Author
  • Peter Evans Trumpet
  • Mickalene Thomas Video Artist
  • César Camargo Mariano Samba
  • Swami Jr. Forró
  • João Teoria Trompete, Trumpet
  • Nublu Record Label
  • Gabriel Policarpo Samba
  • Bernardo Aguiar Pandeiro
  • Tonynho dos Santos Trompete, Trumpet
  • John Zorn Film Scores
  • Yilian Cañizares Havana
  • Nigel Hall Keyboards
  • Dale Farmer Screenwriter
  • Manolo Badrena Berimbau
  • Alex Conde Piano Instruction
  • A-KILL Building Art
  • Ivan Bastos Faculdade da UFBA, Federal University of Bahia Faculty
  • Fábio Luna Brasil, Brazil
  • Sarz Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Cristiano Nogueira Brazil Specialist
  • Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah Composer
  • Lucian Ban New York City
  • Babau Santana Samba
  • Seu Jorge Samba
  • Bob Reynolds Jazz
  • Jay Blakesberg Filmmaker
  • Nduduzo Makhathini Composer
  • Natan Drubi Samba
  • Louis Michot Record Label Owner
  • Bill Hinchberger Communications Consultant
  • Michael Formanek Peabody Conservatory of Music Faculty
  • Mahsa Vahdat Persian Classical Music
  • Chris Dave Jazz
  • Nelson Ayres Arranger
  • Cedric Watson Accordion
  • Filhos da Pitangueira Chula
  • Luis Paez-Pumar Editor
  • Abel Selaocoe Multi-Cultural
  • Cassie Kinoshi London
  • Don Byron New York City
  • Babau Santana Percussão, Percussion
  • David Byrne Painter
  • Jonathon Grasse Capoeira
  • Mateus Aleluia Brazil
  • Robertinho Silva MPB
  • Marquis Hill Composer
  • Mavis Staples Gospel
  • Jaques Morelenbaum Classical Music
  • Toninho Nascimento Brazil
  • McCoy Mrubata South Africa
  • Tony Trischka Americana
  • Questlove Record Producer
  • Roque Ferreira Samba de Roda
  • Thiago Espírito Santo Brasil, Brazil
  • Edmar Colón Piano
  • Leon Bridges Singer-Songwriter
  • Fabiana Cozza Poet
  • Fabian Almazan Composer
  • Eddie Kadi Comedian
  • Steve Earle Country
  • Alex Clark Digital Media Producer
  • Hilary Hahn Classical Music
  • Cássio Nobre Guitarra Baiana
  • Marisa Monte Record Producer
  • Aaron Goldberg Jazz
  • Kurt Andersen Short Stories
  • Jonathon Grasse Guitar
  • Fabian Almazan Cuba
  • Cláudio Jorge Brazil
  • David Virelles New York City
  • Fábio Luna Flauta, Flute
  • Jim Farber Music Critic
  • Victor Wooten Singer
  • Ann Hallenberg Mezzo-Soprano
  • John Waters Playwright
  • Pedro Martins Choro
  • Carlos Henriquez Latin Jazz
  • Leon Parker Drums
  • Alê Siqueira Bahia
  • Jared Sims Saxophone
  • Ricky (Dirty Red) Gordon Zydeco
  • Alyn Shipton Double Bass
  • William Parker Essayist
  • Alan Brain Film, Television Director
  • Iuri Passos Bahia
  • Jeffrey Boakye England
  • Mark Stryker Detroit
  • Endea Owens New York City
  • Estrela Brilhante do Recife Maracatu
  • Joshua Abrams Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Alicia Keys Record Producer
  • Nubya Garcia Composer
  • Marc Ribot Composer
  • Anoushka Shankar Tanpura
  • Amitava Kumar Writer
  • Omari Jazz Portland, Oregon
  • Malin Fezehai Photographer
  • Varijashree Venugopal Singer
  • Mou Brasil Guitarra, Guitar
  • Fred Dantas Trombone
  • Obed Calvaire New York City
  • Toby Gough Director
  • Michelle Mercer Music Critic
  • Márcio Valverde MPB
  • Colson Whitehead Literary Critic
  • G. Thomas Allen Columbia College Chicago Faculty
  • MARO Portugal
  • Walter Blanding Saxophone
  • Geraldo Azevedo Forró
  • Wadada Leo Smith Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Jerry Douglas Resonator Guitar
  • Simon Brook Writer
  • Paul Cebar Multi-Cultural
  • Otto Drums
  • Márcio Valverde Bahia
  • Brian Jackson Record Producer
  • Dudu Reis Bahia
  • Celsinho Silva Rio de Janeiro
  • Huey Morgan Songwriter
  • Renee Rosnes Jazz
  • Larissa Luz Singer-Songwriter
  • Bright Red Dog Ropeadope
  • Andrés Beeuwsaert Multi-Cultural
  • Trombone Shorty Trumpet
  • Stanton Moore R&B
  • Eli Saslow Journalist
  • Simone Sou São Paulo
  • Will Holshouser Composer
  • Henry Cole New York City
  • Doug Wamble Record Producer
  • Tonynho dos Santos Jazz
  • Hendrik Meurkens Brazilian Music
  • Dafnis Prieto Afro-Cuban Jazz
  • Joachim Cooder Keyboards
  • Leo Genovese Argentina
  • Alex Clark Journalist
  • Ênio Bernardes Salvador
  • Pedro Aznar Guitar
  • Elie Afif Composer
  • Nelson Cerqueira Romancista, Novelist
  • Archie Shepp Singer
  • Hendrik Meurkens New York City
  • Hisham Mayet Filmmaker
  • Malin Fezehai Brooklyn, NY
  • Henrique Araújo São Paulo
  • Armen Donelian Piano
  • Varijashree Venugopal Carnatic Music
  • Nara Couto Afropop
  • Colm Tóibín Short Stories
  • Stephen Guerra Arranger
  • Larry Grenadier Jazz
  • Alexia Arthurs Short Stories
  • Gab Ferruz Salvador
  • Alita Moses Neo Soul
  • Duncan Chisholm Composer
  • Alegre Corrêa Berimbau
  • Virgínia Rodrigues Brazil
  • Dan Tyminski Mandolin
  • Hilary Hahn Violin
  • Dr. Lonnie Smith R&B
  • Jerry Douglas Americana
  • Carol Soares Bahia
  • Gord Sheard Piano
  • Ivan Bastos Jazz Brasileiro, Brazilian Jazz
  • Edivaldo Bolagi Cineasta Documentarista, Documentary Filmmaker
  • Paulinho do Reco Brazil
  • Vanessa Moreno São Paulo
  • Mickalene Thomas Photographer
  • Ivan Neville Funk
  • David Byrne Writer
  • Mestre Nenel Brazil
  • Ballaké Sissoko Kora
  • James Gavin Journalist
  • Orlando 'Maraca' Valle Afro-Cuban Jazz
  • Wilson Simoninha Samba
  • David Hepworth Music Journalist
  • João Parahyba Songwriter
  • Tito Jackson Blues
  • Yosvany Terry Harvard University Faculty
  • VJ Gabiru Salvador
  • Nathan Amaral Classical Music
  • Duane Benjamin Arranger
  • Ali Jackson Jazz
  • Quatuor Ebène France
  • Marcel Camargo Composer
  • Ronaldo Bastos Rio de Janeiro
  • André Vasconcellos Produtor Musical, Music Producer
  • Mika Mutti MPB
  • Dwayne Dopsie Louisiana
  • Yazhi Guo 郭雅志 Chinese Traditional Music
  • Aditya Prakash Singer
  • Caridad De La Luz Actor
  • Cédric Villani Mathematics
  • Taj Mahal Singer-Songwriter
  • Samba de Nicinha Samba de Roda
  • Nublu Club
  • James Carter Jazz
  • Guto Wirtti Samba
  • Patricia Janečková Opera
  • Byron Thomas Music Director
  • Kimmo Pohjonen Helsinki
  • Mariene de Castro Samba
  • Gregory Porter Jazz
  • Alessandro Penezzi Choro
  • Igor Osypov Jazz
  • Alicia Keys Piano
  • Toby Gough Producer
  • Quatuor Ebène Classicalized Crossover
  • Roque Ferreira Author
  • Léo Rugero Ethnomusicologist
  • James Carter New York City
  • Stephanie Foden Bahia
  • Andrew Dickson Radio Presenter
  • Merima Ključo Sevdalinka
  • Rachael Price Americana
  • Noam Pikelny Nashville, Tennessee
  • Jocelyn Ramirez Author
  • David Hepworth London
  • Andrew Finn Magill Violin
  • Muhsinah Soul

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

 

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