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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.

 

  • Vijith Assar
    I RECOMMEND

CURATION

  • from this node by: Matrix

This is the Universe of

  • Name: Vijith Assar
  • City/Place: New York City
  • Country: United States

Life & Work

  • Bio: I am a software engineer, writer, and musician, the common ground between which is the manipulation of structures like code, chords, layouts, grammar, and so on.

    Over the years I’ve worked as an interactive data visualization engineer at the New York Times and as a journalist for The New Yorker magazine.

    I've helped CNN cover election night, coded custom multimedia software for Bob Dylan’s internal archives, edited a weekly newspaper, engineered and produced recording sessions.

    I've taught kids how to code and play instruments, and written columns for Spin, The Village Voice, The Awl, and McSweeney’s.

Contact Information

  • Email: [email protected]

Media | Markets

  • ▶ Twitter: vijithassar
  • ▶ Website: http://www.vijithassar.com
  • ▶ Articles: http://www.wired.com/author/vijith-assar/
  • ▶ Articles 2: http://www.newyorker.com/contributors/vijith-assar
  • ▶ Articles 3: http://medium.com/@vijithassar

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 Vijith Assar:

  • 1 Software Engineer
  • 1 Tech Writer
  • 1 Writer
  • Serwah Attafuah Singer
  • Jan Ramsey New Orleans
  • Mickalene Thomas Collage
  • Scott Yanow Music Critic
  • Oteil Burbridge Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Christopher Wilkinson Guitar
  • Yazhi Guo 郭雅志 Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Eamonn Flynn Soul
  • Caridad De La Luz New York City
  • Gerald Cleaver Drums
  • David Sacks Trombone
  • Caroline Shaw NYU Faculty
  • Gilson Peranzzetta Accordion
  • Aditya Prakash Multi-Cultural
  • Chubby Carrier Accordion
  • Aubrey Johnson New York City
  • Roy Nathanson Brooklyn, NY
  • Benoit Fader Keita Senegal
  • Fidelis Melo Jornalista, Journalist
  • Spider Stacy Actor
  • Stephen Guerra Samba
  • Michael Olatuja Bass
  • Philipp Meyer Novelist
  • Cláudio Jorge MPB
  • Nikki Yeoh Composer
  • Jakub Józef Orliński Hip-Hop
  • Dave Eggers Publisher
  • Alê Siqueira Bahia
  • Shamarr Allen Hip-Hop
  • Dave Weckl Los Angeles
  • César Orozco New York City
  • Don Byron Jazz
  • Bebel Gilberto MPB
  • Jeremy Danneman Klezmer
  • Paulinho Fagundes Guitar
  • Theon Cross Jazz
  • Rachael Price Singer-Songwriter
  • Sammy Britt Mississippi
  • Casey Benjamin Saxophone
  • Louis Michot Cajun Music
  • Badi Assad Brazil
  • Fred Hersch Rutgers University Faculty
  • Marco Pereira Choro
  • Tom Piazza Liner Notes
  • THE ROOM Shibuya DJs
  • Cécile Fromont Martinique
  • Geovanna Costa Pandeiro
  • Andrew Huang Guitar
  • Ayrson Heráclito Multimedia Artist
  • Maria Drell Produção Cultural, Cultural Production
  • Henrique Cazes Samba
  • Becca Stevens Singer-Songwriter
  • Gabriel Grossi Composer
  • Robb Royer R&B
  • Paul Mahern Mastering Engineer
  • Cristiano Nogueira Travel Writer
  • Marcus Teixeira Brazil
  • King Britt DJ
  • Fantastic Negrito R&B
  • Oswaldinho do Acordeon Brazil
  • Jared Sims West Virginia University Faculty
  • Júlio Lemos Brazil
  • Nelson Faria Guitar
  • Miroslav Tadić Contemporary Classical Music
  • Guto Wirtti Samba
  • Victoria Sur Bogotá
  • Mestre Nenel AFROBIZ Salvador
  • D.D. Jackson Jazz
  • Avishai Cohen אבישי כה Singer
  • Roosevelt Collier Songwriter
  • Sierra Hull Singer-Songwriter
  • Collins Omondi Okello Kenya
  • Karsh Kale कर्ष काळे Indian Classical Music
  • Mario Ulloa Guitar
  • Áurea Martins Rio de Janeiro
  • Djuena Tikuna Tikuna
  • Vadinho França Salvador
  • Loli Molina Piano
  • Gabrielzinho do Irajá Partideiro
  • Danilo Caymmi Record Producer
  • Marc Cary Composer
  • Christopher James Musicologist
  • Geraldo Azevedo Singer-Songwriter
  • Lucía Fumero Spain
  • Cássio Nobre Guitar
  • Felipe Guedes Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh Theater Composer
  • Erika Goldring Photographer
  • Catherine Russell Blues
  • Delfeayo Marsalis Record Producer
  • Alan Williams Furniture
  • Germán Garmendia Writer
  • Jorge Washington Cultural Producer
  • Alexandre Vieira Salvador
  • Jean Rondeau Harpsichord
  • Plinio Oyò Bahia
  • Marilda Santanna Salvador
  • Dónal Lunny Bouzouki
  • Immanuel Wilkins Composer
  • Samuca do Acordeon Chamamé
  • Rudy Royston Classical Music
  • Ibrahim Maalouf Classical Music
  • Alain Mabanckou Novelist
  • Arto Lindsay MPB
  • Teddy Swims R&B
  • Pururu Mão no Couro Salvador
  • Adam Rogers Jazz
  • Angel Deradoorian Los Angeles
  • Concha Buika Singer-Songwriter
  • Jeremy Danneman Film Scores
  • Gilsons MPB
  • Philip Watson Cork
  • Saileog Ní Cheannabháin Sean-Nós Singer
  • Jimmy Dludlu Composer
  • Horácio Reis Faculdade da Ucsal, Catholic University of Salvador Faculty
  • Shannon Sims Writer
  • Ariel Reich New York City
  • Al Kooper Record Producer
  • Derrick Adams Multidisciplinary Artist
  • Los Muñequitos de Matanzas Cuba
  • Andrew Huang Toronto
  • Abderrahmane Sissako Film Director
  • Ron Carter Bass
  • Alain Mabanckou UCLA Faculty
  • Bob Lanzetti Guitar
  • Carwyn Ellis Singer-Songwriter
  • Jason Parham Publisher
  • Robby Krieger Singer-Songwriter
  • Renee Rosnes Jazz
  • Henrique Cazes Rio de Janeiro
  • Evgeny Kissin Poet
  • Jon Faddis Manhattan School of Music Faculty
  • Jahi Sundance Record Producer
  • Léo Rodrigues Forró
  • Luques Curtis Afro-Latin Dance Music
  • Andrew Finn Magill Choro
  • Ricardo Herz Brazil
  • Michelle Mercer Music Critic
  • David Kirby Writer
  • Fatoumata Diawara Paris
  • Roots Manuva Singer-Songwriter
  • Pururu Mão no Couro Chula
  • Ian Hubert VFX Artist
  • Clint Mansell Composer
  • Orrin Evans Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Pedro Aznar Buenos Aires
  • Jas Kayser Panama City
  • Shemekia Copeland Gospel
  • James Martins Bahia
  • Arismar do Espírito Santo Bass
  • Ari Hoenig New York City
  • Luiz Brasil Bahia
  • Matt Glaser Fiddle
  • Peter Slevin Northwestern University Faculty
  • Márcio Valverde Samba de Roda
  • Ivan Neville Singer-Songwriter
  • Yoron Israel Multi-Cultural
  • María Grand R&B
  • Issa Malluf Daf
  • Nação Zumbi Maracatu
  • David Bruce Contemporary Classical Music
  • Jeff Preiss Filmmaker
  • Carwyn Ellis Samba
  • Del McCoury Banjo
  • Luiz Santos Brazil
  • Nahre Sol Piano
  • Timothy Duffy Folklorist
  • Nath Rodrigues Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Morgan Page DJ
  • Nilze Carvalho Bandolim
  • Jeff Tang Composer
  • Bodek Janke Contemporary Classical Music
  • João Camarero Brazil
  • Karim Ziad Drums
  • Gregory Tardy Clarinet
  • Luciano Calazans Brazil
  • Dwandalyn Reece Singer
  • Marcus Miller Record Producer
  • Welson Tremura Guitar
  • Guga Stroeter Bandleader
  • Vânia Oliveira Brasil, Brazil
  • Ron McCurdy Trumpet
  • Gary Clark Jr. Guitar
  • Mauro Refosco Brasil, Brazil
  • Etan Thomas Basketball
  • June Yamagishi Guitar
  • Bebê Kramer Tango
  • Alê Siqueira Salvador
  • Awadagin Pratt Piano
  • Nicolas Krassik Jazz
  • OVANA Xangongo
  • Anthony Hamilton Los Angeles
  • Angel Bat Dawid Piano
  • Lívia Mattos Salvador
  • Bill Hinchberger Paris
  • Wayne Shorter Saxophone
  • Banning Eyre Guitar
  • Ken Dossar Bahia
  • Becca Stevens Brooklyn, NY
  • Cory Henry Singer-Songwriter
  • Tyshawn Sorey Avant-Garde Jazz
  • Horácio Reis Brasil, Brazil
  • Michael Kiwanuka Record Producer
  • Rayendra Sunito Jazz
  • Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin Ethnomusicologist
  • Tommy Peoples Ireland
  • Hank Roberts Avant-Garde, Folk, Classical
  • Arifan Junior Cavaquinho
  • Negra Jhô Brazil
  • Joatan Nascimento Salvador
  • McCoy Mrubata Flute
  • Jimmy Duck Holmes Blues
  • John Patrick Murphy Forró
  • Ry Cooder Record Producer
  • Lolis Eric Elie Filmmaker
  • Sahba Aminikia Iran
  • Endea Owens Jazz
  • Alexandre Vieira Contrabaixo, Double Bass
  • Gregory Tardy University of Tennessee Knoxville School of Music Faculty
  • Miroslav Tadić Film, Theater, Dance Scores
  • Arturo Sandoval Piano
  • John Harle Guildhall School of Music & Drama Faculty
  • Dermot Hussey Washington, D.C.
  • Mulatu Astatke Vibraphone
  • Nabihah Iqbal Singer-Songwriter
  • Bright Red Dog Ropeadope
  • Ed O'Brien Singer-Songwriter
  • Nate Chinen Jazz
  • Carwyn Ellis Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Allen Morrison Press Releases
  • Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh Television Presenter
  • J. Cunha Artista Plástico, Artist
  • Nduduzo Makhathini Record Producer
  • César Camargo Mariano Record Producer
  • Larry McCray Blues
  • Chris Potter New York City
  • Ron Miles Cornet
  • Jonathan Scales Ropeadope
  • Guillermo Klein Jazz
  • Paulo César Figueiredo Rio de Janeiro
  • Africania Chula
  • Leon Parker Percussion
  • Bing Futch Mountain Dulcimer
  • Keita Ogawa Drums
  • Dadi Carvalho MPB
  • Tommy Orange Short Stories
  • Wadada Leo Smith Jazz
  • Rebeca Omordia Romania
  • Chris Dave Jazz
  • Ramita Navai Writer
  • Kalani Pe'a Singer-Songwriter
  • Pierre Onassis Singer-Songwriter
  • Donald Harrison Berklee College of Music Faculty
  • Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Music Producer
  • Nublu Istanbul
  • MARO Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Nduduzo Makhathini South Africa
  • Dwayne Dopsie Singer-Songwriter
  • Tomoko Omura Japan
  • Jeff Tweedy Multi-Instrumentalist
  • Natan Drubi Choro
  • Rosa Passos Salvador
  • Shuya Okino Music Venue Owner
  • Gêge Nagô Samba
  • Alicia Hall Moran Jazz
  • Joel Ross Composer
  • Nathan Amaral Classical Music
  • Arifan Junior Portela
  • Guga Stroeter Brazil
  • André Muato 8 String Guitar
  • Guinga Composer
  • Alyn Shipton Bass
  • Tony Trischka Author
  • Uli Geissendoerfer Jazz
  • Cassandra Osei Brazilianist
  • Amilton Godoy Composer
  • Ron Miles Trumpet
  • Rita Batista Podcaster
  • João Bosco Samba
  • Mohini Dey Mumbai
  • Marcel Powell Guitar
  • Tomo Fujita Jazz
  • Cécile Fromont Art Historian
  • Bai Kamara Jr. Sierra Leone
  • Musa Okwonga Uganda
  • Ben Okri Novelist
  • Robin Eubanks Jazz
  • Buck Jones Música Afro-Baiana, Afro-Bahian Music
  • Irma Thomas Blues
  • Caridad De La Luz Puerto Rico
  • Burhan Öçal Istanbul
  • Darren Barrett Reggae
  • Wouter Kellerman World Music
  • David Castillo Trumpet
  • Afrocidade Brazil
  • Christian Sands Composer
  • Roosevelt Collier Blues, Gospel, Rock, Funk
  • Peter Slevin Writer
  • Swizz Beatz Rapper
  • Elza Soares Singer
  • Aubrey Johnson Brazilian Music
  • Fábio Luna Forró
  • Beeple Graphic Designer
  • Isaiah J. Thompson Artistic Director
  • Terence Blanchard Composer
  • Danilo Brito São Paulo
  • Theo Bleckmann Composer
  • Emily Elbert Folk Funk Jazz Blues
  • Adriano Souza Rio de Janeiro
  • Little Simz Singer-Songwriter
  • Gustavo Caribé Santo Amaro
  • Martyn Drum and Bass
  • Zebrinha Salvador
  • Brian Q. Torff Jazz
  • Lauranne Bourrachot Television Producer
  • Rosa Passos Singer-Songwriter
  • Brett Orrison Austin, Texas
  • Ferenc Nemeth Hungary
  • Maria Drell Produtora Musical, Music Producer
  • Teresa Cristina Samba
  • Chelsea Kwakye UK
  • Etienne Charles Steel Drums
  • Rebeca Omordia Piano
  • Paddy Groenland World Music
  • Marcos Portinari Rio de Janeiro
  • Fred Hersch Rutgers University Faculty
  • Etienne Charles Michigan State University Faculty
  • Vincent Herring Composer
  • Andra Day R&B
  • Tom Zé Singer-Songwriter
  • Daniel Jobim MPB
  • Rosa Passos Guitar
  • Alfredo Del-Penho Singer-Songwriter
  • Paulinho Fagundes Guitar
  • Kaveh Rastegar Songwriter
  • Will Holshouser Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music Faculty
  • Eddie Kadi Actor
  • Dale Barlow Australia
  • Fred P Berlin
  • Orquestra Afrosinfônica Música Afro-Brasileira, Afro-Brazilian Music
  • Adam Rogers Guitar
  • Laércio de Freitas Brazilian Jazz
  • Marcel Camargo Guitar
  • Gringo Cardia Architect
  • Johnny Vidacovich Funk
  • Ubiratan Marques Maestro, Conductor
  • Glória Bomfim Samba
  • Guto Wirtti Bass
  • Kiko Loureiro Jazz Fusion
  • Asanda Mqiki Jazz

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

 

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