The hard work of Brazil

When  you’re placing music and Brazil in one sentence, you might start to think about carnival, thongs, belly dancing and loads of feathers on heads. But there is more. Much more. Jonty Skrufff asks Edo van Duyn, Daniel Haaksman, Fernando Moreno, Renato Ratier and his pall Chico about the scene.

By DjBroadcast

Daniel Haaksman is the weird guy in between all those Brazilian guys. “I’m the gringo! If I go to Brazil I go to find the regional sounds. Baile funk is a very local kind of sound. In Europe we’re used to music travelling around. In Brazil it’s more staying in the fabric where it’s born. It stays local. There is a bigger interest from music coming from other parts in the world.” But there’s more than baile funk only. Fernando: “Not only Brazil itself is growing up, also the music is growing up.” And growing is also what Renato’s club D-Edge is doing. It is doubling its size in November. “We will have some small rooms for more experimental kinds of music. But, I guess it’s difficult to speak about Brazil in general. It’s a big country, with different kinds of interest in different regions. And also it’s kind of isolated because of the language. But anyway, I’d like to see Brazilian artists being interchanged with foreign artists.” Renato will also launch a label. To help develop artists.

Jonty asks why there is a clubscene in Sao Paulo, but not in Rio de Janeiro. Fernando answers “there are some clubs and bars, but there’s not really a scene. Yes, there is a beach scene though.” Edo adds “there is no consistency, there is a big economy around the nightscene, but there is not really a dance music culture”. Jonty is also curious about the reputation of Brazil being the dangerous and criminal country it’s supposed to be. Chico says that he’s been robbed in a Berlin train as well, and Fernando says that he hasn’t heard of any real problems with foreigners. But he adds that it’s wise not to carry a rolex on your wrist.

Of course, knowing that there’s a scene going on in Brazil is nice, but, how the heck can you connect with those guys? “Well, we contact people through Facebook, websites and Soundcloud. And you can also send demo tapes to me through Facebook or Soundcloud” according to Renato. Fernando adds “And we know what’s going outside of Brazil also. We know what we’re looking for.” Edo van Duyn adds “We import a lot, but export a lot less. Every year we may break one act. We’re looking for more exchange. It’s about time we push things a bit more evenly. The euphoric phase should be over, now we need to be clever, and push things a bit further.”

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