Music
Bahia is FULL of so many groovy styles of music, incredibly rich in rhythms and harmonies. Samba, Bossa Nova, Choro, Samba-Reggae, Pagode, Axé, Frevo, Forró, Maracatu, Afoxé, Funk, MPB (just to name a few)!! And the musicians here are absolutely superb, full of soul & passion for their craft. It is an honor to play with them!
Well...
Steel Drum is very foreign to Brazil. No one really knows what it is, and very, very few people (usually musicians) have ever heard one before, much less have seen one up close. So this has been good and bad for me. Good because I've got something to offer that no one else does. Bad because, until the music promoters see it for themselves, they're afraid to have it in their show because they have no idea what it is. "A drum made of steel?? What the?!" It's hard to explain and, therefore, difficult for people to understand that it can play harmony and melody (because "drums" typically cannot). Fortunately it is very well received by the people who see/hear it, and it has been a very fun journey so far. The music biz is very difficult and logistically quite challenging here. But in spite of all the extremely hard work, it is a blast during the moments when I'm actually on stage with these incredible local musicians!!
Thus far, I have been very busy playing around town here in Salvador. I've even had a few nights where I've done a couple shows in the same single night (at different venues with different bands). I even got recognized a few times in the streets - "Hey, are you the guy that was playing that metal drum the other night?!", accompanied by their big smile and an enthusiastic handshake. Cool, man!! I'm not embarrassed to admit I'm diggin' it!!
The following page shows some of the performances here in Salvador - playing with various bands in a variety of shows, in venues ranging from praças (huge town plazas), music clubs, concert halls, theaters and recording studios. I don't have pix from every performance, but there are a handful in the following pages.
I hope to soak up and participate in as much music as I can during my stay here. And my goal is to keep meeting as many musicians (and as good of musicians) as possible in hopes to do some shows on big stages for Carnaval. I've got a few "invitations" so far. We'll see what happens when Carnaval rolls around in mid Feb. Keep your fingers crossed!
Well...
Steel Drum is very foreign to Brazil. No one really knows what it is, and very, very few people (usually musicians) have ever heard one before, much less have seen one up close. So this has been good and bad for me. Good because I've got something to offer that no one else does. Bad because, until the music promoters see it for themselves, they're afraid to have it in their show because they have no idea what it is. "A drum made of steel?? What the?!" It's hard to explain and, therefore, difficult for people to understand that it can play harmony and melody (because "drums" typically cannot). Fortunately it is very well received by the people who see/hear it, and it has been a very fun journey so far. The music biz is very difficult and logistically quite challenging here. But in spite of all the extremely hard work, it is a blast during the moments when I'm actually on stage with these incredible local musicians!!
Thus far, I have been very busy playing around town here in Salvador. I've even had a few nights where I've done a couple shows in the same single night (at different venues with different bands). I even got recognized a few times in the streets - "Hey, are you the guy that was playing that metal drum the other night?!", accompanied by their big smile and an enthusiastic handshake. Cool, man!! I'm not embarrassed to admit I'm diggin' it!!
The following page shows some of the performances here in Salvador - playing with various bands in a variety of shows, in venues ranging from praças (huge town plazas), music clubs, concert halls, theaters and recording studios. I don't have pix from every performance, but there are a handful in the following pages.
I hope to soak up and participate in as much music as I can during my stay here. And my goal is to keep meeting as many musicians (and as good of musicians) as possible in hopes to do some shows on big stages for Carnaval. I've got a few "invitations" so far. We'll see what happens when Carnaval rolls around in mid Feb. Keep your fingers crossed!
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