This weekend was the weekend of Brazil in Canada, as several Brazilian festivals and events took place around Toronto, culminating in the Brazilian Independence day celebration at Dundas Square, the 1st annual Brazilian Day Canada.

Ok lets start with the weekend as a whole… On Friday night,  Hot and Spicy Food Festival, Circus Alchemy performed their piece Desire for a packed audience at the Circular stage on the grass. It was fire dance, theater and rhythm as the Circus elements mixed with street theatre and Brazilian Percussion.

On Saturday, the Brazilian Film Festival of Toronto was in full swing and presenting their films at the Bloor Cinema. While down at Harbourfront, The Dance Migration, a local Toronto dance company following a Brazilian school of traditional and contemporary dance, combined forces with Capoeira Camara to present a stellar show to a packed Harbourfront audience. Adrianna Yanuziello, artistic director of the company has reached a new point in her performance career with her present show and crew of beautiful dancers. While normally a very critical person when I see folkloric dance I was pretty impressed with the large body of work with a solid foundation in professional dance and respect for the art. check our YouTube page for more videos and see below for a dance piece.

Sunday was Brazilfest at Earls Court Park. The Brazilian community descended on the park en mass to witness the best local bands in town. Performing were Sambacana, Dona Lola, Bracatum, Salviano Pessoa from Bahia and many many more. There was Brazilian BBQ all round and the spacious park provided for a great atmosphere and people playing frisbee and soccer (futebol).

Camila Derise, host of Brazilfest and Bahian musician Salviano Pessoa

Brazilian Day Canada, 2009

The jewel in the crown of this weekend was Brazilian Day Canada. The location: Dundas Square. The heart of Toronto, kind of a concrete jungle and maybe not the most spacious place for a festival of the sort, but Toronto does lack a good space; so considering that such big international names like Goran Bregovic have played here, it only seems fitting that the first annual Brazilian Day Canada be in downtown Toronto and in our version of NYC’s Times Square. A quick search on Youtube will find countless videos of the day.

The artists… wow…

The international artists featured courtesy of Globo TV were Elba Ramalho and Carlinhos Brown. Elba Ramalho is from Paraiba in Brazil’s Northeast, a less developed part of Brazil, with a lot of émigrés  to the South-East of the country and with a strong musical and dance tradition. Elba Ramalho embodies this and is often heralded as a queen of forro, the Brazilian rural two-step that is danced in pairs across the country and is loved by everyone. For me this show is what made this day great. Her band managed to make people dance in a warm embracing kinda way. I guess I am partial to the rootsy-er music of Brazil that seems not to be boxed in by present day trends. She started her set with “Quando fevereiro chega…” (”when February arrives” ie summer in Brazil) an anthem for anyone who feels saudade for their home Brazil. Saudade is a concept that permeated the day as many people and the hosts expressed longing for their homeland and graciousness to have a beautiful life of opportunity in sunny (ahem…) Canada.

Not to be outdone, Carlinhos Brown played a high energy set of various styles of Brazilian music… Frevo, Axe, Samba-Reggae, Baião, Reggae and even a few Brazilian Rock anthems. Wow this man is an incredible performer and he even jumped into the crowd. Check out this man’s headdress as well wow!

Elba Ramalho, an incredible show! photo: Dave Burke

Carlinhos Brown, a legend in his own right. photo: Dave Burke

Famous Brazilain Globo TV personality Luciano Huck did his schtick of getting audience participation going and introducing the heavyweight bands! This guy is very funny to say the least and the host of a variety show O Calderão do Huck that has over 50 million viewers!

Luciano Huck (in white) getting a member of the audience to do tricks for a few minutes of fame! photo: Dave Burke

Locally, Batucada Carioca was the Samba troupe that ripped it up and brought that real Rio Samba feeling… geez… it was intense, and I say that from two perspectives because I also had the pleasure of playing caixa (samba snare) with Maninho Costa and his crew of riley percussionists. They played onstage with local Brazilian celebrity Cibele Iglesias, a cavaquinho player Beto Porto, a bass, Andrew Mason and a trumpet, Christopher Butcher. Then they took to the square where they played a heavy percussion set.

Batucada Carioca with Cibele singing "Vou Festejar"

The day went on with people reveling, hanging out, dancing and enjoying the hot weather that largely escaped Toronto for much of the summer. It was perfect for us  because many people were able to try Rio Mate for the first time. Our sampling tent was swarmed for most of the day and was really well received as it refreshed and re-powered many souls in the hot sun.

As the day was winding down and Carlinhos Brown was closing his set, a capoeira roda started to form right behind our sampling tent. Some members of Capoeira Males, Falcão and Pantera, began playing and were soon joined by some members of Capoeira Camara, Pneuzinha, Eduardo and Bebesão. Soon I was joining in the good vibes of the roda, Contra Mestre Lua Branca from Males showed up and some people from Axe Capoeira,  Chaveco and Marcia among others were getting their game going. Many people joined in, and as it got dark the energy went up… culminating in a great Samba de Roda, (improvised samba dance at the end). A great day; great music, great dance, a capoeira roda that will go down in Toronto history… Not a bad start to Brazilian Day Canada volume one.

please leave comments! Alex Bordokas