The Music Scene in Florianópolis, Brazil Did Not Disappoint
I’ll never forget the drive from the airport in Florianópolis to my accommodations. The intense tropical greenery in contrast to the rubble and unique architecture had me in awe. I heard about the “Magic Island” when I was traveling through Europe. With approximately sixty beaches surrounding the Ilha da Magia (Magic Island), there is something for everyone; the calm, inland bay in the north where all the movie stars and politicians park their yachts, to the untouched, wild natureza (nature) in the south. My favorite place was Barra Da Logoa, a sleepy little fisherman’s, and now surfer’s paradise located on the Atlantic Coast, on the east central part of the island. It was here I would discover The Search House Hostel.
My host at the time described it as one of the best hostels in South America. After staying there, I don’t think she was exaggerating! It’s a brilliant beachfront hostel complete with a perfect setup. A pool next to the bar, then a half pipe on your way to cabanas, and a private fire pit connected to a stunning beach. It’s easy to make friends here, since everyone gathers for happy hour, followed by a delicious dinner from the in-house restaurant. I didn’t know what to expect my first time traveling to Brazil. Like most trips, all I had was a twenty pound backpack and my hard case guitar.
It took some convincing, but one night I was able to start a fire with wet wood and perform an impromptu concert for a bunch of my new friends. Little did I know, I was only scratching the surface of the melting pot of music and world caliber musicians spread across the Magic Island. To those of you who follow my blog, you know the story of how I befriended, and performed with one of the leading minds in Gypsy Jazz music in all of Brazil, Mauro Albert. If you missed the story, you can check it out here: https://www.freesmilesproductions.com/blog/how-a-chance-encounter-led-to-performing-with-mauro-albert-in-brazil. Literally the night after I met Albert, I found myself out for a walk, and stumbled upon a little cafe with extremely talented Choro musicians.
To my North American friends, you may be asking, What is Choro music? According to choromusic.com, Choro “popularly called chorinho, is an instrumental genre of the Brazilian popular music that has its origins in Rio de Janeiro in the late 1800s. A choro ensemble is called “regional,” and a musician, composer or instrumentalist is called “Chorão” (literally meaning “weeper”). In spite of its name, this kind of music has, in general, a very vibrant and cheerful beat, characterized by the virtuosity and improvisation of its participants.” What more can I say, I was in heaven. The rich Brazilian music culture I studied in college was coming to life in front of me. To my continued surprise, I also witnessed one of my favorite childhood musicians perform at the very hostel I fell in love with.
Citizen Cope has a hit song that a lot of people would recognize if they heard it on the radio, “Sideways”. Shortly after my stay at The Search House, my local friend informed me Citizen was taking surf lessons there, and was going to perform a ticketed concert! She was also scheming for ways I could jam around the fire with him. I mean, the staff knew me, I could have just showed up with my guitar and built another fire. I didn’t want to be that guy though. You know? Let the man surf in peace. However, I did grab tickets to his show. It was epic, mainly because he performed in the half pipe!
Less than a week later, I was sitting in a tiny cafe in a beautiful ocean front town I had recently discovered, and in walked Citizen Cope! I was speechless, don’t bother him, I kept thinking to myself. However, we were the only two in the cafe and the barista was having trouble understanding him. I decided to translate the best I could. They both were thankful. That’s when I started chatting with Citizen. He was great, and it was cool sharing how I was down there to shoot a music video. He went off on his hike, and I sat there smiling, knowing I was right where I was supposed to be, in beautiful Armação, Brazil, on another perfect sunny day.
Armação was pure magic the moment I set foot there. Immediately upon venturing out to the island connected to the picturesque village, I knew this is where I’d record the music video for “Tower Hill”. If you haven’t seen it, you can check out the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lI73z_G-GU. In fact, I wrote a blog about how the music video shoot almost didn’t happen, https://www.freesmilesproductions.com/blog/how-i-filmed-a-music-video-in-florianpolis-brazil. The late, great Brazilian composer Tom Jobin famously said, “Brazil is not for amateurs”. I couldn’t agree more, though taking the leap of faith was one of the best decisions of my life. The people, the culture, the food–the music! Muito obrigado (Thank you very much) to all who crossed my path there, and enriched my life with insightful knowledge and musical memories that will last a lifetime.