OPTIONAL ADD-ON: BRAZILIAN MUSIC LESSONS IN RIO DE JANEIRO

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OPTIONAL ADD-ONS: BRAZILIAN MUSIC LESSONS IN RIO DE JANEIRO	BRAZIL
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Music is part of the Brazilian soul! In Brazil, rhythm flows through all conversations, ebbing its way into the way people walk and live their day-to-day lives. Music in Brazil is everywhere – it can be found in a complex rhythmic pattern beaten out by an old man with his fingers on a cafe table, or, rolling down in the thundering beat of samba echoing from the hills around Rio in the months leading up to Carnival.

You can take lessons alongside your main project as an optional extra to enhance your Brazil experience.

PRICE: £160 per week for 6 hours of lessons per week

OVERVIEW
You'll take 6 hours of lessons per week (three lessons of 2 hours each). Two of these lessons will be taught at your hostel (the hostel has a performance area and is well known for hosting bands), and the other will be taught at a professional music studio. This way, you’ll get the chance to see music in Rio from two different angles, and also of course playing with Jahir’s band!

Because Music is such an individual passion most music placements are arranged specifically for the individual. We work with a number of teachers, and can arrange music lessons in many things - from Brazilian percussion to the jazz trumpet. Simply let us know your choice of instrument/s, musical preferences / tastes / styles, ability level and experience, and of course the experience that you’re looking for and we’ll do the rest!

Example Project: Brazilian Percussion with Jahir Soares in Rio de Janeiro: "Jahir is one of the most amazing drummers I have ever had the privilege to see play. He absolutely blew me away - the volunteers are so lucky to have the opportunity to work with him" - Elizabeth, Brazil Project Co-Ordinator

Jahir is an old friend of Travellers Rio as he manages one of the favela social projects that we have been working with for many years. He is a fantastic musician and teacher, and can play a number of instruments. He is also an experienced teacher, so he was an ideal candidate to teach our volunteers the music of Brazil!

Jahir starred in a feature film in 2007, 'Som E O Resto, O' (The sound and the rest) about music in Rio de Janeiro (trailer on the right) which was shown at Cannes Film Festival and made him quite a celebrity!

MUSIC IN BRAZIL!
Music is a passport to happiness for Brazilians, an escape from everyday frustrations and (for most) a hard and difficult material life. "There's an amazing magical, mystical quality to Brazilian music. Their music is paradise," says jazz flutist Herbie Mann.

Music is part of the Brazilian soul, and rhythm is in the way people speak, in the way they walk, and in the way they play soccer. In Rio de Janeiro, after the national team has won an important soccer game, fireworks explode in the sky and samba detonates in the streets.

On sidewalks and in city squares, the celebration begins. Impromptu percussion sections appear, made up of all types of Brazilians, rich and poor, black and brown and white. As participants pick up instruments - a drum, a scraper, a shaker - an intricate, ebullient samba batucada (percussion jam) builds. Each amateur music-maker kicks in an interlocking rhythmic part to create a groove that would be the envy of most professional bands in other parts of the world. The singing and dancing inevitably go on for hours.

Over the course of the last five centuries, Portuguese, African, and - to a lesser extent - Amerindian rhythms, dances, and harmonies have been mixing together, altering old styles and creating new forms of music.

Most Brazilian music shares three outstanding qualities:
It has an intense lyricism tied to its Portuguese heritage that often makes for beautiful, highly expressive melodies, enhanced by the fact that Portuguese is one of the most musical tongues on the earth and no small gift to the ballad singer. Second, a high level of poetry is present in the lyrics of much Brazilian popular music. And last, vibrant Afro-Brazilian rhythms energize most Brazilian songs, from samba to baião. By joining us on this placement, you can be a part of it with this truly magical way of living through music!

Got any questions? Please email us:
info@travellersworldwide.com

Enhance your Programme with some exciting activities:

Jahir Soares (your teacher in Rio) stars in Som E O Resto... Click above to play the video

Suite 2A, Caravelle House, 17/19 Goring Road, Worthing,
West Sussex, BN12 4AP, England
Tel: +44 (0)1903 502595 Fax: +44 (0)1903 708179
Email:info@travellersworldwide.com