But let's begin with the beginning and then we'll continue with the middle and end at the end...
Maracatú is a type of Brasilian music which was originated in the state of Pernambuco and it has afro-brazilian origins. The music has a strong percussion beat. It uses big drums called alfaias and other percussion instruments. There are also dancers sometimes in costumes involved in maracatu. It was originally played for the coronation of the king and queen of the Naçao Negra. Pernambuco is on the Northeast part of Brazil and is also the state where the stadium 'Rei Pelé' is located (for those soccer fans).
The event that we went to as a group (the group from the program) was a session where a bunch of people plays maracatu and it is sort of a jam session. Their name is Bloco de Pedra and they have a project called 'Projeto: Calo na Mão' (Blister of the hand/Callo de la mano - literally translated) that tries to include more people in Maracatu for free. You can join them as it goes and anyone can learn how to play. Since i always wanted to learn how to play an instrument this was really cool to go to. People were very friendly and open to the people that didn't know how to play. they would teach you and show you how it was done. Almost all instruments are available for everyone and anyone can just go and dance. Normally, the people that go add up to 200 people during the 2 hours that they play.
We got there and i didn't really know what to expect because i didn't know what maracatu was and it's hard to know from the name so i just went along with it. The guy running the thing gave us a short talk about what it was and as he talked it started to look like something i would really enjoy. They do this every saturday, it's free (and you know i love free whaterver) and after Carnaval, they will have workshops for people to know how to build their own alfaia (that's the name of the drum) and learn how to play it. I will definitely be going to that if i can. Anyways, it took two songs for me to stand up and play. After the first song that i played i loved it and didn't want to give the alfaia away. It was really cool and i had a lot of fun.
People danced, played the alfaia, played other instruments or simply watched but i think almost everyone liked it a lot from the Sao Paulo group. I still have the beat of the songs in my head... Maracatu-Catú-Catú...
if interested in hearing some of it...
Myspace page for Projeto: Calo na Mão
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