Imperdível a reportagem do Alex Bellos (veja notas) sobre os Bailes Funk cariocas no Observer.

O repórter traz detalhes impressionantes dos eventos, da música e de alguns personagens do Funk carioca.

Tiros para o alto são uma demonstração de aprovação do trabalho dos DJs durante as apresentações ao vivo...

Aparecer nas letras é um sinal de status entre as personalidades do Comando Vermelho. O destaque atrai a atenção feminina e da polícia tb.

Funk songs used to pay homage to those who had died, but now it is fashionable to namecheck those still alive. Juca is often asked by friends to write lyrics that include their names. 'They like it because being in a song raises your profile. The better you're known, the more girls you'll attract. It's crazy the amount of girls you get if you're in the faction. But there are problems, since by being in a song you are making yourself known to the police.' There are other issues too. A friend of Juca's wrote a song with a list of 30 names. 'That was six months ago. Already 10 of them are dead.'

Bellos traz detalhes impressionantes sobre a influência do tráfico... coisas como o CD "lançado" pelo Comando Vermelho com uma música em homenagem ao Marcinho e ao Elias Maluco (condenados pelo assassinato do repórter da Globo Tim Lopes)...

Even so, Juca knows that he owes his success to the factions. 'The best way to get a break is to sing something that pleases the traffickers. It's sad. I'd prefer to sing about other subjects, like poverty or protest, but no one's interested.' In Juca's case, the Red Command liked '24 Hours' so much that they paid to have it recorded and distributed 1,000 copies of the CD. The lyrics are a tribute to the jailed faction leaders Marcinho and Elias Maluco - who is accused of ordering the death of an undercover TV reporter killed in 2002 while investigating bailes. The story goes that he was sliced to pieces with a Samurai sword.

Como as letras são proibidas pela lei brasileira e como o morador da favela não tem grana para pagar copyright para gravadora, há todo um mercado independente para os "proibidões".

Juca and Paulinho's '24 Hours' is one of the most successful baile funk songs of the year so far. But because it's forbidden, you can't buy a copy legally anywhere in Rio. To get one, you have to pay a visit to Rio's Camelodromo, a chaotic bazaar in the downtown business district that sells everything from cheap clothes to car parts. At a stall selling pirate CDs I ask the owner if he has any 'Proibidão'. He looks at us slightly longer than normal and then fetches a small black plastic bag. He takes out an unmarked CD and, making sure that no one's looking, slips it into a Discman. 'It just came in today,' he says conspiratorially. 'I've almost sold out. It's what everyone wants.' The CD has 33 tracks; they are full of gun noises, threats to kill and obscenities. One song, about the favela Arvore Seca, uses a Dire Straits sample from Brothers in Arms, mashed up and over a heavy beat, with the lyrics 'We're just like Colombia... the bullets will eat right through you'.

O jornalista mostra tb o lado sexual bizarro do Baile Funk descrevendo um show da "Gaiola dos Popozudas, - the Birdcage of Big-Butted Babes" que envolve além das bundas prometidas no nome, anões carregando enormes pênis infláveis.

Not all Rio funk tracks are about violence. There are a lot about sex, too. Out in Acari, on the distant outskirts of Rio, Valeska, the bleach-blonde lead singer of Gaiola dos Popozudas, - the Birdcage of Big-Butted Babes - is teasing the crowd with their hit 'Vai Mamada': 'I'll give you my cunt nice and slow but what I really want is your dick in my asshole,' she sings. Behind her, three girls in skin-tight stage outfits grind out a hypnotically hip-swinging dance routine. Halfway through their 20-minute set, Valeska invites a member of the audience onto the stage. She and each of the dancers take turns to rub their bodies against him. 'Show us your butt,' she shouts, and he bends over. Suddenly, a dwarf dressed as Trinity from The Matrix and holding a giant inflatable penis jumps out of the crowd onto the stage.

O engraçado que a coisa da origem marginal, a produção crua e tosca desperta comparação com o punk e chama a atenção dos europeus... Tem algum sentido, já que punk não é exatamente música tb.

O triste é que os MCs, por terem gravado as músicas com letras pró-tráfico, tem dificuldades legais para entrarem no mainstream... Então os artistas populares responsáveis pelos grandes sucessos do morro carioca ainda precisam ganhar a vida lavando carros ou trabalhando como domésticas. Esse é um bom gancho para discutir liberdade de expressão.

Essas são as músicas de Baile Funk destacadas pelo Bellos:

Rio speedwagon - five baile funk hits

Deize, 'Injeção'

Starts off with mashed-up trumpets sampled from the Rocky theme before Deize's voice - vulnerable, aggressive, sexy - squeals 'aiiiii'. Deize swears the song that inspired M.I.A.'s 'Bucky Done Gun' is about her fear of the doctor's needle, yet everyone understands lines like 'my bum can hardly bear it' are a tribute to anal sex.

Serginho, 'Pocotó'

Serginho, now in his forties, always performs alongside the transvestite Lacraia, with whom members of the audience are encouraged to get on stage and kiss. Serginho's smooth, though stentorian voice sounds fabulous on 'Pocotó', a steroid-enhanced nursery rhyme that uses the rhythm of a galloping horse as the beat.

Cidinho e Doca, 'Rap da Felicidade'

Cidinho and Doca are both from City of God and this track - whose chorus runs 'I just want to be happy and walk peacefully through the favela where I was born' - has become an anthem of youth protest. One of the few tracks that isn't about sex or violence. The subject-matter and plaintive melody are deeply reminiscent of early sambas written about life in Rio's slums.

De Falla, 'Popozuda Rock'n'Roll'

De Falla have done to funk what Aerosmith did to hip hop when they duetted with Run DMC. Samples are replaced by a heavy guitar sound, resulting in a punk-dance classic.

Tati Quebra Barraco, 'Se Marcar'

Tati is the most charismatic of funk's down'n'dirty divas. She's not as plump as she was, having spent some of her earnings on much-publicised plastic surgery.

Atualização

Epicurus: Deus e o Mal

Mais uma experiência... queria saber o q vcs acham... se dá para entender... se está longo ou curto...

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