Bhangra & Brasil

Letter from the editor:

An update on this past weekend in the City by the Bay - San Francisco.

Saturday night was spend at the Rickshaw for Non-Stop Bhangra.  The thumping Punjabi party beats mixed in with Dancehall and even Reggaeton flavors kept my ears ringing into Sunday morning.  Dance group DholRhythms performed to a backdrop of Bollywood movie clips and a live tabla player in the DJ booth.  The diverse crowd was all smiles and hands-in-the-air till closing.

Sunday morning, alarm clocks beeped across the city as Brazilians woke up early to catch the World Cup live.  Brazil beat Australia 2-0 and thousands put on their green & yellow to catch Seu Jorge give a free outdoor concert at Stern Grove.  I wish I spoke Portuguese so I was able to sing along with the rest of the audience as they know every word to every song.  Caught up in the moment, I spent an hour in line for an autograph chatting with friends who spend their lives between Brazil and San Francisco.  Amazingly Seu Jorge signed CDs and talked with fans for hours after his performance.

Keeping with the theme, our Brazilian taxi driver (lamenting the fact she had to work and couldn't join her friends to see Seu Jorge) drove us to a Sunday evening Pagode party.  One of the joys of a smaller city, a cluster of fellow dancers from Energia do Samba were already at the bar.  Live musicians played in the tiny bar packed to capacity in a dancing sea of green & yellow.  Again, everyone sang along perfectly to each song as they danced samba & forro.  There is something about the music and Brazilian culture (and the fact that Brazil won the World Cup game that morning) that made everyone feel like a long lost friend.

root will be reporting on Bhangra soon!

Marcy Mendelson

Editor

Comments

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