A Barca was created in 1998 when a group of friends began to collaborate via their interest in travel, popular music, and Brazilian culture. The lessons taught to the group by the Brazilian Modernist, Mario de Abdrade, led them to delve into a sea of countless Brazilian popular songs. In 1999, A...
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A Barca was created in 1998 when a group of friends began to collaborate via their interest in travel, popular music, and Brazilian culture. The lessons taught to the group by the Brazilian Modernist, Mario de Abdrade, led them to delve into a sea of countless Brazilian popular songs. In 1999, A Barca visited the region of Maranhao and Para for the first time and members of the group played in both the cities of the countryside learning a pantheon of songs like the carimbo, pajelanca, tambor de mina, mangaba and bumba-ox, all of which would be part of the first group concert and live recording, ‘Turista Aprendiz’.
Their second album was recorded with Casa Fanti-Ashanti, from Sao Luis and focused on a repertoire of songs played in the ‘terriro’ (a place where Afro-Brazilian religious ceremonies are performed) which adhered to a specific ritual; the ‘Baiao de Princesas’. Over the past six years, A Barca has traveled and performed in 50 Brazilian cities in addition to recording local music in Para, Maranhao, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo.
In December 2004, A Barca embarked again to the North, and started in Belem – Para, with a musical caravan which went across 26 cities, in 9 Brazilian states over the course of 50 days. A Barca gave workshops and concerts and made video and audio recordings of over 40 local groups and artists. The itinerary included the regions of Maranhao, Ceara, Paraiba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Bahia, Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo.
The group worked for an entire year on this material and in January 2006, A Barca released their box set – ‘Trilha, Toada a Trupe’, which includes 2 albums dedicated to the local groups, an A Barca album and DVD documentary on the trip.
The raw material collected by the group – 300 hours of sound and image – is now available for the first time. All music download sales directly benefit the communities who participated in this project.
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