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Brazil: Independence Celebrations Mark a Day of Divisions, over Unity
Clorrie Yeomens reflects on the trauma and mixed feelings that Brazilian Independence Day conjures up for many Brazilians
Clara Nunes, A Guerreira.
Some consider Clara Nunes to be the greatest samba and MPB singer of her generation. She was the first female singer in Brazil to sell over 100,000 copies of a record,with "Tristeza Pé No Chão" and her achievements…
Maya Da-Rin, award-winning Brazilian film director of ‘The Fever’ (2019)
“They don’t know how to look into dreams, they have big eyes but they only see what is in front of them.” Brazilian filmmaker Maya Werneck Da-Rin is a bubbly, energetic, resourceful and creative person with a huge talent. Moved…
‘THE FEVER’ (A Febre -2019) by Brazilian director Maya Da-Rin -
“Like a hunter with no prey”- The multi-award winning ‘THE FEVER’ has a haunting, dreamy quality. We are immediately immersed in the quiet, alienated world of the protagonist, who is surrounded by an environment dominated by…
Things That Matter to...Amaro Freitas
From the slums of Recife in Brazil's North-East to international jazz icon, Amaro Freitas has earned the music world's attention for "an approach to the keyboard so unique that it's startling" (Downbeat…
Latin America Criminalises Mining Protest
All over Latin America mining protest is being criminalised by government legislation. Protestors in Andalgalá, Argentina are arrested and beaten, while in Brazil the Munduruku are fighting Anglo American, financed by US…
Que Vivan 'Los Turcos': Latin America's Arab connection
Last year, when the crisis in Colombia coincided with the Israeli incursion into Gaza, Colombian and Latino social media platforms were awash with calls for solidarity with Palestinians, after the distressing scenes of the…
Remembering Luiz Melodia
A Carioca God of music, Brazil's black Orpheus, a master of Música Popular Brasileira (MPB); Luiz Melodia was like a rhapsode, always absorbing what was happening in the universe of music at that moment condensing rock,…
Latin Jazz Next Gen
Unlike other music, Jazz musicians get better with age. In Jazz linguistics, at 40, you’re a toddler just starting to talk! The following artists have pricked up our ears with their exciting new sounds. Both blessed and burdened…
The Amazon: Biden and Bolsonaro's no- deal
The United States and Brazil have been conducting closed door negotiations to broker an Amazon rainforest protection agreement — with the U.S. and other nations tentatively to provide significant funding, and Brazil possibly…
Luciana Berry's Picanha Assada
Are you ready for barbecue days? We are! (despite the freezing this spring). This video recipe is from Brazilian Chef Luciana Berry is a delicious tweak to cook up Brazilian’s favourite beef cut. Luciana Berry is a Le Cordon…
Top 10 Latin American Sportswomen
Forget Guillermo Vilas, Gustavo Kuerten or Juan Martin del Potro, did you know that Latin America’s most successful tennis player - World No. 1,19 Grand Slam titles, including three Wimbledon singles crowns - was a woman? And yet…
THE LAST FOREST – Where Dreams Collide and Nightmares Escape
In an isolated Yanomami land in the Amazon, the shaman Davi Kopenawa Yanomani tries to keep the spirits of the forest and the traditions alive, while the arrival of gold prospectors brings death and destruction to the community.…
Bacalhoada do Christiano (Christiano's Bacalhoada)
Easter and the onset of spring means only one thing in Brazil...eating Salt Cod! The practice of salting and drying cod has been around for 500 years and is said to have been discovered by the Vikings, who used the method to…
Brazil: Lula is Back and Shaking Things Up
The PT leader’s return is transforming politics and the handling of the pandemic
'Madalena': Another Lonesome Transgender Death in Brazil
Shown last month as part of the official selection at the IFFR film festival in Rotterdam, 'Madalena' shows the reality of life and murder for the trans community in Brazil. The film is not a crime thriller, the police…
Brazil: Facebook Enables Landgrabbing
In a new TV documentary, BBC Brasil penetrated deep within criminal networks illegally selling and deforesting conserved lands — even within an Indigenous reserve - to find some land grabbers are posting the plots they’re selling…
The Most Dangerous Man on Earth
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is a double danger to the world, says Jan Rocha. The president's policies on Coronavirus and the Amazon endanger the whole world
Brazilian Filmmakers Karine Teles and Gustavo Pizzi
In their film ‘Trilogy’, ‘Craft’ (Riscado) 2010, ‘Loveling’ (Benzinho) 2015, and now ‘The Last Days of Gilda’ (Os Últimos Dias de Gilda (TV mini-series), Brazilian film makers Gustavo Pizzi and Karine Teles have created three…
Is the coronavirus epidemic worse in Brazil or in the UK?
Jan Rocha proposes the question ahead of an online discussion hosted by Latin America Bureau: Brazil is certainly suffering terribly, but is the UK's mortality rate higher?
Pioneering Black Latina Artists
Recently we published a list of Black Heroines of Latin American History, Afro-Latinas who put their lives at risk, and in some cases gave their lives, in order to shape our history. This week we bring you the brave women who…
Things That Matter to...Luiz Gabriel Lopes
Luiz Gabriel Lopes is a singer-songwriter from Minas Gerais, the fertile territory that spawned the incredible Clube da Esquina generation of Milton Nascimento, Lo Borges, Toninho Horta et al. Echoing these illustrious…
'The Last Days of Gilda' Dir. Gustavo Pizzi
A Mini-series in 4 episodes, this is a lively and entertaining tale about the freedom-loving Gilda, who survives on a diet of love and more love, above all.
Pixinguinha: The Demiurge of Brazilian Music
‘If you have 15 volumes to talk about all of Brazilian popular music, rest assured it’s too little. But if you only have the space for a word, you are saved. Write quickly: Pixinguinha.’ Though this quotation by Ary Vasconcelos,…
Black Heroes of Modern Latin America
A few months ago we brought you black heroes of Colonial Latin America - leaders and fighters who defied the prejudices against them and demanded change, freedom and racial justice, whether through slave rebellion or fighting the…
'THE TRAITOR' Dir. Marco Bellocchio
An Italian/Brazilian/French co-production, 'The Traitor', a BAFTA contender this year, is a true crime drama based on the story of how Tommaso Buscetta, a prominent member of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, decided to become…
Caetano Veloso – 54 days during the dictatorship
Narciso em Ferias (Narcissus Off-duty) is Caetano Veloso’s personal testimony of his arrest and imprisonment in 1968 during the dictatorship in Brazil. Premiering at the Venice Biennale and shown at DocLisboa, the film follows…
Great Latin American films from 2021
2021 was a difficult year for film, especially cinema releases. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the 2021 Academy Awards event took place in April 2021, at the usual event venue, the spectacular Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los…
Black Heroines of Latin American History
Being an female activist meant putting your life at risk, being a black female activist was a probable death sentence, yet these courageous women took that risk, and gave their lives in some cases, in order to shape our history.…
OUR TIME TO SHINE
Sons and daughters of immigrants, the UK’s first-generation Spanglish-singing Latino-Brits have been busy creating in the shadows of a bustling UK urban music scene. But with music in Spanish now making the global hits, they…
Clementina, Where Are You?
In Brazil, Cinderella has a different name - Clementina. Clementina de Jesus worked for decades as a maid before being discovered, at the age of 62, by a record producer and composer named Herminio Bello de Carvalho. With the…
COVID STORIES: Learning to Exhale
Priscilla Ferreira set up Circular Maternar UK, a group to support Brazilian women in the UK overcome their fears of natural (vaginal) birth. Brazil has the highest rate of caesarean births in the world - 85 percent in private…
Brazilian Sweet Chilli Sauce
I have never been a fan of regular store-bought sweet chilli sauce. Store versions have a funny taste, and the colouring and preservatives put me off. It's true that you can find some better quality 'natural'…
The Continuous Death of Tom Jobim
In Brazilian music, there are so many names that do not require any sort of introduction. Indeed, these are names that are often conflated with the definition of Brazilian music itself. They are names that, when spoken, evoke…
'Memory House' Dir João Paulo Miranda María
Set in modern-day Brazil, with a fantastical narrative using hallucinations and dreams, in his film Memory House 2020, João Paulo Miranda María explores the lonely and tortured life of Cristovam as he suffers the harsh clash of…
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