Parabens Ana Alice!

I am fascinated by life on the streets in Salvador. Any given day there is something new (and everyday, so far, fireworks). Today, I witnessed what I would call the Brazilian equivalent of the singing telegram. It was about 8:30 p.m. and we'd just finished our evening meal when music and a voice over a PA system erupted from the street below. Basically, a small car pulled up at the building next door and opened its hatchback to reveal a television and some big speakers. A man with a deep Casey Kasem-esque D.J. voice began speaking over the PA, wishing Ana Alice (Ah-nuh Uh-lee-see) a happy birthday. So, Ana Alice, along with--I'm guessing--friends and family hung out on the sidewalk for the celebration. This consisted of a few songs, a slide show (I think) of Ana Alice on the television and the D.J. talking over a microphone about what a wonderful lady Ana Alice was. It went on for about twenty minutes or so as several more people gathered and a mix of music and birthday wishes continued to blare over the loud speaker. The celebration culminated in a birthday song and an acceptance speech by Ana Alice, who, I might add, sounded like a very sweet lady. I think she liked her birthday telegram. It was definitely a party on wheels. Hilarious. I stood there with a giant grin on my face watching as I rushed my husband to get the camera so I could record, as I hardly felt I could do it justice by description alone. Here are a couple of takes, note the FIREWORKS (!) in the second take:

GO U.S.A!!!

Phew, there, said it. The USA vs. Brazil game just ended. Brazil won...each goal accompanied by fireworks in the streets, beeping of car horns and yelling from windows. I had to bite my lip the entire time for the sake of my marriage...usually I would be cheering for Brazil, but in this case, my heart was with the USA. I thought they played a great game and the goalie was pretty fantastic, he deserved that Golden Glove trophy! Good job, USA. Congratulations, Brasil!

Michael Jackson, 1958-2009

I was watching CNN world news when the news broke about Michael Jackson's cardiac arrest and subsequent death. Since then, Brazilian TV news and newspapers have been filled with coverage of his death and tributes to his life. I definitely danced my heart out to "Beat It" at the age of 6 and gave the moon walk my best attempts--uh, yeah--anyways--from all of the news I've seen I was only one of the masses. Michael Jackson truly was a global phenomenon. It's hard to believe he's gone. As the news was swirling, I learned that he had collaborated with a percussion group here in Salvador called Olodum. He came to the city to film a music video for his song "They Don't Care About Us" on his HIStory album, directed by Spike Lee. The song itself apparently stirred some controversy in the U.S. As for the actual filming of the video, word on the street from reliable, English-speaking sources is that Michael Jackson was very nice and polite to the people here. I was told he loved all of the tropical fruits in Bahia, which were supplied in abundance for him. This is the aforementioned video, recorded in the old historic district of Pelourinho in Salvador with the percussion group Olodum. Parts of it were filmed in Rio, but the street scenes with colorful buildings and drumming are all in Salvador. There is some good footage about 4 minutes in:

"Uma Bomba"

When I first heard the popping sounds outside of our building, I more or less dismissed them and thought "Wow, some of these cars are seriously backfiring"....until they persisted...at which point it dawned on me that it was the popping of fireworks. All day, all night....fireworks. Festival de Sao Joao=fireworks, got it! And my goodness how people like fireworks here. I have jumped out of my seat a few times when they've gone off close-by. There was an article on the front page of the paper about 200+ injuries in a fireworks war in one neighborhood not far away. If I were to start an anti-fireworks campaign...let's face it, the thought has crossed my mind...here are some of the graphics I might choose from:

For the children--I don't know what this says, but the screaming monkey with his butt on fire is pretty scary. This one is more straight to the point:

And one for the business owners:

I'll let you know if i make any progress with my campaign.

Festival de São João

I arrived in Salvador on the cusp of the Festival de São João. We all love holidays, but I think Brazilians, in particular, really REALLY love holidays. With the exception of a few local celebrations, the city was basically a ghost town for 5 days as people traveled to the country to attend festivals of Forro music (pronounced Foh-haw, supposedly from "for all" since it's music for the people). We went to one festival, the Forro do Piu-Piu, about 3 hours outside of the city. This is one of the better known festivals where both Forro and Axé bands played. Both types of music are extremely popular in the state of Bahia--Forro usually involves an accordian and the best I can liken it to is country square dance with an extra kick....there were some serious back-up dancers involved (note buns and thighs of steel, girls)!

Some popular Axé artists played as well---this is another type of music from Bahia that combines rock-ish type styles with more traditional percussion--not typical São João music but it was a Bahian party, what the heck. This is my favorite Axé singer, Alexandre Peixe, giving us a special V.I.P. shout out:

After lots of dancing and drinking, we took a break and went to relieve ourselves at the "Mobile Pipi" (why is this stuff always so funny??) I missed the picture of the "Snob" brand napkins we had with our sandwiches for our "Peeky-neeky"...oh well...until next time.

All-in-all it made for a nice welcome-to-Bahia!!!