A long-unreleased track finally sees the light of day. Last month, my dear friend, former bandmate, and bassist Karim Yengsep rescued a recording we made after several years of dormancy. Our band Bossa Nuevo–named for our repertoire of bossa nova and tango nuevo styles–recorded our adaptation of “Aria (Cantilena)” by Heitor Villa-Lobos from Bachianas Brasileiras […]
My musical life in Belo Horizonte: Part 1
February 26th, 2014I spent 18 months conducting dissertation research on music and politics in Belo Horizonte, Brazil in 2011 and 2012. Thinking back on a few of the performances that have touched me the most, I noticed an interesting phenomenon. In retrospect, perhaps it shouldn’t have surprised me. I have ended up performing far more American jazz—and […]
Autumn in Minas Gerais: Part III
January 7th, 2012Outono em Minas Gerais: Parte Três Monday morning, Jaimie and I arose to squeeze in a bit more historical tourism in Ouro Preto. We climbed the ladeira up to Praça Tiradentes. On the way, I took this picture of an oratório perched on a corner overlooking a steep valley. (Note: an oratório is a structure […]
Rio de Janeiro in Five Days and Four Nights
August 29th, 2011Rio de Janeiro: A pior viagem da minha vida A few weeks ago, I stumbled across an announcement for an ethnomusicology conference that would take place in Rio de Janeiro. It was set to begin in just two weeks—a little tight for flight shopping—but as I read the program I decided it was not to […]
Autumn in Minas Gerais: Part II
June 30th, 2011Outono em Minas Gerais: Parte Dois The next morning, Domingo dos Ramos (Palm Sunday), Jaimie and I awoke early in order to participate in another processão. This one was to depart the beautiful Igreja de São Francisco de Assis—the church that uses the second largest amount of gold in its interior design in Brazil (the […]
Autumn in Minas Gerais: Part I
June 20th, 2011Outono em Minas Gerais: Parte Um One of my goals here in Minas Gerais has been to try to get a broad understanding of the types of cultural production that involve music-making. Though my research focuses on the Clube da Esquina—a musical collective often categorized as MPB (música popular brasileira)—I am devoted to investigating the […]
From the Vaults: Central Park West
June 8th, 2011It seems I am not a frequent blogger so far, but I have my excuses. I moved to Belo Horizonte, Brazil at the beginning of March and have been going through a rather-longer-than-anticipated process of settling in. But, now that I have a fabulous new internet connection in my little apartment in Funcionários (neighborhood in […]
I Love My Ears
March 18th, 2011(or, How Musicians Should Get Regular Hearing Tests) Well, I haven’t always loved my ears. In fact, it has been pointed out to me many, many times that they are actually quite small. Embarrassingly small. When I was about 8 years old, I took swimming lessons at the local YMCA. One day as I climbed […]
Tanta contramão
January 23rd, 2011Holly recounts an evening driving around Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and gives a bit of cultural history along the way.
