Gilles Peterson Gives Inside Tips On How To Enjoy Brazil's Music Scene

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While many people spent their teenage years falling into puppy love with potential boyfriends or girlfriends, Gilles Peterson was falling in love with Brazilian music. As a 15-year-old growing up in London, he was immersed in the city’s club culture - and Brazilian tunes “worked,” he said. “One of the great things about the UK has always been its club culture. I’ve grown up throughout the whole of that, from the early days of small underground scenes playing northern soul and obscure jazz records, and people dancing and battling to that music. Brazilian music was very much a part of that fabric,” he said on a phone call from London. He would travel there a lot over time, and two and a half years ago, Universal Records pegged him to create Brasil Bam Bam, an album meant to celebrate the country’s music and its influence on him.

While he was there, he had a film crew that planned to make a 20-minute long, EPK styled film. The filmmakers saw more, and ended up creating an entire 75-minute documentary. “I had a really good team of filmmakers who came along, so they took lots of footage, and we ended up making a 75-minute documentary which sort of took in the area I was at, if you were just going there for the first time, and taking the cultural tourist journey,” he said. After landing in various film festivals, Peterson pitched the idea to make the film publicly available. They posted it on Vimeo, and the film has received positive feedback ever since. To celebrate the release of the film, Peterson spoke to Okayplayer to compile a guide of how to enjoy music in Brazil.

DJs:

Peterson’s first recommendation for visitors to São Paulo was to find where DJ Nuts is spinning. “He’s an amazing hip-hop DJ, he mixes old school Brazilian music with hip-hop,” Peterson said. “Find out where he’s DJing, because he has a few residencies. He’s the guy down there to see, he’s a leader over there.” He also suggests DJ Tahira, whose re-edits he compares to Kon & Amir's.

Live Music:

Sao Paulo has the better night clubs, and is generally the most musically progressive city in Brazil. But Rio De Janeiro, Peterson said, is best for live music.

“They have these things called Samba Charme, which is basically outdoor carnival type parties they have pretty much every week on a Sunday. They have DJs playing, and it’s like a wild open free party for everybody. They also play a little soul there, which is interesting, and they do the samba dancing to soul music. That’s where you’re going to hear Brazilian versions of Earth Wind and Fire.” He also recommended two specific bands, Band of Black Rio and Coto.

"Like anywhere, you have your higher end, richer scene, which is more middle upper class. They’re inevitably into the house, and the techno, and the electronic, and the EDM. And you’ve got your sub scenes, which exist, you just need to go and find them," explains. "There are different variations on trap and hip-hop over there, based around body funk and the favela sounds. That’s a lot more difficult to go to; it’s a bit like going to the rougher parts of Detroit, you need to be a local for that sort of music. But that’s obviously going to be the most vital and vibrant scene."

Digging:

The digging culture in Brazil is great for two reasons, Peterson said: because of the country’s rich musical history, and how much of the music never made it outside of its borders. “Another thing that people don’t realize about Brazilian music is that the industry was huge, so there was a lot of music being made. There’s a real love for music in Brazil, and a big industry,” Peterson said. “Not as big as the American industry, or the German or Japanese industry, but it’s not far behind. A lot of the records came out and never came out of Brazil. Whereas a lot of the British music may be released in America, or vice versa. In Brazil, a lot of it never got out beyond its locality. So there’s a chance you’re going to find something that nobody else has got.”

He referenced a specific street in Sao Paolo where, he said, “on one side of the street, you have all these vintage toy shops. On the other side of the street, all these vintage record shops. You don’t have to go very far, and you can get half a dozen amazing stores.” In more regional locations, he said, great finds are likely to pop up at thrift stores and markets.

Peterson didn't name any specific stores, but you can get a good start with these two lists.

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Watch Brasil Bam Bam Bam below.