Friday, 09/19/08
“SLICE OF BRAZIL”: ENTRE NOS, AQUARELA DANCE ENSEMBLE, FOGO NA ROUPA DRUMMERS, DJ RUBENS

Doors at 8:00 pm; Show at 9:30 pm
Samba dance lesson at 8:30 pm
$10

Tonight’s “Slice of Brazil” event is a music and dance celebration of the month of the country’s achievement of independence, featuring samba, pagode, capoeira, maculelê, lambada, and samba reggae. Performing are the popular local band Entre Nos and Aquarela Brazilian Dance Ensemble, known for its daring and distinctive representation of the Brazilian Carnival. Special guests include drummers from Fogo Na Roupa, several times the grand prize winner at the San Francisco Carnaval Parade, and DJ Rubens.

Entre Nos – now more commonly known as the Brothers Calatayud & Little Brasil –carries the torch of a rich family musical heritage with roots in Goiania, Brazil. Born to a percussionist mother and a guitar-playing father, the Calatayud brothers – Marcos (“Marquinho do Samba”) on cavaquinho and vocals and Alex on pandeiro, timba, other percussion, and vocals – settled together in the Bay Area in 1994 and have been a powerfully entertaining, soulful force on the vibrant local Brazilian music scene ever since. Playing at the local Carnaval, festivals, Brazilian community events, theaters, clubs, and house parties, the Brothers Calatayud help keep alive a number of Brazil’s most treasured musical traditions, including samba, pagode, bossa nova, chorinho, samba-reggae, frevo, olodum, timbalada, and Música Popular Brasileira (“MPB”). Both brothers are highly regarded by fellow musicians and in the local Brazilian community: Marcos as one of the very top samba singers and cavaquinho players and Alex as a pandeiro player without equal. www.myspace.com/calatayudbrothers

Aquarela has built a reputation over the last 20 years as genuine interpreters of authentic Brazilian music and dance. Under the leadership of Brazilian native Maria Amabilis de Souza, the seven-woman ensemble performs a variety of popular dances that showcase the diversity of Brazilian culture, including samba, afoxé, samba reggae, xaxado, forró, pagode, gafieira, and axé. An annual star of Carnaval in San Francisco, Aquarela is also known for its creative and sometimes daring costumes – all of which are handmade by the dancers themselves. www.aquarela.com