2008 was the year of the big booty shaking. Baile Funk beats from Rio De Janeiro and other megacities from the Southern hemisphere became a dominant force on the club-dancefloors of the North. Names like DJ Mujava and his track “Township Funk” as well as the Kuduro interpretations of Buraka Som Sistema show that the musical innovations on the dancefloor no longer stem from the “old” centers of pop such as London, New York, Kingston or Los Angeles but from cities such as Rio De Janeiro, Luanda or Johannesburg. The Man Recording stage on this year´s Melt! Festival in Germany featured artists such as Crookers, Bonde Do Role, Edu K, Mc Gringo, Deize Tigrona, DJ Beware and Daniel Haaksman – demonstrating that a proper rave night can also be fueled by a kaleidoscopic sound of grooves from around the world and doesnt necessarily need an endless 4/4 groove to massively raise hands up in the air. The following round table was set up on the net and features Gorky/Bonde Do Role, Edu K, MC Gringo, Crookers, Sinden and Daniel Haaksman. The roundtable talk was originally published in the December issue of German INTRO magazine
Daniel Haaksman: Gentlemen, I´ve initated this roundtable talk as I thought it´s about time to speak about a few issues that all of us, in some way or another, are facing these days. It´s the way we produce music, how music is distributed today, and how the music we play which comes from the “periphery” is more and more moving to what was formerly the center, i.e. Europe or the “North”. We come from various parts of the world, yet we share a similar taste in music, occasionally playing together, sometimes remixing each other and/or collaborating in various ways. I would like to start with the following : Today, we have advertisements for big softdrink companys or car manufacturers using baile funk as a soundtrack. Did you ever thought that funk would become a global phenomenon, that it would grow to its current size?
Gorky: Not really. When Wes (Diplo) found us out, we were just doing the stuff ourselves and put it out on the internet for our friends. We never planned to be a pop group that would later become world famous. But all of a sudden it was Diplo picking us up and we were releasing on his label. Everything went incredibly fast. As a band, we started three years ago. Within the first year we recorded our songs, released the EP and started touring around the world. When I grew up, Brazilian bands would start to gig in their area, and work on a fan base, gig more to get regional attention, and if they were lucky after ten years they would be known on a national level and it took them another five years to eventually play abroad. I guess we can all blame the internet for that to change. If it wasnt for the , none of us couldn´t ve reached so many people in such a short time.
Edu K: Yeah, totally, that’s my aim, after all: 2 shake mo’ n’ mo’ booties all over the world each day.
MC Gringo: When I´ve heard Baile Funk for the first, I´ve felt immediately that Funk will be one day have a big influence in the music scene. I think Baile Funk today has only reached less than 10 % of the size it will have in the future music business. I believe in the power of the movement ‘Baile Funk’.
Daniel: When I discovered funk I was really excited on how the producers were working with samples and I loved the energy of the music. When compiling tracks for my first compilations I always thought that people would like it but I would never thought that it would become a worldwide phenomenon.
Crookers: I never thought about that aspect, I just liked the beats! Sinden: I agree with Gringo, I think whilst its good to look back on the achievements of funk (and there has been huge growth), I don’t think its influence has really taken taken hold yet. I dont think we have seen the best of this scene, without wishing to undermine the talent there is.
The old music industry was much more limited to national markets, and to very fixed rules of the trade. They have evaporated. What has changed in detail?
Gorky: For us in Brasil, the only band that reached a global audience was Sepultura. They were myth, they were the only ones doing international tours. People never thought: How can I do this? It was simply out of reach. Then the internet came and all of a sudden it was easy to get in contact with the people you admired and wanted to work with, it was easy to get contracts. All of a sudden you could look at an international career, even if you are not signed to any kind of label. Look at Deize Tigrona, she lives in Favela in Rio, until recently she was very much confined to the structures of the Rio funk economy, but now she tours all over Europe and works with Jesse Rose, Buraka Som Sistema and Diplo. It´s very a liberating time for artists.
Edu K: Thank god n’ the fall of capitalism 4 that! heheh! It was about time the power shifted back 2 our hands. Today it’s really really easier 2 reach peeps all over the world – easier n’ faster n’ cheaper , by the way! That’s the real revolution! Also, since there’s a lotta stuff available n’ of esay acess n’ also there’s sooo much stuff goin’ on n’ different styles, labels, n’ shit, peeps seem 2 b more interested in discoverin’ new stuff again, like it was back in vinyl days!
MC Gringo: The Baile Funk business in Brasil is still regional. The four key people in Rio, who are leading the complete national market don´t speak english and that´s why they dont see the necessity of an International Baile Funk Movement, because they will earn nothing with it. I give English and German lessons for Funk-MC´s in Rio and help them to make their Myspacepage to be more independent – it´s difficult. Most of them are extremely frustrated of the damned unfairness of the daily Funk business in Rio And it seems to me that without a leader figure, they will not know how do – I hate this! Instead of Myspace the Baile Funk scene is using Orkut & MSN in Braszil. Orkut is the Brazilian version of MySpace and it is huge in Brasil. But in Orkut it´s more watching big arses, than making real business.
Daniel: What I find interesting in Rio is that it´s a very primal system, which is only about cash and carry. There´s no such thing as royalty payment for airplay or sold CDs. I think this is what we can expect in some aspects in the future for artists in the Northern hemisphere too. As artists make less and less income from sound carriers, they only generate income through live performance. In Rio, the obligation of playing live however is tied to some rules: You are invisible as an artist in Rio unless you comply to the rules that people like Marlboro or Romula Costa imply. They want cheesy, mass compatible music. If you dont sign up with them and give up all your rights, they won´t play your song and thus you wont get any features.
Crookers: what changed mainly is that the sales are ridiculous, but in the same time the request for music has raised due to an easier access which goes against the economic rules but is super good for creativity. The only problem is it is very difficult to be a pure producer now; if you don’t make hits for madonna or whatever you have to do live shows to get some money to live….
Sinden: The internet has to be accountable here in spreading the music to a larger fanbase. Its a shame there isn’t a great infrastructure for the music though. Whilst the DJs and artists have been able to travel the globe and reach new fans, its a shame that they arent able to take full advantage. Dance music, even with the demise of vinyl, still has a good digital distribution. Daniel at Man Recordings has to take great amount of credit in really opening up this music to a european market and fuse it with other styles of music outside funk, without dilution. I think this is really positive for the scene.
Your songs are all in Portugese. Do you think the language barrier is still a reason for people not to pay full attention to your music?
Gorky: Well I think this really hasnt got any relevance. Both in Germany and Brazil, people would listen to pop music from the U.S. and UK with lyrics that they would barely understand. And all across the world, people have been listening to Brazilian music for the last fifty years, from Bossa Nova to Tropicalia – I think language is the least important thing when it comes to people liking certain types of music. For us as a band, it was never a thing, we know Portugese the best and we can play around with the language much better than we would in English. And to a listener that doesnt understand what we´ll sing about, our music still sounds like a lot of fun. We might do a few songs in English on the new album as our new singer Laura has lived in New Zealand and is a native speaker so she knows how to work the language well.
Edu K: Well, actually since i started workin’ with ither singers n’ MCs not all my stuff is in portuguese anymore.But, anyways, i don’t think the language is a propblem – i think peeps in general (specially in club music case) don’t give a damn about lyrics anyways – if so, how come american pop musci is such a big hit in countries like Brasil were not even half of the popolation speaks or understands english? Anyways i treat words n’ vocals more like rythmic instruments, so…
MC Gringo: Baile Funk is a culture revolution! We are avangardists. Baile Funk MC´s from Rio are learning German and German Baile Funk freaks are learning Portuguese. A fanzine guy from Austria recently made a Baile Funk dictionary with our slang – I think this is great! Every language is pushing it´s own topics. If a German and a Brasilian person are talking in English, they will talk about other topics, then they would talk in their own languages. If there is still a barrier, Baile Funk will break it.
Daniel: I think the language barrier luckily is losing significance. I mean for me as a German all music that I heard throughout my life was mostly in English which I didnt properly understood until my mid twenties. Even today when I hear songs that I would listened to as a child I only discover the actual meanings of the lyrics. Just last night I heard Barry Manilow´s “Copacabana”, in my teenage years I thought it was a song about Rio but in fact it´s about a complete different story!
Crookers: we’ve been listening to music in english for ages and i don’t think everybody understanded the lyrics, so it’s not a problem at all!
Sinden: I agree here. Understanding lyrics isnt so important, the sentiment of the music is more important. More and more people are broadening their musical horizons. For example Hip hop is a global music genre now, yet so many of the references are only understood by a few – even to those that comprehend English. Manu Chau, also, outsells any artist around the world. Just a few examples of how music knows no boundary.
THE CROWD AT THE MAN RECORDINGS STAGE @ GERMANY´S MELT! FESTIVAL
How do you see it that you are more known abroad than in your home country?
Gorky: When you ask people in Brazil: What do you think of Bonde Do Role? They say: It´s crap. But I think it´s not with all of us like this. With Buraka Som Sistema for example, it´s really different, they´re huge in Portugal, everyone loves them, and they´re known internationally too. I think with Crookers it´s similar, but they are probably more known abroad than in Italy . In our regards, I think it´s a special case with Brazil. In general, it´s like this that the things that come from the outside are more valued what comes from Brazil. Which is a stupid thing of course. Edu K: I kinda like it – i always felt that outside of Brazil i’d get more understandin’ n’ recognition. Outside Brazil there’s more of a cultural tradition n’ peeps go out 2 clubs 2 hear music n’ party, not 2 judge n’ shitAlso, why think local when u can think global n’ have the means ( by means of internet) 2 actually b a part of the global cummunity. More n’ more global is the nu local. MC
Gringo: I was always a stranger in my own country. When I was a kid, I spent most of my time in Stuttgart-Feuerbach on the Kelterplatz, where 80 % immigrants would live. My friends were Hakan Özdemir and Antonio de Lisi. In Feuerbach we had two movements: Pro-Kanaken and Contra-Kanaken – and I was always Pro-Kanaken. After my parents died, I stayed often together with my brother in law from Togo. With him and his style of life I felt more familar, than with my dad´s lifestyle. I became immersed in Afro culture and I think this is also the reason why I could adjust myself to Rio De Janeiro so easily. God gave me with the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro ‘my’ place to life. I´ve convinced a lot of Favela people, that we Gringos are not just money machines, robots, customers. Mr. Catra calls me sometimes ‘Neguinho’, which means ’small nigger’ – this is good. God sent me to this place.
Daniel: In Germany that´s a standard thing. There´s dozens of examples of musicians or artists or film makers that are very high regarded abroad and don´t have any recognition in German. You had the same thing with Kraftwerk who in Germany were always considered a weird and poppy group that everybody would make fun of or just not take serious. Only twenty years later, when the whole electronic music wave kicked off in the mid 1990s people in Germany actually understood the colossal artistic importance of Kraftwerk and they would be considered the most important German artists of the 2nd half of the 20th century.
Crookers: yes it’s strange for us, but the italian music scene has alway come late….we’re used to watch what’s cool abroad and then get into it. Other countries like the UK seem to be constantly in search for the next interestng thing which is the right mood!
Sinden: I’m an exception to this perhaps. I still am more known in my own country but through travelling more and more things are changing rapidly. In some countries, such as Australia, they seem to hold you in higher regard and wonder why you cant walk down the street back home without getting recognised. I think scenes these type of environments are the breeding ground for future exciting music. Its interesting the way that baile funk can have a greater fan base outside its birthplace. This will inspire and progress the movement.
Do you think this is related to authenticity?
Gorky: We trying to make funk, but with our own view. We never said that we are doing authentic funk carioca. It´s the same with Buraka Som Sistema, they are not from Angola but make their own version of Kuduro. And I guess it´s the same for Edu K and many other musicians in our field. Look what happens with Argentinian Cumbia now, which currently gets reinterpreted by the guys from ZZK records out of Buenos Aires. I think in general it needs an outsider to get the attention for a music appropriation and then it has an effect or echo in the place where it originally comes from.
Edu K : Mmmm, don’t think so.In my case i think it’s just cuz things take longer 2 get known in Brasil, like nu styles of music, fashion n’ stuff. So, i guess Europe n’ US r more used 2 the kinda music i’m doin’ now than peeps in Brasil – it’s gonna take a lil’ longer 4 them 2 dig it over here, haha!
MC Gringo: I´m authentic, because I fight every day for the Baile Funk Movement from Rio de Janeiro – I´m authentic, even if my sound is different from the rest of Baile Funk from Rio de Janeiro. ‘Authentic’ Baile Funk from Rio de Janeiro in the style of the national leader of the movement ‘DJ Marlboro’ and ‘Furacão 2000′ which has no effect on the International market, because it has no variety. The Baile Funk needs people like Daniel Haaksman and me, like the “Transeuropean Express” needed Artur Baker who made something completely different out of it, like the first Baile Funk MC´s needed the Volt Mix from Battery Brain. Baile Funk is a culture revolution – I have to repeat this. It´s the proof that one needs the other to develope. For me this is the realisation of my lifedream as big hater of monoculture.
Crookers: it’s because here they want to make sure shots not experiments, but this way of thinking doesn’t pay!!
Sinden: Perhaps, its hard to define what authentic is. I’m not sure what it is that makes something authentic. For example if a style of music cross pollinates with another genre, does that make it any less authentic? The real success stories of the scene, such as Bonde Do Role, who many acknowledge to be the biggest may not be considered authentic. Its no less valid though. The most interesting music is always made without constraint. I have been listening to baile funk music for a few years now and probably shocked a few people when i wove the style into house, garage and rap. The more genres broken down, the better. Good music is good music.
What do you think will happen in the next couple of years? Is Brazilian music only the spearhead of things to come? Will the same phenomenon happen to other music genres from other places from around the world?
Edu K: MMmm, i think the concept of “world/local music ” is a goner. Mo’ n’ mo’ stuff is gonna happen in a global range cuz evrybody is more connected thru the net n’ shit. It’s like, totally a part of pees life 2 b connected all the time now n’ so, it doesn’t really matter were u’r comin’ from anymore these days. But of course it’s like, there’s a lotta mo’ chances of yer music beein’ heard all over the world 2.
MC Gringo: The Tamborzão, the Volt Mix & the Aquecimento – the three Baile Funk Mainbeats will appear more and more in productions of International producer. Soon either a big name will use a Baile Funk Beat to make a Big Monster Hit or DJ Beware and me will have the honour to make it before them. After this big Monster hit the Baile Funk finally will get the attention, that he deserves – every music style needed in the history a first Monster Hit to make his segment famous. Important is for me, that the person with the First Baile Funk Monsterhit will be a person with a certain relation to the Baile Funk Base of Rio de Janeiro, this is important. I was happy, that the Baile Funksong of Will I am made no success – i hope, it will be a crazy person who is crazy for our Baile Funk events in the north of Rio de Janeiro and not a moneyposer. I see no bigger penomenon in the world music business than Baile Funk
Daniel: I think with funk it´s a good example of how a formerly regional sound can be propelled to a global audience and be interpreted and dispersed in many new ways. And with the wave of interest for African music these days, be it Kwaito or Kuduro, or Cumbia in Argentina, I think a similar thing is happening. People in the Northern hemisphere are bored of nostalgia in music, they want fresh new sounds and the innovations in music can be found in what was once the periphery. But in comparison to the past, the periphery can now instantly communicate to the former centers such as London, New York, Paris or Berlin. But that center – periphery discussion is outdated anyway, there´s only a center left and that is the internet.
Crookers: If this music keeps evolving it will have a loooooooong future!
Sinden: I can see other regional scenes enjoy a similar successes to baile funk. I just hope that it isnt exploited by those that can make money from it, rather than those that believed in the music and have good intentions for it (you can argue this exposure is still good). More and more people are growing bored of listening to the same music, thats why funk is so refreshing to listen to. I can see more and more producers, both in dance music and in the commercial pop world (such as hip hop and rap) take influences for scenes such as funk. It only takes one commercial tune to really blow it up.
Read the German version @ Intro online:
http://www.intro.de/kuenstler/interviews/23051922
