I arrived in Rio

It's always a shock to come back to Rio, but this year's shock was bigger than in the past. I arrived to a city in shock from overwhelming government sanctioned violence (operation) concentrated in Zona Leopoldina leaving everyone on edge and in mourning.

I have a lot of thoughts and a lot to learn about what exactly happened and I'll write more about this later as I feel it is important for folks outside of Brazil to understand the daily lives of sambistas in this city. But I want to try to get a better handle on it before I go spouting off about things that I don't fully understand. 

Most ensaios were canceled due to the operation so there weren't too many happening when I arrived. Also, many of the baterias are still learning and smoothing out the bossas so they don't really like it when you record.

I did visit a non-profit project in Zona Leopoldina that is run by the former Rainha da Bateria at Imperatriz Maria Mariá. They do all kinds of good for the families in Complexo de Alemão. I'll publish more on this soon.



Also, on Thursday Mestre Casa Grande at Unidos da Tijuca allowed me to enter the bateria and take some video of their street rehearsal. I'll have those out soon.



I'm still learning how to operate my newish 360 camera. I'm learning that it doesn't do as well in nighttime conditions as one of my older 360 cameras with a bigger sensor. This whole project is a giant learning process for me. I'm constantly trying to learn how to get the most of of these tools.

I also went to Imperatriz Leopoldinense for the quadra rehearsal and recorded just with my phone as the bossas are funky and folks are still learning. I don't want to put out anything that embarrasses anyone for screwing up a new bossa that they just learned. So I'm holding off some on recording and then there will be a 3 month long, mad-up-all-nights-dash to record, edit, publish everything happening here.

The marathon will begin soon! Stay tuned!

I'm also prepping for bunch of friends/clients arriving from the US at the end of the month for my Rio Samba Adventure Tour 2025. I'm really excited about this trip and the schedule that my friend and project partner Renan Gohan has put together for us.