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Funk carioca

Funk carioca ([ˈfɐ̃k(i) ˌkɐɾiˈɔkɐ]), also known as favela funk, in other parts of the world as baile funk and Brazilian funk, or even simply funk, is a hip hop-influenced music genre from Rio de Janeiro, blending the rap subgenres of Miami bass and gangsta rap.[1][2] Despite its name, funk carioca has no musical correlation with the American funk by any means.[3]

Funk carioca

  • Favela funk
  • baile funk
  • funk

Mid-1980s, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In Brazil, "baile funk" refers not to the music, but to the actual parties or discotheques in which the music is played (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈbajli], from baile, meaning "ball").[4] Although originated in Rio, "funk carioca" has become increasingly popular among working classes in other parts of Brazil. In the whole country, funk carioca is most often simply known as "funk", although it is very musically different from what with "funk music" is internationally meant.[5] In fact, it still shows its urban afro beat influences.

Bailes funk[edit]

The term baile funk is used to refer to the parties in which funk carioca is played. The history of these parties were important in shaping the Brazilian funk scene, and in fact predate the genre itself. In the late '60s, legendary Brazilian DJ and radio personality Big Boy (born Newton Alvarenga Duarte) was on a personal mission to introduce Brazil to the best sounds from around the globe.


Collecting records covering genres such as pop, rock, jazz, and soul from all over the world, he gained popularity on air for his wide taste of music, as well as the relaxed way of presenting his programs.[13] His success on air also attracted large audiences for parties he DJ'd in the Zona Sul area of Rio, which like his show, featured a wide array of different music. His sound mainly featured elements of rock, psych, and soul music, and many described the tunes he played as 'heavy'. At the same time, Ademir Lemos had been hosting his own block parties centering more around soul and funk, both of which had a growing audience in Brazil. The two eventually came to host parties together, infusing the heavy sounding records from Big Boy's (primarily) rock background with Lemos' funkier influences. Thus formed the Baile da Pesada, or "Heavy Dance", which brought (North American) funk music to the forefront of Rio's street scene as the city entered the 70's.[14]


For almost two decades afterwards, other DJs from the streets of Rio would use evolving forms of African-American and American music in their own block parties, put together by equipes de som (sound teams). Soul music became the immediate focus of the parties, and quickly ushered in a new wave of Brazilian soul artists to the mainstream. Soon, the soul movement was overshadowed by disco, but disco music was not easily embraced by many of the DJs hosting the bailes. Many of these DJs bought records from the US, particularly Miami given its closer proximity to Brazil. The DJs took a liking to various forms of hip-hop, most notably Miami bass and electro/freestyle, which changed the style of the bailes once again.[15] Still, the term funk remained in Rio's party scene. DJs would incorporate local sound with Miami bass beats, including their own lyrics in Portuguese. DJ Marlboro was the pioneer of this phenomenon, and was the first to engineer the sound that would become known in Rio as funk carioca.[16][17]

Recognition in Europe[edit]

Until the year 2000, funk carioca was only a regional phenomenon. Then the European media began to report its peculiar combination of music, social issues with a strong sexual appeal (often pornographic).


In 2001, for the first time, funk carioca tracks appeared on a non-Brazilian label. One example is the album Favela Chic, released by BMG. It contained three old-school funk carioca hits, including the song "Popozuda Rock n' Roll" by De Falla.[42]


In 2003, the tune Quem Que Caguetou (Follow Me Follow Me) by Black Alien & Speed,[43] which was not a big hit in Brazil, was then used in a sports car commercial in Europe, and it helped increase the popularity of funk carioca. Brazilian duo Tetine compiled and mixed the compilation Slum Dunk Presents Funk Carioca, released by British label Mr Bongo Records featuring funk artists such as Deize Tigrona, Taty Quebra Barraco, Bonde do Tigrão amongst others. From 2002 Bruno Verner and Eliete Mejorado also broadcast Funk Carioca and interviewed artists in their radio show Slum Dunk on Resonance Fm. Berlin music journalist and DJ Daniel Haaksman released the seminal CD-compilations Rio Baile Funk Favela Booty Beats in 2004 and More Favela Booty Beats in 2006 through Essay Recordings.[44] He launched the international career of Popozuda Rock n´Roll artist Edu K,[45] whose baile funk anthem was used in a soft drink commercial in Germany. Haaksman continued to produce and distribute many new baile funk records, especially the EP series "Funk Mundial"[46] and "Baile Funk Masters" on his label Man Recordings.


In 2004, dance clubs from Eastern Europe, mainly Romania and Bulgaria, increased the popularity of funk carioca due to the strong sexual appeal of the music and dance, also known as Bonde das Popozudas. Many funk carioca artists started to do shows abroad at that time. DJ Marlboro and Favela Chic Paris club were the pioneer travelers and producers. The funk carioca production was until then limited to playing in the ghettos and the Brazilian pop market. DJ Marlboro,[47] a major composer of funk carioca's tunes declared in 2006 in the Brazilian Isto É magazine how astonished he was with the sudden overseas interest in the genre. He would go on to travel in over 10 European countries.


In London, duo Tetine assembled a compilation album called Slum Dunk Presents Funk Carioca, which was released by Mr Bongo Records in 2004. Tetine also ran the weekly radio show Slum Dunk on London's radio art station Resonance Fm 104.4. Their radio show was entirely dedicated to funk carioca and worked as a platform for the duo to produce and organize a series of film programmes as well as interviews and gigs involving funk carioca artists from Rio. Tetine were also responsible for the first screening of the post-feminist documentary Eu Sou Feia Mas Tô Na Moda by filmmaker Denise Garcia which was co-produced by Tetine in London, and first shown in the city at the Slum Dunk Film Program at Brady Arts Centre in Bricklane in March 2005. Apart from this, Tetine also produced two albums with experimental DIY queer funk carioca tracks: Bonde do Tetão, released by Brazilian label Bizarre Records in 2004, and L.I.C.K My Favela, released by Kute Bash Records in 2005. Tetine also recorded with Deize Tigrona the track "I Go to the Doctor", included in the LP L.I.C.K My Favela in 2005 and later on their album Let Your X's Be Y's, released by Soul Jazz Records in 2008.


In Italy, Irma Records released the 2005 compilation Colors Music #4: Rio Funk. Many small labels (notably European label Arcade Mode and American labels Flamin´Hotz and Nossa) labels released several compilations and EPs in bootleg formats.


The artist MIA brought mainstream international popularity to funk carioca with her single Bucky Done Gun released in 2005, and brought attention to American DJ Diplo, who had worked on M.I.A.'s 2004 mixtape Piracy Funds Terrorism on the tracks Baile Funk One, Baile Funk Two, and Baile Funk Three.[48] Diplo made a bootleg mixtape, Favela on Blastin, in 2004[49] after Ivanna Bergese shared with him some compiled remix mixtapes of her performance act Yours Truly. He also produced documentary Favela on Blast, which was released in July 2010 and documents the role, culture, and character of funk carioca in Rio's favelas.[49]


Other indie video-documentaries have been made in Europe, especially in Germany and Sweden. These generally focused on the social issues in the favelas. One of the most famous of these series of documentaries is Mr Catra the faithful[50] (2005) by Danish filmmaker Andreas Rosforth Johnsen, broadcast by many European open and cable television channels.


London-based artist Sandra D'Angelo was the first Italian singer-producer to bring funk carioca to Italy. She performed in London with MC Gringo at Notting Hill Arts Club in 2008. She performed her baile funk productions for the contest Edison Change the Music in 2008. Sandra D'Angelo performed Baile Funk also in New York and produced tracks with EDU KA (Man Recordings) and DJ Amazing Clay from Rio.


In 2008, Berlin label Man Recordings released Gringão, the debut album by German MC Gringo — the only non-Brazilian MC performing in the bailes of Rio de Janeiro.


English indie pop band Everything Everything claim the drum patterns used on their Top 40 single Cough Cough were inspired by those used on Major Lazer's Pon de Floor, a funk carioca song.

Criticism[edit]

In Brazil, funk carioca lyrics are often criticized due to their violent and sexually explicit lyrics. Girls are called "cachorras" (bitches) and "popozudas" – women with large buttocks, and many songs revolve around sex. "Novinhas" (young/pubescent girls) are also a frequent theme in funk carioca songs. Some of these songs, however, are sung by women.


The extreme banalization of sex and the incitement of promiscuity is viewed as a negative aspect of the funk carioca culture. Besides the moral considerations, in favelas, where sanitary conditions are poor and sex education low, this might lead to public health and social issues. In such communities, definitive contraceptive methods are hardly available and due to lack of education and awareness, family planning is close to nonexistent. This environment results in unwanted pregnancies, population overgrowth, and eventually the growth of the communities (favelização).[51][52]


The glamorization of criminality in the favelas is also frequently viewed as another negative consequence of funk carioca. Some funk songs, belonging to a style known as "proibidão" ("the forbidden"), have very violent lyrics and are sometimes composed by drug-dealing gangs. Its themes include praising the murders of rival gang members and cops, intimidating opposers, claiming power over the favelas, robbery, drug use and the illicit life of drug dealers in general. Authorities view some of these lyrics as "recruiting" people to organized crime and inciting violence, and playing some of these songs are thus considered a crime.[53]


Due to the lack of regulation and the locations where they usually take place, "bailes funk" are also very crime prone environments. They are popular hot spots for drug trade and consumption, dealers display power frequenting the parties heavily armed,[54] and even murder rates are high.[55]


More popular funk carioca artists usually compose two different sets of similar lyrics for their songs: one gentler, more "appropriate" version, and another with a harsher, cruder set of lyrics (not unlike the concept of "clean" and "explicit" versions of songs). The first version is the one broadcast by local radio stations; the second is played in dance halls, parties, and in public by sound cars.[56] Recurrent lyric topics in funk carioca are explicit sexual positions, the funk party, the police force, and the life of slum dwellers in the favelas.[57] Another large part of the lyrics is the use of the world around them – mainly the poverty that has enveloped the area. This is usually denounced in the lyrics and the hope for a better life is carried through many of their messages.[12]

Surra de Bunda

Miami bass

"Ghetto Fabulous" Observer Music Monthly article on Baile Funk by Alex Bellos 2005

"Samba, That's So Last Year" article by Alex Bellos at The Guardian 2004

"In The Fight Club Of Rio" article on "corridor balls" at Free Radical by Canadian Nicole Veash 2000

Article with Baile Funk master Sany Pitbull by Sabrina Fidalgo at Musibrasil 2007

"The Funk Phenomenon" article by Bruno Natal at XLR8R magazine 2005

Funk Carioca and Música Soul by Carlos Palombini