Samba

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Before there was the oh-so-famous samba, there was the jongo, which is an African "belly-bumping" (umbigada) dance that can be traced back to a Bantu people of modern-day Angola. The belly-bump, in Kimbundu (a Bantu language), is known as the "semba", which is where the word "samba" comes from. READ MORE>

 For all you Carnival fans unfortunate enough not to be in Brazil right now (like me), YouTube is streaming Carnival live. It also features a live Twitter/Facebook stream below. To shout out your Carnival excitement, just make a status update on one of those services with the word #ytcarnaval - Check it out! http://www.youtube.com/carnaval?feature=ticker READ MORE>

We have two wonderful Brazilian musical events coming up in San Francisco: Seu Jorge and Olodum.

<------ Seu Jorge

Seu Jorge will be performing on August 10 at The Regency Ballroom. Tickets are on sale. This will be a big event and I expect to see tons of Brazilians at the concert. READ MORE>

A few weeks ago I went to Santa Cruz (California) for the beautiful wedding of my student Sarah. Carl and I were driving to our hotel when I spotted the familiar green and yellow colors. I basically yelled: "Eita, Brazilian place, I am hungry, stop the car!"

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It is Carnival and to celebrate it with our readers I visited Neguinha Sambista, a professional Samba instructor from Aquarela Samba Troup, in Berkely, CA. We interviewed her about the history and styles of the dance, and she told us about her classes. We also filmed parts of the lesson for you! Aquarela teaches Samba and provides Samba shows around the SF Bay Area. We filmed Neguinha Sambista at the Dance Mission Theatre in San Francisco. READ MORE>

In November, we wrote about the exhibition "When Lives Become Form: Contemporary Brazilian Art, 1960's to Present” at the Yerba Buena Center of the Arts. We went and had a great time. Now John Shepherd, the film curator there, has written us about a very interesting event that is happening this week.   READ MORE>

 For our readers in the San Francisco Bay Area, there is a particularly delicious deal in Brazilian cuisine today (and today only).  Actually, it is Brazilian/Italian, but the pao de queijo and the caipirinhas are out-of-this world.  Groupon is offering 53% off by selling $75 coupons for just $35.   READ MORE>