Rio de Janeiro´s TiM Festival is an annual live concert extravaganza sponsored by Brazilian-Italian telecom giant TIM. This year´s headliners included Björk and Arctic Monkeys, plus shows by Spankrock, Girl Talk, Lindstrom, Toktok, Juliette & The Licks, Killers the main attraction on the festival´s last night however was the FUNK MUNDIAL stage.

The line up was: MC Gringo, Daniel Haaksman, DJ Sandrinho, Sinden, Diplo, DJ Marlboro. A night in which the international ambassadors of funk would meet up with Rio´s hottest funk talents. Months before the event it was decided not to include any MC from Rio as political dynamics within the MC community wouldve boasted the night´s program. It´s still scarce that MCs from the funk community get the chance to participate in international festival stages in Brazil so to keep heat low, MCs were excluded, except for MC Gringo, the German-Brazilian MC, who was considered neutral for the event.

Sound rehearsals started in the afternoon – MC Gringo being the only artist performing with a live instrument, he needed some adjustment with his co MC Gus to warm up.

After rehearsals Sinden went off with MC Gringo to a footie match at Maracana stadium. Daniel Haaksman chilled at the pool of Sheraton Rio – to doze off after a hard party night in São Paulo. Diplo was busy putting his final hands on his “Favela On Blast” movie and a hungover from Björks party the night before.

While on his way up to his room, Haaksman crashed into Diplo. Sinden followed shortly after, together they hung out in the lobby, laer, a small bus took the bunch from Sheraton to the festival.

The TIM venue was rammed with people, three stages attracted tons of folks hungry for partying – the night before it was raining cats and dogs, Saturday night was a perfect and warm early Rio summer night. Soon the FUNK MUNDIAL tent filled up. Backstage all artists came together for a quick talk about running order and playing length. Sinden and Haaksman met TIM programmer Hermano Vianna for a brief chat

MC Gringo started the night in the giant tent and soon proofed his skills as a A list performer. Backed by DJ Comrade from NY and his Co MC Gus, Gringo filled the tent in a second and soon got the audience moving their hips in funk carioca stylee.

Up next was Haaksman who added extra bass to the stage and got the crowd moving fast. Hermano Vianna mentioned “It was the best set to make sex too”. Some dancers agreed, others like Deize Tigrona, Sany Pitbull, Diplo and Sinden decided to do other dance routines.

After Haaksman, DJ Sandrinho took over the decks. And with his party proof MPC/Pioneer CD-J wizzardry soon brought the tent to the boil.

Finally our boy Graeme Sinden burned the tent with a breathtaking mix of niche, brandnew tracks by himself as well as remixes from the Dubsided crew.

Last but not least, Diplo brought the party to the peak with his irresistible mix of Bmore joints, baile mashups and party bombs. Rio just couldnt do nothing else but dance – even the bouncers joined in.

The night was rounded up with DJ Marlboro playing tracks from his label – sorry, no photo available!

Tags: Baile Funk, Daniel Haaksman, Diplo, DJ Sandrinho, Funk Mundial, MC Gringo, Rio De Janeiro, Sinden, TIM Festival

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