I don’t know if he’s the best in Brazil, but he’s certainly got the best drum kit.

(Via Blame it on Brazil)

Bambas Dois is the new recording by Brazilian producer Bid. The idea behind the project is to blend North Eastern Brazilian music with Jamaican. As you can hear from the trailer it’s quite a smooth blend with those Trad Brazilian rhythms such as Forró and Maracatu mixing almost seamlessly with the Jamaican skank. I rate Bid as producer, in 2005 he released “Bambas & Biritas” which was superb example of modern MPB and stayed on the household stereo for months, a rare thing nowadays.

Piranha – O Carimbó no Ceará is another film documenting an amazonian micro-genre. This one is about Carimbó, based in Ceará and in the the state of Pará, the very same state where you can find tecnobrega. Inspired by The Buena Vista Social club, in the style of a road-movie it looks to reunite the great masters of this style and show them once again to the general public.

Carimbó is particularly interesting as it is a mixture of Amazonian rhythms and styles, created by the Tupinambás indians, it mixes indigenious black and Portuguese culture as well as being influenced by Merengue and Cúmbia. Carimbó was most popular during the 70s and 80s, when artists such as Pinduca introduced bass, guitar, and drums and created carimbó pop.

It reached its peak in the 80s in the state of Ceará and is a fine example of a pop music that is intrinsically Amazonian, as it relates its indigenious past and the culture of the Amazon, praising the beaches, places and of course women.

It was directed by Tibico Brasil, and the trailer above unfortunately doesn’t have subtitles, but you can get a great idea of the music and characters involved.

This documentary about legendary MC Mr Catra is apparently a pilot for a TV series, but still has no channel or distribution and it’s without final artwork, audio and colouring – and unfortunately no subtitles. Still looks damn fine though!