Rio de Janeiro may have wrapped up their annual Carnaval celebration, but in Santa Cruz the party has yet to begin. On Saturday, February 28, the Brazilian Carnaval Tour stops at Moe’s Alley for a night of dance, drumming, and all-star music performances.
Dancehall legend, Pato Banton will perform his new fusion project with the Samba Reggae Drummers, an electrifying mix of reggae hits and Afro-Brazilian percussion. Internationally acclaimed Unidos da Bahia will perform a blend of Afro-Brazilian, samba reggae and Carnaval music with sizzling hot percussion rhythms. Local favorites, Papiba and Dandha from SambaDa are also on the bill, along with Flying Cirque Capoeira and the titillating and elaborately costumed, Samba Dancers.
The tour has been bringing the party spirit of Brazil to cities on the West Coast for nearly three decades. I recently caught up with the man behind the carnaval mask, Ariel Del Mundo.
You have been working with Brazilian musicians and running Carnaval since 1989, how did it begin and how has the event evolved in the last 26 years?
Well, we originally started the Carnaval in Los Angeles as a cultural event for the Brazilian community. The event grew so big that we had to move it to venues such as the Hollywood Palladium. Besides the big Brazilian community, it now attracts lots of Hollywood celebrities, actors, and athletes. We eventually came to a point where we wanted to share this magic with other cities, so we started the Brazilian Carnaval Tour in multiple cities throughout the United States.
Carnaval has a long history in Brazil, where the traditions and musical styles of the festival vary by region. Does your tour emulate any particular region? Have any traditions developed unique to this tour?
Our main focus is the Afro-Brazilian samba reggae percussion sounds of Bahia and the more melodic Carnaval ballads of Rio de Janeiro called Samba Enredo and Marchinhas. Throughout the years, we have collaborated with American and Jamaican artists, such as Guns & Roses and Pato Banton, to give it some fusion, but kept the heavy drumbeat authentic.
The Carnaval Tour has been to Santa Cruz once before, is there anything your group is looking forward to now that you’re back?
Last year was our first annual Brazilian Carnaval in Santa Cruz, which was a major success. We sold out before the doors opened. We scout locations to add to our tour and we found Santa Cruz such a perfect city to host our event. Santa Cruz, for being a small city, has so many elements that we didn’t find in other major cities. It has a thirst for culture and so many types of ethnic backgrounds and communities. We find Santa Cruz to be the ‘culture hub’ between San Francisco and Los Angeles. It’s quite a magical city.
Brazilian Carnaval Santa Cruz on Feb. 28 at Moe’s Alley. $22/$25.
