its not often you feature in a cartoon, unless you are famous that is. sargento pimenta, rio’s beatles-in-brazilian-rhythm bloco, are famous enough to have (a) a following of 1/2 million in the 2nd year of parading in carnival, (b) their own summer season at fundição progresso lapa’s massive arts centre, and (c) their own cartoon series. they are also (d) super generous sharing their instruments, opportunities, houses, parties with us…. the trip would have been a non-starter without them. this evening was to be the first of 4 for them, their bloco of >100 percussionists are warming up for carnival. inside the venue the band’s platform is surrounded by audience. their crowd already love english language music with brazilian rhythm. bonus. we play, we sing, we dance… the crowd sings, dances, and we finish the night playing with them as we had done on various occasions during london 2012. great success.
rotc @ fundicao progresso 14 dec 2012