Each visitor can take home a specially-commissioned artwork by Brazilian artist Bruno 9Li (whose work is pictured above) and take part in a samba flash mob in the Grand Entrance, with dancers from the Paraíso School of Samba. London-based collective Braziliality will produce a telenovela soap opera entitled The Adventures of Vitoria & Alberto in Brasil which will star visitors as its cast and will be transmitted live in the Museum.

Brazilian design studio Flour will create a giant table football game where visitors can compete for prizes and Rio de Janerio-based practice Super Uber will be at the Museum with their digital installation game which takes inspiration from Pelé. Curitiba-born, London-based illustrator Clayton Junior will host a workshop in which visitors can stencil their own ‘Brazilian Modernist’ designs on to canvas bags to take home. Further highlights include screenings of Jared Levy’s Grafitti Fine Art a film exploring the street art of Sao Paulo and Waste Land, an award-winning documentary about communities living at the world’s largest land-fill in Rio de Janeiro, by Lucy Walker.

Stuart Baker, author and founder of London record label Soul Jazz, will present a selection of Brazilian album covers, discussing the stories behind them. There will also be specially-commissioned installations around the Museum, panel discussions, caipirinhas, food and music from DJ, musician, and producer João Brasil.

27th January 18.30 – 22.00, Admission Free
V&A Friday Late: Hot Brazil
Victoria & Albert Museum
Cromwell Road
London SW7 2RL
Tel. +44 (0)20 7942 2000
vam.ac.uk/fridaylate

One person who is carving a name both as Brazil’s go-to travel insider and eminent ‘pousada queen’, for her special collection of independent and uniquely beautiful places to stay, is Alison McGowan. Originally from the UK, Alison has combined a 35-year love affair living and working in Rio de Janeiro, and travelling around Brazil off the beaten track. This has given birth to Hidden Pousadas Brazil, a hugely successful online resource providing insider access to the best places to go to experience the real Brazil.

When Hidden Pousadas Brazil was established, the country was on the cusp of its boom in tourism, and pousada accommodation was having a renaissance. Alison spotted that there was a need for foreign travellers to get easily searchable, accurate and up-to-date recommendations on where to stay in English, but from a local perspective, and similarly for pousadas to reach international travellers to stimulate off-season bookings.

Intent on sharing the paradise locations she had discovered on her travels, she developed two websites: Hidden Pousadas Brazil and Pousada Hotel Brasil where travellers can read reviews, get maps, see photos, search by region, location, and attraction, and book directly with the pousada.

What are the key ingredients for a “special” pousada?
“Firstly, incredible location. Then unique style, which is about the way the pousada has been decorated and its special touches. I love it when I visit places where furniture and artwork have been created by local artisans, using materials indigenous to the region. Another ingredient is atmosphere, which you feel the minute you walk through the door. And lastly, the personal attention you get from hosts. Having the owners/managers there to talk to you and ensure that you have a great experience is key.”

Are there any early signs that people can look out for as to whether a pousada is going to be good or bad?
“A good start is just finding out whether it is on our recommended list. Reading reviews from other travellers that may have stayed there on TripAdvisor or other trusted resources. If you don’t find any reviews it might be a sign that it is not that good. However, it could also mean they are yet to be discovered. If booking is a really complicated process and the information you are getting for your enquiry is not sufficient, this can sometimes be an indicator that the place might not be the greatest. But overall it’s good to use your instinct in deciding. Don’t be put off by being asked for a deposit in advance, as this is common in Brazil.”

Other than Hidden Pousadas Brazil are there any other invaluable books or resource for travelling in Brazil?
I believe in recommendations from close friends and trusted sources like TripAdvisor. Also in individuals like Patricia Ribeiro, who writes for About.com (a New York Times company), Alexandra Forbes who has a great Blog (Brazil for Insiders) and Tony Galvez who is an extraordinary photographer of off-beat places.

Where would you advise people to visit before it becomes too crowded and spoilt by mass tourism?
I would say Paraty (pronounced Paratee), which is a beautiful historic town on the coast around 5 hours drive south of Rio. Over the last 20 years this has become a favourite venue for festivals such as FLIP – the Paraty International Literary Festival. As a result, what was once a quiet and sleepy town has now become busy and buzzy with loads of boutique shops, restaurants and, of course!

Alison’s Top Six destinations in Brazil

Rio de Janeiro

Image: Rio de Janeiro city by Hidden Pousadas Brazil

Image: Pousada Bromelias, Paraty, Rio de Janeiro

Bahia’s beaches

Image: Boipeba, Bahia by Hidden Pousadas Brazil

Pousada Praia das Ondas, Itacimirim, Bahia, Image by Hidden Pousadas Brazil

Alagoas Ecological route

Alagoas, Image by Hidden Pousadas Brazil

Image: Pousada Patacho, Porto de Pedras, Alagoas by Hidden Pousadas Brazil

Chapada Diamantina

Image: Chapada Diamantina, Bahia by Hidden Pousadas Brazil

Image: Pousada Lagoa das Cores, Vale do Capao, Bahia by Hidden Pousadas Brazil

Pantanal

Image: South Pantanal, Mato Grosso do Sul

Image: Fazenda Baia Grande, South Pantanal (Miranda), Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil by
Hidden Pousadas Brazil

Amazon

Image: Pink dolphins, Novo Airao, Amazonas by Hidden Pousadas Brazil

Image: Pousada Bela Vista, Novo Airao, Amazonas by Pousada Bela Vista

hiddenpousadasbrazil.com

The first time I came across Samba Chula was during a freezing night in Copenhagen where I was actually looking to find out if the new music from Brazil was ready to conquer the hearts (and pockets) of music promoters of the world. The show was part of the main events at Womex, the trade show focusing on World Music. The year was 2010 and the new sound from Brazil came in the form of Karina Buhr, the energetic and colourful singer from Pernambuco.

Even with a stellar team of guitar players (Edgard Scandurra from Ira!, a famous punk-rock group from the 80s, and Fernando Catatau, leader of Cidadão Instigado) and her crazy stage antics, Karina was unable to capture the audience’s attention. The time slot right after the loud and even more energetic Bomba Estéreo from Colombia did not help.

Not far from there, at a different stage, the old music of Brazil was triumphing. The veterans of Samba Chula de São Braz were doing their best not only to win the audience, but to keep alive a tradition. Chula, which in Portuguese means something of no value, is Brazil’s seminal form of Samba, brought to Bahia by Bantu slaves and developed on the sugarcane plantations. Nowadays it is played only by a few people around the country, among them this nine piece from São Bráz. Using instruments like viola, violão and cavaquinho (a high-pitched small guitar) they sing and dance using a lot of candomblé rhythms that create sometimes a hypnotic feel to the songs.

After the memorable performance at Womex, they were invited to tour around the globe and now they arrive in London for the first time to play a gig at the small and cosy Momo’s, famous for it’s musical friendship with Africa and Brazil. A perfect combination and a night definitely not to be missed.

by Juliano Zappia

Find full details of the show here: jungledrumsonline.com/whats-on/live-music/samba-chula-de-sao-braz-momos

Here’s a video of Samba Chula de Sao Braz performing at Womex in Copenhagen:

Moacyr Archanjo Santos built a dream in the 80s and his dream lives on, allowing us to travel back in time. Apart from the restoration, O Velhao holds surprises like As Veia, the main restaurant of this complex, which occupies a large space on the premises surrounded by other small businesses. The complex houses an off-license selling the national tipple cachaça only, a small cafe, small artefacts shops, a photography shop, pizza place, and a snooker hall among other businesses.

All furniture comes from the reclamation yard, the guests change tables from course to course, as you feel you must take in all details while you are there. The building has dimensions of a strange fantasy, in the wood stove, a profusion of clay vessels, stairs and vaults. You want to look, drink and eat everything. All food on display is fresh and exciting. It is the perfect and most relaxing place to meet and celebrate with family and friends. This place makes you feel at home. The kitchens are open to visit and it’s a pure pleasure to meet the staff.

Under the command of Iracema, aided by Eliane Birinha, the restaurant operates from Monday to Monday noon. During the week, I was told it’s pretty quiet, when you will have a chance to talk with Iracema, who even at the most hectic moments, takes care of everything. On Saturdays is dinner at candle light. Divine! Sometimes they have live music. The entertainment on the day we went was a Italian singer celebrating Italian Christmas. We have a large Italian community in Brazil mostly based in São Paulo.

There is no menu, it’s set price and you eat as much as you can from two buffets set over two different rooms. The cold food and salads is by the entrance and the other is a hot buffet on top of a enormous wooden stove set in the big dining room. The food is diverse and vast and there is something for everyone.

Caipirinha costs R$ 10 (equivalent to £5), bottled water RS$ 2 (less the £1) , desert 5 pieces for R$ 7 (about £2.5). Once you get there you are given a numbered piece of paper called comanda, where the staff write all extras like drinks and deserts and you pay all at the end of your stay. What a feast! Amazing atmosphere, intriguing place, delightful guests and staff.

As Veia was a great find about 40 minutes from city centre of São Paulo. I look forward to going back to taste more of their food over a long lunch. We arrived at mid-day and left at 8pm. Now that’s a long lunch!

Here is the lovely Maria Edna’s special recipe for Bolinho de Arroz:

Ingredients:
cooked rice
saffron
green pepper diced
onion diced
minced garlic
shrimps
small pieces of diced chicken
small pieces of white fish
Flour, splash of milk and one egg

Method:
Mix all ingredients till creamy, not runny consistency.
Deep fry and serve immediately.
Yummy!

O Velhao
Estrada de Sta. Inês, 3000
Mairiporã
Sao Paulo
tel: 4485-1964 | 4485-4195 | 4485-2084
email: velhao@velhao.com.br

velhao.com.br

Words by Rosana McPhee. You can read more of Rosana’s writing on Brazilian food at Hot and Chili.

Follow Rosana
Facebook: facebook.com/#!/pages/Hot-Chilli/214790611907416
Twitter: @Rosana_McPhee

Here in São Paulo, I’m reminded of how my friends have such different musical tastes. Some love their samba, while others enjoy música popular brasileira (MPB) rap, new wave, or Motown. Some people I know here are particular about their music to the point of refusing to go to this or that bar because it plays the sort of music they do not enjoy.

It’s not like I don’t have my own preferences – I like a lot of British punk and post-punk stuff as well as MPB, reggae, samba… what you would call ‘eclectic’, I guess. In any case, I’m happy to listen to new music, even if it sometimes is not really my style.

That debate about music reached a new level recently, since new Brazilian sensation Michel Teló has reached international stardom with his song “Ai, se eu te pego” (something like “Oh, if I get you”), which has been watched more than 100 million times on YouTube at the time of writing. By comparison, Lady Gaga’s hit “Telephone” has had about 130 million views.

You may ask, who the hell is Michel Teló?

He is a multi-instrumentalist and dancer, a young and reasonably good looking bloke doing that you would class as a mix of forró, country and pop. His main hit is catchy. It is the kind of stuff you find yourself playing in your head over and over again for the best part of the day. It is the sort of thing people like to listen to when they are in a party mood, when they are drunk.

Everyone – especially young people – knows who Michel Teló is. And probably if you ask some party goer in Amsterdam or Ibiza, chances are they will know who he is too. “Ai se eu te pego” has become a number one iTunes hit in countries such as Portugal, Italy, Spain, Germany and Poland as well as many South American countries.

Do I like this music? If it is playing at my local boteco, it is no big deal. If I had one too many cachaças, I may sing along. But I would not buy his stuff.

Yet, a lot of Brazilians seem to think that the guy is not worthy of attention here, let alone overseas. Sure, we have plenty of other performers that deserve more airtime than Teló is getting. But sadly, it hasn’t worked out that way so far – despite their talent, Brazilian performers (and celebrities in general) very rarely become international superstars.

Even though Michel Teló’s music may not tick everyone’s boxes in terms of what qualifies as talent, the fact is that he has managed to capture people’s imaginations here in Brazil and abroad. So let’s all hope that he will pave the way for many other Brazilian artists who dream of becoming successful beyond their motherland – whatever their style.

For those who are not familiar with Teló, or need a reminder (as if!) check out “Ai, se eu te pego”:

At the beginning of The Enemy Within it states that the film is not a true story but is based on real events. How much of the film is based on reality?

Well, quite a lot of it actually. The film creates a story – a dramatic, fictional story – that ties together several true events by putting some fictional characters in those events but also taking inspiration for those characters from real life characters. So to give one example, there was a rebellion in a Rio de Janeiro jail in which one drug dealer took over the jail with the help of the corrupt policemen and caretakers, to kill another drug dealer. It’s also true that a guy who works for an NGO was called to go to the jail to be an intermediary between the prisoners and the police and then BOPE was on the outside. This guy, the NGO leader – again true – ran for state legislator and got elected. Also true that he started an investigation about the militia but couldn’t make it official because it was politically anti-governmental. It’s also true that journalists were tortured by militia men and then the press demanded an investigation which took place and several people were arrested and congressmen were indicted and so on.

Do you find it much more liberating working within a fictional film rather than documentaries, where it’s impossible for you to change the story?

In a certain sense, a fictional movie is liberating because you don’t have the constraints of reality so you can pretty much take the story wherever you want it go. It’s one thing to make a documentary like Bus174 where the film has been scripted for you by real-life events. You can choose how to tell the story, you can do flash backs, but you can’t change the real-life events. In a fictional movie you have freedom to take the story where you like so it is liberating in that sense but in another sense it’s not. But, a fictional movie is a very expensive endeavour, that involves a lot of equipment, a lot of people, the set is huge compared to a documentary set, so you’re also sort of tied up by the constraints of the shooting, you have to shoot what you have to shoot at that time otherwise you’ll go over budget. So I would say that a fictional movie is liberating when you’re writing the script. After you write the script it’s no longer that liberating!

I suppose the other problem could be the extra criticism you can receive for making an original film where you decide the story and viewpoint. Is this something that ever bothers you?

Not really. First of all, Elite Squad, the first movie, got some criticism. The Enemy Within got no criticism. It was unanimously accepted and actually it buried the previous criticism in a sense because it shed light over the first two movies that I did, Elite Squad and Bus 174. The criticism is very interesting in Brazil because Brazil is left-wing, the culture in Brazil is Marxist. This is for a very simple reason; Brazil has been a right-wing dictatorship; you know we were actually ruled by generals up to the 80s, people forget that. So because there were right-wing generals, the intellectuals naturally became left-wing, Marxist. Now if you are a Marxist intellectual the hero of your movies is pretty much defined by your ideology, the Marxist hero is someone who has been excluded by society, he’s someone who’s striking in a factory, he’s a political dissident or something like that. You cannot have a cop as a protagonist of a Marxist movie. In fact, Elite Squad is the first Brazilian film ever to have a cop as a protagonist which is pretty much insane because all over the world, in England, in the US, in Germany, in France, there have been tonnes of movies with cops as the protagonist. The first one in Brazil came out in 2007.

So, maybe the criticism came because people didn’t really understand this new type of protagonist…

I think that the criticism that I got for Elite Squad was because I made a cop the protagonist of a movie, then tried to explain why a cop is violent and gave a violent cop a humanist dimension, which they do have; violent cops are also humans and there are reasons why they become violent of course. But doing this is not accepted by a Marxist background culture, unless they understand it properly, and they didn’t. Well, some did, some didn’t, so there was a huge polemic. The funny thing about this polemic is we ended up winning the Golden Bear and Costa-Gravas of all people gave it to me. [Costa-Gravas is a famous left-wing filmmaker]. It was a crazy polemic which really helped the movie and then really helped The Enemy Within.

Was it then a conscious decision to have this balance in the new film with two main characters and the son in the middle?

Now, I don’t buy anymore this thing of “I’m from the left”, “I’m from the right” and the only way to look at social processes is either you are a Marxist or you have a Marxist perspective or you’re a liberal in the sense of Friedrich Hayek or Adam Smith, and that’s just not it for me. It’s lost it’s meaning, and a lot of politics now is lip service, it’s politicians trying to get votes from certain segments of society. So what I did with The Enemy Within was I created a left-wing radical, that’s Fraga, and I put him against Nascimento, a right-wing policeman, in every single way I could. They have different ideologies, one is in the Government, another one is against the Government, but more so than anything, they share the same wife and they have the same kid that they’re both trying to educate. So, I’ve made them hate each other like crazy. But even so circumstances force them to work them together. They can only win, so to speak, if they get together and united to get the job done. And that’s the basic dramatic arc of the movie. And it came out of all the crazy politics surrounding the first film. It’s something that needs to happen in England and the US too, because if the democrats don’t work together we’re all going to be doomed!

How was the international reaction to the film, at festivals and so on?

We got almost an unanimous reaction to it, which is great of course, but I suppose I like arguments [referring to the arguments around the first film]. But, we got great reviews, and in Brazil and abroad we sold a gigantic number of tickets, and there was a lot of articles about the film. It’s like they finally understood, because in a sense I made three films to talk about an issue. I made Bus 174 which was praised by the left and attacked by the right. It was labelled as a communism movie trying to justify crimes committed by a street kid. That’s what the right wing said. And the left wing said “no”, they praised it. Then Elite Squad was the other way round, it was criticised by the left and praised by the right. And then I make a third movie and everybody gets it, it’s not left, it’s not right, it’s just how things work.

Were you surprised by the success of The Enemy Within?

I knew the movie was going to have an audience because of how popular the first movie was, but at the same time I made a movie that was less “pop” and more political than the first one. So I didn’t know. When I looked at it in the screening room I thought it’s going to sell four, maybe five, million tickets. But I never thought it was going to sell 11 and a half million tickets and it outdid Avatar and those kinds of things, that I never thought. But it opened so strongly that first weekend that we knew immediately after it opened that it was going to be a huge hit. It was a little surprise of sorts but it was a possibility.

You’ve been confirmed in the press as the director of Robocop 3. Is that your next project?

I’m working on Robocop and that’s my intention, that’s my next movie. I’m actually moving to Los Angeles tomorrow to start what we call “soft prep” and to meet different people and start casting and so on, and so I’m focusing on that movie.

Is it going to be strange working on a film that doesn’t deal with a Brazilian reality?

I make the movies that I like, the subject matters that I like. Because I live in Rio I am very close to the subject matter of Elite Squad and Bus 174 and The Enemy Within, it’s something that I got to know about, and that interested me a lot. But Robocop is also something that is of interest to me, as it deals with philosophical and social subject matters that are very important and that I’ve always liked, such as: what does it mean for a corporation to turn a man into a product? Another point that Robocop makes is: at what point do we lose our freedom when we become more and more automated, with technological implants and so on? Which is pretty much going to become a reality in the next 30 years, if not less. “What happens when wars are no longer fought by men but by drones? Can you blame a robot for a mistake or is the company that made the robot to blame? So all those issues are very interesting to me and all social issues that I love to talk about, but now it’s in the context of sci-fi, not reality-based.

With all these feature films, do you miss making investigative documentaries?

I don’t, because I still make documentaries. While I was making Elite Squad and The Enemy Within I was making two documentaries at the same time. I did a film called Garapa that opened in Berlin, and then I did another one with the BBC called Secrets of the Tribe that opened at Sundance. So I always have a documentary going on. You can do a documentary while you’re doing a feature film as documentaries are smaller and you don’t have a schedule and so on.

So does that mean you’re working on a documentary at the moment?

I do actually. It’s in the research phase, but I do. It’s about interest rates in Brazil. How come they’re so high? Who makes all the profits from this? Because we [Brazil] have the highest interest rates in the world. Our banks charge fantastic amounts of interest rates to their clients and companies and so on. The movie follows a guy who has a debt to a bank, actually it’s to several banks.

Interview by Russ Slater

Elite Squad: The Enemy Within will be released in the UK on December 26th and is available to buy on DVD and Blu-ray

There are no big bright neon signs and almost no outdoor electrical lighting, just the overshadow from the brightness of the beautiful starry sky. Trancoso is great at any time of year, the quiet and charming village and the beautiful beaches are always a pleasure to visit. However the destination truly becomes packed during New Years vacations, when many celebs, socialites and beautiful people come to enjoy the fabulous parties and gorgeous beaches.

How to get there

The easiest way is to fly to Porto Seguro, which is 110km from Praia do Espelho. Once in Porto Seguro your best bet is to rent a car with Hertz, or if you don’t plan on driving around too much you can hire a driver that will take you on the Arraial d’Ajuda ferry and then follow to Trancoso. Some good transfer companies/drivers are: Carlos Transportes 73 3668 1326 / 73 9991 6581 or Nilson Taxi 73 9951 5247 / 73 8116 1610.

Where to stay:

In the charming village there are basically three options when it comes to choosing your stay; the beach, the green area, or the Quadrado (square) where everything happens. In Trancoso there are many beaches to choose from, and you will find that waking up with the gorgeous view of the ocean is priceless! There are a few different options to choose from by the beach, including the famous Club Med resort which is great for families or large groups, or the boutique style Paradise Hotel on Rio Verde beach. Smaller and unique structures include the famous pousada Estrela D’Agua which was once Gal Costa’s (Brazilian singer) original home. This pousada has a gorgeous view of the ocean, as does Pousada Tangara, Pousada Som do Mar e Clube de Mar, which all offer great service, charming rooms and of course the gorgeous beach of Trancoso right at your door step.

For the young crowd your best bet is to stay in the Quadrado where everything happens, here you have the informal but very comfortable option, Capim Santo, which has a great restaurant and good service. For those on a budget a good option is Café Esmeralda Hostel, its simple, well located and has an excellent price! The forest area is an in-between-option from the village and the beach. It offers a cooler climate and some unique pousadas like Mata N’ativa Pousada and Uxua Casa Hotel. The Mata N’ativa is a great option for honeymooners looking to enjoy nature and the cool and cozy climate the destination has to offer. Rates start from R$230, so its a good option for keeping a lower budget. The Uxua Casa Hotel is so unique and charming you will fall in love with it! The pousada is formed by renovated fishermen houses, which creates an extremely unique, and personalized hotel. Each of the 10 cottages are decorated individually and given a special name.

Beaches

The beaches are definitely the main attraction and there are many to pick from. The most beautiful beach in my opinion is Caraíva, it’s an hour and a half away from Trancoso, but it´s worth it. The most famous beaches are Praia dos Nativos where the water is calm and with natural pools, Praia Rio da Barra where you feel isolated in paradise, while just 2km from Trancoso and of course Praia do Espelho, which is considered one of the most beautiful beaches in Brazil! There are some beaches, which have restaurants, bars and hotels to relax at and drink some cocktails while soaking up the sun.

Outings

Unlike most little villages, Trancoso’s has amazing outings, both at night and during the day! There are great restaurants in the Quadrado, glamorous beach clubs, and fabulous New Year’s parties! In the Quadrado the bars and restaurants share the outdoor space of the Quadrado by placing tables under the generous shades provided by trees. You will find all different types of cuisines here, all with a little touch of Bahia. A good pick is A Portinha, which serves traditional Brazilian dishes. My tip is to snack on the beach in the day before later heading into town for a delicious dinner. To mix things up, reserve at least one day to spend on Praia do Espelho and treat yourself to some amazing seafood at Restaurant da Silvinha. Here Silvinha serves surprise homemade food, everyday is a different menu. Right next to this unique restaurant is Sushi da Mel, which attracts the cool young crowd, here you will find fresh sushi and delicious Japanese food! As the sun goes down, trendy bars start opening their doors in the Quadrado, and later on the nightclubs Para Raio and Louco Lanches start playing their set lists. If you are really hyped up and looking for hardcore partying there is a rave that goes on in Praia dos Nativos called Tostex.

If you are really looking for a fabulous party with amazingly gorgeous people, none of these outings will do, you must come during New Year’s! Here, the city hosts some of the best party line-ups of the country! International celebs, socialites and many beautiful people all dressed in white come to celebrate the turn of the year in Trancoso. The most happening New Year’s party is Reveillon Taípe Trancoso, which happens on the beach Praia Taípe. Plus, there are many fun before- and after-parties as well, starting a few nights before the New Year, and only ending on the 2nd or 3rd of January. These include We Love Trancoso – By Mandi, Pre-Reveillon O Cacau and Beach Club Party.

Written by Brazilian Guru, a travel blog written directly from Brazil! Check us out for travel tips, good restaurants, fabulous parties, beautiful beaches and only the best of Brazil.

Top image by Gabriel Carvalho-Setur

Golden Grass (Capim Dourado in Portuguese) is a totally organic product produced by artisan communities in Tocantins. The plant, the “Golden Grass” (Singhanantus sp), grows exclusively in the region of Jalapão, Tocantins. Once dry, it can be processed without pesticides or dyes. The stems of grass are sewn with “buriti” palm leaves, a palm species also typical of the region.

Pedrini is a gaucha, she worked for 6 years at Inditex, one of the largest distribution groups in the area for major fashion brands like Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bershka and others. A year ago, she opened her first shop in Camden Town. Now she has two. “We are currently focused on the dissemination of the product in the international market. Golden Grass is a success in Brazil, and we’re having great success here in London too. This year, we participated in the event Ecoluxe in September in London, and everyone was really interested in this beautiful and unique organic product of Brazil,” says Simone.

The Jalapao region, with it’s moist soil as well as an arid climate, is the only place where Golden Grass grows naturally. Elsewhere, only in laboratories is it possible to artificially create the perfect conditions, says Simone, who besides being involved in the fashion for many years, studied Bioengineering Medicine in London, and had Golden Grass as the main source of her study.

Secular Tradition

The technique behind making golden grass was learnt by the Indians and the region’s first black slaves, who fled to the Quilombo. The main town, where they began the development of the product as a handicraft was Mumbuca in Tocantins, a village in the municipality of Jalapão. Currently, these crafts are produced elsewhere in the region of Jalapão.

Controlled Harvest

Golden grass has great importance for the artisans of the regions where it grows and is protected by laws relating to the collection and marketing. The same goes for buriti leaves that, when taken out of control, could be extinct.

Golden Grass can only be harvested between September 20th and November 20th so that it doesn’t become endangered. There are regulations in the state of Tocantins, which prohibit the export of “natural” material from the region. Only when the material has been made in part by local communities can the product leave, thereby ensuring the environmental, social and economic status of the region.

In 2000, the Golden Grass Association (Associação Capim Dourado) was created by a group of artisans from the village of Mumbuca in Mateiros, Tocantins. The aim of the association is to manage the golden grass, and organise and promote the marketing of handicrafts, which is the main source of income for the communities residing within the Jalapao State Park.

With Project Certification from the artisans of Mumbuca village, supported by the PPP-Ecos, the association intends to certify the quality and origin of golden grass products, through strengthening the production techniques of the artisans of Mumbuca, and therefore increasing the market.

In addition, the association intends to make the area where they live, their 22 communities which today is designated as a State Park in Sustainable Development Reserve, as a way of maintaining the cultural identity of traditional communities and continue to promote the conservation of the Cerrado in the State Park.

Finding Golden Grass in London

Golden Grass can be found in Camden Market, and at the goldengrass.org online shop. Prices range from £12 to £59 depending on the item. “At the moment, we are dedicated only to retail. As production is artisanal, we can’t produce large-scale in such a short period of time,” says Simone, who also contributes to the design and finishing of the accessories.

Words and photos by Fabiana Pio

Fabiana runs the excellent Brazilian fashion blog FaBoutique which is well worth checking out.

What Brazilians love to eat for Christmas dessert is something called rabanada. It’s a dish that certainly most Americans or Britains would recognise, though they’d probably be shocked to see it served as a dessert and served outside the breakfast hour. Rabanada is the Portuguese word for French Toast (aka eggy bread) – thick slices of day-old bread, dipped in a mixture of milk and beaten eggs and fried in butter. For Northerners, French Toast is a special treat for weekend breakfast, or at the latest for brunch. Never after 12 noon. But for Brazilians, eating rabanada at the end of the Christmas meal – which means about 2am on Christmas Day, as the Christmas meal normally begins at midnight on Christmas Eve – brings on remembrances of shared Christmases past that pumpkin pie or Christmas pudding do in Pennsylvania or East Anglia. It’s a Proustian moment that’s repeated yearly in homes everywhere in Brazil.

Rabanada is a dish that Brazil has inherited from its colonial mother-country, Portugal. In that country rabanada is also associated with Christmas dinner. Along with the fried bread itself, the sweet syrup that accompanies rabanada is also something that Portugal passed on to its largest former colony. What we call French Toast is usually served with maple syrup, though unfortunately that syrup is likely to be artificial. But maple syrup is unknown in Brazil and the syrup which is drizzled over the hot sweet bread is made from a Port wine reduction. Made from Port, honey and a cinnamon stick, the syrup adds sweetness to the dessert as well as a hint of spice from the cinnamon stick.

It’s unlikely that American or English families are going to switch their Christmas dessert this year to anything other than what’s always been served. However, rabanada does make a wonderful dessert and need not be served only at Christmas time. Try it at the end of a fancy at-home dinner party or even when you’ve got friends over and are trying to whip together a meal from available ingredients in the house. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how well it wraps up a meal. To honour its origins as a Brazilian Christmas dish, serve it with a hearty Feliz Natal (Merry Christmas in Portuguese).

by James Pearce, who runs the fantastic Flavors of Brazil blog – a great place to learn more about the foods of Brazil.

Top photo by Taidoh

Check out our Food & Drink section to learn more about Brazilian food and other Latin American cuisine.

Gilles Peterson presents Havana Cultura: The Search Continues contains artists featured on the first release – such as Roberto Fonseca and Danay Suarez – as well as many new names. It’s a double CD, with each CD reflecting a different side of contemporary Cuban music. CD1 finds Gilles in the producer’s chair, overseeing contributions from people such as Roberto Fonseca, Edrey (from Ogguere), Francis del Rio, Los Aldeanos, El Tipo Este (from Obsesión) and sisters Telmary and Danay Suarez, as well as a variety of new faces. The idea is to show Cuban music in all it’s current glory, giving an authentic taste of the current music scene in Havana.

CD2 features upcoming artists such as Djoyvan, Afrikun, Kola Loka and the Creole Choir of Cuba, as well as exclusive tracks from Danay Suarez, Edgaro “El Productor en Jefe” and El Tipo Este. The focus is on finding those points where modern genres such as reggaeton, dancehall and hip-hop meet traditional and contemporary Cuban styles, and then head off into their own modern hybrid.

You can see the complete version of this video at the Havana Cultura website: havana-cultura.com/en/int/gilles-peterson/cuban-music/havana-cultura-the-search-continues.

Gilles Peterson presents Havana Cultura: The Search Continues will be released on November 14th by Brownswood Recordings. The album is currently available for pre-order through Amazon. Here’s a little taster from the album.

Find out more about Havana Cultura at havana-cultura.com