Funk Carioca

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Funk Carioca means "Funk from Rio" in Brazilian Portuguese, and is also known as Brazilian Funk (which also relates to a 1970's musical style), Favela Funk and, mistakenly, Baile Funk (the name of the party in which it is played). It's a type of dance music from Rio de Janeiro, derived from and superficially similar to Miami Bass, with deep rapid beats and aggro vocals. In Rio it is most often simply known as Funk, although it is very different musically from what Funk means in most other places — including Brazil itself — and contexts.

1 Baile Funk
2 Brazilian Funk
3 Origins of Carioca "Funk"
4 Content
5 Funk Balls
6 Appearance abroad
7 Proibidão
8 Important Funk Carioca groups/artists
9 External links

[edit] Baile Funk

Baile in Portuguese literally means "ball", as in "dance party", and "funk" is how locals label the musical genre (see below for origin of this label); therefore, "baile funk" means a "funk ball" or "funk party", and is used in Brazil exclusively to describe the parties where such music is played, and not the music itself. The mainstream Brazilian media often calls the music "Funk Carioca", meaning funk from Rio de Janeiro; alternately, it is simply referred to as "Funk", especially in Rio proper.

In English, however, the term has increasingly been used to describe the musical genre itself. This may be due to English speakers seeing the word "baile" as an adjective to "funk", as English word order would suggest. In Portuguese, though, "funk" is the qualifier for "baile", in this case.

Since the genre was developed mostly by the favela population, and it is in favelas that the vast majority of "bailes funk" (the correct plural in Portuguese) are held, it is also sometimes known in English as "Favela Funk".

[edit] Brazilian Funk

Despite the term being used abroad to refer to the style emerged from Rio's favelas, Brazilian Funk is also used inside Brazil when talking about Brazilian black music produced back in the 1970s. Samba-rock and soul artists as Tim Maia, Erlon Chaves, Gerson King Combo, Jorge Benjor Carlos Dafé and Trio Maria Fumaça were deeply influenced by the actual Funk music of George Clinton, James Brown, Isaac Hayes and others, a fact that helped to perpetuate inside the favelas the "Funk" definition for all of the American Black music (see bellow).

[edit] Origins of Carioca "Funk"

Brazilian record suppliers who went to the United States in the 1970s to buy what was called at the time "Black Music" for Brazilian DJs targeted stores that sold American Funk records. As they continued to support the same hotspots over time, though American music had evolved away from Funk into new genres such as Hip Hop, the word "funk" stuck in local usage.

Miami was a popular place to obtain records for Brazil, and therefore, Miami Bass was prominent in these imports. DJ Nazz is one of the main suppliers credited with bringing Miami Bass records to Brazil while still referring to them as American "Funk" records. Local producers began mimicking this in the late 1980s. The influence of Miami is also reflected in the prominence of freestyle-style synth melodies.

[edit] Content

Much like any kind of hip hop music, funk carioca lifts heavily on samples – international rips, as well as rips on previous funk music. Much of the production occurs in small scale studios in Rio, and achieve distribution through hand-burned CDs in the markets throughout Rio, São Paulo, and Salvador.

Besides Miami Bass-type beats, Funk Carioca also uses some traditional Afro-Brazilian rhythms. A West Coast Electro Bass track entitled 808 Volt (Beatapella Mix) by DJ Battery Brain was widely sampled.

Frequent lyrical topics are sex, the party, and the life of favelados in the favelas. Sexual innuendo, favela slang, and homage to the artist's own favela are common.

Much like rap and hip hop culture is wildly popular yet feared in the United States, funk is viewed as an overly loud, aggressive, sociopathic form of music by many people of Brazilian middle class.

[edit] Funk Balls

"Bailes Funk" or 'Funk Balls' generally take place in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and other cities. These Funk Balls play a very important role in terms of integrating the culture of the favelas with the culture of the city at large^{[citation needed]}. It is estimated that 200,000 youths of all social classes and backgrounds attend them every weekend^{[citation needed]}.

Funk balls have been notorious for their blatant sexuality and violence. The funqueiros ("funkers", or patrons of the clubs) sometimes become violent, and deaths are not uncommon. Certain clubs have been described as having blood-smeared walls and having trampled persons lying on the floor. Some DJs have been known to incite the crowd to fight with their selection of music. During the late 1990s, a phenomenon called the "corredor", where two rival gangs (not previously formed) would line up on opposite sides, called Lado A and Lado B (A and B side) and fight in the corridor of space between them. This practice is also called "Corredor Polonês" in reference to the Polish Corridor. Funkers will drag a rival to the other side, or some will willingly cross over to the other side, and they will fight bareknuckles. The recent decline of violence at funk balls has led to greater acceptance of them by the public. [1] [2] [3]

Recently, Funk Balls have been attracting attention from visitors from abroad. Compilers from abroad also tend use the term Baile Funk to represent the genre, which differs from the original Brazilian use.

[edit] Appearance abroad

Funk Carioca was only a regional phenomenon until its discovery by foreign labels in the 2000s. Labels like Germany's Essay Recordings ("Rio Baile Funk Favela Booty Beats", compiled by Berlin DJ and music journalist Daniel Haaksman) began compiling this music for the outside world, making it a new global trend. Ivanna Bergese compiled mix-tapes for her performance act "Yours Truly" which were soon found by Diplo, aka Wes Pentz, who also played a major role in raising the international profile of Brazilian Funk, particularly in its inclusion in the 2004 mix-tape Piracy Funds Terrorism and later on various Funk compilations.

The track "Quem Que Caguetou (Follow Me Follow Me)" by Black Alien & Speed was never a hit in Brazil. But it was used in a commercial in Europe and helped spread the word about Funk carioca. The song "Popozuda Rock n´Roll" by De Falla was licensed for a soft drink commercial in Germany. European labels like Man Recordings released 12" vinyl singles like "Habibi" by D.M.Project, or remixes of Edu K´s baile funk hit "Popozuda Rock n´Roll" by Diplo, as well as a Solid Groove remix of EDU K feat. Deize Tigrona's "Sex-O-Matic".

[edit] Proibidão

A sub-genre of Baile Funk in Brazil is entitled Proibidão, which translates to "highly forbidden". Funk fans say it glorifies local drug dealers and favela drug lords and contains heavy and explicit sexual messages, being therefore seen as an especially volatile form of music in the eyes of the Brazilian government. The group Movimento Funk Club has recorded a song entitled Namoro Depravado ("Depaved Love") in 1998 that was subtitled Proibidão.

[edit] Important Funk Carioca groups/artists

Listed after the name of the groups are major hits the group or artist has had.

Furacão 2000 (the biggest and most famous sound system/club)
DJ Marlboro
MC Marcinho (has one of the most played songs on Brazilian radios)
MCs Claudinho e Buchecha (shifted from baile funk to dance pop — after Claudinho's death by car crash, Buchecha gone solo)
MC Serginho (hits: "Eguinha Pocotó", "Vai Lacraia", "Peru Pequeno e Xereca Grande", the last one features Tati Quebra Barraco)
MC Andinho
MC Gil Do Andaraí
SD Boys (hits: "Tá dominado" and "Ah, eu tô maluco")
MC Vanessinha (hit: "Dança da Peteca")
MC Tati Quebra Barraco
Bonde do Tigrão (hits: "O Baile Todo", "Cerol na mão")
Denis DJ
Dj Sandrinho do Borel
Menor do Chapa
Dj Sujinho
Dj Cassiano
MCs Naldinho & Beth (hit: "Tapinha")
Tchiky Al Dente
DJ Daniel Haaksman (compiler of the CDs Rio Baile Funk Favela Booty Beats on Essay Recordings)
MC Jack E Chocolate (hit: "Pavaroty" [sic])
MC Mascote
MC Catra
MC Sabrina
MC Colibri (hits: "Bolete", "Pau na Coxa")
Bola de Fogo (hit: "Atoladinha")
MC Frank
MC Leozinho (hit: "Se Ela Dança")
Deize Tigrona
MC Duda Do Borel
Cidinho e Doca
Gorilo e Preto
Edu K
Bonde do Role (gaining prominence in the US market, signed to Diplo's Mad Decent label)
Bonde das Impostora (mix funk carioca with Electro and Indie Rock)
Dj Frost