As we gear up for next summer's World Cup in Brazil 2014, we'll be taking moments to highlight some select Brazilian tracks that come across our desks. From capoeira music (an accompaniment to the sport) and maracatu to samba and the favela-bred baile funk, the influence of African cultures & sounds on the South American nation's own arts is immeasurable. In our series Afro-Brazil 2014 we'll be digging into a few of these 'ritmos e batidas' from Brazil.
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Afropop Worlwide and Williamsburg's Videology will be hosting the US theatrical premiere of Tropicália: A Film by Marcelo Machado. The film highlights the rise of the 1960s Brazilian artistic movement which was birthed out of the concept of antrópofago or "cultural cannibalism" — a theory put forth by poet Oswald de Andrade that encouraged the fusion of Brazilian culture with foreign influences. The musical genre tropicália took sonic cues from traditional Brazilian music, psychedelic rock, African rhythms and the avant-garde and was led by the likes of Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Os Mutantes and Tom Zé. The film also explores the "struggle [tropicália] artists endured to protect their right to freely express revolutionary thought" at a time of political turbulence in Brazil. Watch the trailer below and don't miss the screening this Friday 11/8 at 8PM at Videology(308 Bedford Ave. Brooklyn, NY).