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	*Brazil’s Great Ballroom Dance Music*	Music Samples

It may be less familiar than samba or bossa nova to audiences outside of Brazil, but gafieira is wildly popular in Brazil, particularly in Rio de Janeiro, where it is a vibrant tradition, and dance floors are packed on weekends with couples dancing to its many great gafieira bands.

Think Savoy Ballroom. . . Roseland. . . the famous ballrooms where even if you never danced a step, you could hear some of the most fabulous music of the times. Now imagine a Brazilian version of this - a dance music alive with unexpected rhythms, melodies, and instrumentation.

A gafieira band traditionally features a rhythm section consisting of percussion (pandeiro and other hand-played percussion), drums (bateria), bass, along with any variety of horns (saxophone, trombone, clarinet, flute, trumpet), keyboards, guitar, and the unique and lively sound of the 4-stringed "little guitar" called a cavaquinho. It can range in size from as few as 6 to a full big-band formation.

Brasil Show is one of today's most popular
gafieira dance bands in Rio de Janeiro.

The gafieira repertoire consists of a variety of rhythms, including samba de gafieira, tango brasileiro, maxixe, habanera, lundu, polca, xotis, and batuque. Gafieira dancing, like Argentine tango, or salsa or mambo, is dazzling to watch, with its intricate steps and combinations. And it's great fun to learn!

In 2001, the show GAFIEIRA DANCE BRASIL was brought to the United States for the first time by La Centrale dell'Arte - International Art Exchange and booked by Cantaloupe Music for appearances at:

Lincoln Center “Midsummer Night Swing”

Rutgers "SummerFest"

Kennedy Center

Miami North Beach Summer Festival

Then to Portugal for the 2001 Festival at Oporto

Paolo Moura and Cliff Korman

The program as presented featured Grammy Award 2000 winner Paulo Moura (clarinet and saxophone), American jazz pianist Cliff Korman, Brazilian trombonist Radegundis Feitosa, along with other instrumentalists and virtuosos of gafieira music, and dance performances by two gafieira dancers from Rio de Janeiro, João Carlos Ramos and Mariana Baltar of the Cia Aérea de Dança.

In 2003, the gafieira band "CLIFF KORMAN'S GAFIEIRA DANCE CLUB" was created to debut at Lincoln Center's "Midsummer Night Swing." It is an authentic gafieira dance band featuring the finest players from Brazil and New York, with piano, accordion, horns, bandolim, backed by an incredible rhythm section. This is what gets the cariocas up and moving on the dance floors of the hippest clubs in Rio de Janeiro: maxixe, baião, samba, frevo, forró. It's "swing, Brazilian style", and the music and rhythms are irresistible. The band will also appear at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as well as select private functions.

In Brazil there are many great gafieira bands, gafieira schools, and places to dance gafieira. For more information about gafieira in Brazil:
Agenda da Dança de Salão Brasileira

For information about gafieira in the United States, contact:
gafieira@cantaloupeproductions.com


	Music Samples

	Espinha de Bacalhau (Orq. Tabajara) Na Glória (Raul de Barros) 1 x 0 (Pixinguinha) Catita (K-Ximbinho) Porque Choras Saxofone (Severino Araújo)


	©2002 Cantaloupe Music Productions, Inc. Last Updated: 07/15/02