Far away in the land of possiblilty

Friends,

Time has passed by like a speeding train. We have spent close to a month here in Curitiba, a small city in the south of Brazil that sits inland about 100 miles from the lovely ocean that littered our blog before. The beautiful dream-like atmosphere of Rio is far different from the concrete jungle of this city. Influenced heavily by Europe, Curitiba seems like a different country from my experience in Rio.

We have spent much of our time with Rob's huge, incredible family. A mix of Italian and Brazilian backgrounds, the many branches of his family contain pockets of charisma, beauty, and guile that is new to me given my smaller American family experience. The bonds that connect them also pale in comparison. A talk with some family friends one day at lunch turned into an interview, where they described their family dynamic as a group dynamic; where the individual identity disappears and each person becomes a part of a larger family identity. If one member has a problem, the responsibility is not solely on that individual to fix it, but on the family as a whole to fix it together. In the same vein, the success of one is the success of all.

Now, I know this exists back home, but I tell you, my friends, it is much different here. In the US, we rarely sit down and have dinner as a group anymore -- let alone come together many times a week to share stories, issues, and achievements. Back home, it is the expectation of the individual to go out and make a name for themselves, in order to create another family to keep the name going. Here, it feels more like the mentality of "family" in our social groups, but within the context of the immediate family.

These concepts will be weaving their way into the story of our film, as we explore the unique deeper cultural qualities of this country and its society. To be honest, it has been difficult for me to work through everything I am living through here, and to figure out what it is that we are truly doing. It seems every corner I turn opens a new chapter, which could be an entire new film. The last few weeks, however, have been slower. We have major budgeting concerns, schedule conflicts, and other issues that every film production must confront, and -- as we have done many times -- we will battle through and prevail. I awoke this morning with a renewed energy and optimism. There are some incredible people here with whom we have worked over the last few months. We found a couple of projects here and there to help put bread on the table. Through all of this I realized -- possibly for the first time -- the true magnitude of what we set out here to do (which may be why it has been so scary the last few weeks). But when I think about what we have done (under budgeted and under planned), then I feel relaxed. This is the life of the independent artist. The dreamer who will fight till the end until the big break... right! DAMN RIGHT.

Here is a little snippet of a Video we shot the last night in Rio. Subtitles will be added when we create a larger cut of the film. Please enjoy, share and comment.

Collection of screen captures from Rio shoots.

Sunrise over the Beach in Copa, after a night of meeting incredible people with Daniel Lobo. We sat on the beach until late in the morning Rob with guitar, Jim with pandero, and surrounded by new friends. For a moment we recreated history on those beaches.

Fishing ship washed ashore.

This ship sat on the beach for a few days, it was an incredible sight.

The chandelier which hung above a Portuguese style venue. The building was an old shipping warehouse, about 4 stories tall, each level was designed with rustic style furnishing, finally a small courtyard on the top.

A band from the northern part of Brazil provided the music for the evening, as people of all ages danced and celebrated to a saints day.

View from the 3rd level, was a magical evening.

During a Bossa Nova jam on the beach, Rob and Jim joined the musicians and played a collection of Brazilian and American favorites.

Daniel Lobo, our Director of Photography, plays an enormous quica made out of a tree trunk. It comes from Africa, and resembles the sound of the Jungle. In the courtyard of Maracatu drumming school.

Jim meets with Bolao, an incredible Samba bateria player. He literally wrote the book on how to transfer Samba onto the drum kit. There will be a video series coming soon from Bolao!

Our team with the keeper of Bip Bip. A small cultural hub a block away from the beach of Copa. The history of this place in connection with Bossa made this night one of the best of the trip.

Roberto inside Simente, a small club in Lapa.

Zé Paulo Becker, with Bernardo Aguiar in Simente.

Daniel Jobim grandson of Tom, showing Rob a Jobim song book after a small jam in the studio in his family house.

World class Pandero player and friend, Bernardo Magic, showing us the salt hill. This was the center market for the slave trade in Rio Dijenero, and the location of the start of the Samba movement.

The Pig House! Originally a place for prostitution it is now a music and artistic complex, surrounded by small venues all sharing one space.

Alexandre Garnizé percussion teacher, player and leader. He is a legend, brought us to see his band Abayomy Afro Beat, at the Pig House.

Trumpet solo during Fela Kuti's Zombie.

Abayomy Afro Beat horn section still. They blasted off that night.

3 different shoots in one night. Tired but thrilled. Our last night in Rio.

Another incredible Brazillian musician, at a Beach Cafe on the Copa sidewalk.

Roge playing in the Lagoa area in Rio. These next are screen stills from the live video edit.

Saúde!

Bossa Nova & Samba

Since we have been in Brazil we have been asking locals about Bossa Nova and how it is received today, we have gotten some mixed responses. It seems that the Bossa Nova from the 50's & 60's is dead. However, most musicians believe that the movement is something that lives on in the soul and without it the culture of Brazil would not be what it is today. Obviously it was important and is still alive in some ways. We met a very important samba player named Bolao who talked about Bossa Nova from a "sambistas" perspective. In his mind Bossa Nova drumming did not impact the evolution of samba on the drum set. He did mention that Bossa Nova changed the way the guitar is played by giving it that samba "batida" or beat but that this rhythm was already being played by samba players on a cavaquinho, which is a four stringed instrument kind of like a ukulele. Since a guitar has six strings the chords that were involved in Bossa Nova were important to the style. It became a mix between American jazz chords/harmonics and a Brazilian samba beat. Bolao believes the best way to hear Bossa Nova is instrumentally or with just a guitarist/singer. Bolao has been instrumental himself in the evolution of the drum set. He has been developing new ways of adapting the samba school rhythms onto the drum set. His use of the the double bass pedal is singular. He has written a book whose english translation read the privlage of playing the the samba or batucada. If you have time please check him out online Oscar Bolao. If you have any comments or input on the subject feel free to throw in some comments. THANK YOU

Roberto

Production Blog Begins

Dear friends.... it has begun! Over the last 2 weeks we have been making connections, seeing Rio culture, interviewing artists and musicians, shooting, editing, discussing... and walking down the beach to sugar loaf as you can see from my mobile photo uploads. Here is a collection of stills, a mixture of production stills, and screen shots from our first 2 shoots. We will continue to update these posts as we move along, in an effort to quickly update the blog. But our experience has been too rich to just post quickly. We have been working with an unbelievable collection of musicians, videographers, photographers, producers, managers, and as we update we will explain who they are. For now peep these images.

Contributors:
Daniel Lôbo
Leandro Neves
Dani Botelho
Cast of- Na Rotina dos Bares

... and more pics.

Photo at the Journal do Brazil, of the founders of Bossa.

Chega De Saudade- Trailer

Letters from my journal.

Random thoughts and entries:

12/9/11- Apartment, on computer.
Our first week in Rio was incredible. We connected with the Journal do Brazil, a major newspaper here in Brazil since 1891. We are spending this next week working with them and searching through their archives of articles, pictures and stories creating the landscape for the Bossa Nova movement and the culture at the time. Friday we took a cab to see a friends show  in Tijuca at the Sao Clemente samba school. They were performing their 10 songs to pick for Carnival. They started the night playing last years song, the Queen of the school came out with their flag, and as she spun around the room, building the energy of the crowd. The colors of the school, black and yellow, littered the place like confetti. 30+ people were on stage banging away each with an individual drum and piece to play, not skipping a beat. 500+ people in the audience, women dancing like a dream, men showing up dancers from the lord of the dance as if they were born to dance.... they were. As the queen danced and pulled energy from the band into the crown the building we were in ignited, (figuratively). I began to cry as the beat of the bateria, and the force of the energy took over my body. It was a life changing experience.  It was wonderful.  We later found out not only were we in the wrong place, our friend never played there that night, but Sao Clemente was the Samba school that threw a party for Nara Leao as a backlash to Bossa Nova, when she turned her back on the movement. Had we known Sao Clemente had celebrated the death of Bossa Nova, and the rejection of the movement by Nara, I may have not been touched as deeply. It is amazing how things happen as they are meant to be.

Quick collection of images. Words and blogs to follow.

Day 1

    We arrived in Rio Tuesday around noon, and were picked up at the airport by Jim´s friend Bernardo. A fellow musician and percussionist. His step father Felle met us at baggage claim and waited with us until Bernardo arrived. We smoked cigarettes that we had longed for after 24 hours of traveling. I slept on the flight from DC to Rio, Rob was not so fortunate. Quickly my plans to work on the plane evaporated. I joked with a new friend before leaving that when you depart on a long plane trip you get ready with days worth of reading and work, thinking time will stand still once the plane takes off. However, most passengers land without even turning a page.
     As I sat outside the airport taking in the new air touching my skin, Rob talked to Felle in Portuguese about our project, soccer, and Rio News. I just soaked in the air, people, and taxis. In one way it felt totally new and foreign, in another it just felt like smoking outside any airport in the states. Bernardo arrived in a small white hatchback, fitting Jim´s description of Harry Potter to a T. The sights and sounds of familiarity sitting outside the airport were quickly whisked away as we jumped on the highway heading into Rio and Copacabana.

Samba do aviao

Rob here just saying what's up. I am sitting in the airport in DC waiting for steve. I'm bored but very excited. Flying to rio is making me think of the jobim song samba do aviao which translated means samba of the airplane. Jobim was known to have a fear of flying in what he called "steel birds" referring to airplanes. After he left brazil jobim felt so much saudade towards rio de janeiro and on his flight Back from the united states he was inspired to write the song mentioned above. Consequently, years later rio de janeiro named the airport after Antonio Carlos jobim. Wish I could add a link to that song but I'm typing on my phone so go google that!!!

Chega de Saudade,
Roberto Bettega

Cooking with gas.-Momma Tucker

Yesterday while talking to a new friend about Bossa Nova he reflected on the fact that the form exists because of women. Furthermore the culture of Brazil is built around women. At this point in the documentary we have not been able to interview any women on the project, which is an enormous missing piece.  Most of the music is written by men reflecting on the women in their lives who give them inspiration and keep them alive. The heart of this post goes out to the women, my mom, my sister, my best friend/blatina sister, friends and lovers. Thank you I love you!

Now to the post- Cooking with Gas.

Snap back to reality.

Hello Friends,

5 days until we leave for Brazil!! So much has gotten done since this project was concieved. It is a truly humbling experience to fall in love with a project and put everything you have into it. Not just for the feeling of doing something you love coupled with the mountain of work that needs to be done to see the project through, but the people who throw down, and become involved. My favorite thing about making films aside from creating art is that I get to create art WITH people. Amazing people.

Thanks to the people who are making this project their own:
Roberto Bettega, Dan Mclane, Jim Hamilton, Kris Rey-Talley, Benjamin Barnett, Motti Salma, Jeff Curran, The Turnpike Collective,  Media Bureau, Empowerment Group, Paul Johnson, Juliano Telles, Steve Herrick, Angel Rodriguez, Nicole Deluca, Brooke Welsh, Eddie Barber, Harmonica Lewinskis, Lower East Side Blues Collective, Richie Rich and the Poor People, Zoe Shevack, Luke Elliot, Iki Beat, Zeb J Row, Jameson VanHorn Band, Paulo Sampler, friends, family, lovers.

Creating an alternative universe

Hey Peeps,
I can't tell you how powerful the departure into the editing world is for me. It's a place where you are able to examine the begining stages of a project in a different way. One goes into a shoot armed with equipment, harware, images in mind that will help paint the picture of the story they are telling. Then in the editing room it exists in your head. Well of course you have a screen playing back the footage, but the people are no longer there. The physical extension of the project is gone. You relive a moment but in a different location, late at night (usually.) You are living in a slightly altered reality, cutting a pasting these moments creating an alternative reality. Sometimes parallel, other times reverse. I love every part of this process, from the head with the idea, physical with the camera/locations/people, back in the head with editing, now in the physical with a product. Here is the first video for Chega De Saudade. Please have a peek, share, comment, whatever moves you.

This is my first post so, Hello! I wanted to show you something before I wrote on here. More soon. Thank you for visiting.


Best,
Stephen

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Our First Official Day of Shooting

Thursday August 4, 2011

We completed our second day of shooting for the production of “Chega De Saudade”. Today we took a trip to the Media Bureau in Northern Liberties, Philadelphia where we met with percussionist/music producer Jim Hamilton, cinematographer Kris Rey–Talley and director Stephen Tucker. Jim and I had a nice little jam session, going over a few Bossa Nova tunes along with original arrangements by yours truly.

The Introduction

Chega De Saudade is the upcoming feature documentary exploring, capturing and preserving the most important cultural movement in Brazil, Bossa Nova. This project will delve into the foundation of the movement in the early 1950’s, starting in the hometowns of the movement’s founders and moving onto Rio de Janeiro, where Bossa Nova music became the new big thing. Interviewing the surviving members of the movement, this project will take us into the soul of Brazil during the cultural renaissance of the 1950’s through the Brazilian Coup D'état in 1964. While Brazil was struggling with civil war, Bossa Nova, a well-matured movement, quickly rose and captured the attention of the world.

There are several key elements to the production strategy created for this film. Stephen and producing partner, Roberto Bettega, have been studying music for many years, allowing it to slip into their films and contemporary music. Slowly the nostalgic emotions and undercurrent of Bossa Nova music, which began inspiring them individually, drove them to revisit its past by creating this documentary.

As Bossa Nova was heavily influenced by American jazz, Stephen Tucker (Director) was heavily influenced by Bossa Nova. This is key to the understanding of the final product of the film. Beginning with exploration of the core of Brazilian cultural history and sculpted through the eyeglass of American narrative film, “Chega de Saudade” will evoke the same message as the song with the same name, which was the first composition to enter the canon of Bossa Nova music.

The public cultural scope of Bossa Nova will influenced them to move to Brazil, leave everything behind in the United States for a period of time and allow “Chega De Saudade” to bloom.

-HDproductions

The Beginning of Production

Welcome to Harmonic Distortion Productions inaugural submission, beginning the journey through Bossa Nova music.

Pre-production and the first stages of our documentary, "Chega De Saudade" are under way. With our concept, HD Productions and all the amazing folks working with us are proud to say that we are embarking upon a voyage into the heart of Brazilian music. We are excited to be setting our sails and our sights on something that we love (not to say we haven't already been doing that), but here at Harmonic Distortion Productions, we are truly happy to be entering the threshold of creativity with high hopes and great minds.

-HDproductions