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.

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

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