Brasil Summerfest is a new music festival that aims to establish itself as the premier Brazilian music festival in New York and the country. Its primary objective is to showcase the richness and diversity of Brazil’s music scene with a special focus on the contemporary artists. This includes traditional styles of samba, forro, bossanova, maracatu as well as new emerging ones such as novo-tropicalia, manguebeat, hip hop, rock, baile-funk, among others.
This is a weeklong festival that will present a series of events in New York CIty. The festival will run from July 24 - 30, 2011 and takes place at several high profile venues in Manhattan including; Central Park Summerstage, City Winery, Nublu, Bowery Electric, Drom and S.O.B.s.
The opening event of Brasil Summerfest will take place on July 24, at Central Park SummerStage with confirmed performances by Marcelo D2 and Pitty. Marcelo D2, is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of latin hip-hop. He has been credited with creating a unique blend of traditional samba and hip-hop. Marcelo D2 is an explosive performer and has landed shows all over the world alongside artists such as Stevie Wonder and Erykah Badu. Pitty, on the other hand is one of the most successful Brazilian rockstars of her generation, and was considered as one of the "100 Most Influential Brazilians" by Epoca magazine and it is her debut show in the US. City Winery's Hudson Square will be hosting Forro in the Dark, hailed as "one of the best party bands in New York" by the NYTimes, who will take the stage at 6pm on July 26. And Percussivo Mundo Novo, whose lead member Mikael Mutti was one of the principal composers and performers for the animated film Rio, will be closing the festival with a high-energy performance at SOBs on July 30 and it will feature some very special guests!
The festival is founded and curated by Petrit Pula, currently the GM of Nublu, the club and label outpost based in New York's East Village and co-curated by Erika Elliott, the Artistic Director at Central Park Summerstage. "Over the five plus years I have worked at Nublu I've had a chance to dig into and appreciate deeply Brazilian music and culture," says Pula. The curators aim to present and create a new platform for the wide range of styles, richness and talent in the current Brazilian music scene to a broader audience in New York City. Check back for upcoming announcements!
