z'Bumba Hosts HUGE Brazilian Carnaval - 3/1

z'Bumba Hosts HUGE Brazilian Carnaval Celebration - Two Floors, Two Stages

Analog Cafe & Theater - 720 SE Hawthorne Blvd

Sat March 1, 2014 - Doors 8pm / Show 8:30pm / 21+
$12 Advance / $15 Day Of

Posted by Matt 

Host of "Subterranea"

Tue 10-11pm / Thu 11pm-Midnight

facebook/SubterraneaPDX  |  @subterranea 

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Portland has become awash in Mardi Gras celebrations.  And while you’re waiting for Fat Tuesday to come around next week, there’s still the Latin America side of pre-Lenten celebration to consider - and Portland’s premiere Brazilian music band, z’Bumba is hosting an event this Saturday that promises to overwhelm all the senses.  

The site will be the Analog Café & Theater where two stages on two floors will barely contain the revelry of Carnaval.  Expect unrelenting Brazilian rhythms from z'Bumba, Grupo Arrasta, scantily-clad samba dancers from the Axé Didé troupe (feathers & sequin bikinis!), the 17-piece marching band from space, Love Bomb Go-Go, a couple dance DJs (DJ Cuíca and DJ Malandro) and – in a polite nod to the States and those who crave a little second line – the New Orleans sounds of the 82nd Ave Brass Band.  

I can feel my Sunday hangover creeping in already….

Advance tix available here.

z'Bumba - "Sabiá lá na Gaiola"

z’Bumba shoots out relentless, synaptic-swift rhythms from a ringing triangle and then layers in swirling accordion lines like sweet guava jam (or, like Brazilian goiabada, to be precise…).  The rest is built on the bass-register and traditional percussion, including the large, shoulder-slung zabumba bass drum.  The Portuguese vocals sound like a smile, often culminating in a gleeful full-band chorus.  And sometimes there’s a haughty tone, maybe even a little defiant.  It’s all in the history of forró.  

Forró (pronounced fo-HOH) is the music of the Brazilian people - the working class - and is quite unlike the cocktail-smooth sounds of bossa nova or the feathered carnaval hysteria of samba.  Once considered only “music for maids and taxi drivers,” forró was marginalized and frowned at much like the blues in the U.S.  And like the blues, forró has since gained a footing in its homeland, become cool, even in samba-mad Rio.  True to its egalitarian roots, it’s believed the name “forró” comes from Brazilian workers reading English mining company posters which advertised company dances as “for all,” meaning not just management.  

Axé Didé (literally, 'Rising Vital Energy')  performs dynamic interpretations of sacred and secular dances from Cuba and Brazil, from  entrancing gods of fire, metal and water to the celebratory and sexy movements of Samba.

Axé Didé 

Love Bomb Go-Go describe themselves thusly: Clad in silver and white, LoveBomb Go-Go Marching Band of Portland, Oregon: Intergalactic freaks on a mission to mend, with music, the divisions of civilization; seeking universal equality and striving, even, to reestablish purposefulness for each and every life.

Love Bomb Go-Go - "Orphan Mother"