Worlds Apart
#4: brazilian hardcore punk
Sand, samba and the sexy Gisele Bündchen - these are the principal components of contemporary Brazilian culture, correct? However, delve into the murky underground of Rio and you’ll find they dance to an entirely different tune. The standard Brazilian hardcore scene is much as you’d expect anywhere. Eskaravelho are the staple band, singing both in English and Spanish, and sound similar to Rise Against. Raimundos are one of the only bands to really break through to the mainstream.
They’re slightly more accessible, with big Ramones influences, and a cameo spot on the Brazilian Mission:Impossible 2 soundtrack. However, semi-mainstream bands aren’t the main is that Brazilian hardcore punk is interesting. The principal reason is the phenomenon of the funk ball. Funk in Brazil is closer to a cross between hardcore and hip-hop than anything that James Brown has ever done, with a basic repeated beat with shouted or screamed vocals over the top.
In the 1990s, while grunge began to take over in the US, the young underclass in Rio took to funk, a style that had been waiting in the wings since the late 1970s. Inevitably, the drug culture that surrounded the urban underclass came with them. This wasn’t like the rave scene, though, with the majority of people smiling due to the MDMA they’d taken, and the major crimes being noise pollution and theft.
Rather, as funk balls have developed, they’ve effectively become official places for outpourings of violence. They mostly take place in abandoned warehouses, or any similar location; anywhere where there are no neighbours to be bothered. The balls are broken down into two sides: side A and side B. Initially, it’s like any other club in such a location, until the DJs call a state of mortal combat, having been playing music they know would incite the crowd to bloodshed.
At that point, it becomes a veritable free for all. The ‘corridor’, an empty space between the two sides is crossed by members of each side, who rampage around attempting to grab someone from the other side. If successful, they will drag the opponent back to their own side, and beat them, often to the point of unconsciousness, until someone comes and rescues them. Think of the violence of football hooliganism minus the great soundtrack. Permanent damage is almost expected.
Girls are by no means exempt from this; stamping on people’s faces with stilettos is a regular feature (although why anyone would wish to don such inconvenient footwear at a HC show is beyond me). Nobody can pinpoint exactly when promoters started using music as a framework in which such violent fights could take place, but very few funk clubs in Rio that don’t endorse violence have stayed open.
3rd Nov 2005