Artists
who's who and who's doing what?Monobloco
- country:Brazil
- region or city:Rio de Janeiro
- style(s):Percussion Pop
- label:
- type:Band
- gender:male
- instrumentation:instrumental, vocal
- artist submitted by:
MONOBLOCO CONQUERS THE WORLD WITH ITS BATUCADA
"M-O-N-O-B-L-O-C-O, what a beauty, huh, Monobloco" Those who have attended the shows are familiar with this chanting, sung along by thousands of people during the performances. Acclaimed for incorporating diverse rhythms and musical styles to a samba beat, Monobloco has become a calling card for the city of Rio de Janeiro. Now, besides setting the tone for carnival in the Wonderful City, Monobloco takes its innovative batucada around the world. Last year alone, Monobloco performed and gave percussion workshops in Ireland, England and Denmark. In 2008, it participated in Oceania's main music festivals: Australia's Sidney Festival and New Zealand's Jambalaya Festival, in Rotorua.
Created in 2000 by members of the band Pedro Luis e A Parede Celos Alvim, Mario Moura, Sidon Silva, C.A. Ferrari and Pedro Luis Monobloco is among the Brazilian groups with the most number of performances year round. In 2007, the five PLAPs (as they are known), plus the percussionists that form the combo, performed more than 90 times, an average of 8 shows per month.
Sung by Pedro Luis, Fabio Allman, Renato Biguli and Alexandre Momo, the eclectic repertoire covers traditional carnival marchinhas of Joao Roberto Kelly, sambas by Cartola and Clara Nunes, xotes by Alceu Valenca, forros by Luiz Gonzaga, funks by MC Leonardo, besides hits from Paralamas do Sucesso, Raul Seixas, Tim Maia and other great names of Brazilian pop music. It's a veritable ode to Brazilian music, with a genuine samba drive.
This singular mixture is also noticeable in the percussion orchestra. Traditional samba school instruments cavaco, repique, tamborim, chocalho, surdo and agogos interact with recently added electric instruments, such as bass and guitar. "That's the best feature of Monobloco", says Pedro Luis. "It's a very danceable repertoire, bringing together various currents of Brazilian music, presented in a peculiar way, emphasizing the instrumental characteristics of a samba school". Conductor Celso Alvim agrees: "The variety of musical styles and repertoire, played by a samba school combo, causes great surprise in the audience".
Every year, Monobloco closes the Carnival of Rio with a parade along the shore of Copacabana Beach going to the streets with some 150 percussionists graduated in the workshops that are given all year round. To go on tour, they have created a leaner group, called Monobloco Show. The smaller combo is formed by all the five members of PLAP, as well as 15 percussionists, all professional musicians in the musical scene of Rio.
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