Brasil Summerfest is an annual festival of the latest Brazilian music at various venues across New York City in August. Some events are free, others are ticketed.
Brasil Summerfest 2017
The party starts Saturday, August 5 with Samba legend Elza Soares at Central Park SummerStage, and ends with a Lower East Side street fair.
Saturday, August 5
Elza Soares, Liniker e os Carmelows, Teleseen
Central Park SummerStage
6pm
Free
Afterparty: Strobo, DJ Eduardo Brechó (of Aláfia)
Nublu
Lower East Side
10pm
$10
Sunday, August 6
Liniker e os Caramelows, O Terno, Lan LanH
Nublu
Lower East Side
7pm
$20 ($15 advance)
Monday, August 7
Film: Tropicália directed by Marcelo Machado
The New School
Greenwich Village
8pm
Free
Tuesday, August 8
Rodrigo Campos
NaturaBrasil Store
240 Elizabeth St (between Prince & Houston)
Nolita
6pm
Free
Wednesday, August 9
Forro in the Dark
Brooklyn Public Library
Prospect Park, Brooklyn
6:30pm
Free
Thursday, August 10
Batuque da Lan Lanh
The Archway, Manhattan Bridge
DUMBO Brooklyn
6:30pm
Free
O Terno
David Rubenstein Atrium
Lincoln Center
7pm
Free
Aline Muniz
Joe’s Pub
East Village
9:30pm
$15
Friday, August 11
Lívia Nestrovski and Fred Ferreira, Tim Bernardes
Joe’s Pub
East Village
6pm
$15
Film: Tim Maia
Museum of the Moving Image
Astoria, Queens
7:30pm
$15
Saturday, August 12
Zabelé, Alexia Bomtempo
The Django
Tribeca
8pm
$20
Sunday, August 13
Hester Street Fair
Street fair and block party
Lower East Side
12-6pm
Free
Brasil Summerfest 2015
The 5th annual Brasil Summerfest is July 30 – August 8, 2015 at venues in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.
THU, JUL 30 Brasil Summerfest opens with Marcia Castro at the Lincoln Center Atrium, and Letieres Leite and Orkestra Rumpilezz, Cyro Baptista’s Banquet of the Spirits at Damrosh Park.
FRI, JUL 31 The Gilberto Gil tour film Viramundo screens at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens.
SAT, AUG 1 South Street Seaport sways with Coladera and Harlem Samba.
SUN, AUG 2 Nação Zumbi and Nation Beat featuring Cha Wa play a free Central Park SummerStage concert from 3-7pm.
MON, AUG 3 DJ Patrick Tor4 joins Francois K’s Deep Space party at Cielo in the Meatpacking District.
MON, AUG 3 São Paulo singer-songwriter Ana Cañas plays Nublu in the East Village at 10pm. $10.
TUE, AUG 4 Los Sebosos Postizos plays a concert of Samba Rock at City Winery in SoHo at 6pm. Free.
WEDNESDAY, AUG 5 Regional de NY plays a free concert of traditional Choro, the Rio de Janeiro Carnival music, at the Central Brooklyn Public Library at 6pm. $15
THURSDAY, AUGUST 6 ~ Joe’s Pub shows the two sides of Brazil. Coladera channels Brazil’s Portuguese rhythms at 7:30pm. Marcia Castro channels Brazil’s Bahian rhythms at 9:30pm. $15
FRIDAY, AUGUST 7 ~ Singer-songwriter Lia Sophia plays Carimbó-influenced music of Northern Brazil at Meridian 23 at 10pm. $15
SATURDAY, AUGUST 8 ~ Brasil SummerFest closes with a Que Bajo?! at The Wick in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Que Bajo?! with resident DJs Uproot Andy and Geko Jones is one of the world’s great tropical music dance parties.
Brasil Summerfest 2014
4th Brazil Summerfest opens with Bebel Gilberto and Vinicius Cantuaria in Brooklyn. Both artists are Brazilian New Yorkers who have taken the bossa nova into contemporary forms.
Brasil Summerfest 2014 closes in Brooklyn with DJ Sany Pitbull, a Rio favela musician who played a key role in the development of the genre of baile funk music and dancing which grew out of street parties in the favelas. Baile funk is one of the first electronic music genres that didn’t come from Europe or North America.
The first event in Manhattan brings Lenine & Martin Fondse Orchestra: The Bridge, Maíra Freitas, and DJ Tutu Moraes to Central Park SummerStage on July 19th.
The full Brazil Summerfest 2014 lineup is:
- July 18 at Celebrate Brooklyn ~ Bebel Gilberto, Vinicius Cantuaria
- July 19 at Central Park SummerStage ~ Lenine & Martin Fondse Orchestra, Maira Freitas, DJ Tutu Moraes
- July 20 at South Street Seaport ~ Baby do Brasil
- July 21 at Cielo ~ DJ Tutu Moraes, Francois K
- July 22 at City Winery ~ Rogê
- July 23 at Nublu ~ Barbara Eugenia
- July 23 at Brooklyn Public Library ~ Forroteria
- July 24 at Lincoln Center Out of Doors ~ A Batalha do Passinho w/ DJ Sany Pitbull & MC Smith
- July 24 at Meridian 23 ~ Rodrigo del Arc
- July 25 at Joe’s Pub ~ Monday Michiru
- July 26 at Joe’s Pub ~ BaianaSystem
- July 26 at Glasslands (Brooklyn) – DJ Sany Pitbull & guests
Friday, July 25, 2014
Brazil Summerfest 2014 ends with BaianaSystem at Joe’s Pub at 9:30pm for $15. The Baile Funk Closing Party! is at Glasslands in Brooklyn at 11:30pm for $15.
Friday, July 25, 2014
Brazil Summerfest 2014 continues with Monday Michiru at Joe’s Pub at 9:30pm for $15, and Mauricio Zottarelli at the Blue Note at midnight for $10.
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Brazil Summerfest 2014 continues with A Batalha do Passinho with DJ Sany Pitbull and MC Junior at Damrosch Park in Lincoln Center at 7:30pm for Free. Passinho is a combination of pop, break-dancing and traditional samba and other Brazilian dancing that was created by kids at street parties in the Rio Favelas.
Also today, Rodrigo del Arc Rogê plays Meridian 23 at 10pm for $10. Rodrigo from São Paulo, plays MPB (Music Popular Brazilian), or contemporary Brazilian pop.
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Brazil Summerfest 2014 continues with Casuarina at Joe’s Pub at 9:30pm for $15, and Bárbara Eugenia at Nublu at 10pm for $10.
Casuarina from Rio is one of Brazil’s most respected samba bands. Bárbara Eugenia is one female vocalists in Brazil’s indi-rock scene.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Brazil Summerfest 2014 continues at City Winery with Rogê. Rogê from Rio plays MPB (Music Popular Brazilian). He switches effortlessly from samba to bossa nova to reggae. Free.
Monday, July 21, 2014
Brazil Summerfest 2014 continues at Cielo with DJ Tutu Moraes joining DJ François K and at the Blue Note with Baby do Brasil.
Baby do Brasil is considered one of the biggest brazilian singers. She is a music legend who has been revolutionizing the history of the popular Brazilian music MPB.
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Brazil Summerfest 2014 continues at South Street Seaport with Baby do Brasil playing MPB, Samba and Pop at 5pm. Free.
Bebel Gilberto
Bebel Gilberto (Brazilian, 1966) is the leading lady of electronic bossa nova. She is most famous for her 2000 album Tanto Tempo which defined the genre of electronic bossa nova.
Bebel is from one of Brazil’s leading musical families. She is the daughter of João Gilberto and singer Miúcha. João Gilberto (Brazilian, 1931) is one of the founding fathers of bossa nova along with Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes.
Bebel’s mother Miúcha is the sister of Chico Buarque, another great Brazilian songwriter. Miúcha began recording with her husband and Stan Getz in the 1970s. Bebel grew up around all of this, but has established herself as an important artist in her own right.
Vinicius Cantuária
Vinicius Cantuária (Brazilian, 1951) founded the Brazilian rock group O Terço in the 1970s and had solo hits like Só Você and Lua e Estrela in the 1980s. Cantuária moved to New York in the 1990s and has added his Brazilian sound to New York’s jazz and avant-garde music scenes.
DJ Sany Pitbull
DJ Sany Pitbull (Sergio Reis Silva, Brazilian, 1970) is a musician who came up out of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Since the late 1980s, he has produced many artists in the baile funk style.
Baile Funk grew out of Miami Bass and freestyle because Miami was a place where Brazilian DJs used to go to get records. Also called Funk carioca or favela funk, Baile Funk refers to the music and dancing at parties in the favelas. The lyrics are usually about social issues faced by people in the favelas.
Baile Funk is one of the first genres of electronic music to rise in world outside of the United States and Europe. It’s a big deal.
For more information, visit www.brasilsummerfest.com