This text was written by Juliano Pires, one of the main movement actors in the neofanfarrismo movement and circulated in Portuguese and English on the occasion of the first HONK! RiO Festival of Activist Brass Bands. It encapsulates the story documented in Critical Brass as told by one of my primary informants.
A History of Neofanfarrismo
Juliano Pires
“Fanfarra” or “brass band” is a type of band comprised predominantly of wind instruments and percussive accompaniment. It is a format that existed long before electricity (and thus TVs, radios, tape players, amplifiers, electric guitars, microphones, etc.) but could nonetheless reach multitudes with its live performances. In a time when everything was done live, fanfarras were the most powerful means on the planet for reaching great multitudes. Since a fanfarra was typically home to the loudest of all instruments (trumpets, trombones, tubas, saxophones, etc.) and took the form of a large group, they could play for hundreds, even thousands – sometimes even the entire city. In this way, they could popularize songs, provide musical education, and add ritual to culture. The fanfarra is even posited by some as the original precursor of mass communication on the planet.
From the times of their origins, fanfarras have played in every country and region of the world, primarily in the streets, as that is the meeting place of the people worldwide. They played in the style of the local genres while also expanding their repertoires internationally, for instance, into the realm of polka, waltz, or foxtrot.
In Brazil, the genre most favored by the fanfarras was dobrados, which was influenced in turn by lundu, maxixe, and, of course, marcha. They also played a variety of international genres. The history of gazebos is connected to fanfarras insofar as they were constructed to house the performances of the fanfarras (known more simply at the time as “music bands”).
All of this occurred many decades before the existence of rock, bossa nova, funk, jazz, and samba. And now, 150 years later, the NEOFANFARRISMO movement has arisen in Rio de Janeiro, rescuing the wind and percussion instrument format and performing selections from the most diverse genres out there, be they current or otherwise. However, this movement doesn’t trace its roots to traditional fanfarras. Instead, it descends from the marchinha blocos of Carnival in Rio.
THE RISE OF BRAZILIAN CARNIVAL: Marchinhas and Frevos
The origins of Brazilian Carnival, as best as can be determined, are intertwined with the rise of marchinhas and frevos. The birthplaces and cultural centers of these two types of songs are Rio de Janeiro (marchinhas, mostly) and Recife (for frevo). Using the same curved wind instruments (as well as percussion), the Carnival bloco format brought the marchinhas and frevos to streets across the country in parades with colors and costumes, enshrining Carnival as the biggest party in the country!
RESISTANCE TO UNIFORMS IN THE STREETS
The marchinha blocos that sustained the Brazilian Carnivals for almost a century went extinct in the 1980s in most of the country. Only in Rio, the birthplace of this genre, were they able to avoid this fate. They remain strong today. It was no coincidence that a movement of resistance and revalorization of the marchinhas began here in Rio de Janeiro in the last decade, with blocos such as Cacique de Ramos, Banda de Ipanema, and many others, including the most classic marchinha bloco, the centenarian Cordão do Bola Preta, which brought thousands of costumed people to the streets. The true street Carnival, the notion of “Carnavalization” (following Bakhtin), and its participating public have only begun to really take off in the last few Carnivals.
IN THE STREETS ALL YEAR ROUND
Musicians that played together for years in Céu na Terra, Boitatá, Boi Tolo, Se melhorar afunda, and Songoro Cosongo decided in 2008 to utilize these same wind and percussion instruments to play the whole year round. They would play a diversity of contemporary and historical genres from Brazil and beyond. From this musical melting pot arose the first fanfarras of the movement: Orquestra Voadora, Fanfarrada, Go East Orkestar, and Os Siderais. Each one had its own unique characteristics, and wherever they popped up, they caused great surprise and hubbub with their catchy and energetic performances, be they on stage or in the streets (i.e., their original context).
After what was called by some the “Summer of the ‘Bones” in the year 2012, these fanfarras (who had already obtained public funding and were performing consistently) traveled to other countries. Orquestra Voadora to France, Portugal, England, Spain, and Belgium. Os Siderais to France and Scotland. And Go East to Serbia. While this was happening around the globe, a second wave of fanfarras began to take shape in Rio, winning over more and more diverse audiences with every show: Sinfônica Ambulante (from Niterói), Cine Bloco, Fanfarra Cantagalo, and the Monte Alegre Hot Jazz band (in the style of Dixieland). In the following years came even more: Damas de Ferro, Fanfarra Black Clube, Ataque Brasil, and Zambalo. It was a movement whose bonds were perpetually strengthened by the streets, by friendships, by “fanfarra battles,” and by everything that they all shared with each other. It got bigger and more solid with every year that passed.
The concern about and participation in social and ecological actions was present from the beginning for a large part of the movement. The notion of the fanfarra was reconfigured, until the old concept of “fanfarrão” (a derivative, pejorative term that refers to someone who doesn’t care about anything and takes no responsibility for anything) was laid to waste by the cannibalistic activity of the neofanfarrismo movement.
NEOFANFARRISMO WORLDWIDE
The international exchange with other modern fanfarras is also booming, be they French “fanfares,” North American “brass bands,” Chilean fanfarrias, Portuguese fanfarras, or others. A variety of bands have played and swapped notes with bands from the Rio movement, such as Globe Notes, Octopus Brass band, Vilains Chicots (among other excellent French bands), the Chilean Rim Bam Bum. Some of this exchange has also taken place when Rio fanfarras go abroad to meet other bands in their homes, such as the incredible fanfarras of HONK! (U.S.): Environmental Encroachment, Second Line S.A.P.S., Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band, Hungry March Band, Rude Mechanical Orchestra, What Cheer! Brigade, and many others. Many partnerships, international connections, and flowerings of generosity and friendship have developed over time. Now, in 2015, we are preparing to host the international festival in which Neofanfarrismo will finally meet HONK!: HONK! RIO.
Sound the cosmic trumpets! The fanfarras are invading the planet!
A History of Neofanfarrismo
Juliano Pires
“Fanfarra” or “brass band” is a type of band comprised predominantly of wind instruments and percussive accompaniment. It is a format that existed long before electricity (and thus TVs, radios, tape players, amplifiers, electric guitars, microphones, etc.) but could nonetheless reach multitudes with its live performances. In a time when everything was done live, fanfarras were the most powerful means on the planet for reaching great multitudes. Since a fanfarra was typically home to the loudest of all instruments (trumpets, trombones, tubas, saxophones, etc.) and took the form of a large group, they could play for hundreds, even thousands – sometimes even the entire city. In this way, they could popularize songs, provide musical education, and add ritual to culture. The fanfarra is even posited by some as the original precursor of mass communication on the planet.
From the times of their origins, fanfarras have played in every country and region of the world, primarily in the streets, as that is the meeting place of the people worldwide. They played in the style of the local genres while also expanding their repertoires internationally, for instance, into the realm of polka, waltz, or foxtrot.
In Brazil, the genre most favored by the fanfarras was dobrados, which was influenced in turn by lundu, maxixe, and, of course, marcha. They also played a variety of international genres. The history of gazebos is connected to fanfarras insofar as they were constructed to house the performances of the fanfarras (known more simply at the time as “music bands”).
All of this occurred many decades before the existence of rock, bossa nova, funk, jazz, and samba. And now, 150 years later, the NEOFANFARRISMO movement has arisen in Rio de Janeiro, rescuing the wind and percussion instrument format and performing selections from the most diverse genres out there, be they current or otherwise. However, this movement doesn’t trace its roots to traditional fanfarras. Instead, it descends from the marchinha blocos of Carnival in Rio.
THE RISE OF BRAZILIAN CARNIVAL: Marchinhas and Frevos
The origins of Brazilian Carnival, as best as can be determined, are intertwined with the rise of marchinhas and frevos. The birthplaces and cultural centers of these two types of songs are Rio de Janeiro (marchinhas, mostly) and Recife (for frevo). Using the same curved wind instruments (as well as percussion), the Carnival bloco format brought the marchinhas and frevos to streets across the country in parades with colors and costumes, enshrining Carnival as the biggest party in the country!
RESISTANCE TO UNIFORMS IN THE STREETS
The marchinha blocos that sustained the Brazilian Carnivals for almost a century went extinct in the 1980s in most of the country. Only in Rio, the birthplace of this genre, were they able to avoid this fate. They remain strong today. It was no coincidence that a movement of resistance and revalorization of the marchinhas began here in Rio de Janeiro in the last decade, with blocos such as Cacique de Ramos, Banda de Ipanema, and many others, including the most classic marchinha bloco, the centenarian Cordão do Bola Preta, which brought thousands of costumed people to the streets. The true street Carnival, the notion of “Carnavalization” (following Bakhtin), and its participating public have only begun to really take off in the last few Carnivals.
IN THE STREETS ALL YEAR ROUND
Musicians that played together for years in Céu na Terra, Boitatá, Boi Tolo, Se melhorar afunda, and Songoro Cosongo decided in 2008 to utilize these same wind and percussion instruments to play the whole year round. They would play a diversity of contemporary and historical genres from Brazil and beyond. From this musical melting pot arose the first fanfarras of the movement: Orquestra Voadora, Fanfarrada, Go East Orkestar, and Os Siderais. Each one had its own unique characteristics, and wherever they popped up, they caused great surprise and hubbub with their catchy and energetic performances, be they on stage or in the streets (i.e., their original context).
After what was called by some the “Summer of the ‘Bones” in the year 2012, these fanfarras (who had already obtained public funding and were performing consistently) traveled to other countries. Orquestra Voadora to France, Portugal, England, Spain, and Belgium. Os Siderais to France and Scotland. And Go East to Serbia. While this was happening around the globe, a second wave of fanfarras began to take shape in Rio, winning over more and more diverse audiences with every show: Sinfônica Ambulante (from Niterói), Cine Bloco, Fanfarra Cantagalo, and the Monte Alegre Hot Jazz band (in the style of Dixieland). In the following years came even more: Damas de Ferro, Fanfarra Black Clube, Ataque Brasil, and Zambalo. It was a movement whose bonds were perpetually strengthened by the streets, by friendships, by “fanfarra battles,” and by everything that they all shared with each other. It got bigger and more solid with every year that passed.
The concern about and participation in social and ecological actions was present from the beginning for a large part of the movement. The notion of the fanfarra was reconfigured, until the old concept of “fanfarrão” (a derivative, pejorative term that refers to someone who doesn’t care about anything and takes no responsibility for anything) was laid to waste by the cannibalistic activity of the neofanfarrismo movement.
NEOFANFARRISMO WORLDWIDE
The international exchange with other modern fanfarras is also booming, be they French “fanfares,” North American “brass bands,” Chilean fanfarrias, Portuguese fanfarras, or others. A variety of bands have played and swapped notes with bands from the Rio movement, such as Globe Notes, Octopus Brass band, Vilains Chicots (among other excellent French bands), the Chilean Rim Bam Bum. Some of this exchange has also taken place when Rio fanfarras go abroad to meet other bands in their homes, such as the incredible fanfarras of HONK! (U.S.): Environmental Encroachment, Second Line S.A.P.S., Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band, Hungry March Band, Rude Mechanical Orchestra, What Cheer! Brigade, and many others. Many partnerships, international connections, and flowerings of generosity and friendship have developed over time. Now, in 2015, we are preparing to host the international festival in which Neofanfarrismo will finally meet HONK!: HONK! RIO.
Sound the cosmic trumpets! The fanfarras are invading the planet!
