Date: Nov 11, 2004
Text: Bruno Camargo, Valerio Zhyin
Photos: Lisa & André @Zuvuya.net
Taken from: The Trancers Guide to the Galaxy 2004

Brazil deserves the title of the most attractive Trancers Travel Location in the past two Years thanks to it’s paradisic nature, all-year pleasant climate amd it’s still fresh party scene. A bunch of international artists (most of them coming on their own cost) is constantly around to valorize Sao Paulos 7-days-a-week club culture and to fill the massive lineups of some amazing 5-days open air festivals. Does the future of the Trance Culture groove in South America?

Brazil can be taken sometimes as a continent rather than a country and has as much variety you would expect from such. Despite of huge expanses of the interior, nearly two-thirds of its population live on or near the coast, and over half live in cities. In Rio and São Paulo, Brazil has two of the world’s great metropolises, and nine other cities have over a million inhabitants. Yet Brazil still thinks of itself as a frontier country, and certainly the deeper into the interior you go, the thinner the population becomes.

Brazilians can be taken as a race apart in comparison with other latin american countries, and language has a lot to do with it – Brazilians understand Spanish, just about, but Spanish-speakers won’t understand Portuguese. Brazilians also look different and are one of the most ethnically diverse peoples in the world.

Brazil is a land of profound economic contradictions, and despite of being one of the world’s ten largest economies and among the most developed of Third World countries, the social abyss between the richer and the poorer can be seen easily in the vast majority of Brazilian cities, dotted with favelas, shantytowns which crowd around the skyscrapers. There are broad regional differerences, and the level of economic development tends to fall the further north you go.

These difficulties, however, do not masks joy of living of Brazilians. It’s fair to say that nowhere in the world do people know how to enjoy themselves more – most famously in Carnaval, but reflected, too, in the nightlife that you’ll find in any decent-sized town. This national and cultural hedonism also manifests itself in Brazil’s highly developed beach culture; the country’s superb music and dancing; rich regional cuisines; and in the most relaxed and tolerant attitude to sexuality – gay and straight – that you’ll find anywhere in South America, which turns out in genuine friendliness and humour in the people that is enormously welcoming and infectious.

The Trance Scene

After a growing and development period that has been happening during the past 6 years the Trance scene in Brazil is nowadays still under a confirmation and mutation process, which includes issues and questions such as “how long all this will survive for?”. Despite all nice and professional events and artists that popped during 2002 and 2003, main crowd’s attention may now be focused on typical party-life rather than on trance culture as we know it, which is good enough providing Brazilians are continuous (and perhaps hardcore) party-animals. Some Brazilian artists are today able to make a living exclusively from Trance - which is very nice - however that is very restricted to some DJs and live acts of pumping dancefloor music, being a tough life for chill-out and progressive-style artists to have regular earnings.

Up until circa 1997 the Trance scene in Brazil was quite mixed-up with other electronic genres, as it used to happen during the first generation of open-air parties at the rave scene in early 90’s in greater Sao Paulo city. The first “goa trance party” that possibly happened could have been in 1994 in the surrounding area of São Paulo and was called “Nataraja”, with music coming out from cassette-tapes and gathering not much more than a hundred people. By that time you could also catch some free-parties if you was by any chance around Trancoso, in the south shore of the state of Bahia, which with its peculiar attribute to attract visitants from all over the globe attracted also the culture and life-style those tourists were bringing within from places like Goa and Ibiza.

Undoubtfully, one could not mention the development of trance in Brazil without mentioning two main groups: XXXperience and Daime Tribe. The later is now making parties randomly, usually full-moon style or in special occasions, and were responsible together with Good Mood - Portugal for Ypy Poty festival in January 2002, which was certainly something to remember. XXXperience is a more professional group which have done over 60 parties since 1997 and is established as one of the most successful rave-groups in Brazil, dedicated to large parties that happens all over Brazil while Daime Tribe was always very focused on smaller, freak-style events. Other important party groups worth to be mentioned are Tribe/Solaris, Orion and Freakadelic (State of Sao Paulo), Tranceformation, Universo Paralello and Solar Flares (State of Goias).

There are a lot of new DJs and artists coming into the scene – some of them very talented, but others (the majority) just copying others and playing easy-banging music that may please the crowd however with no personal touch at all. In such an enormous, fresh and ever-growing environment DJs worth to mention are those who have been playing around the globe and are somehow established as ambassadors of the Brazilian scene, such as Rica Amaral, Feio, Gabe aka Wrecked Machines, Mack, Swarup, Djane Tati and Marcello V.O.R. Killer live acts are making their part, and people such as Influx, Kompset, Vibra, Skulptor and of course Wrecked Machines are certainly to appear (or already are) in future line ups in parties and releases elsewhere. As far as deco is concerned, Tripodelic group by Chimas and Thomas is being doing decoration professionally for many years.

Rio Report

Rio de Janeiro is not called “a cidade maravilhosa / the marvelous city” for nothing. This is absolutely one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Here you’ll find many wonderful beaches, bars and clubs that stay open till the late hours of the morning , lots of beautiful people drinking and socializing in the streets, several wonderful botanic parks/gardens and the world’s largest forest inside a city, the floresta da tijuca.This is a perfect spot for a trance scene to thrive.

The psy trance parties started in 99 but they were very small indoor parties mostly. Local veteran DJ Fluorenzo was the main person involved with these parties, holding events regularly at a steady pace. By 2001 the scene had grown immensely. There were outdoor parties with international acts every weekend .They were held mostly in “sitios”, farms which you can rent to hold events, but also in forests like the floresta da tijuca. There were also weekly trance nights in several clubs such as the bunker and mess/cube.
Once the parties started becoming more commercial, other party crews arose and started holding more private gatherings. The focus of these parties are to bring together the real ”galera”, party people, from the scene and avoid the alarming presence of pill-popping muscleheads of the big commercial parties.
Due to the ever-increasing popularity of the trance scene, the media started to develop a strong interest in the local ”rave” movement. Sadly, most reporters chose to focus on the drug use/abuse aspect of these “crazy” gatherings. This, of course, eventually led to the police finding out about the ongoings of the “raves” and commit to fight this terrible drug menace. Soon enough, there were several police raids at the outdoor parties. Many arrests continue being made so the number of outdoor parties,especially big ones with international talent, has decreased considerably.
However, there are still many big and small indoor events, some smaller outdoor parties, and free full moon gatherings on the Ipanema beach. Also, the local talent is increasing with more and more djs and producers. I believe the scene will continue to flourish and reach a “higher” point in the future.

Bunker rua raul pompeia 94 copacabana

Innova eventos / Omega hold large indoor events with psy trance and hip hop, a winning combination nowadays in brazil.
The last one I attended was very good for a commercial party and featured DJ shane gobi(alchemy rec/u.k)as the main talent. The hip hop area was frightening.
Newronio / Psyecologic are a unique crew that do many things in the local scene. They are a circus troupe of “malabares”, jugglers, firedancers, etc, who organize bus trips to big trance festivals and hold nice small gatherings for the “galera”. They even supply the decorations for some parties.
Entre amigos is a new crew that throw really good progressive psy trance events. These strictly private parties always have a great vibe and great local talent. You have to find out about their parties either by word of mouth or, better yet, thru their nice website.
Other party crews include rave ohm, which threw most of the parties from 99 till 2002, trip 2 trance, utopia,carpe diem, domus, pacha mama, vagalume, psycodelium, gaia, and lua solidaria / signo music, which has released a compilation featuring local producers entitled “lua solidaria”.
The e-brigade is an organization founded by a group of professionals from various fields such as biology, marketing and journalism / media on a mission of environmental consciousness. They hope that thru their efforts, more questions will be raised concerning education of the environment and that we may become aware of our responsibilities to mother nature such as recycling at the events.Their slogan “save your way of life” is directed to the party people because nature is part of the very essence of the trance movement. The e-brigade has been present at most of the big trance festivals such as celebra brazil, trancendence, earthdance, solaris,etc….

There are no trance shops in rio. There are only a few places to buy raver clothes such as the TRIBE shop in the neighborhood of “baixo gavea” inside the “shopping da gavea”, the gavea shopping mall.
There are also 2 locations of the U2 shop which carries mostly raver / club clothes…one is in the“rio sul” shopping mall in botafogo and the other is in the barra shopping mall in the “barra da tijuca” suburb.
In Copacabana/arpoador, you can find the new shop, Vibe (rua Francisco otaviano 67 lj 2,arpoador), which carries the same line of merchandise as the above mentioned shops.vibe is located inside
the “galeria river”.
From time to time there are alternative clothing markets such as the “Mercado mundo mix” and the “babilonia feira hype” which also include food, bands, performers and djs.
If you want to buy some hippie clothes and neat souvenirs from brazil, you can go to the “hippie market” held every Sunday in the “praca general Osorio”, a park in the neighborhood of ipanema.
Local artists include flow & zeo, a dj couple that play nice progressive/psy sets and started the entre amigos crew. They also produce under the name Avalon mist. They play very smoothly and definitely get my vote for “the cutest dj couple“. DJ Fluorenzo started the rave ohm parties, plays full on hits and has a project with guitarists called guitars on @cid. Kagdila records(usa) are going to release their debut cd. Bruno braga is another veteran dj in the scene who also produces full on. His project is called com.pulsive. Mpa, musica para alienigenas / music for aliens. Is a goa/psy trance band who perform live with synthesizers and samplers. They have played in several of the big trance festivals of brazil amazing audiences with their energetic truly live performances. You can download their video in their website. Another trance band is delirio. They usually perform by playing percussion,guitars,and ethnic instruments during a dj set. Both bruno braga and fluorenzo have performed with them. Matera has been dj’ng since the beginning of the scene. He plays progressive psy trance and has a project called radioactive. He is supported by zma records(Greece). Matera often performs dark tunes with excellent mixing skills. Lennox has not played psy trance for a long time but has quickly become a crowd favorite.He combines both full on and progressive tunes in his sets.His trance project with local dj, el souto, is called glocal. Dj sono has been an active member of the scene for a long time .He is also producing tracks of his own, mostly in the full on styles. He currently hosts a weekly trance night at the famous bunker club every Thursday. I, DJ zhyin, have been djn’g in parties here as well as in the United States,where I lived, for several years.
Local dj, bruno echoes, and I have a dark progressive psy trance project called minimal criminal. Our live pa should be ready in the early part of 2004.

Dj shamamix started the pacha mama crew and has a more shamanic/spiritual approach to his parties and full on dj sets. He is affiliated with afrogalactic records from South Africa. Other talent includes dj Penelope, vimanah prana(trip 2 trance), docthor4, fifa, vania, victor leti, v-storm and several others.
Deco artists: the local kings of deco are from the pacha mama crew. British born, koyna, has been decorating most of the parties since the beginning with his stylish South American tribal uv banners. Dudu has also supplied his creative 3 d objects and geometrical banners.they make wicked t-shirts as well. Newronio and vagalume also do deco.

Quick history of Rio de Janeiro

Portuguese navigators arrived in guanabara bay on january 1st, 1502, and mistook it the mouth of a river so they called it Rio de Janeiro. The land was very rich so the French were also interested in claiming Rio de Janeiro. For years they fought each other and the local natives until eventually the Portuguese took control. They prospered from sugar cane and brazilwood. Once a road was built to provide Rio de Janeiro with gold and diamonds from Minas Gerais, the city’s economy and population grew immensely. When napoleon invaded portugual in 1808, the royal family and court settled in Rio. Over the years, sereval changes took place that made Brazil an independent nation and Rio, it’s capital. By 1891, Rio had a population of 500,000 and became one of the largest cities in the world.
The golden age of Rio was from the 1920s to the 1950s. In 1960 the captital was moved to the city of Brasilia and eventually Rio started to suffer tremendously for it’s problems with poverty, pollution, crime, violence and corruption.
Despite all the problems this great city still faces today, Rio continues to attract a wide variety of tourists for it’s vast beauty, culture, activities, and
the famous Carnaval that occurs at the end of February / Early march every year.

Doc Sonic informs

Although it is not a crime to be on drugs effects (providing you are not driving) so that no one would make drug tests on you or your wallet contents like some places in Europe or USA, drugs in Brazil are illegal and its possession or sale can represent large fines or imprisonment penalties varying from 4 to 12 years. Even small amounts can represent some trouble. Despite of obvious Police corrupt reputation it is not wise to take a chance counting on that, specially in typical tourist places where stories of drug planting have also been reported. Cannabis, cocaine, LSD, amphetamines and designer drugs are produced in Brazil, in Rio an estimated 10000 people earn their money with drugs. Emergency contact: FEBRACT Rua Pres. Wenceslau 199 JD. Flamboyant, CXP 1654, CEP 130 930 10, Campinas

Links

• www.chaishop.com.br (mainly articles and reviews)
• www.zuvuya.net (alternative culture and travel)
• www.baladaplanet.com.br (good party schedule and discussion board)
• www.psyte.com.br (good articles and discussion board)
• www.bunker94.com.br (Rio Club)
• www.ecotrance.net
• www.trancentreamigos. mus.br
• www.luasolidaria.com.br
• www.psycodelium.net
• www.vagalume.org
• www.e-brigade.org
• www.spacedelic.com.br

Contacts

• Carbon23@chaishop.com
• rogerio@chaishop.com
• djzhyin@yahoo.com (Rio)
• trancentreamigos@ yahoo.com.br
• fluorenzo@ig.com.br
• shamamix@yahoo.com.br
• matera26@hotmail.com
• djbrunobraga@yahoo.com
• djsono@ecotrance.com
• echoes@inmail.sk

Text (main)

Bruno Camargo aka Carbon23
carbon23@chaishop.com
DJ since 1988, producer, occasional writer and frequent party-animal. Also a
business lawyer, churrasco-master and cooks a wonderful tomato sauce (so he says).
Groove is in the heart

Text (Rio)

Valerio Zhyin
djzhyin@yahoo.com
Singer / Studio Drummer of black metal band „ANCIENT“. DJ. Act „MINIMAL CRIMINAL“ with Bruno Echoes
There's no light without darkness...

Trance parties should certainly not be the only places to go to in Rio. There are numerous places to check out. The beaches are located in the zonal sul/south side and in the barra da tijuca,the suburb of the city.
The beach in Copacabana is very crowded and full of tourists. The best one to visit is the beach of Ipanema.
The “alternative” crowd usually gather at the posto 9 which faces the rua farme de amoedo. This is where you’ll find the free full moon parties. If you’re looking for a more secluded beach, not very far from the city is the beach of Grumari.

For the most breathtaking view of the city, visit the Pao de Acucar / Sugar loaf. Here you get inside a cable car that lifts you 396mt(1300 ft) above Rio and the baia de Guanabara.
The corcovado is the spot on top of the mountain with the big jesus, cristo redentor, overlooking the city.Here you hop onto a little train which takes you up the mountain. It’s a fun ride. Naturally the view up there is miraculous, to say the least.
Another amazing attraction are the botanic gardens and forests. The most impressive is the floresta da tijuca.You can easily escape the madness of the city and immerse yourself in the natural splendor of this tropical forest inside the city. You’ll see many animals here like cute little monkeys and cool iguanas. In the Alto da boa vista/good view peak, you’ll find several waterfalls.

Two other cool parks are the jardim botanico / botanic garden and the parque lage. They are both close to each other. The jardim botanico is super beautiful with amazing trees,green houses, museums, a cave, the exquisite “vitoria regia water lillies, and lots and lots of greenery. In the parque lage you’ll find an awesome cave,lots of jungle, as well as a theatre / art gallery.

Rio also has several other attractions. If you like soccer and want to have a mind-blowing experience, try to catch a good match at the maracana stadium.If you enjoy art galleries and museums check out the museo nacional, museu nacional de belas artes, and the ccbb(centro cultural do banco do brasil), the best cultural center in the country. Rio also has a nice zoo / jardim zoologico with the largest variety of birds and monkeys you’ll ever see.

I would also recommend spending some time in the lapa neighborhood. There you will find the malabares/circus people, reggae lovers, artists, painters, and other bohemian types.