Mention Brazil and the first things to come to most people's mind are soccer, samba, Carnival and crime. But percussionist Eduardo Campos is committed to adding to the list of things for which Brazil is known.
"It's a commitment I have as a musician to popularize maracatu outside Brazil," said the 36-year-old native of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. "Samba is a trademark. Everyone knows samba like they know Brazilian soccer. I have to bring something new."
Campos has been residing at Taipei Artist Village (
"They had such enthusiasm," he said of his students. "I was surprised to find that they already knew many Brazilian rhythms. But there are some tricks, some special things you can do to improve your swing. I helped them with that."
In addition to demonstrating the finer points of more popular Brazilian rhythms, Campos introduced his students to maracatu, a lively rhythm from Brazil's northeastern region which began as a religious parade and is now played at Carnival. His efforts didn't fall on deaf ears. "I would demonstrate a very small thing and they would applaud. It was great. Not like Europe. They're so cold in Europe."
In addition to his workshops, Campos has composed four pieces in the past six weeks, one of them using local environmental sounds and Chinese words he recorded and sampled to create a melody.
"I'm very involved with electronic music," he said. "Electronic music is very open. You can mix a lot of different things. Music in Brazil is very rich rhythmically, so you can explore new sounds and ideas with it."
Among the new sounds he's explored is a fusion of Brazilian rhythms with drum-and-bass. His band in Brazil, Dudas Beat (his nickname is Dudas), brings together bongos, xylophone, drums and a DJ to create a rhythmically complex and contagious sound. It's a creative outlet that his other jobs as the percussionist for a Brazilian state orchestra and drummer for world-renown Brazilian music band, Sagrado, don't afford him.
Campos says he'll take a lot of what he's absorbed of Taiwan back to Brazil with him when he departs mid-month. He's purchased a couple of erhus which he intends to learn and, in return, is leaving a pair of caxixis and other Brazilian instruments he brought with him as a gift to the Artist Village.
But more than traditional Chinese instruments, he's absorbed something of Chinese music as well. "I would love someday to play a Chinese opera. In Western symphony, percussionists sometimes wait an hour to play one or two notes. In Chinese opera, you punctuate the performers' every move. Wonderful!"
Eduardo Campos will play tonight and tomorrow night beginning at 7pm at the Taipei Artists Village located at 7 Beiping Rd. (
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