From now until 16 March Groove will be featuring one of the artists coming to WOMAD 2018. Today it's Bixiga 70
Even if the São Paulo bairro of Bixiga was almost entirely colonized by Italian migrants more than one hundred years ago, today that influence is clear only when reading the surnames of its inhabitants and eating out in one of its delightful restaurants. Culturally, it is indeed another pair of shoes, because the central borough of the Brazilian city is dotted with venues, cultural centres and shops able to give life to one of the most exciting and diverse artistic panoramas in Brazil.
Bixiga, as the name suggests, is also the inspiration for a project born five years ago called Bixiga 70, which has rapidly become an embodiment of the musical dynamism of the area. Earlier this year, the band, which added a distinctive 70 to its name recalling the outstanding band of Fela Kuti, Africa 70, but also the house number where they used to live, has released its third LP and demonstrated that the link between Brazil and West Africa is possibly even stronger than the one with Europe.
In truth, the 10-piece collective represents the most African-oriented aspects of the paulista music scene, drawing from afrobeat, funk and jazz, Afro-Brazilian spiritual imaginary, but also from their own country’s and South America’s traditional repertoires, reviving styles like carimbó, candomblé, samba, salsa, cumbia, etc.
For more information go to https://bixiga-70.bandcamp.com/ or www.womad.co.nz
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