At last, 2011 has started!

Here in Rio (and all around Brazil, I guess), people say that the year only really starts once carnival is over - and even though I hate to admit it's true, my posting absence here in my blog won't let me lie!

Anyways, I'm 100% back now, with tones of new projects and things to tell.
And just so you know, I've been away from blogging about Serbia and the Balkans for a couple of months, yes, but during this time I worked hard to keep the Balkans as close as possible to me.
Ladies and gents, I present you the Balkan Carnival Evening promoted by me and my work-partner, Sol Provvidente, with a band also produced by the two of us: the Go East Orkestar":

Enjoy, and till soon! ;)

Belgrade live street cams!

For those of you either curious or nostalgic about Belgrade, here are 4 live street cams placed on different locations of the "White City" - and 3 of them you can even control up and down, left and right and zoom in and out. Check out!

http://camera.beograd.com/
This camera is placed on Terazije, facing towards hotel Moskva. this one is "fixed", you can't control it. I believe that in a clear day you can even spot Hram Svetog Save at the far background :)

Now, the controlable cams!

http://www.informatika.com/webkamera/trg-nikole-pasica.htm
Trg Nikole Pašića: if you move this cam to the right you'll see the ice skating rink, which is always illuminated by colorful lights at night :)

http://www.informatika.com/webkamera/novi-beograd.htm
Novi Beograd: this cam shows a beautiful view of the new part of the city, specially at night, when the buildings are all lit up

http://www.informatika.com/webkamera/ada-ciganlija.htm
Ada Ciganlija: this cam is cooler during daytime and specially during summer, when the river island and its beaches are crowded with people.

Enjoy! :)

Happy new year!

Just passing by quickly to wish you all a happy New Year!
May 2011 be a year with more arrivals, less departures and no farewells :)

Marakana, bre!

On July 29th, after the craziest night ever at the Blek Panters and Kafanica (promisse I'll translate the post into english real soon!), we woke up around 3pm. We had until 5pm to take a shower, have something to eat and get dressed up (in red shirts!) for one reeeeally cool occasion: Neven and his friend, Djordje, arranged to take us to a football match at Crvena Zvezda's stadium, known as "Marakana"!

Unfortunatly, Crvena Zvezda didn't win Slovan Bratislava but we had a lot of fun nevertheless, after all it was my first time ever watching a match in a stadium - and the coolest thing: from the VIP area ;)

And here's a short video Sol recorded with her cam:

Travelling without moving

Slightly new look here on the blog for a new trip do Serbia real soon - I can't barely wait!

Me plus 4 or 5 friends should be arriving in Serbia on the first days july and staying almost til the end of august - it's gonna be epical! 4 out of those 6 friends had never been to Serbia before, and 3 of them had never been to the Balkans. I'm counting the days! :)

While boarding time won't come, I keep carrying some projects here to bring me closer to the Balkans in some way. The latest of these projects - with my super partner in production and DJing, Sol - is GO EAST ORKESTAR: a reunion of great musicians from Rio de Janeiro interested in playing music from all over the Balkans. The band is gonna be resident at GO EAST, the balkan music party me and Sol produce together here in Brazil, for over two years now.

So far we had two rehearsals, and I can't barely wait for the 3rd!
I leave you here with 3 videos of GO EAST ORKESTAR's first 2 rehearsals:

What's the time? Kolo time! II

I guess by now everyone who reads this blog is already aware of my huuuge passion for kolo and folk dances, in general. Made a post a while ago on the basics of kolo, and a couple of videos to illustrate the post and all (you can scroll this page down for the previous post on kolo or click here)

Anyways, as people here seemed interested in kolo, here's a some videos for you guys (bear in mind we made these videos for fun only :)

This is from a couple of years ago... I had just learned how to dance it and was trying to "teach" it to a friend :)


This one is waaaay more recent: me and Chica having some fun with Čačak :D


And at last but not least, this is me and Chica again, memorising a Vlaške igre routine for a presentation:


Hehe, enjoy! :D

A quick hello...

Big plans, news pretty soon.

My return to moj dragi Beorgad had to be postponed a few months, but's gonna happen, of course. Tours, car trips, parties and so on... Lots to come!


In the meantime, I keep drinking my špricer, having my burek (brought from a bulgarian shop in São Paulo, since we don't have it in Rio) and, of course, partying big time - Balkan style, of course!

Ladies and Gents: the party I produce in Rio on Brazilian television, with english subtitles!

What's the time? Kolo time! I

Anyone who have been to Serbia and surroundings have for sure heard about "kolo". Kolo is for Serbia as samba is for Brazil: kolo is the quintessencial serbian dance, is the thing that each serbian citizen is supposed to know how to dance from the day he/she was born - even though (like samba in Brazil) this is not always necessarily true (I am brazilian and I have no clue on how to dance samba).

Kola (serbian plural for kolo) can be very slow and easy, or fast and freaky, depending from the rigion they come from, as kolo can be found all over Serbia and neighbouring countries. The music is usually played by accordions, frula (a serbian flute), violins, percussion and, several times, by brass instruments like trumpets (those played by as many different instruments as possible are the coolest although, in my opinion, accodions are a must when it comes to kolo).

Kolo dance is usually danced in circles - hence the name (kolo means "wheel", "circle" in serbian) - or lines, by two people to several dozens, holding each other's hands while doing the basic steps (always starting to the right):



two steps to the right
one to the left
another one to the right

two steps to the left
one to the right
another one to the left

Discribing it like this might makes kolo sounds rather boring, but it isn't: once you get used to the rithym and the basic steps, kolo becomes rather addictive. I always catch myself moving my feet when I'm sitting on a bus, or waiting on a queue :)



Although the basic steps are rather simple, due to it's many variations from town to town kolo can be added of many ornamental elements and some crazy syncopated steps. Some of the most famous kolo types are Užičko (from the Užice region), Moravac and Čačak (these two from regions with the same name) among many, many others. click on the word links to see videos
In Serbia, kolo is all around: musicians on the streets always play it, people dance to it on kafanas (Serbian bars), clubs, parties and so on. It's kinda magical, cause it's a dance that makes people that never met before get together and dance, hand in hand. I'll never forget when me and my brazilian friends danced kolo for the first time on a kafana or when me and my belgian friend, Valerie, stopped in front of a roma brass band on Knez Mihailova (Belgrade's most famous street) and danced together with some gypsy kids that were around, attracting a crowd of several dozen people that stopped to watch us - an unforgettable moment :)
Kolo is the dance that best expresses the "spirit" of Serbia and it's warm, welcoming and well humoured people. That's probably why I love kolo as much as I do.

My plane arriving in Belgrade

The best feeling ever: landing in Belgrade :)

"Balkan dinner", at Nara's

Sunday, 11/05/2008

Good food and drink: gibanica, ćevapi, šopska salata, ljutenica, wine, rakija, vodka and some bizarre home-made drinks...

Plus fantastic people: Nara, Lucio, Rodrigo, Solica, Bruno, Marina, Chica and Emilia...

Plus irresistable tunes.

It's priceless to have great people around :)))))

Happy belated birthday to my dear Solica and Kostovinski :)

Like in a Discovery Channel documentary

Nara improvising, as we took Rodrigo and Fécu to their first walk around Beograd



(english translation)

"You can watch a rare kind of wild wolf from the stepes. It's name is Cannis Nefridius. Very dangerous when hungry and when the weather changes. During summer, they atrophy and make cocoons on the top of the trees. A very wild species, as you can see... Very unfriendly... With a tendency to intense sex activity. (Opa!)
They like to rub their arses in the snow in order to obtain a certain hygienization, as one of the most frequent causes of death among this species is the bacterium Nefridius Cannis Arsis, that attacks the entire digestive system, leading them to death by dehidratation.

The x-treme sport most practised in this country, Slow Street, is very popular amongs the city's drunks.

Right ahead, behind the red fence, you can see the biggest alcoholics-anonymous centre in the world. And the Barbie house is on your right.
(Why did I put so many clothes, fucking shit...)"

Intermission III (Animated!)

Fequinho and I in Kalemegdan