Whether you spend a month immersing yourself in Spanish and Portuguese or only learn enough to ask, “Where is the youth hostel?” there’s only one language you need to know when traveling to South America, and that’s the language of dance.
From the rhythm of Brazil’s samba, to the rich tradition of Chile’s national dance called the cueca, to the orchestral styling of Argentine tango, music and dancing endlessly roam the streets of these hot spots for students studying abroad.
Jarret Leong, a fourth-year English student, is currently studying in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil through the Education Abroad Program for five months. It wasn’t difficult for Leong, who’s pursuing a double-minor in music history and Portuguese and had a Brazilian radio show on UCLAradio.com, to land on Brazil as his country of choice.
“Brazilian life is very music centric … (and the) music is really diverse,” Leong said in an e-mail. “The old school bossa nova and psychedelic rock are my favorites.”
Bossa nova translates from Portuguese to “new trend.” It was college students and young musicians who popularized this style of Brazilian music, which has contributed to the jazz genre, in the late ’50s and early ’60s. Though it’s a large part of the capital’s history, Leong said Rio-born bossa nova isn’t as prevalent these days as he’d hoped.
“I barely hear it there anymore,” Leong said. “It was kind of devastating, considering that I imagined a great city of smooth bossa nova and samba.”
He described the streets to be full of the sounds of funk carioca, a style of dance music from the favelas (shanty towns) of Rio and derived from Miami bass. According to Leong, funk carioca dominates in Rio, where it originated, but a trip up the coast to Salvador and other parts of the northeast greets visitors with the sounds of forro.
“(Forro) is this accordion-accented country samba with partner dancing,” Leong said.
And the dancing doesn’t stop there. Street performers provide passersby with an outlet for just that.
“People in the street will be singing old Caetano Veloso songs, and batucada drumming groups roam the streets at night with a group of people dancing behind them,” Leong said.
Of course, the Brazilian club scene is a viable source for the expression of dance as well.
“The clubs have a high focus on local music, and I noticed a lot more live musicians,” Leong said.
On the other side of the continent, Chilean clubs supply tourists and locals alike with dancing venues. Coreen Weintraub, a fourth-year anthropology student, spent the first six months of 2009 in Santiago through the Education Abroad Program and experienced music primarily through the club scene.
She said she found that reggaeton prevailed in the clubs with Latin American artists such as Daddy Yankee commanding the playlists. Her description of the Chilean club scene could very well be that of most Hollywood clubs.
“It’s a lot of freaking and dancing, DJs, and they love ““ they love ““ neon laser lights,” Weintraub said.
What Weintraub noticed to be the biggest difference between Chile and America in terms of music was the lack of a generational gap.
“I feel in the United States, my parents and my parents’ generation listen to totally different music than I do,” Weintraub said. “In Chile, that’s just not true.”
This could be partially due to the greater popularity of cultural music. Chile’s national dance ““ the cueca (handkerchief dance) ““ is performed yearly on national holidays and often in the countryside. The dance moves are an interpretation of a rooster trying to court a hen. The man circles the woman, and both twirl handkerchiefs above their heads throughout the dance.
“It’s supposed to be a representation of flirting, and it’s very sensual,” Weintraub said.
She was able to see the dance for herself but said, for the most part, Chilean street performers didn’t differ from those in the states. It was on an excursion to Buenos Aires that she got another glimpse of what South America has to offer.
“Once a week, this pair of tango dancers would come and do a performance, and they would have live music and then give a lesson to the audience on how to dance tango,” Weintraub said.
Like Weintraub, fourth-year music student Bryce Wilson also dove into the musical streets of Buenos Aires. He and his guitar spent two weeks in the city ““ not through any travel study program but simply to study music on his own terms.
Not knowing any locals, Wilson slowly made his way into the music scene but soon discovered Argentina’s enveloping tango scene. From upscale shows put on mainly for tourists to elusive underground tango, this genre and dance still reigns through the city in its various forms. Wilson experienced a more modern variation of tango when he attended a concert by Argentinian guitarist Luis Salinas.
“He plays jazz, but it’s sort of a jazz tango fusion kind of stuff. … It’s like jazz chords with tango rhythms and vice versa,” Wilson said.
People didn’t dance to the jazz stylings of Salinas, but a club performance by Argentinian percussion group La Bomba de Tiempo proved very different.
“The crowd treated it like a dance party, … kind of like a rave atmosphere,” Wilson said. “That was cool because you don’t really see that with live bands.”
Along with attending shows, Wilson immersed himself in the capital’s blooming street scene. He spoke of a weekly street fair in the neighborhood of San Telmo that boasted street vendors and performers. But he didn’t just listen to the performers, he became one.
“I got to play with some interesting musicians,” Wilson said. “I walked up to some percussionists, … (and) when people hear guitar with drums, they stop to watch.”
Wilson’s trip to Brazil came with even more musical education. He got a good look at that music scene while at Pelourinho, a part of downtown Salvador.
“There’s music going on everywhere at all times of day,” Wilson said.
He met dancers involved with capoeira, a style of Brazilian dance and music with elements of martial arts. While contemporary capoeira is more about acrobatics, a more traditional form, called capoeira angola, puts an emphasis on reading your partner’s movements.
“(Capoeira angola is about) being in contact with the other person the whole time,” Wilson said.
Wanting to join in, Wilson took a capoeira class in Salvador.
“I really enjoyed it and felt like I got the hang of it,” Wilson said.
As Wilson floated through parts of South America, the universal language of music helped him fit right in.
From the passion of Brazil to the universality of Chile to the inviting vibe of Argentina, a trip to South America means much more than a stamp in your passport.
“Music is really unavoidable here,” Leong said. “Anywhere you go, people will be dancing or singing.”