On Friday night the gF Hangout crew took to the luxurious Gansevoort Street club, Subrosa, for a subterranean samba party with Rio’s hottest choro and samba band, Casuarina. In 2016, Casuarina will co-headline globalFEST’s first tour, ‘Creole Carnival’, so we were happy to gather our friends for a taste of the vibrant music headed to the 35 cities across America. Cozily tucked into the clubs lush tables, those of us who wanted a 360 degree experience ordered caipirinhas (Brazil’s national cocktail) as we mingled and met our new friends. When Paula Abreu, our resident Brazilian music expert and Programming Manager at SummerStage, and the charming members of the band arrived, we squeezed in close to hear the story of how the band came together 12 years ago. When the background music proved too loud to talk over, the artists split up to talk to different tables in an intimate setting. Our guests learned first-hand from the band about the origins of samba, its roots in Angola and the Congo, and the connection to the predecessor of samba, semba.
Paula Abreu with Casuarina
After our chat the band took the stage and began playing for a packed house, largely filled by people who seemed to know the complex samba footwork. The instrumentation of the quintet was quite familiar but a few instruments you might want to check out further are the tan-tan, a single-headed cylindrical drum and the cavaquinho, a small 4-stringed ukulele-like instrument.
Casuarina played two more sets to a packed house at Subrosa the following night and even featured special guests Baby Do Brasil (see video below). After hearing their celebratory sound and virtuosic skill, it’s no surprise that they are at the forefront of the samba renaissance in Brazil and we can’t wait to have them back here in NYC. Stay tuned for news on the New York City ‘Creole Carnival’ tour date ing early 2016, and be sure to join us for gF Hangout #4 in September, details forthcoming.
We’d like to give a special thanks to Jeff Mann, the Director of Marketing for Subrosa, for his generosity in hosting our group at Subrosa.
Casuarina is composed of Daniel Montes (seven string guitar and arrangements), Gabriel Azevedo (tambourine and lead vocalist), João Cavalcanti (tan-tan and lead vocalist), João Fernando (mandolin, backing vocalist and arrangements) and Rafael Freire (cavaquinho and backing vocal).