Brazil is one of the most culturally diverse countries on the planet, so is it any wonder it keeps producing some of the coolest music in the world?
Throughout January, San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is celebrating Brazil’s cultural contributions with a four-part documentary series, A Bit of Brazilian Music on Film, which runs through Jan. 24. Tomorrow check out Beyond Ipanema, a new doc that explores how Brazilian music is experienced around the world through interviews with just about everybody in music today. Seriously, we’re talking David Byrne, Devendra Banhart, M.I.A., Os Mutantes, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Tom Ze, Seu Jorge, Thievery Corporation, Bebel Gilberto, CSS and more. Next week it’s Favela on Blast, a Museyon favorite from Leandro HBL and Wesley Pentz, the globetrotting game-changing DJ/producer better known as Diplo.
And while you’re at the YBCA, check out another side of Brazilian culture with When Lives Become Form, an exhibition of Brazilian art created since 1960, on display through Jan. 31.