Revolutionizing · Modernizing · Simplifying
Revolutionizing · Modernizing · Simplifying
Picture the 1300 block of Pearl Street on a Friday evening. The dinner crowd is spilling out onto the mall, somebody is playing guitar for tips, and then a wall of drums hits. Twenty-plus percussionists, Rio batucada and Salvador samba reggae, right in front of the Boulder County Historic Courthouse. That is happening this weekend, and it is free.
So here is the deal. The Colorado Brazil Fest runs Thursday, August 6 through Saturday, August 8, spread across a few Boulder venues, and it is one of the leading festivals of its kind in the entire country. Not a small claim. It is put on by the Boulder Samba School, which is Colorado's leading nonprofit for Brazilian cultural arts. Most people do not realize we have a Brazilian music scene here that runs this deep. We do.
The festival opens with Brazilian Jazz Night at Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St. Suite V3A. Doors at 7, music from 7:30 to 10.
The bill is the Gabriel Santiago Project and the Elisa Garcia Quartet. Santiago is an acclaimed guitarist, and he is bringing a serious band with him. Peter Stoltzman on keyboards, Gonzalo Teppa on bass, Adriano Santos on drums. This is the kind of lineup you would normally have to drive somewhere far to catch, and it is happening off Pearl.
Look, if you only do one thing this weekend, do this one. Friday, August 7, there is a FREE Samba on the Mall show at the Historic Courthouse on the 1300 block of Pearl Street, 6 to 7 p.m. You do not need a ticket. You do not need to plan. Just be on the mall.
(Side note for anyone eyeing property up here. This is exactly the stuff that keeps Boulder's downtown worth the premium. You are paying for a walkable core where a free samba band shows up on a Friday night and the whole block stops. That is not nothing when you look at what homes near Pearl actually cost.)
Then Friday night keeps going. There is a Choro and Forró Dance Night at Junkyard Social Club, 2525 Frontier Ave. Ste A. Doors at 7:30, music 8:30 to 11. The Dexter Payne Quintet plays, and here is where you first meet Dandha da Hora, who is honestly the heart of this whole festival.
Let me tell you about her, because this is the part people miss. Dandha da Hora is a singer and dancer from Salvador, Bahia. She is a longtime member of Ilê Aiyê, the renowned Afro-Brazilian cultural group. That is real lineage. That is not a tribute act. That is someone carrying a tradition straight from Bahia into a room in Boulder.
And she is not just performing. She is teaching. She is leading a family-friendly Kids Workshop on Saturday and two Afro-Brazilian Dance Workshops on Sunday. So if you have ever wanted to actually learn this stuff instead of just watching from the side, that is your shot. Anyone can join. Bring the kids on Saturday.
The closer is the Samba, MPB, and Carnaval Show, back at Roots Music Project. Doors at 6, show 7 to 10 on Saturday, August 8.
This is the loaded one. Michele Castro headlines alongside Dandha da Hora, plus members of Ginga, Bateria Alegria, and Batalá. Castro is a vocalist and guitarist from Rio de Janeiro, and she does Samba, Bossa Nova, and MPB. Warm, gorgeous stuff.
Bateria Alegria is the Boulder Samba School's main performing ensemble. That is the 20 to 30 drummers I mentioned, led by Music Director Carl Dixon, playing Rio samba batucada and Salvador samba reggae. When they are all going at once, you feel it in your chest.
And Ginga. This is the powerhouse Brazilian band on the Front Range, and it was built right here in Boulder. Jazz, classical, and salsa musicians all in one group. I mean, that is the thing about this fest. Half of it flew in from Brazil and half of it grew up here, and by Saturday night you cannot tell which is which.
Here is how I would run it. Thursday, go sit down for the jazz if you want a mellow start. Friday, get to the mall by 6 for the free show, grab dinner on Pearl, then roll over to Junkyard for the dance night. Saturday, bring the kids to the workshop, then come back that night for the full Carnaval blowout. Sunday, take a dance class and actually learn something.
Some of it is free, some of it is ticketed, so check which shows need tickets before you go. But the anchor, the Friday Samba on the Mall, costs you nothing but showing up.
Hayley and I have watched this scene grow, and it does not slow down. Three days, real Bahia tradition, Front Range players who have been at this for years, all of it landing on Pearl the first weekend of August. Buckle up.