New York City, August 11, 2005

In May I went to Fortaleza, the state of Ceara, one of the ten States
making
up the
Noth-East of Brazil. This may be a poor area in Brazil but it is the
fastest
growing area
(see CEARA BRAZIL - POWER FUTURE 2005). When I found out that The
Cornelia
Street Cafe in New York, 29 Cornelia Street, Greenwich Village, was
having as
part of the “Festival of Festivals 2005″ a Brazilian week, I picked
today’s
event that was billed as Scott Kettner. www.corneliastreetcafe.com

Scott Kettner’s Nation Beat is a band of 6 players well versed in
“World
Music from the Northeast of Brazil and Beyond”. In effect they have
also a pure
Maracatu repertoire -
Maracatu being the dynamic rhythm from the Northeast, steeped in
African
traditions, with obvious religious overtones. This music is now
bursting on the
world scene like the samba once did. www.nationbeat.com and
www.Maracatu.com.

Catarina Racha is a Portuguese woman that mastered the various
percussion
instruments peculiar to the Noreste. She sang and performed with
triangles,
baskets, and peculiar spoons.

Eduardo Gedes was the only real Brazilian in the band - percussion and
some
voice.

Scott Kettner, the leader, is an American who lived two years in
Recife, is
married to a Brazilian from Recife, has traveled extensively in the
coastal
area of Brazil before settling down to study with a teacher in Recife.
He brought
to the program also African music of the Griot kind of West Africa, in
order
to give the feel of how the people of the Noreste got their peculiar
type of
music.

The other three performers Rob Curto on the accordion, Mike Savino,
bass, and
Raphael McGregor, guitar, are American with clear Latin Jazz
background. I
specially liked the accordionist that could not have been better - he
matched
anything I heard in Brazil.

I saw this evening how Brazil’s poor region will move in to New York
via its
ambassadors - in this case music. From my venture point I also expect
them to
win by spreading here the ideas about renewable sources of energy.