Virtual Live Concert Series: DJ Tahira (Brazil)
The Momentary is bringing artists LIVE into your home with our new Virtual Live Concert Series! Join the Momentary and the community every other weekend to enjoy dance parties to acoustic sessions by local, regional, and international artists—performing live from their homes. This Saturday, May 16, beaming in live from São Paulo, give it up for DJ Tahira!
We recorded DJ Tahira’s amazing set. Watch it on YouTube.
About DJ Tahira (Brazil)
DJ, producer, and music lover Tahira is one of São Paulo’s hardest working and highly esteemed DJs and music collectors. Whereas most diggers of Brazilian music tend to gravitate toward regional takes on American funk and soul, Tahira squares in on the country’s rich musical lineage as part of the greater African diaspora, with a pronounced emphasis on African rhythms. Tahira connects the dots between the country’s rich musical history, carving out an alternate trajectory for black Brazilian culture that values afro-futurism over copycat funk/soul aesthetics.
DJ Tahira has already performed DJ sets in several venues all over the world such as Glastonbury, Montreux Jazz Festival, Boiler Room, Phusion, Sonar (Brazilian Edition), Lot Radio, Worldwide FM, and others. His compilation Levanta Poeira was chosen as one of the best reissues from 2018 according to NPR “This transfixing compilation by São Paulo-based DJ Tahira showcases ancient identifying traits from (among others) the spirit center of Bahia and the verdant Northeast — and then shows how modern artists are recontextualizing them”.
DJ Tahira’s music and remixes are hugely influenced by Brazil, Africa, and Latin sounds, and have been released by several labels as Far Out (London), Wonderwheel (New York), Wah Wah 45s (London), Names You Can Trust (New York), Tiff’s Joint (London), Jazz & Milk (Cologne), Hot Casa (Paris), and Mucho Ahora Recs (Auckland). His music has received support from important players all over the world such as Francois K, Gilles Peterson, Laurent Garnier, Mr Scruff, Nickodemus, Nightmare On Wax, and others.
Artist Links
About the show (from DJ Tahira)
When I DJ abroad, I focused on the African and Indigenous influences in Brazilian music. If you don’t know the African and indigenous influences in Brazilian culture, you don’t know the real Brazil. These influences are everywhere: food, language, clothes, painting, home decoration, children tales, and of course…music!
But every time Brazilian music is mentioned in Europe or America the sounds have a heavy American influence. Why?
Brazilian regional music is amazing, beautiful, and diverse. Each state has his own styles and traditions. We have so many different styles of music to promote internationally: Coco, Maracatu, Ijexa, Ciranda, and Carimbo are just some of them.
Much of this music has survived through word of mouth via small performances all over the country without official recordings. Very few labels were interested in recording them. But even without label support, it’s alive more than ever. In the last few years, Brazilians have started to look to their roots and have found this big universe. A new generation is paying attention and some new artists are getting inspired by ancient sounds, recreating them in contemporary sounds.
Some non-profit cultural organizations are recording old masters from this musical art. People who are 70 or 80 years old who have been playing and singing these styles their whole lives and who never recorded an album have been performing in celebrations for decades to keep this music alive. For myself and those who live in our modern world, this is pure love and dedication to music.
So, this is what I want to show. The diversity. The old. And the new.
It’s time for Brazil to be BRASIL!
I’m not a specialist on this, but I’m one of the first DJs to research, spin, and produce these sounds in the DJ culture scene. I’m just one more person helping an incredible culture to be promoted.
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