The concert on Saturday night was a gift from Stefano Bottoni to the students of the ICBIE and the Ribeira community.  Fred Menendez and his band brilliantly accompanied Stefano’s performance, even though they had never played together before.  Their show was yet another fine example of the ICBIE’s outreach, merging foreign artists with the local…

During the last weekend of August, two major events (announced in the previous post) kept everyone very busy.  The two-day workshops of the Fundaçao Cultural do Estado da Bahia (FUNCEB) were serious affairs, dealing with the complex procedures that must be followed, in order to create and realize cultural projects.  Using both the big front…

Visita all’Accademia di Mestre Pedro Pe´ de Ferro Ass. Filhos do Sol Nascente (English translation below) Nel problemático quartiere Uruguay della Città Bassa di Salvador sorge un’isola felice. Vi si insegna rispetto per il prossimo, onestà e disciplina sportiva ed artistica. Ormai consolidati amici dell’ICBIE Mestre Pedro, i suoi figli e tutti i membri dell’Associazione…

The ever-growing ICBIE network is producing news that comes from many different places, and there’s never a dull moment. The operation in Salvador and the people in Rome are constantly cooking up new initiatives, and then there are other developments spattered across the globe: it’s clear evidence of a remarkable rush of vitality. The first…

As promised, the new video of last Friday’s capoeira exhibition is up on YouTube.  Nearly nine minutes long, it’s packed with amazing stunts from Mestre Pedro’s crew.  If you watch it to the end, you get the rare treat of seeing Pietro and Marlene dance the samba!  As before, there is a direct link in…