The University of California-Riverside hosted scholars from Brazil and the U.S. to focus on Brazilian music and its place in Brazilian society in an upcoming conference.

The one-day conference, “Rethinking Race and Ethnicity in Brazilian Music: 1600-Present,” took place on Feb. 4 and focused on “the role of race and ethnicity in Brazilian music from colonial times to the 21st century, both classical and popular.”

Conference coordinator Rogerio Budasz, associate professor of music, said musicologists, ethnomusicologists, historians and anthropologists were invited to discuss how race and ethnicity play a crucial role in the history and development of Brazilian music, culture, society and identity. Among the presenters are Budasz and Clark, founder of the Center for Iberian and Latin American Music, which organizes the annual Encuentros/Encounters celebrations of Iberian or Latin American music and academic research.

The event also featured a showing of That Night in Rio, which features Don Ameche and Carmen Miranda. Brazilian music is a constant throughout this class complete with Miranda singing two of her standards “I, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi (I Like You Very Much),” and “Chica Chica Boom Chic.”

Where you able to attend? If so, what were your impressions of the panal and the conference?

Got Rio de Janeiro on your mind? The San Diego Reader offers up a short, but nice travel feature on Brazil.

As Carnival approaches, Rio might be on many minds and look for our own Carnival feature soon. The Reader offers some notes on some of the city’s more favored tourist spots and some hints on a few less-traveled places.

Looking for a nighttime experience? Don’t miss the neighborhood of Lapa. If the samba music spilling out of its bars were jazz, you’d be in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Too touristy, you say? OK, head on over to Trapiche Gamboa, trapichegamboa.com.br, for a refuge of the self-proclaimed “most authentic” Brazilian music. The restaurant/bar has ceilings climbing 40 feet high, but the atmosphere’s intimate with dancing and laughing the night away.

Sounds like a great night. Sometimes it’s just hard to shake Rio off your mind – so you might as well embrace it. What are your favorite memories of Rio?

Good news for fans of saxophonist Greg Fishman and singer-guitarist Paulinho Garcia – Two for Brazil may soon be a twosome again.

The Chicago Trinbue reports this week that the Chicago duo may be reuniting as Fishman returns to his hometown of Chicago.

• For those who have admired and missed Two for Brazil, with its seductively contemporary approach to Brazilian repertoire, there’s good news at hand: Fishman is moving back to Chicago, and Two for Brazil’s engagement this weekend at the Jazz Showcase will mark a reunion of artists who belong together.

• ”I wanted to come back to Chicago; I missed the city, the energy of the scene, the students,” says Fishman, who hastens to note that he and Roberts are still very much a married couple.

What are your thoughts on their reunification? To order their 2003 album Take Five, don’t forget to visit Connect Brazil.

By Sean Chaffin, Editor/Senior Writer

Last Updated: February 14, 2010; 11:18 am CT

Although Sao Paolo singer Luciana Souza fell short of a Grammy win again this year, no doubt her nomination will  add to the culmination for an extreme mix of emotions as she hits the road in support of her latest acclaimed album.

The Canadian Press notes the recent tragedies, and celebration, of Brazilian artist Luciana Souza. She is nominated for Best Jazz Vocal Album for Tide, and has dealt with the deaths of her mother and father – and the joyous the birth of her first child in the last nine months.

The Press details Souza’s successful jazz career over the last decade:

Souza has distinguished herself from her fellow jazz vocalist nominees by not relying on familiar American standards. Instead, she’s put together a distinctive repertoire on “Tide” that reflects the “gravitational pull of both Brazil and America” – mixing her native country’s rhythms with the freedom of jazz.

There are love poems by E.E. Cummings set to her original music, classic Brazilian songs such as the expatriate anthems “Adeus America” and “El Quero Um Samba” offered as a homage to bossa master Joao Gilberto, and new songs written with Klein and lyricist David Batteau.

Souza will take to the road beginning Jan. 22:

• Jan. 22 – Boston, Mass.; Sanders Theater

• Jan. 23 – Raleigh, N.C.; Reynolds Theater at Duke University

• Jan. 29 – Santa Monica, Calif.; The Borad Stage

• Jan. 30 – San Francisco, Calif.; Herbst Theater

• Feb. 8 – Richmond, Va.; Modin Center for the Arts

• Feb. 11 – Ann Arbor, Mich.; Rackman Auditorium

• Feb. 12 – Madison, Wis.; Union Theater

• Feb. 13 – Milwaukee, Wis.; Pitmann Theater

• Feb. 24 – Portland, Ore.; Portland Jazz Festival

• March 15-19 – San Francisco, Calif.; San Francisco Performances

• April 24-25 – Los Angeles, Calif.; Disney Hall

For more on Luciana Souza and to purchase her albums, visit Connect Brazil. If you catch one of her shows, let us know what you think.

By Sean Chaffin, Editor/Senior Writer

Last Updated: January 20, 2010; 9:00 pm CT

The music, the mountains, the beach … the food. According to culinary experts, Brazil is cooking up something good and one chef is hoping to introduce the world to its flavors in her book.

Leticia Moreinos Schwartz tells Reuters this week that she believes Rio’s Olympic spotlight may whet food lovers’ appetites for all flavors Brazilian.

“The classically-trained chef will share her knowledge of Brazilian dishes like croquette de carne, or meat croquettes, and moqueca de peixe, a Brazilian fish stew, in her upcoming book, The Brazilian Kitchen,” the article notes.

Moreinos is a Rio de Janeiro native who now lives in Connecticut. Her foray into the kitchen came a bit unexpected. She received a degree in economics and later worked in banking in Rio before leaving and becoming a chef.

“It’s a cuisine that comes from a very rich culture. It is a mixture of Portuguese, African and native Indian influences. We see that in the faces our people, in our music and in the food we eat,” she told Reuters. “We inherited a very sweet tooth from our Brazilian colonizer. I’m trying to maintain the authenticity and balance out the sweetness with other flavors. By introducing some of my culinary training, I can maintain the authenticity of the dishes, elevate them with different techniques, ingredients and even portion sizes.”

What are your thoughts on Brazilian cuisine? Any special favorite dishes?

Carnival will be invading Rio before you know it, and Tom Hall, travel editor for Lonely Planet, has some travel tips for those ready to partake in the party.

Hall had tips for the readers of Active You including a money-saving tip for those ready for a vacation of samba and sun:

Those lucky enough to be attending carnival in Rio De Janeiro should consider staying in one of the city’s neighboring beach resorts and traveling in for the festivities in order to save money.

The annual carnival in Brazil will begin on February 13th. According to the official Brazilian carnival website, celebrations start on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday.

Keeping checking back to Mosaic Brazil as Carnival approaches.