The Street Parties And Music Of The Favelas Of Rio De Janeiro

Introduction The street parties and music of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, called baile funk, are a topic that has been studied by relatively few scholars. Perhaps it is due to the violent nature of the parties, as one person familiar with the realities of favelas states â€Å"[Do researchers] have any idea what a real favela is like? 14 year-old kids with AR-15s, AK-47s, and MAC-11s all around?† (Robinson, 2004, p. 1). Furthermore, it is difficult to gain an honest account of the cultural significance from the point of view of people who have not grown up in the favelas and build their impressions of the favelas through the lens of the media. Yet, the moral panic as a result of the negative perception of bailes funk from outsiders is a†¦show more content†¦Gangs dictate and control the operation of more than six hundred identifiable favelas as they battle for power, resulting in more than fifty homicides per week. The police believe they are fighting in a civil w ar of resiliency, killing nearly nine hundred people living in favelas per year. Despite the moral panic of outside citizens, one in five people living in Rio de Janeiro identify themselves as â€Å"favelados†, leading them to fight for what they consider to be normal life within the favelas (Favela on Blast, 2008). A subculture has emerged in the favelas since the early 1980s, shaped by street parties called bailes funk, literally defined as â€Å"funk balls†. The bailes funk are the heart of the favelas – consisting of street parties driven by a musical genre of dance and hip hop, which was developed in the favelas and influenced by Miami bass and African-style music, called funk carioca (Favela on Blast, 2008). The music makes frequent use of samples and looped tracks, often resulting in unoriginal content with minimal production. The music is identifiable as loud, sexual, shockingly vulgar, and focuses on subjects such as romance, sex, violence, humor, and social aspects of the favelas (Sneed, 2008). Brazilian funk does not sound similar to funk genres typical of other countries from around the world. With the emergence of funk carioca, a new subculture was born. Funk proibidà £o, meaning â€Å"prohibited funk†, is the result of authorities trying to hide