OJ MAG~ UVING & BREATHING DANCE MUSl( 1 OJMAG.COM
INSIDE: HOW (AR CULTU RE FUELLEO ELECTRONIC MUSIC / THE CRIMINALISATION OF BAILE FUNK / CAN "PLAGUE RAVES" EVER BE ETHICAL? / ANNIE NIGHTINGALE ON 50 YEARS AT RADIO 1 / AT HOME WITH THE UNABOMBERS / PIONEER OJ 'S NEW CDJ-3000 . • . 1, \ The criminalisation of baile funk Baile funk is a phenomena of Bladt Braziliin music. But despite i huge finbise i nd cultural influente, funk is often criminalised in Bruil because of its origins in the favelas, or slums, of Rio de Janeiro. ln this historicaloverview we explore baile funk to find out why it's so celebr;ated - and criminalised Wcla: IAlffAELTSA~
by the police. (The police ctaim they country that has been ro bbed ever since Sam~a ~u1lt ~round itself 3 certain were chasing armed drug traffickers, but it was discovered. Th e more miserable asso~ation wi.th mischievousness. t here is little evidence to support this the favela , the more violent it is. The exp_lams Gabnel B~rges, a PhO st~de currently.) more urbanised the favela - with more of h:erature, focusmg on Brazilian nt 1t was another chapter in the long assistance, better schooling - the less mus1~ at the Federal University of Ri process of criminalising funk music in violent it becomes, because people have Janeiro._ He say: that being found o:de Brazit. Despite achieving worldwide perspective in life. And funk helps to street w,th a gu1tar was reason the enough success with singers like Anitta and Lud.mill~ , funk continues to be heavily pol,ced m the fa velas of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, and its artists and producers have been constant victims of lawsuits. criminal investigations and even imprisonment.
ORIGINS Brazilian funk is an .. Afro-diasporic genre of electronic dance music born in Brazil in the late 1980s," explains Carlos Palombini. He 's a Professor of Musicology at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (U FMG ), and one ofthe genre's foremost experts . .. It combines Afro-American and Afro- Brazilian musical traditions, and belongs to the vast group of derivatives of the musical language of hip-hop, with marked references to electro, Latin freestyle and Miam i bass." Along with these styles, funk brings together a variety of other musical. vocal and da nce in fluences from Brazilian popular culture: samba, por- rock. football stadium chants, Maculelê (a Brazilian folk dance of Afro-Brazilian and indigenous origin) and capoeira (a form of martial arts, developed in Brazil by the descendants of Afr ican slaves). These styles are embodied in the figures of DJs and MCs , drawing from Jamaican soundsystem and hip-hop culture. Rafael Hermés, a music teacher at the University of São Pa ulo , explains that .. funk mixes rap with the Brazilian accent. and the melodie profile of lo ca l song genres ... finding various poetics t hat express the li fe, desires or traj ectories ofthe young, Black and peripheral population."
As a racia l and sonic melting pot with working class roots. funk has long clashed with the socia l norms of the Brazilian elites. "' It challenges the standards of understanding of musical nationahsm : Professor Pa lom bini where criminal gr ou ps cou ld exercise to be arrested, as was the practice of compete at dances to funk songs "in a a.poeira : closely linke d to both samba style similar to Samba ", he says . more control. and funk , the forrn of rnartia l arts was Fights were forbidden in the bailes, As funk was pus hed back to the fav elas, also criminalised at the time. and those invo\ved were often kicked an intense media scrutiny furthered Samba and funk have two main elernents out. But fearing that they'd lese the its criminalisation, says Professor in common. There 's social revolt and loyal crowd by continuing to doso, Palombini. "A turning point [was] sometimes even praise for crime. as a promoters realised that "the dance that the so-called arra stões of 1992," he social res ponse to exclusion, There's also was a healthy competition began to be explains, "exploited by [national TV social ele vation, a way fo r a rtists to use attended by those who wanted to fight," network] Globo Network for electora l as an attempt to in tegrate and DJ Marlboro says. purposes. " succeed. As Bo rg es explains, samba, as An arrastão is when a large group of wrll as fun k. represents "the aspirations Over time, a culture known as bailes people start carrying out robberies in ofthe Blac k popu latíon to integrate into de corredor, ar "corridor", grew. Riva l the sarne location, in a coordinated and [wider Bra zil ian ] soci ety, in tending to groups organised themsetves on either quick assautt. lhe arrastões of 1991 and Mrcome th is mar gin alisation." Antônio side ofthe club: forming corridors, aka lines of people, linking arms , until it 1992 in particular were notable because Spirito San to, a mu sici an and expert in they were the focus of intense media the history of samba , summ arises the started to be seen "as a game, almost like (martial arts-style] capoeira"; not scrutiny and derision , linking the Black rtutionsh ip between samba and funk, favela population to the robbe ries. ln Md the elites, as "resilien ce": neither dissimilar to a mosh-pit in rock music, as dancers-as-fighters would sweep October 1991, the GLOBO newspaper 1 radical rea ction, no ra complete reported on the arrastões with the integra tion . through the crowd. The cor ridors gradually became less headline "Beach rats drag fi sh and about personal fights ar gang violence, exchange shots in Ipanema", a Rio de Janeiro beach. DEVELOP1!ENT & and more a part of funk 's culture. OJ Marlboro even co nsidered talking to CR!MINALISATION Many within the funk scene argue that DJ Marlbo ro ex plains that the music was the Brazilian Olympic Committee to transform the dances into a nationally the media reporting ofthe early '9Os produced in the fa vela and that it was arrastões is part of the history of th e recognised sport. •sung on the asphalt (; term for those crimina li sation offavela residents, and who live outside the fav ela), asking for The problem , he says. was that the police be came aware of the bailes de by extension funk rnu sic. They were s>&ce .~ But th e ..... ~der succ ess offunk "manipulated by the media , sin ce there Stirted not in the streets of the favelas corredor. UNot knowing how it worked , the au tho rities ordered all the dances were no robberies, but 'corredores' {a J ttiem sel~•es. but in clu b da nces ar vio lent act that doesn't invo lve theft] ," bailes , throug hout Ri o de Janeiro. In the in the favela s, in 1995 -1 996 , to close," he expla ins. "They ru ined integration says DJ Marlboro. ci.ubs , there wa s th e 'festival de ga lera' The pres ence of young , mo stly Black (crowd fes tival) , where groups wou ld and confined [funk] on ly to the favela ,"
UJ MAGCO M 057 BAI LE FUNK
fa vela kids on the beaches wa s fra rn ed as an attempt to occupy a spa ce that the eh tes co nsi dered to be theH ow n - an · invasio n of barbariam," on '" civi lised"' aty life, says OJ Ma lboro. When these kids fought each other on the beaches. the quic k, palatable answer to the elites wa s t o biame the fd..-ela s and críminalise their culture. Throughout the 1990s, bills were presented in Rio de Janeiro seeking to investiga te funk performers and ban events. In 1999, the CPI (Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry) wa s created in Rio de J a neíro 's State Legislative Assembly to investigate funk music and cult ure. One yea r la ter, a law wa s passed that forced promoters to (among ot her eleme nts) install metal detectors a nd have milita ry police gua rd s at bailes, a nd get written permission fr om the govern ment to host ba iles. Mo st om inous, music t ha t Hpromoted crime " wa s ba n ned from bei ng played at ba ile s, criminalising performers as well as SÃO PAULO FUNK promoters. victim and perpetrator. As OJ Marlboro ~or ~any: local culture for fa vela yo "' The term 'funkeiro' became synonymous ex plains, funk is "the favela singing to 1s d_wrndlrn~ . MC Le~nardo. one of thlJth wi th 'crimina l' in t he media," says t he favela . Singing about its situation; Professor Patombini. "During the first ~arn f~nke1ros dunng the '90s, tive/ be it violence, sexuality, exclusion ... rn Rocm_ha , ;he largest fa ve la in Rio decade of the 21st century, the sarne that's where proibidão is bom. It's born legisla tive assembly in Rio de Janeiro de ~ane1ro. We us~d to have ma ny because of the prohibition of funk in [enacted] no less than five laws to options for enterta1nment near home. regulate balls," Palombini explains. clubs." he remembers. "Nowadays, we ha ' "Meanwhile, attacks by the Military information, everyone has the in: A SHOCK PROSECUT!ON Police on favela balls proliferate, and but we don't have options. When rnet. The 2019 arrest of DJ Rennan da Penha I police inquiries li ke that [inJ 2005 - was 20 years old, I knew more tha n 20 - a key funk figure and prometer of with names and photos of MC s stamped the wildly popular Baile da Gaiola - favelas. Today, with the ban on bailes on the covers ofthe tabloids." the favelas no longer know the favela~• shocked the scene. The prosecution Renato Martins, music researcher and · claimed that he acted as a "scout" for These laws flip-ftopped t hroughout the drug traffickers, warning them of police creator of the tabel Funk na Caixa 'OOs. ln late 2003, harsher elements of explains that funk in Rio de Janei~o movement inside Complexo da Penha, this law were repealed, deeming baile his home favela and the site of Baile da didn't stop being produced - but it did funk a " popular cultural activity". This enter a crisis period. uusually, a musial Gaiola, through WhatsApp messages. law was in tum revoked in 2008, with Rennan maintained his innocence - movement lasts five to eight years / he a new focus on criminalising larger particularly against the central claim expiai ns. "ln the '90s, the guys fro m raves, and then revoked again in 2009; that he'd worked with and taken money rap carne, then bands and si ngers such law 5543 deemed funk performers as from drug traffickers in arder to fund as Bonde do Tigrão [and] Tati Que bra "agents of popular culture'", and that the hosting of Baile da Gaiola - and Barraco, after the 'corridor' dances. "any type of discrimi nation or prej udice, wa s initially acquitted of the charges, Between 2005 and 2007, Rio started to whether of a social, racial, cultural but alter an appeal by the Public lose space. There were some successes, or administrative nature against the Prosecutor's Office in Rio de Janeiro, da but [only] a few- nothing that would fu nk movement or its members, is Penha was convicted and sentenced to bring artists capable of sustaining an prohibited" . six years and eight months in prison. entire movement." The result of this policy of persecution, Part of the evidence against him was by the media, police and politicians, based on videos and photographs: of ln São Paulo, the internet t ransfo rmed was that the bailes - already confined him in the company of people accused the way funk was produced and to the favelas - became more difficult consumed, anda new generation found ar convicted of drug trafficking, ar to organise, until, ultimat ely, t he Police more ways to profit from the music. "At Colonel had t he power to decide whether mourning the death of acquaintances in police operations. Rennan 's defence the beginning of the decade, YouTube ar nota baile could take place in a favela paid a Lot of money for visuali sati ons, at alt. "Fu nk tives under dictatorship," argued that to live in the favela is to be dose to violence. Growing up and living but in Rio , they still depended on Palombini taments. alo ngside criminals, and maintaining regional funk distribution through . sites ar exchange of material." M~r ti ns a cordial relationship with them, is a This phenomenon of criminalisation led explains. "The São Paulo generation survival tactic. to the emergence of a subculture (and carne with YouTube paying ª lo_t ~º~s of s ub-genre) known as "proibidão" (very views, and some videos had millio prohibited), with lyrics that praised After the Brazilian Ba r Association criticised his arrest and conviction, them.· drug traffickers and crime, further KondZilla is a production companY contributing to the marginalisation of claiming that it was an attempt to criminalise funk, anda series of appeals that makes videos and promot:s. the genre. Fu nk touches on subjects funk in Brazil. They have 57 miUion that are taboo to a conservative to the Supreme Court, in November th 2019, da Penha was re leased from prison subscribers and are among e toP e soci ety like Brazil: t a lking about sex 10 YouTube channels globally. som re after obtaining a habeas corpus from the in an oft en pornographic way, and of their self-hosted videos have mo portra yin g crime from the perspective of Supreme Court. 1
than 90 million views. GR6 , another to face a problem that made it difficult stag e and playing the sa rne son gs, they production com pany, has almost 30 to push its native music. "Those who do n't respect us , they have prej udi ce. million YouTube subscribers, and is were already consecrated [in the scene] It's hard to have hope when you live in also another heavyw eight in the São did not make space for the new, and the favela , to wake up every day to face Pau lo fun k market. "Rio de Janeiro is the new needed more resources to a stray bullet, the fa ct that people that creative, but it's very oba-oba (too much enter the market, so the new plastered you know are dying ," she says. But, like partyi ng )," says DJ Malboro. "It has no the market," he says . "The hangover DJ Marlboro says, "funk is the un ion ". professio na l structure. It doesn't think from the funk of São Paolo allowed for ahead and is n't organised . ln São Paulo , a new movement, called 150bpm: an THEFUTURE fun k [became] professional, anda new accelerated take on the sound that's Funk ha s continued to reinvent itself, business behaviour was fundamental to made Rio de Janeiro relevant in the and online platform s like KondZilla and crea ting the industry." world offunk again ." GR6 have helped to professionalise the As Sã o Paulo's funk is right on the edge scene in the last decade; launching the ofthe city, in remote suburbs, KondZilla Rennan da Penha , DJ Polyvox and success offunkeiro s such as MC Guime , has he lped to break the barrier in São DJ Jasmin Turbininha were early Kevinho and MC Gui , who have outgrow n Paulo between the eli te and the poor, figureheads for this sound. Turbininha , local audiences and found nationwide with funk gradually being played at one of the first female funk DJs, was and international success. Nowad ays, midd le class parties in the city. Butjust born and raised on the hillside favela it's not rare to see funk MC s on national asin Rio de Ja neiro , funk is criminalised of Mangueira, in Rio de Janeiro. "With TV shows . But it's hard to balance the in Sã o Paulo, wit h bailes being violently funk, many people in the community international growth and exposure of rep ressed by the police. (Baile da Dz7, have opportunities," she explains . "Funk funk artists alongside the continued the street party in the Parai só polis has taught me to think, to reach places criminalisation of where funk comes favela that fac ed the violent crackdown I never imagined . Funk is an inspiration from . For Professor Palombini , it remains in which nin e people died , is the largest for those that live in communities, to the most criticai concern facing the baile in th e city.) have opportunities, to learn ." genre today. But she's also had to battle sexism and "The criminalisation of funk is lethal São Pa ulo's funk grew initially between prejudice to maintain her career. "Being to the person in the favela , but hi s 2011 and 2014, whe n a sub-genre the first woman to play ata community culture survives [by being] sucked ar rived ca lled ostentação (ostentation) dance was very important. I went to from the periphery towards the centre - with funkeiro s parading with imported places I never thought of playing ," she [and into the cities] ," says Professor c.irs, jewellry and expensive clothing. explains. Although the threat of police Palombini . "With artists from Brazil and The style com bined with the country's viotence and criminalisation rernains, other countries adopting the so und and brea kth rough moment of accelerated the prejudice she faced often carne from promoting it, funk seems less subject to econo mic growth until "it started to inside the funk scene . stray bullets that seek their targets in geta bitfalse", says Ma rtins, when the "Playboy DJs , famous DJs, think the informal economy of the favela . But country bega n to face serious economic everything that comes from the fa vela is problems. the favela itse lf continues to fight for great," she says, "but if it's a Black guy rights and recognition ." Ma rti ns be ii eves that São Paulo began ar women from th e favela going up on
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