Bananas Magazine

A M A Z O N

B E AT An interview with Gaby Amarantos

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ANAS? LATIN America has always been known for being sexy and exciting, for having astonishing natural beauties and plenty of natural resources and for being a region with a very strong culture. On the other hand, it has always had its political issues and even though not having endured wars like Europe, Africa or the Middle East, it is still an underdeveloped and unequal continent. And that is about all that non Latin Americans know about the region.

But what do Latin Americans think? How do they live? What do they produce in terms of art, music, design, movies? What kind of ideas come from there? This is the type of question that many can’t answer and this may be the right time to change that.

The world is changing fast and roles countries play in it are reversed. While Europe and the USA struggle in a crisis with no visible solution, other countries before left in the shadows politically and economically rise in importance. Latin America, alongside with Asia, is living a very optmistic unprecedented moment. Millions are coming out of poverty, the earnings of top bankers have accelerated past those in New York or London, democracies are getting increasingly strong. This might be the best opportunity in its entire history for the region to take advantage of its potential and achieve development.

Taking into account this very particular moment, we are very proud to present to the world a monthly magazine that tells about Latin American contemporary culture for those who are not intimate with it. This magazine aims to show what’s hot in Latin America in terms of music, arts, design and cinema; the freshest movements and the main trends so that every reader can feel closer to the region and get to know, little by little, the Latin American way of thinking and living.

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Q U E E N OF TE CNOB REGA:

G A AM A B Y RA N TO S The story of the “Brazilian Beyoncé” from Belém who brought an Amazonian music revolution to Brazil and the world

By Marlon Bishop | Translation by Greg Scruggs | From MTV Iggy THE album cover for Gaby Amarantos’ major-label debut,

the future of Brazilian music, and how to do a soundystem party

Treme, tells much of the story for her. She’s standing in front of

right (hint: inflatable kiddie pool required).

a giant sound system covered in jungle foliage, and wearing a

What are you up to currently? Currently I’m playing a lot of

purple leather leotard and black-knee high boots. She’s holding a

shows. I’m preparing my next music video. We are launching a live

glow-stick leash attached to a growling black panther. And she’s

DVD in February that was recorded in the street in front of my

shooting lasers from her boobs.

house in the Jurunas neighborhood on the outskirts of Belém. This

The cover playfully makes fun of the cocktail of futurism,

time of year, I’ve been really busy with Carnival performances. I’m

tackiness and sexuality found in tecnobrega, the electronic party

already working on my new album, and doing lots of interviews, lots

sound from Brazil’s Amazonian north. But don’t be fooled by the

of promotion, lots and lots of work.

imagery: this isn’t some irony-drenched hipster project (see: Banda

Alright, first things first, for the uninitiated: what is

Uó). Gaby Amarantos is 100 percent, certifiably the “real thing”.

tecnobrega? Tecnobrega is a musical style that originated in the

She grew up in the poor outskirts of Belém. As a member of the

outskirts of Belém in the late ’90s. We had a music scene called

popular band Technoshow, Gaby has been blasting out of building-

brega [“tacky music”], and tecnobrega is a modern version of

sized speaker systems in ‘hoods all over the Amazon since the

it with electronic beats and synthesizers. The lyrics talk about

early days of the genre. Along the way, she earned the nickname

the Belém aparelhagem parties, which are a kind of mega sound

“Beyoncé of Pará,” for her trademark look: black leotard a la the

system, and these parties always have a DJ duo that plays to

“Single Ladies” video, and dyed blonde hair.

thousands of people. In 2003, tecnobrega blew up in the Amazon

So, it’s tremendously cool that she’s become the person to make the once-marginalized style blow-up massively around Brazil. Her

region. Now in 2013, it’s taking over in Brazil.

The chorus of your first single from this last album “Xirley”,

album Treme is the first major label release of tecnobrega ever,

translates to “I’m going to sample you, I’m going to rob you.”

over a decade after the music became popular in the Amazon, and

What’s that all about? “Xirley” is the first real tecnobrega music

people all over the country are going crazy for the genre. And it’s

video, which discusses this music scene and explains how we

bigger than that: through tecnobrega, Gaby is bringing Brazil into the

sample a lot of foreign music in tecnobrega, making new versions of

future, giving it a sound that is electronic and cutting-edge and pop-

international songs. The first productions were made on computers

oriented and uniquely Brazilian all at once. You’re welcome, world.

with software that we downloaded from the internet and instructions

I spoke with Gaby on the phone in Belém, where she still lives,

in English we couldn’t read. But by putting beats together we created

and she dropped extreme knowledge about the roots of tecnobrega,

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and developed a new sound, which has a bit of Amazonian music

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in it, a little flavor of indigenous drumming, mixed with brega music that speaks of

losing the essence of the music.

The essence is present in my voice, in

Many people here in Belém who disliked tecnobrega, ended up liking it because of

love, betrayal, relationships, happiness,

my way of singing, being a woman who

Treme. They disregarded tecnobrega, talked

drunkenness, and having fun. It started

still lives on the outskirts of the city in the

bad about it, but we managed to convince

as ghetto music from Belém, and now

same house on the same street in the same

audiences to give it a chance.

everybody is listening to it.

neighborhood. Even with all this fame, I live

For your major label debut, Treme, you

How is an aparelhagem (soundsystem)

in the same place, I’m always attending the

party in Belém? Is it fun? It’s really fun.

can still hear all the synths, but there’s

same parties to hear what’s new in order to

They’ve been around for decades. Before,

also an introduction of guitars and other

put it in my music. Treme is a way to translate

they played other types of music. Lambada,

instruments. Was your concept to take

tecnobrega for Brazil and the world in order

samba, lots of Latin music, Caribbean music,

tecnobrega to a new level? That’s right.

for people to understand the music better.

music that is popular in Brazil. In ’98, the

Tecnobrega grew independently out of

Do people from Belém like this version

aparelhagems exploded with tecnobrega.

a need that we had. When we invented

of the music that you are doing, or do they

Artists like me didn’t even have to think

tecnobrega, it was very cheap. You

prefer the more lo-fi version? People are

about how to get on the radio, because

would spent $500 to make a CD, because

really enjoying what we are doing. Many

our songs were heard at the soundsystem

everything was electronic. It lowered the

artists from Belém don’t do it because they

parties, and became hits.

costs, but it didn’t have the quality standards

can’t afford it, because it’s expensive. I

that the music industry demands. But when

saved my whole career to do this record.

giant speakers. There is a booth where the

we decided to do Treme, it was a way to

It thought, “If I want Brazil to get to know

DJs are and down below are little clustered

improve on the talent that already existed

tecnobrega, for the world to get to know it, I

groups of fans. These people have buckets

by recording in a quality studio with a good

have to record it with better quality.”

full of beer, some bring along inflatable

microphone, putting in other instruments

So yeah, The DJs play our songs at

The sound is very loud and there are

plastic pools that they jump into, they

that we didn’t normally have, like acoustic

parties, on the radio. And it’s the only

climb onto the table to dance, drink beer,

instruments, more percussion. We had

tecnobrega music that plays outside of Pará,

or set off firecrackers. It’s very exciting. It

never used a bass, but we put in a bass

in Brazil and worldwide. We broke through

is a type of excitement that I have never

guitar, different kinds of keyboards and

the boundary to let this music out of here, to

seen anywhere in the world.

beats that were more equalized. All without

show that it’s not only the music of the ghetto.

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All you have to do is come to one –

You have a song on Treme called “Merengue Latino,” a kind of merengue-

has music of her own, and left the Beyoncé

tecnobrega. I thought that was interesting

thing behind. I don’t want to be Beyoncé,

because you don’t hear a lot of music

she’s wonderful, but I like being Gaby. I think

from other parts of Latin America in

it’s really cool to be Gaby.

Brazil often… Our musical influences in the

there are many videos on YouTube for you to see what it’s all about. Super Pop, Mega Principe Negro, Badalasom. Each aparelhagem has their own fans. People argue over which aparelhagem is the best or which one gets the crowd most pumped.

There’s also an aspect of social inclusion, because the DJs call out the names of people. People are happy because the DJ shouted them out. You can take a picture and send it to the DJ, and he’ll puts the photo on the screen.

What does your album title, Treme, mean? Treme is a high energy dance that we do at the parties, a really fast kind shaking in front of the speaker. There are “treme” dance battles which you can find on YouTube if you look.

I was able to show that Gaby Amarantos

It seems now that Amazonian music

Amazon are different from São Paulo and

is conquering the whole of Brazil. People

Rio. Since we are closer to the Caribbean and

from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are

we are part of the Amazon, many people

listening to lots of tecnobrega and other

grew up listening to Latin music – lambadas,

styles from the North. Do you think now is

merengues, cumbias. The newer stuff too

the time for the Amazon? I’m sure of it. We

– reggaeton, zouk. “Merengue Latino” is a

are already living this moment that people

Latin lambada with electronic beats, which

are very interested in what we’re doing. It’s

in my opinion is a very catchy song, you

Brazilian music, but it’s music that has an

want to start dancing when you listen to it.

accent, a different style. It’s a modern style

I have to ask about this: your nickname

with beats and synths, but we don’t want to

“Beyoncé of Pará.” How did that start?

imitate American or European music – we

I was at a festival for Carnaval 2010 in

want to make our version of modernity.

Recife. I was doing a show with my band

Many people think that Amazon only

Tecnoshow. At the time the show started,

has the forest, indigenous people, rivers,

the keyboard broke and the computer had

alligators, boats, so when people listen, they

only the instrumental version of “Single

say “Wow, they have so much cool music in

Ladies,” which we did in Portuguese as

Para.” They are very surprised because they

“Tô Solteira.” I had an outfit similar to

think we do not have advanced technology.

that which Beyoncé wears in the video for

It’s very nice to cause this surprise, to show

“Single Ladies,” so I started joking that I was

that besides indigenous people we have

Beyoncé. Afterwards the newspapers wrote

good music too. We are very proud of our

that I am the Brazilian Beyoncé.

forests, our rivers, our Indians, and also the

That started making people curious

music that we make.

about my work, it opened many doors. At

It is a very cool moment that everyone is

first, people just wanted to know what this

interested in our music. I know I’m one of the

all about, Beyoncé from the Amazon? Later,

people that is making important contributions

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“I DON’T WANT TO BE BEYONCÉ, SHE’S WONDERFUL, BUT I LIKE BEING GABY. I THINK IT’S REALLY COOL TO BE GABY.” to this process. There’s so much cool stuff to

those of us from up here often suffered

see. Come to Belém, come. We have to bring

serious prejudice,” Gaby says. “But Brazil is

that culture to the world because the world

changing, it’s opening its mind, it’s getting to

needs to treme to tecnobrega.

know its own cultures.”

You said you still live in your home in

The brega scene is overseen by

Belém. Do you think you will stay in Belém

competing aparelhagens, Portuguese for

forever? You’ve had a lot of success in the

“apparatuses,” mobile street parties broadly

music industry, I imagine you can leave if

similar to Jamaican-style sound systems.

you want. Why stay? Because every time I

The DJs and promoters distribute pirate

return to Belém, every time that I go back to

copies of tecno brega CDs practically for

the neighborhood where I live, I remember

free — with the permission of the local

who I am. In my neighborhood, I learned not

musical producers but not the international

to be prejudiced about any kind of music,

artists often sampled — and make money

religion, or sexual preference, nothing. On

off the street parties they throw.

the outskirts, in Belém, we are very free. We

Gaby, who in her 15-year semi-

feel very different from São Paulo and Rio de

professional career as a singer used to sell

Janeiro, where people are still stuck, people

cheap copies of her own music in the street

are very concerned about what other people

as cars waited at red lights, references the

will say. In Belém, no. At an aparelhagem

cannibalistic nature of the brega legacy in

party, people get drunk, they hit the floor

her shows, doing high-energy covers from

they are so drunk, but they do not even

“Funkytown” to Kraftwerk. Indeed, she was

care because the next day there’s no social

helped in garnering national attention by a

column to be written up in.

performance of someone else’s brega cover

A woman who lives on the outskirts will not be worried if she can’t fit into size

of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies.”

Much of Brazil’s economic boom has

36 jeans because she is a size 44. If she’s

been powered by the rise of a new lower

into a guy, she goes up to the guy and says

middle class as tens of millions rise out

“I like you.” That’s why I can’t leave. The

of poverty. The cultural industry in this

freedom you feel at an aparelhagem. You

traditionally unequal country has slowly

are happy with little there. So I could have a

been changing too, and Brazil is more

home somewhere else, spend some time in

open to embracing home-grown cultural

another place, but my home is in Belém and

movements. Another popular artist today

that is where I always want to come back to.

is Emicida, who plays a poetic, politically charged rap growing out of a scene in the

A brief context It is called “Tecno Brega,” which

slums of São Paulo.

“The upper classes sneer at tecno

translates to “cheesy” or “tacky” techno.

brega for precisely the reasons it should be

As names go, this one misses the mark

celebrated,” says Dom Phillips, the Brazil-

somewhat. It is not techno but rather a

based British author of “Superstar DJs, Here

manic, high-pitched electro pop. “Brega”

We Go,” a book on the history of dance

reflects that the music is unapologetically

music. “It’s got everything great pop music

cheerful but also the class and racial biases

needs: song, sex and rhythm. What else do

those who named it had against common

you need on a Saturday night?”. “Brega is

people living in this part of the Amazon.

being real. It’s being happy. It’s not caring.

“If we weren’t completely forgotten,

It’s being free,” says Gaby.

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FROM BUENOS AIRES TO BRIXTON:

ARGENTINE OF SOUTH

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CINEMA

BREAKS OUT AMERICA

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FORTY years ago Argentina’s movie industry was muzzled by a

AFF Founder

makers of a generation underground or into exile. Even when democracy returned to the country in the 1980s, giving rise to some

SOFIA SERBIN DE SKALON,

BEYOND THE TRADITIONAL IMAGES OF TANGO AND SO ON.”

INSIGHT INTO THE COUNTRY, SOMETHING THAT WENT

“I WANTED AUDIENCES TO BE ABLE TO GAIN A REAL

paranoid military junta, forcing some of the most promising film

than freshly-baked churros on a feriado. The programme features the

highly acclaimed films like ‘La historia official’, a lack of demand for foreign language films and the apparent refusal of much of the English-speaking world to read subtitles prevented them from gaining mainstream traction outside of Latin America.

Fast-forward to Spring 2013 and not only is London hosting its second Argentine Film Festival (AFF), but tickets are selling out faster brightest talent to emerge from Argentina’s film studios in the past few years with titles including Hernán Belón’s documentary ‘Sofia cumple 100 años’ and Nicolás Carreras’ ‘El camino del vino’.

“I knew that there were some Argentine films being seen in London, but I thought given the quality and amount being produced right now that it would be great to give people an chance to see more of them,” says festival founder Sofia Serbin de Skalon, speaking in London ahead of the event. “I wanted audiences to be able to gain a real insight into the country, something that went beyond the traditional images of tango and so on.”

Running at the same time as indie film festival BACIFI in Buenos Aires, AFF is aimed at pulling Argentine films into the mainstream and digging deeper than well-worn images of Malbec and Maradona most associated with the country.

De Skalon says she had no idea how successful the festival would prove to be when she set out, but with this year’s event now spun across three cinemas in Brixton, the West End, and Hackney, it looks like the gamble has paid off. So how did Argentine cinema finally gain currency outside of Latin America?

Tipping Point: El Secreto de Sus Ojos Latin American films have gradually been gaining traction over the past few years, with high-profile movies such as Walter Salles’ ‘Motorcycle Diaries’ and Fernando Meirelles’ ‘City of God’ helping pave the way for Spanish and Portuguese language movies in nonSpanish nor Portuguese speaking countries.

But many see the Oscar win for ‘El secreto de sus ojos’ (The Secret in their Eyes) in 2010 as the real turning point in Argentine cinema, as Hollywood shone the international spotlight on the country’s rich film heritage. Though by no means the country’s first big prize – Argentina has claimed 14 Goyas for Spanish Language Films to date including Pablo Trapero’s ‘Mundo grúa’ in 1999, and became the first Latin American country to win an academy award with best foreign title for ‘La historia official’ in 1985 – it was the surprise box office popularity of ‘El secreto’ outside Spanishspeaking regions that proved a decisive moment for the industry in terms of winning over international audiences.

“Directors like Pablo Trapero and Lucrecia Martel were already making waves on the international festival circuit, says de Skalon, “but ‘El secreto’ was a commercial success and got Argentine cinema attention with mainstream audiences.”

Uptake has been further boosted by growing demand for foreign-language films and TV content generally in countries like the UK over the past few years; highlighted by a glut of programmes

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‘The Bridge’ and France’s ‘Spiral’ – which all smashed expectations and pulled in huge TV audiences on the BBC despite being sub-titled.

“People are connecting with foreign films right now because they´re looking for real stories, films that talk to them in some way,” says de Skalon. “Argentine cinema, like Argentine society itself, is so

SOFIA SERBIN DE SKALON,

AFF Founder

diverse with so many influences that there is a lot of scope for telling

THAT TALK TO THEM IN SOME WAY.”

NOW BECAUSE THEY’RE LOOKING FOR REAL STORIES, FILMS

“PEOPLE ARE CONNECTING WITH FOREIGN FILMS RIGHT

emerging from the continent, including Denmark’s ‘The Killing’, and

a range of different stories.”

New Faces of Argentine Cinema AFF is designed to be a spring board to the film makers of the future, giving them a platform on which to showcase their work and mature their work. The festival is featuring a string of short films from up-and-coming directors designed to open a window to the creativity coming out of its studios at the moment.

“The main thing is the emergence of a new group of directors, of which Pablo Trapero is perhaps the best known outside Argentina – who added a new dimension to Argentine film, telling stories of the realities of everyday life and finding new and innovative ways to do so, often with very limited resources,” says de Skalon.

The shorts include ‘Noelia’, a 15 minute film from Maria Alché about a girl turned out of her home, who walks the streets of Buenos Aires building an imaginary cityscape around her. Another is ‘Yeguas y cotorras’ from Natalia Garagiola – slightly longer at 28 minutes – painting a picture of the young Argentine aristocracy, featuring a young woman meeting her best friends at her parents’ country pile the night before her wedding. ‘Pude ver un puma’ is from Teddy Williams, telling the story of young friends playing on the rooftops of the city, who are suddenly plunged into the heart of the earth.

So who else should we be looking out for? “There’s so many!” says Professor Maria Delgado, who helped programme AFF. “Delfina Castagnino, Gonzalo Tobal, Gustavo Taretto – who won audiences over at the festival last year with his debut feature ‘Medianeras’.

“This year we have one of his earlier shorts in the festival but we have another remarkable debut by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat

in the black comedy ‘El hombre de al lado’ (The Man Next Door).

larger and smaller Latin American film and audiovisual industries, as

And our closing night film is Dario Nardi’s exquisite ‘Las mariposas de

well as non-Latin American partners.

Sadourni’ (Sadourni’s Butterflies). He’s a name to watch!”

“Latin American cinema is building a solid network of

El Cine Argentino

production services and co production partners for all kinds of

The festival is designed to highlight the broad sweep of Argentine

production and content,” explains Villa. Across the continent,

cinema, which has its roots in 19th century silent film and has

initiatives to boost local film industries and attract foreign

chronicled the more than a century of its heartache and troubles on the

productions are on the rise.

big screen, as well as holding a lens up to the everyday life of its people.

“What distinguishes Argentine cinema? Its ingenuity and

In 2010, the Brazilian theatrical market saw 135 million admissions, which surpassed the 110 million admissions seen in

craftsmanship,” says Delgado. “Argentine cinema knows how to make

2009, giving the country its strongest performance in a decade. And

a little money go a long way. And its actors: at times their on-screen

local films are on the rise: The approximately 80 Brazilian films

conversations are just exhilarating. The cross-fertilisation between stage

(including international co-productions) released in 2009 accounted

and screen in Buenos Aires has also been seen in the quality of the

for 15 percent of the market, a 50 percent increase compared to 2008.

work as actors, writers and directors move between stage and screen.

“We hope that it will give audiences an opportunity to see the

In Mexico, an incentive called PRO AV, which was introduced last year, gives up to 17.5 percent of the production spend in

breadth of work coming from Argentina – everything from a Jewish

Mexico back to foreign films. So far, four large-scale films have

comedy to a stylish thriller,” concludes Delgado. “It will feature

taken advantage of the scheme.

established names and new talent so we hope that it will offer the

Colombia, meanwhile, is now on the radar of the Hollywood

industry and film critics in the UK a chance to engage with a broader

studios and has been progressively building its own industry in the

range of work beyond the established names.”

last decade. Fox has become the first studio to produce there — its

Latin America on the Rise

upcoming release Bunker is a co-production with Spain. “It’s a mark

From the New Argentine Cinema to Brazil’s steady supply of

of the growth and the potential of the Colombian film business that

low-budget festival hits and Mexico’s new foreign filming incentives,

a major studio decided to co-produce and invest in a Colombian

there are elements that differentiate each of the Latin American

film,” says Jason Resnick, a consultant to the Colombian Film

film industries, but the region has never been more united.

Commission and a former executive at Universal and Focus Features

“All Latin American countries have different strengths and

who is now a consultant-producer. “It is the first time a studio has

weaknesses,” explains Hugo Villa, director of film production at the

invested in a Colombian film. To me this sets a high water mark for

Mexican Film Institute. “Some have a larger and more experienced

the Colombian market.”

local industry, others have an emerging generation of financiers, or

Meanwhile, in Uruguay, film commissioner Lucila Bortagaray

a huge base of college students on film related majors.”To those not

says the industry is celebrating a substantial growth in film releases

so well acquainted with this region, the trends that tie together these

in the last few years. “This year, there will not only be feature

colorful territories can be harder to pin-down.

film releases, but also documentary and animated feature,” she

They include the growth of local content production, and its uptake in different markets; a cross-pollination process between

saysIn 2001, Uruguay was exporting 15 percent of its audio-visual production. Today, this amounts to 90 percent.

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A VERSAILLES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

By Pamela Petro, Simon Romero and Paulo Cabral

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The dazzling sights and sounds of Inhotim, a complex in south-east Brazil where nature meets art I WAS sitting in a silent, round glass building on top of a pile of displaced red earth. The view – eucalyptus and palms and searing blue sky – was soothing, but I was starting to wonder why I was there. Then I heard it, a low, growling rumble. I looked over my shoulder for a thunderhead, but the sky remained clear. Then I heard it again: distant, rolling thunder, and the hairs stood on my neck.

Only then did I realise: I was listening to the earth move.

This took place inside Doug Aitken’s Sonic Pavilion at Inhotim, in south-eastern Brazil. Aitken sank a 633ft hole into the ground and fitted it with ultra-sensitive microphones, so visitors can listen to the grinding sighs of the planet. It was like overhearing your parents make love on a grand and deeply disturbing scale.

Sonic Pavilion is one of more than 500 works by Brazilian and international artists at Inhotim, which is itself a kind of massive, living work of art. It’s a contemporary art complex that’s also a 3,100-acre botanical garden, featuring more than 1,400 species of palms alone. It’s also an active walking experience; an intellectual and aesthetic feast; a natural retreat of enormous calm and beauty (in the mornings, at least, before the crowds arrive); a savvy commercial venture (there are currently nine restaurants and snack bars, a superb infrastructure, and plans for a bevy of hotels); and a conundrum where it’s impossible to know where nature ends and art begins. “What

CAROLINA SANTANA

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Inhotim is, is Versailles for the 21st century,” said my friend Malcolm.

We heard that the name hails from an Englishman named Tim, who once owned a mine in the area (Minas Gerais, the state in which

from his lips. A lanky, chain-smoking, 61-year-old mining magnate, he is the owner of Inhotim.

It is hard to say what people might make of Inhotim centuries

Inhotim is located, means “General Mines”). Locals eventually

from now. Some masterpieces from Brazil’s booms still survive as

whittled “Senhor Tim” to Inhotim (pronounced “een-yo-CHEEM”).

testament to past extravagance, like the celebrated opera house

I visited with two friends, both of whom helpfully speak Portuguese,

built at the height of the rubber boom at the end of the 19th

though all signage is translated into near-perfect English and Spanish.

century in Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon.

We spent two days in our Versailles. The first we bought shuttle

Elsewhere in Latin America, majestic private contemporary-

passes to see the farthest-flung art, a mile and a quarter from the

art collections have also been made accessible to the public, like

entrance (the shuttle is a fleet of zippy golf carts), and walked the

Eugenio López’s Colección Jumex in Mexico City. And much farther

second. The first installation to suck air from my lungs was Janet

afield, in an archipelago in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea, the Benesse Art

Cardiff and George Bures Miller’s Forty-Part Motet. Imagine a white

Site similarly blends cutting-edge architecture with contemporary art.

room with 40 black speakers raised to eye-level on slim black stands.

But none of these places have the hot-climate exuberance of

Cardiff and Miller recorded the individual voices of 40 members of

Inhotim, situated in mining-scarred hills far from Brazil’s collecting

the Salisbury Cathedral choir singing Thomas Tallis’s Spem in Alium,

scenes in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Art historians and curators

a tribute to the first Queen Elizabeth. Each speaker projects just one

often come away marveling at the sheer scale and chaotic vision

voice. The result is both magisterial and intimate, simultaneously,

that Mr. Paz has created at Inhotim.

and it dramatically reveals your own ability to hear individual sounds – a soprano’s caught breath – within gorgeous multiplicity.

Outdoors, we considered taking a running leap into Jorge

“The amount of space given to single artist projects is unparalleled, as is the way visitors travel from building to building, refreshing their senses, being in nature,” said Beverly Adams, an

Macchi’s Piscina – a pool with a descending flight of steps painted

authority on Latin American art who curates the private Diane and

with letters of the alphabet – but had no change of clothes (visitors

Bruce Halle Collection in Scottsdale, Ariz.

are encouraged to dive in). And we were awed by Giuseppe

“We are quite privileged to work in a rather large area, so we can

Penone’s Suspended Tree, a large, healthy tree growing in mid-air,

invite artists to come and wander with us around the hills, forests

its roots grafted onto the trunks of smaller host trees that grow in a

and lakes on Inhotim to find the perfect spot for their work,” says

surrounding circle. An eerily elegant living sculpture.

artistic director Jochen Volz. He joined the project as curator in

“This is a project to last 1,000 years,” Mr. Bernardo Paz said of Inhotim during a rare interview, a Dunhill cigarette dangling

2004, when the area was in the process of being transformed from Bernardo Paz’s private garden into a showcase for the arts.

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One of the great astonishments of Inhotim is viewing artists’ work

Paulo to make money,” said Profira de Souza, 74, a resident of the

in purpose-built pavilions. How often, if ever, do you get to see that

village of Marinhos whose son and grandson work at Inhotim. “God

kind of holistic display? We found the results extraordinary, especially

lowered Bernardo Paz down to us, and I pray he doesn’t take him

at the Galeria Adriana Varejão, dedicated to an internationally known

back too soon.” No wonder they call him the “Emperor of Inhotim.”

Brazilian artist once married to Paz. Offset with crystalline reflecting

Still, Mr. Paz insisted he was no emperor. He called himself an

pools and connected by stairs and walkways that play with reflection,

“isolated person” who lacks real friends, opting to live amid hundreds

light and shadow, the Varejão galleries set up an exchange with both

of artworks, including a pavilion he built for one of his ex-wives.

the art – her trademark tiled installations, which use colonial media to comment on colonialism – and its viewers.

Seated in one of Inhotim’s restaurants one sweltering day in February, he proceeded to quickly consume three vodka cocktails,

The Galeria Miguel Rio Branco is another landmark: a building

murmuring about the machinations of bankers and the global

that rears out of exuberant tropical growth like a bright orange,

financial crisis as he puffed on his Dunhills. “Don’t turn that on,” he

oxidised ship’s hull, its cargo being Rio Branco’s photographs, notable

said, pointing at a digital recorder on the table.

for both their narrative intensity and technical innovation (imagine

A day later, in an air-conditioned building that incorporated

images of sharks printed on cloths that hang in a fan-generated breeze,

“Narcissus Garden,” a work by the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama,

so that they seem to move with the grace of underwater currents).

into its design, he seemed to revel in disparaging some other titans

Between installations and galleries is a cultivated, tropical

of business in Brazil, calling them “imbeciles” and contending

profusion of gardens, copses, pools and landscapes capped by distant

that poor visitors to Inhotim were often better able to absorb the

hills that are almost more mind-bending than the punctuations of

complex’s importance. He also reserved some special disdain for

human creativity. Orchids and bromeliads, immense tamboril trees

Brazil’s richest man, Eike Batista.

and perfectly fanned palms all explode with a barely contained exuberance of size and hue unknown to northern vegetation.

Walking paths wind through the growth and serve as – in

“Suddenly, he appears with billions and billions, saying he’s going to be the world’s richest man,” he said of Mr. Batista, a mining entrepreneur who gets largely glowing treatment in the news media

Malcolm’s words again – “palette cleansers” between artworks.

here as an idol for Brazil’s growing number of millionaires. “He

We all commented that after a full day of viewing we were more

broke every company he had until he was 50 years old.”

energised than exhausted, which would never have been the case

Mr. Paz also waved off claims in Brazilian newspapers that

had we spent the same amount of time in a traditional museum. No

Inhotim’s expansion was partly due to money laundering, calling

visual overload, no sore feet. And we were exhilarated, too. Inhotim’s

such accusations a “mountain of nonsense and lies.”

creative impulse is contagious, and we felt challenged to frame its treasures, man-made and natural, in our cameras all day long, yoking and unyoking others’ ideas. Inhotim made us into artists.

Inhotim received nearly 250,000 visitors in 2011, and it expects

“Clearly, no one is totally transparent,” he acknowledged. Still, he asserted, “The newspapers never proved anything.”

For now, he seems more concerned with luring the masses to Inhotim to see works like “Restore Now,” a mammoth send-up

well more this year. But Mr. Paz, who says his companies provide

of academic norms by the Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn, in

Inhotim with about $60 million to $70 million for operations each

which texts by French philosophers like Jacques Derrida and Gilles

year, sees no need to stop there.

Deleuze are interspersed with images of mutilated bodies.

In order to make Inhotim self-sustaining, he said he was

Asked about specific works, Mr. Paz deftly shifts the conversation

planning to build no fewer than 10 new hotels here for visitors, an

to other topics. He smiled when speaking of his new wife, Arystela

amphitheater for 15,000 people, even a complex of “lofts” for those

Rosa, 31, pregnant with his seventh child. Other things at Inhotim

who want to live amid the collection. He said Inhotim, which sprawls

draw his interest, like the towering tamboril trees or the traíra, a

over nearly 5,000 acres, has room for at least 2,000 more works of art.

carnivorous fish in the ponds here that can draw blood from visitors

Inhotim’s growth over the past decade has provided a jolt to the surrounding economy, with many of the adult residents of villages

foolish enough to dip their fingers in the water.

“There are works of art here which I haven’t entered yet, which

nearby employed as laborers by Inhotim, making them dependent

everyone told me were spectacular, but why should I go in there?”

on Mr. Paz’s vision of assembling a “Disneyland” for contemporary art.

Mr. Paz said. “I don’t consider myself passionate for art. But

“Before Inhotim, our men worked in the mines or moved to São

gardens, that’s what I like.”

THE BASICS

de São Paulo (bienal.org.br), which runs

overnight in Inhotim: the Pousada Lafevi

Getting there: A direct, 14-hour flight

until December 9.

(www.pousadalafevi.com.br) in nearby

from Heathrow to São Paulo on KLM (klm. com) costs about £695 return.

Bienal de São Paulo: You’ll want to be

Inhotim: After you’ve seen art inside,

Brumadinho offers double rooms for about

fly to Belo Horizonte. Flights on TAM Air

£65 a night. Entrance to Inhotim (www.

(tam.com.br) start at around £75 return.

inhotim.org.br) costs £6 during the week

in São Paulo this autumn, as it’s the 30th

Then take a bus from the central bus

and £8 on weekends; it’s free on Tuesdays

anniversary of the second hippest art

station to Inhotim to see art outside. The

and closed on Mondays; shuttle passes cost

biennial on earth (after Venice’s), the Bienal

journey takes about 90 minutes so best

£5 per person.

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