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Yhazi has been dancing professionally since the age of four. Her training includes Samba, Capoeira, Ballet, Tap, Modern, Jazz and West African.
Her most recent performance was an acappella vocal performance in Rhythm 360.
Andrecia has been recognized throughout the states and in Brazil for her dancing. She brings so much of the natural, and energetic feel of samba to every performance she's been tagged as
the "Americana Brazillera" or "Bahiana". Her talents earned her a place on-stage during President Bush's Inaugural Ball and the President's Inaugural Parade in 2000. |
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Carlinhos showing off plenty of style on one of his album covers. |
Carlinhos warming up his pandeiro. |
It is a great tradition every year during the 4-day festival of Rio de Janeiro known to all the world as Brazil's Carnaval, that the great samba clubs (escolas de
samba) representing Rio's various neighborhoods come out and compete with their official song, costume theme, and dances for that year. Just as essential as the half-naked women atop the floats
shaking to the samba rhythm of hundreds of drummers and percussionists (the batucada) are the breathtaking stunts of the passistas and malabaristas de pandeiro (pandeiro players) who lead the whole
parade.
The pandeiro is the quintessential instrument of the samba. It looks similar to a large tambourine, but its drum skin is much louder and more taught, and the bells face inward so that the ringing
sound is somewhat muffled and the beat of the head of the drum more pronounced.
The malabaristas are one of the most highly-anticipated parts of the show, as they lead the huge procession with their breathtaking acts of throwing, spinning, balancing, and juggling the pandeiro
in between playing its rhythm and entertaining the crowd with practical jokes and cavorting about with the beautiful costumed women dancers.
But the person who was most responsible for promulgating this whole tradition back in the early 1960's was a man named Carlinhos de Oliveira, a pandeiro player and performer for Rio's great samba
club Mangueira. Carlinhos didn't just expertly play the pandeiro like his contemporaries did; he also simultaneously performed amazing tricks and stunts with the instrument, so beginning the now
time-honored tradition of the malabarista leading the carnaval parade. This is what led him in 1966 to win the title "pandeiro de ouro" (pandeiro of gold) that has stuck with him ever
since.
Carlinhos Pandeiro de Ouro continued to be the star of the Mangueira's show every year for the next 3 decades, and he won countless prestigious awards and trophies along the way, becoming a national
symbol of Brazil's Carnaval. This fame helped him make it onto the silver screen in several films including the cult classic, Orfeo Negro (Black Orpheus). In addition, he went on to play or record
with virtually all of Brazilian music's stars throughout the 1970's and 1980's, playing percussion on albums by Maria Bethania, Ataulfo Alves, Martinho da Vila, Beth Carvalho, and others, and doing
shows with Tom Jobim, Caetano Veloso, Jorge Ben, Astrud Gilberto, Charlie Byrd, and many more. He also had a short stint as a vocalist, recording some excellent sambas like "Eta Lasquera"
and "Negao" that leave one wondering if he would have become just as famous for his strong and beautiful voice had he continued singing.
Carlinhos eventually met and married a local Oahu girl and came to live in Hawaii. He put an end to constant traveling and touring to raise his kids during the 1990's, but that doesn't stop him
from coming out and doing a show here and there. Carlinhos recently performed with Herbie Mann at the international jazz festival at the Blaisdell Arena, for example.
We are blessed to have this great legend performing and singing for us with his band of local Brazilian batucada samba musicians and dancers for the Bacchanal o Hawaii 2002. |
