SAMBA

FABIO KOEHLER is an artist and a musician who has been living away from his native Brazil for over six years. Here he shares the joy of samba and describes how people from all cultures have danced and made music to connect with life, transform pain into happiness, and come together in community.

- FABIO KOEHLER

Vejam essa maravilha de cenário

É 'um episódio relicário

Que o artista, num sonho genial

Escolheu para este carnaval

E o asfalto como passarela

Será a tela

Do Brasil em forma de aquarela

Look at this wonderful scenario

It's a reliquary episode

That the artist, in a brilliant dream,

Chose for this carnival

And the asphalt as a catwalk

Will be the canvas

Of Brazil in the form of a watercolor

Aquarela Brasileira by Silas de Oliveira

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHN2TVWNhEo

Whenever the word happiness comes to my mind I think of samba! I grew up in Rio de Janeiro, which is a postcard city due to its natural beauty and its Carnival. When I was fifteen years old, a musician taught me to play the main beat of samba on the pandeiro, an instrument similar to the tambourine, during a moonlit party on the beach. Since then, I have not stopped playing that instrument! I left Brazil in 2015 and the feeling of homesickness increases day by day. Since I left, the need to play the pandeiro, especially Brazilian music, has grown greater and greater. Nowadays, it is easier to count the days I don't play the pandeiro. For me, playing samba is directly related to happiness. There is a famous song which says:

O samba é pai do prazer

O samba é filho da dor

Um grande poder transformador

Samba is the father of pleasure