{"id":10623,"date":"2021-06-04T13:14:39","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T20:14:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/?p=10623"},"modified":"2021-06-22T10:54:40","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T17:54:40","slug":"blogpostamimolinelli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/blogpostamimolinelli\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Samba Percussionist Ami Molinelli"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Are you ready for some rhythm? Our June 12 online workshop, Samba Syncopation<\/em><\/a>, features guitarist Edinho Gerber and percussionist Ami Molinelli, who\u2019ll share their insights into Brazilian music\u2019s complex, infectious beats. We asked Ami\u2014a respected educator as well as a performer\u2014to give us a preview of what is sure to be an exciting hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re a San Francisco Bay Area native. What drew you to Brazilian percussion?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I grew up in Burlingame in a not-especially-musical family. My father played the accordion\u2014he was semi-forced to, being of Italian descent\u2014and that\u2019s my earliest musical memory. My mother rented a piano for all of us to play, and it stuck with me. I took piano lessons until high school, when I quit. At UC Berkeley, I took a steel-drum ensemble class and an African drumming class, and that\u2019s when I fell in love with percussion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For workshop participants who may be new to Brazilian music, how would you describe samba? How does it differ from other Brazilian musical styles such as bossa nova or choro?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brazil\u2019s earliest music is choro. Urban samba, which is both a dance and a musical style, evolved in Rio de Janeiro in parallel with choro in the early 20th<\/sup> century. It derived from samba de roda\u2014roda means \u201ccircle\u201d in Portuguese\u2014which originated in Bahia, in the northeast, and ultimately from West Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brazilian samba is written in 2\/4 time signature. The constant 16th<\/sup>-note motion that you hear in a shaker with the big bass drum, the surdo<\/em>, emphasizes beat 2: It\u2019s the heartbeat of a basic samba. The melodies are a mix of African, Indigenous, and European, often in call-and-response form. The widely known bossa nova is a variation of samba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The original melody of \u201cGirl from Ipanema,\u201d by Tom Jobim, is very syncopated. One of my teachers, Jovino Santos Neto<\/a>, once said in a lecture that the Portuguese lyrics to \u201cGirl from Ipanema\u201d have that syncopation while the English lyrics are all eighth notes and don\u2019t reference the melody of the song!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In non-pandemic years, the last weekend of May is when San Francisco holds its Carnaval. How did you mark the occasion this year?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had a very successful virtual Carnaval! Musicians from all over\u2014the Bay Area, Santa Barbara, Chicago, Brazil\u2014got together to present \u201cRaizes do Choro e Samba\u201d (Roots of Choro and Samba). It was a free online event in partnership with Red Poppy Ar<\/a>t House<\/a>, a small art gallery and music venue in San Francisco\u2019s Mission District. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What else have you been doing, musically, during the last 15 months of pandemic restrictions? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was very fortunate to receive a San Francisco Arts Commission grant to produce a live performance, Historia do Choro<\/em>, which I\u2019ve turned into a virtual presentation. I\u2019m also promoting the Historia do Choro <\/em>album. I\u2019ve been recording from my home studio, and I did a couple of livestreams. Just last month I did my first few in-person gigs\u2014at Rocky\u2019s Market<\/a> in Oakland, as part of their weekly music series, and at the Healdsburg Hotel. It\u2019s been really lovely to be out again!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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