HF x LOFI present: Mbé, DJ K and more

There is more to Brazilian music than samba and bossa nova: feel the adrenaline rush of baile funk and dance up a sweat at the Holland Festival and industrial urban oasis Lofi’s club night. Because baile funk, the young music genre coming out of the favela’s hills and asphalt, is Brazil’s counterpart to Western rave. But the slums also allow for experimental music in which the roots of Brazilian music are mixed with modern music styles.

Producer/musician Mbé (Luan Correia) will perform his acclaimed project Rocinha, named after Rio’s largest favela, where he grew up and recorded part of the samples for this project in the streets. He incorporated rhythms from Candomblé, a Brazilian religion to emerge after the African diaspora, and African beats into ambient music and uses samples to express his social engagement with the discriminated black population. Mbé will also deejay a set with the best baile funk to currently come out of Rio. Vintage 1980s Miami Bass beats are coupled with Brazilian rhythms, raps and flipped samples that include sounds of sirens and gunshots in reference to the violence of the favelas: loud, raw and exciting. DJ K, the funk magician who went on to become a national star after earning his stripes in Heliópolis, the largest favela of São Paulo, will play his bruxaria (‘witch funk’) and madelão, his version of favela party music. The full line-up will be announced shortly.