Day 5: Oi, Sao Paulo!

We have arrived safely in Sao Paulo! Sure enough, getting up at at 4:45am to catch the flight was fairly brutal (though we still pushed our 7:30 flight, meeting the bleary-eyed looks of other Brazilians as we were the last to board in our matching blue LC JO/VJ polos), but Sao Paulo seems, from first impressions, excellent! It'll definitely be something of a shift, falling asleep last night to the slow metronomic crash of ocean waves and tonight to the helicopters and traffic, but that's definitely not enough to quell our excitement.

I think I speak for everyone when I say that this afternoon's activities were the highlight of the trip so far. Pausing only for an hour in the hotel for a quick nap, we departed for the Escola do Auditório, without any idea of what we'd be doing. After a delicious lunch (which included, for many of us, a by-the-gram build-your-own-sundae bar, and for me, accidental squid) we headed into the architecturally breathtaking arts center and set up for the gig. We discovered we'd be playing opposite a Brazilian ensemble composed of people around our age. We weren't playing on a stage; on one side of a long rectangular room, our band was set up, and on the other end there were chairs for the Orquestra Furiosa, and between us were an array of chairs and benches. The room was quickly filled, and many of us were particularly nervous not only because there were other musicians there, but mainly because two excellent arrangers of pieces we're playing -- Aza, who arranged Asa Branca and Aquarela do Brasil, and Proveta, who arranged Um a Zero -- were about to hear us play their arrangements!

It ended up being a really fun time. The audience was really energetic, and the Orquestra Furiosa (a cross between a jazz/samba group and a true orchestra, complete with french horns and tuba) was FANTASTIC. After we both finished playing our own stuff, we got to read a chart arranged by Proveta together, and then had a brief jam session before being shut down. Following that, we stayed in the school for free (!) food and conversation with some delightful students. Some of them spoke fairly good English, many of them did not-- but it was a great way to meet people our age and connect with other musicians!