When you walk through underground stations around the world, if you listen carefully, you’ll notice a universal character. These are the musicians that have discovered a special way to reach their audience, something which puts them in contact with millions of people.
These artists are also known as buskers as they aim to live solely from their art, with freedom and creativity by their side. Now, they have an appointment set in São Paulo, Brazil, from November 8 to 12, 2010, with the Red Bull Sounderground – 1st International Metro Musicians Festival; a completely new musical festival project in Brazil and the rest of the world. For the first time, an international festival is going to be dedicated to underground musicians. There will be 20 Brazilian and international performers.
The unprecedented nature of the Red Bull Sounderground is emphasized by the choice of location for the event. Brazil does not have a busking tradition and the goal of organizing this event in a metropolis like São Paulo is to draw attention to an initiative to create such a space that does not yet exist. “The festival has potential, potential to change underground stations where buskers cannot play into spaces where those artists and their music are part of the environment to the delight of the public”, says Marcelo Beraldo, Barong Production partner and cultural producer.
This means a potential audience of millions of people. For example, in New York where the culture of busking is widespread, they play to approximately 4.5 million people a day. In Mexico City, the audience in constant transit is about 4 million a day. In São Paulo, the number of people that use the underground daily is 3.5 million, a figure that is set to increase to 10 million a day by 2014.
How the festival was born...
The idea of the Red Bull Sounderground originated during a trip the festival’s creator took around the world between July and November of 2009. Marcelo began his trip in New York and passed through 16 other cities in Europe, Asia and the Americas. London, Paris, Barcelona, Lisbon, Moscow, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai are just some of the metropolises he visited. In all the places he travelled to, he practically only visited underground stations. Destinations included cities where musicians are allowed to play in these spaces and cities where they are forbidden from public transport.
His findings on his trip revealed examples of perfect integration of musical activity within the schedules of underground stations, such as in Montreal, Canada, as well as great potentials to be explored, like in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo has the largest volume of underground passengers a day – about 8 million people – and like in São Paulo, musicians are not allowed to play in communal areas of the stations. “During my trip, I spoke to managers and directors of underground stations in several cities. According to them, the public likes listening to music while they wait for the train, it even gives them a feeling of safety”.
The schedule
Performances will take place in 10 underground stations across São Paulo that are yet to be defined and approved by the operational and security departments. From 8 to 11 November, the performances will be daily from 11am to 1pm and from 5pm to 7pm. And on Friday, November 12, there will be a closing show at Sé Station at 5pm that will gather all the participating artists.
How to participate
Participating musicians will be chosen from applications via the festival website –
– available from August 2 to September 15, 2010. Only solo artists or bands of up to 3 people will be allowed to participate. To apply, just fill in the form available on the website and upload a video extract of a solo or band performance in one of the participating underground stations.
The names of the participating artists will be published on the festival website on September 24, 2010.
Applications are open to musicians that play in underground stations in Moscow, New York, Mexico City, London, Berlin, Montreal, St. Petersburg and Barcelona. Musicians from São Paulo are allowed to present videos shot in public spaces other than underground stations. Important: amplifiers are allowed but only up to 60 watts. Electric drums are also allowed. Percussion instruments, drums and DJ participations are not allowed. It’s worth noting that electrical sources will not be available for performances.
Each participant will be chosen by a panel of local curators in his country. In Brazil this panel will include names such as Ale Youssef – one of the owners of Studio SP, the founder of the Overmundo Institute, political columnist of Trip Magazine and ex-São Paulo Youth Coordinator - and Lívio Tragtenberg – experimental composer and saxophone player as well as a playwright and screenwriter; his musical works include instrumental pieces, symphonies, electro-acoustic pieces and opera; and in 2004 he founded the Orchestra of São Paulo Street Musicians. Also on the panel will be Danilo Caciavilani, from Cultural Action of São Paulo Underground.
Red Bull Sounderground – 1st International Metro Musicians Festival
Organized and produced by Barong Production
Institutional Support by São Paulo Underground (Cultural Action Department)
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