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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Brazil mayor bans funk, rap music as Carnival begins |
| 2010-02-12 |
| RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A mayor of a Brazilian town has banned Carnival revelers from playing funk or rap music during the traditionally free-wheeling celebrations that kick off around the country on Friday. It's still ok to have sex in the streets though.... Mayor Jose Neto of Sao Lourenco in southeastern Minas Gerais state told Globo television he was banning songs that incite violence and disrespect authority and wanted to protect more traditional Carnival music, such as samba. Anyone caught listening to funk -- a pounding beat often with sexual lyrics popular in Rio de Janeiro's slums -- or rap during the Carnival period would have to turn it off or face arrest and up to six months in prison, he reportedly said. Yikes! Six months in a Brazilian prison should shut anyone up. "You have the right to remain silent. Or else..." "They are mass gatherings that demand better coordination, control and security that a public festival like Carnival doesn't allow us to adopt," Neto told Globo TV. Funk music has long been frowned upon by police and city authorities in Rio and faced crackdowns because of its association with slum gangs who use parties to sell drugs. Being frowned on by the Brazilian cops is not like an ugly look from, say, SF's finest: "Boom, boom, boom, boomity boom!" "Shut that noise down!" "Up yours copper!" Boomity, boom, boo---" Bang! But the music form, which originated in U.S. slums in the late 1960s, has increasingly found a mainstream following in Brazil and as far away as Europe. Just like a number of other addictive and (now) illegal substances. |
| Posted by:Atomic Conspiracy |
| #4 |
| Posted by: lotp 2010-02-12 18:39 |
| #3 The walk, what about the walk, and the crooked baseball caps and trousers down below the arse? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-02-12 14:53 |
| #2 I wish my mayor had the same guts! In fact, Obama could do a great service to America doing the same - nothing like having your kids coming home from school chanting rap lyrics which sets the civil rights movement back 50 years... Borgboy from Tucson |
| Posted by: borgboy 2010-02-12 14:13 |
| #1 you can't blame him |
| Posted by: CHRIS 2010-02-12 12:25 |