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A couple of days ago a reader disputed my claim that Tetine was behind the curve, gently calling me a “clueless American crit.” Because the duo hosts a radio show on England’s Resonance station called Slum Dunk and has curated a decent collection of funk carioca, they’ve gotten lots of exposure, which has allowed them to become flavor of the moment. Most funk carioca artists in Rio de Janeiro are from favelas (slums) and thus poor, have scant access to the media, and don’t speak English. Tetine’s take on funk carioca has a relatively high-tech gloss that’s missing from the real Brazilian stuff. That on its own isn’t a good reason to disparage their music; it only takes a pair of ears to realize that they’re ridiculously over-the-top to the point of parody.
It’s not all good, but it’s a fascinating (and perhaps inevitable) commercially oriented mutation of standard funk carioca, whose bares-bones rawness is one of its most appealing characteristics. I’m not about to prognosticate on the future of Brazilian pop music, but this stuff certainly seems more fecund and exciting than the warmed-over slop Tetine was dishing out at the Empty Bottle last week.
