- Few countries in the world have been as defined by its stereotypes as Brazil: Every little thing seems to be about football, samba and an endless Carnival, all properly pictured in amazing beaches and rainforest scenarios. The most intriguing fact for a Brazilian is to think of how exactly a huge country like this one—massively colonized by immigrants from every corner of the world—can be reduced to only a few but almost definitive features. Stereotypes are obviously simplistic by nature, but in the case of a country with two hundred million people, any attempts to simplify come with a variety of risks.
Perhaps the power of these clichés has something to do with the surprised faces that many foreign DJs wear when they play at Brazilian clubs. The artists find genuine exciting dance floors, a quite distant reality from anything that might resemble samba. Electronic music is not exactly new in Brazil (the first clubs opened their doors nearly two decades ago), but it's been only in the past five years that the dance music scene has begun to grow into something resembling popular. That said, things are still limited to very specific places, especially in the Southern part of Brazil, more precisely in the areas below São Paulo state.
In 2002, on the North coast of Santa Catarina state (around 600 km away from São Paulo) one of the most important clubs of Brazilian history was built. Warung's name wasn't chosen randomly: it means "house" in Indonesian. The club is situated on an unspoilt beach, squeezed between one of the of South America's busiest beaches, Balneário Camboriú, and the city of Itajaí, home to the second most important port in the country. Surrounded by native vegetation and facing the sea, the club consists of a wooden building that resembles a large tent suspended in Balinese style. The décor is very subtle and blends Asian crafts with lightning effects.
On the ground floor, there are rest areas with couches and chairs scattered around, bars and outdoor areas with an irresistible twist that reminds local clubbers of the beach house backyards that we used to play in during the tender years of life. The DJ booth is located on the first floor, opposite the sea; the dance floor lays in a huge hallway that ends in a balcony perched in the sand. And, yes, the culminating moment of the party is when the day dawns and the crowd is flooded with sunshine.
On November 13th, a mystic Friday, Warung celebrated seven years with German duo Booka Shade. November isn't exactly hot in the South of Brazil (the region has a sub-tropical climate). It plays sort of a summer warming-up role, when the beaches get absolutely packed with people from all over the country, and, lately, coming from all over the world too. The events schedule gets really busy during the hot season, whereas in the rest of the year the clubs in the region don't usually open their doors more than once a month. This, though, was a busy night because it was a special night, the club was full of people ready to celebrate its anniversary.
Resident DJ Aninha was asked to play a long and proper warm-up, finishing up at promptly 3:00 AM, when Arno Kammermeier started to play alone. Walter Merziger, the other half of the duo, was sick and unfortunately didn't show up to the party. Arno played a vigorous DJ set for three hours, mixing Booka Shade's old and new tunes with recent classics like Jerome Sydenham and Dennis Ferrer's "Sandcastles."
The only drawback of the set? Arno played for "only" three hours; local audiences are used to seeing extended DJ sets (Dubfire and Sasha never play less than 6 hours at the club), especially in special moments like these. But in such an intense atmosphere, this wasn't a problem: the other resident, Fabricio Pecanha, started to play after Arno, and played vibrant techno to the thirsty crowd until 10:30.
Seven years after opening its doors, Warung looks as strong as ever, with an upcoming season that should once again be an endless and powerful beachfront party. Perhaps another Brazilian cliché is being written?
Photo credit
Adriel Douglas (Image Care)
Contribution by
Andrea Greca