This sounds like fun...

[back2basics-]

Saturday night in the ghettos of Rio De Janeiro, and there's excitement in the air, as thousands of young people get geared up for a weekend on the local club scene. But the 'funk' clubs of Rio are a far cry from the sand, the samba and the glamour of the Copacabana. Over 60 teenagers are known to have died in Brazils brutal funk clubs in the last 6 years, and thousands more have been injured. But week after week, up to 200,000 funkateers flock to Rio's 'funk balls' to engage in bloody gang warfare on the dancefloor. This is their idea of fun. Clubbed investigates the horrific truth of Rio's 'funk ball' bloodbaths, where carnage is central to the clubbing vibe ...

Outside the downtown funk clubs, most of which are situated in Rio's rundown industrial areas, the boys swagger, wearing American baseball shirts and Bermuda shorts; they will usually pay between $3-$8 dollars to get in. The girls pose, dressed in Lycra and knee-high boots; they will usually get in to the funk clubs for free. But this is a pre-clubbing crowd with a big difference. It is divided into two queues, two opposing teams. There are two separate entrances to the 'funk club', and inside there are two separate bars and two separate toilets. From the outset, opposition is the order of the night. These funkateers, many of whom are as young as 12, are the children of Rio's 'underclass', dwellers of its poorest favelas or slums. Rio doesn't have a social welfare system. Its slum areas are extremely poor, and gang warfare amongst the youth is rife. The phenomenon of gang warfare in poverty-stricken areas is nothing new in the world. What is different about the gang warfare amongst the youth of Rio's 'subclass' is that it is taking place as a commercial leisure activity, in the form of these 'funk balls' ...

In times of slavery, the Brazilians invented a tradition known as capoeira, a combination of dance, music, ritual, martial arts and fighting. The word capoeira comes from the native Brazilian Indian word given to a jealous male partridge, which fights fiercely with its rivals. To the Brazilians, capoeria is a 'game' to be played and an art to be mastered. Today's funk legacy evokes the custom of capoeira, but it is a far more dangerous game to play. Today, there are estimated to be about 30 unlicensed funk clubs in Rio, which are part of its shockingly vicious 'funk' legacy. For the illegal funk club venues, organised violence is elementary. Funk balls are not bloody free for alls. They are planned, structured battle-zones for the execution of ritualistic gang conflict between opposing favelas; each favela wants to prove its superiority over the others. When the funkateers enter a funk club, they are crossing the threshold of a purpose-built war zone. The two awaiting armies remain divided as they enter the funk club, separated by a 7-foot gap on the dancefloor. But once inside, the funkateers are primed for action ...

... The funk club DJ always starts a night by playing Rio funk records. Brazilian Funk music originated in the 1970's, when African American artists such as James Brown and Sly Stone began to filter into the Brazilian scene. However, today's Rio funk music is altogether different from the traditional 70's funk. It is produced locally on a cheap budget, which gives it a raw quality. Fusing the electronic backbeat of 80's pop, with bass thumps and techno splinters, Rio funk is an amateur jumble of musical inspirations. Aggressive, offbeat rap is often sung live as an accompaniment to the music. Speaking to Nicole Veash of The Boston Globe, one funk ball DJ said:'the more you listen to funk, the more you love it. It has a hard, intense sound. Great for fighting. It's our own music, about our people, about death and drugs. The things we know ...' When the DJ spins the first funk record of the night, the funkateers begin to warm up. Young girls start to dance for the boys on their team, writhing around like pole dancers. The atmosphere of aggressive sexual tension quickly develops into pure hostility between the rival teams. The two sides begin an antagonistic chant. They are psyching themselves up for the main event of the night, the funk ball battle, which they call 'Mortal Kombat' ...

... The funk ball DJ is crucial in the build up to 'Mortal Kombat'. A funk DJ called DJ Tubarao explained to Veash that the success of a funk DJ is determined by his ability to manipulate the anger of the crowd: 'A DJ gets to know his crowd because we play the same balls every weekend ... we understand the rhythm of their fighting. I take great pride in controlling my crowd. If I see they want blood, I'll put on a fast funk tune. But if they need cooling, then I'll soothe them with something for the girls.' Only when the funk club DJ uses a microphone to announce the official start of 'Mortal Kombat' does the action between the funkateers begin. Their ritual mirrors the brutal pattern of the notoriously violent computer game, Mortal Kombat, after which the funk ball 'game' is named. As the music summits, the opposing funkateers surge forth, and the violence begins. The aim of 'Mortal Kombat' is to drag members of the opposing team into an area in the club known as 'The Corridor Of Death', where enemies are beaten unconscious, unless their team members manage to rescue them. No holds are barred. Bones are broken, heads are stamped upon, eyes are punched out of their sockets. Though it is predominantly the boys who fight, sometimes the girls join in, punching, scratching and using their stilettos to mutilate the faces of their girl rivals. Funk clubs do have security staff, to search for weapons, which are forbidden, but they by no means ensure the safety of the funkateers. They merely supervise the order of the organized violence, and usually carry truncheons to keep the crowds in order. In the Boston Globe interview, one Rio funkateer admitted that most funk clubbers are wary of confronting the security guards: 'You're not allowed to hit back. If you do, they'll kill you. That's the rule.'

So how did the custom of gang conflict escape its traditional street realm and end up in nightclub culture? In the early 1990's the youth of Rio's favelas famously took their gang fights out of the traditional setting of ghetto streets, and descended upon Rio's beaches to battle. There was uproar amongst residents in the surrounding affluent area, leading to a bout of media attention. In reaction to the public outcry, Rio's police cracked down on the warfare, banishing it back into the ghettos, so it was out of sight and out of mind. In 1996, funk club culture was born, when one club promoter began to allow fighting in his club. From then on, the funk ball phenomenon began to snowball and soon, clubs that didn't permit violence found themselves out of business ...

... There have been sixty recorded funk ball deaths in the last six years, with countless mutilations and severe injuries such as paralysis and brain damage also on record. However, Rio's police also believe that the bodies of many more dead funkateers remain undiscovered. According to some reports by funk ball staff turned police informants, the dead bodies of funk clubbers are discarded into sewers or rubbish tips. So why haven't the authorities put a stop to the violence? Rio is one of the most violent cities in South America. Violent deaths in the 'underclass' are so frequent, that they raise little concerns amongst the police. Some people also believe funk club promoters bribe police so that the funk clubs can continue. And there's no doubt that Funk balls are a very lucrative business ...

... Brazil's largest funk ball chain is run under the brand name 'Furacao 2000', meaning Hurricane 2000. It hosts several events each weekend throughout Rio. It has a slick website, runs a magazine and a radio station and also produces CD's. This funk ball empire is owned by a man called Romula Costa. Costa is regarded as a godlike figure on the Rio funk circuit, and through Furacao, he is believed to be responsible for many of the funk balls in operation today. There is little doubt as to whether Furacao deals in organised violence; the many deaths and countless injuries are a testament to the truth. Many say that if Costa were imprisoned, Rio's funk ball problem would all but disappear. However, although he was questioned by police during a recent inquest into a funkateers death, Costa still remains free. And rich.

Funk promoters such as Costa continue to challenge the stigma of funk clubs as institutions of violence. In fact, a description of the Furacao philosophy on the official website says 'Furacao 2000 congregates thousands of young, similar people amusing themselves with others, always in a calm and pacified form. Our balls are organised to provide a worthy environment to our youth, presenting them with positive energy and beauty.' Most promoters will deny that the institution of the funk club is intrinsically violent. Many claim that out of the 500 or so funk clubs that exist, only 10 perpetrate violence. Even if this is true, even if there are 'only' 10 violent funk balls - with up to 2000 punters going each event, that's a potential 20,000 young people going to these fight clubs every week. Those promoters who will admit the to the violence often justify it, claiming that funk clubbing is actually a positive activity for Rio's deprived youth. Speaking to Times Staff, a Furacao promoter called Jose Carles said 'A rich kid can go to an academy and learn karate to channel his aggressions ... a poor kid can't afford the gym. The dances are places where they can blow off steam ...'

Whilst those who operate violent funk clubs claim that they are providing Rio's marginalized youth with a chance to escape from the cycle of social alienation and poverty, anti-funk campaigners argue that the organisers are merely keeping themselves in the money, whilst keeping Rio's 'favela funkateers' locked in the cycle of social desolation. Dismissed as as a problem from the slums, Funk violence has so far been low priority for Rio's police. However, it recently became apparent that the funk revolution is also becoming popular amongst Brazil's middle class kids. The violent death of a fifteen year old funkateer from a well known Brazilian family led to a bout of media attention. More recently, Brazil's media also reported that a fourteen year old girl had both fallen pregnant and contracted AIDS at a funk ball. Brazil's police have now launched a campaign called Operation Funk to crackdown on the funk phenomenon; the launch of the crackdown is too late for some, but anti-funk campaigners live in the hope that the violent legacy of Rio's funk phenomenon may now be drawn to a close.

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I want to go out blazing..not fade away.

Trust in the currency of relationships, it's hard to earn but easy to loose - back2basics

[Unbound]

where did you get this...sound like what they say about twilo on the fox five 10 o'clock news...silly shit..but i bet there is quite a bit of truth in there.

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AIM: ArthurBrooklyn

TëMA

[majesticmelodi]

wow....wow... really dont know what to say to that

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"Maybe some women aren't meant to be tamed. Maybe they need to run free until they find someone just as wild to run with."

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