Well known fact – Brazilians love football. Second well known fact – Brazilians love a party. But you might not realise by just how much that hedonistic party spirit has grown, matured and organised itself in Brazil in recent years. The Brazilian club scene has arrived.

Back in the 1980s, of course, Latin America was dominated by rock. Brazil was no exception, absorbing epic, mullet-fronted guitar music from Europe and the States, before championing its own local thrashers. It wasn’t until the turn of the decade and acid house’s revolutionary explosion that things started to change. Clubs such as Madame Sata and Nation started booking rave-minded DJs, and influential promoters invited the likes of Moby to perform.

At the same time, Brazil’s poorer ‘shanty’ districts were concocting their own electronic sounds; typically, a mix of drum & bass and traditional Brazilian percussive hustle as pioneered by DJ Marky. Despite the global drum & bass scene’s ongoing, well documented instability, Marky has continued to expand his influence both in and outside of South America.

DJ Marky

And over the past decade, Brazil has successfully developed a unique and bona fide clubbing infrastructure; it’s very own nightscape. During the early Noughties, Brazil’s burgeoning interest in dance music would become a welter of innovative, idiosyncratic house, techno, drum & bass and psy-trance sub-scenes, and prompt the launch of several highly individual festivals, clubs and local artists. That seismic evolution is still happening now.

“The big thing is that Brazil was never a country that created its own club music; not in even in the disco era. When you’re not able to create something, usually you copy” one of Brazil’s best recognised house stars DJ Meme explains. “During the early years all we did was to copy, copy, copy, and create a Brazilian scene based on the international one. In the end, copying the international scene was always leading us very far from our local heritage. Everything is very different now, and we are proud to have our own scene and also our own club music.”

When you consider its near continental size, the recent proliferation of nightclubs, promoters, DJs and producers across Brazil is highly impressive. The country is no longer tagged as ‘holiday season only’, being that there’s action whenever and wherever you want it.

“Because Brazil is almost too big, every part of the country has its own solid scene” Meme says. “But I have to admit the southern part is attracting the most attention; places like Floripa, Camboriú and Curitiba are on fire! Most of our best clubs and sound systems are there, not to mention the wonderful crowds.”

Warung Beach Club

Brazilian nightspots including Green Valley, Warung Beach Club and Sao Paulo’s Sirena and D-Edge (the latter owned by popular DJ Ranato Ratier) wield significant clout; enough to attract major overseas names, and forge their own musical ideas. Rio De Janeiro, forever associated with carnival bonhomie by tourists and outsiders, has fallen by the wayside; a place these days for beautiful “daytime” beaches and bars according to Meme. Nevertheless, Rio clubs Privilege (on the city’s furthest outskirts) and The Week still command respectful attention.

Elsewhere, Brazil continues to introduce pioneering new events and festivals. Launched in 2009, the Rio Music Conference (RMC) presents two days of industry-networking and five of high calibre parties fronted by Brazilian and global hotshots alike; it is a fast-growing addition to the international club calendar. Growing at a similar rate is the Future Sounds Of Brazil festival, which, hosted by major Brazilian booking agency 3Plus, shines a spotlight on the country’s smartest newcomers.

“New DJs like André Sarate, Fischetti, Pic Schmitz and the ultimate rising star, Mary Olivetti, are making crowds go insane” Meme animatedly points out. “And then there are the established names like Marky and Patife for drum & bass… Gui Boratto, Anderson Noise and Felguk on the tech-y side; Joe K, Tiko’s Groove and myself on a house tip; not to mention the whole Bailes Funk thing in the favelas [shanty] foothills of Rio – a mix of African Kuduro and old-school Miami freestyle beat. It’s a ‘tribal’ phenomenon. All of Brazil is rocking.”

Mary Olivetti

Rocking safe in the knowledge, too, that global recession hasn’t washed up on Copacabana Beach or anywhere else nearby for that matter. “We’re one of the few places where crisis is not mentioned; we’re the opposite of all that talk,” Meme smiles. “Our economy is growing stronger and we’ve just had two terms of the most popular president in Brazilian history. It’s all made the people stronger, patriotic and loyal and I think this positive feeling has been reflected in our club scene. From a clubbing perspective I’m sure that this year will be our best yet.”

Just don’t mention the Rio carnival, a particularly well-worn touristic symbol of party-hearty Brazil…. “Don’t get me wrong the Carnival is a great tourist product” Meme states, “but it’s a bit naïve to think samba and carnival are everywhere and part of our day-to-day; the real Carnival only happens five days in February or March. The growth of the club scene in Brazil is, in part, a response to these carnival parties because, believe me, not every Brazilian likes them; particularly a large number of our affluent ‘jet-setters’. They’re the ones that have made the club scene so strong; pumping money into new clubs and DJ fees.”

For decades Brazil’s fertile club community has wrestled with the restrictive, stereotypical views of foreigners and, perhaps more galling, their dominant interpretation of Brazilian dance music. The country is finally, it seems, after years of investment, brisk development and accumulative internet-driven accessibility, able to plough its own important clubland furrow.

One thing that has always remained constant, however, is Brazil’s party people. “The energy has always been there” Meme suggests. “It’s the way people react to the music here. No one reacts to club music like Brazilians; the clubs are always packed on the weekend and the beauty of the people is incomparable, just check the pictures! It’s an explosive mixture and we’ve finally learned to harness and market it properly.”

Green Valley

Meme, who started DJing over 30 years ago, and whose extensive, thoroughly distinguished studio career spans everything from mainstream remixes for Mariah Carey and Shakira to underground anthems on Soulfuric and Knee Deep, provides one of two suitably spicy mixes for Defected’s latest double-disc In The House compilation, Brazil 11. He appears alongside Sandy Rivera.

Meme’s relationship with Defected dates back as far as 2005 but the invitation, last autumn, to appear on Brazil 11 was something of a surprise. “It was a curve ball” he recalls. “I was touched… I couldn’t refuse. I’ve created a balance between what I play, what Brazil is like and a true Defected compilation. I feel honoured to be representing my native country right at the time when its club scene is rising up so spectacularly.”

Well known fact - Brazilians love a party. But the party, one feels, is only just beginning….

Words: Ben Lovett

Defected In The House Brazil 11 is out on January 31.