Torcida Do Brasil
Torcida Do Brasil
GANGgajang have completed three national tours of Brasil and have made some very good friends along the way.
We’ve played to 20,000 people on the beach at Barra de Tajuca in Rio de Janeiro, survived the “Gruta Azul” (Blue Cave) in Porto Allegre, and in 1995 we even had the honour of meeting the Mamonas Assassinas on, of all places, the Seu Boneco TV show!
GANGgajang performing “Shadow Of Your Love” on their first tour of Brasil in 1995. The clip is a compile of four shows – Rio de Janeiro – Metropolitan – 28/9/95, Sao Paulo – The Olympia – 17/10/95, Curitiba – Aero Anta – 4/10/95, Florianopolis – 6/10/95 (apologies for poor sound quality)
We feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to perform in Brasil. We’ve come to know the people and the culture a little better with each visit and appreciate that Australia and Brasil share more than just the southern cross on their flag and a colonial past.
GANGgajang performing “Sounds Of Then (This Is Australia)” on the surreal “Seu Boneco” show in Rio de Janeiro in 1995.
I know we have brought a bit of Australian culture to Brasil because we met a guy in Curitiba and the only English he could speak was all of the lyrics to the GANGgajang song, “Ambulance Men”!
Without a man by the name of Ricardo Chantilly, I doubt that GANGgajang would ever have been introduced to the Brasilian people. He became aware of our music while he was in Australia judging international surfing competitions. When he got back to Rio he began playing our music on his surf radio show and it connected. He also organised our first couple of tours. Thanks Ricardo! And a special thank you to Marcello, Sergio and Tony.
Our third national tour of Brasil was with three other great Australian bands. Yothu Yindi, Spy V Spy and The Chevelles…and what a tour it was! Robbie James played guitar with Yothu Yindi as well as GANGgajang when their guitarist didn’t show up at Perth airport as we boarded the plane for Brasil. Robbie ended up playing guitar with the Yothus, touring the Australia and the world for the next four and a half years.
Thanks to expat Aussie, Ian Marshall for making it all happen, getting us home alive, and finally locating a set of timbales and also to Marcio for amongst other things, donating his hat!
One of the new songs from our latest album “Oceans and Deserts” is called “Carioca Girl”. Cal and Robbie began writing it in Copacabana in Rio on the first tour of Brasil in 1995 and it is now available at the “GANGshop” on this website
Geoffrey Stapleton has always painted while touring and in 1998 had an exhibition at the Mary Place Gallery in Sydney, Australia, featuring paintings from the first two tours of Brasil. It was called “Inside Alligator Man”, which was inspired by a small clay figurine he discovered in a market in Recife.