Brazil Nuts : Notes from South America by Tom Phillips

Gauchos in Haiti

Tom Phillips — 2007-10-10

This week's mini-podcast comes from Haiti where I've been spending some time with the Brazilian members of the UN peace mission. Members of the Minustah force generally spend six months in the country and the current batch of Brazilians in Port-au-Prince are gauchos from Santa Maria in Rio Grande do Sul.

Here's a recording of Adriano Andrade, a 25-year-old soldier singing the anthem of his home state with his mates after a hard day patrolling the city's slums. Adriano, as you can imagine, is a regular fixture at the army's regular gaucho style barbecues.

In the name of the Father

Tom Phillips — 2007-07-31

This week the podcast follows an army of frontline evangelical preachers into the heart of Rio's favelas and drug dens. Their mission? To save the lives and souls of the city's teenage drug traffickers - using only the Bible.

The report was originally broadcast on the BBC World Service.

In Her Majesty's Name

Tom Phillips — 2007-07-22

This week the Brazilnuts podcast catches up with Ivan Sant'anna, the Brazilian author of an excellent new book about the life and death of Jean Charles de Menezes.

Exactly 2 years ago, on July 22, 2005, Jean Charles, a Brazilian electrician, was confused with a suicide bomber and killed by British police on the London underground.

Mr Sant'anna spent six months piecing together his last steps for In her Majesty's Name, a critical but deeply humane account of the young Brazilian's death. This is what he had to say about it.

Live in Rio

Tom Phillips — 2007-07-12

Kicking off the Brazilnuts podcast is a live recording of Brazilian singer Thais Villela, alongside bandolim player Henry Lentino and guitarist Marlon Mouzer. Thais happens to be my girlfriend, but Rio's journalists - who have described her as one of the "new divas of Lapa" - like her too. The track is an updated version of Agua de Beber, the Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes classic.

Each week the Brazilnuts podcast will bring you interviews and live recordings from musicians and personalities across Brazil.

Welcome Podcast

Tom Phillips — 2007-05-31

Welcome to brazilnuts! More podcasts featuring the crop of Brazilian music, culture and journalism coming soon.

Invisible Roads

Tom Phillips — 2007-05-29

Interview with the Brazilian journalist Ricardo Linck shown on JBTVabout our trip to the Trans-Iriri, the Amazon's biggest illegal road.

Life drains away from towns built on destruction of the Amazon rainforest

Tom Phillips — 2007-02-10

The clampdown on illegal loggers in Brazil has brought a dramatic decline for local residents.

Route 163: a trip along one of the world's most controversial highways

Tom Phillips — 2007-02-10

Report on the highway in Brazil's Amazonian state of Para.