Prototropic 0.1: Honolulu and Rio

New Epicenter(s) | Prototropic 0.1 / Dimitri Damiel Kim
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...In Janeiro
My first impression of Rio de Janeiro was through music; through smooth, blues filed ballads and roll of
Antonios Carlos Jobim’s ‘Insensatez’ and the ‘Girl from Ipanema’ or the euphoric dance trope of Solid Session’s
‘Janeiro’; together, these songs described to me, a place, somewhere far and never seen (except in dreams and
fiction), but warm, beautiful, and timeless.
The very first depiction of Rio came through the cinemas; through violent and bloody, coming of age stories of
children and gangs of favelas in ‘City of God’ or the equally violent drama about corruption in “Elite Troops’.
In spite of these contrasts, the latter visualization did not deter my idealized view of Bossa Nova 1 Rio; it was
ever on my yearning desire to journey there. After all, it was like another Hawaii...
More Samba, less Nova
In 2012, I was finally able to travel and see the city for the first time as a grad student at Columbia University,
researching on Rio for an architectural project. I visited both favelas (slums) in Tijucina to the affluent and
gated neighborhood of Ipanema and Barra da Tijuca, and to my surprise, Rio was infinitely more exotic than I
had ever envisioned and imagined, impenetrable and imperceptible to the outside world.
Due to contrasts and contradictions, including sharp divide between the rich and the poor, the generosity
of people, endemic violence, new high-rises, and slums, no single description can accurately describe the
complexity that could untether the simple, postcard image of the sun and bikini soaked-Rio, the grand ‘Cristo
Redentor’ (Christ the Redeemer) statue-Rio, and the auspicious warning siren of Favela and violent cinema-Rio.
And to my dismay, no one in Rio played Bossa Nova, which many locals deemed, too bourgeois (working class
people prefer Samba).
1. Bos·sa no·va, in Portuguese, literally meaning,“new trend” is a popular genre
of music originating from the beaches of Rio de Janeiro that combines samba
percussion with classical guitar, fused with jazz and blues notes and ballads.