Brasilian Soul Sundays

ZUZUKA PODEROSA is the queen warrior of her own special brand of Baile Funk: CARIOCA BASS

Funk Carioca (another name for Baile Funk, which means "The Funk Ball") originated in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, borrowing heavily from the Miami Booty Bass movement of the 80s; it's just the starting place of the ZUZUKA POWER-sound.

Born in Vitoria, Brazil, ZUZUKA grew up in Rio and spent her formative years in the West Indies in the Caribbean. She later moved to Brooklyn, New York to study jazz vocal improvisation and work at her poetry. For the past few years, she's been building up the underground Baile Funk, Moombahton and Global Bass scene in New York as a DJ, host and bartender.

ZUZUKA collaborates and releases singles with producers from all over the world who mix the past with the future in Sur America-cosmic new ways. She raps and sings in Portuguese, Spanish, English and she likes to say "Body Language", musing provocatively and sarcastically over boomy electric kick drums and Latin percussion.

ZUZUKA makes CARIOCA BASS music. 'Interracial Music Babies' all her own. Her sound is fierce and fun. With a wildly engaging show, she conjures images of hot summer dance parties on gritty Brooklyn rooftops or up in the hills overlooking the sea.


Originally from New York, Pablo77 started Djing in Santa Fe , NM in 1994. Beginning as a Hip-Hop DJ, he then started collecting the original Funk, Soul, Jazz and rare groove records that he heard being sampled by Hip-Hop artists. He has lived and spun in Chicago, Boston and New York City before returning to live in Santa Fe in 2003 where he hosted two shows on Santa Fe public radio KSFR. A Latin music show and a late night variety show where he played everything from Hip-Hop to Punk Rock. He specializes in wide variety of Funk, Soul, Disco, Hip-Hop, Reggae, Jazz, Brazilian and Latin records. He has a collection of self produced mixes that he sells and is currently working on an EP of original beats with RW of the Manchromatic crew.


Batala—an international samba reggae performance group—was founded in Paris in 1997 by Giba Goncalves, a Bahian percussionist (Ilê Aiyê, Olodum, Muzenza, Male Debale, Jimmy Cliff, Tupi Nago, and Kaoma). One of the founders of the Afro Bloco Cortejo Afro, an arts education project to help underserved young people living in poor communities, Goncalves moved to Paris in 1997 and founded Batalá as the European wing of the project. Today, Batala Paris is the oldest of all the international Batala contingents.

Cortejo Afro and Batala share much of the same repertoire and since 1999, Batala groups have performed every year at the Salvador's carnaval as part of Cortejo Afro. From its inception in Paris, individual Batala organizations have sprung up all over the globe in countries as diverse as Brazil, England, Spain, Wales, Portugal, Belgium, Austria, Angola, South Africa, and The Netherlands. In the United States, Batala Washington DC was founded in 2007 and Batala New York City was established in 2011. Batala Houston and Batala San Francisco are currently being formed.

The international movement shares the samba reggae musical arrangements and percussion breaks composed by Goncalves, graphics, costumes, and dance movements. With a worldwide membership of over 800 drummers, the shared musical and artistic models facilitates the various groups to travel from country to country and participate in events together. Batala drums, sticks and mallets, drum straps, and costumes are produced in Salvador at Instituto Oya and Fabrica Batala under a fair trade agreement.

The name Batalá carries a double reference to the phrase "bateu lá," meaning "hit there" in Portuguese and to Obatalá (Oxalá), the Candomblé diety who is the father of the Orixas and of all humanity. Draped in the purity of white, Obatalá is the source of all that is peaceful and compassionate.