Favelas, AfroReggae & Brazil

Brazil’s musical group AfroReggae was born of the streets of Rio de Janiero’s hard-life shanytowns, or favelas.

Now, AfroReggae is trying to give back — to give inspiration, hope, pride and a path to youth surrounded by too much violence, drugs, and poverty.

It's culture versus violence in the tough streets of Rio. We hear AfroReggae and explore Rio’s favelas.
-Tom Ashbrook
Note: This show was first broadcast March 12, 2010.

Guests:

Damian Platt, co-author of “Culture Is Our Weapon: Making Music and Changing Lives in Rio de Janerio.” He was a human rights researcher for Amnesty International in Brazil from 1997 to 2005, and from 2006 to 2008 he was coordinator for international partnerships at AfroReggae.

Dario Borim, associate professor and chair of the department of Portuguese at UMass-Dartmouth. He hosts a weekly live radio program called Brazilliance, dedicated to the music of Brazil.