WESTSIDE / COVER STORY : SOUTHLAND SAMBA : Immigrant Community’s Diverse Culture of Art, Music, Cuisine and Religion Is Alive on Westside

The drummer’s wrists move quickly as he pounds on the congas in a steady, Afro-Brazilian rhythm. As other band members jump in--singing, shaking rattles and ringing cowbells--a sea of bodies crowd the dance floor, gracefully moving their feet to the samba.

The scene is not from Rio de Janeiro’s Carnaval or a moment from “Black Orpheus,” but a small, steamy nightclub on Pico Boulevard in West Los Angeles.

In recent years, thousands of Brazilian immigrants have made Los Angeles their home, many on the Westside--creating their own cultural niche within one of the world’s most diverse cities. After leaving Sao Paulo, Rio or Bahia in search of opportunity, many are fulfilling their dreams and--like other immigrants--adapting to a new and sometimes lonely stay in America.

They bring with them a unique musical and cultural tradition. It is a tradition influenced not only by European and indigenous cultures but by a strong African legacy uncommon to the rest of South America. It is this mix of peoples and cultures that makes Brazilians unique and adds a certain joie de vivre to Los Angeles’ vast Latino community.

The Brazilian community in Los Angeles is small compared to other Latino immigrant groups. But for the past 10 years, Brazilian immigration to the United States has increased steadily each year, from 1,847 in 1984 to 4,604 in 1993, according to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

As of 1990, more than 5,000 Brazilians--almost half the state’s population from that country--lived in Los Angeles County, according to U.S. Census data. Of these, nearly 25% lived on the Westside.

Why have Brazilians settled on the Westside? Maybe it’s because of the beaches--a cool and sunny reminder of home. Or maybe, as one Brasileira put it, because they “try to be where things are happening.”

Of the six Brazilian cafes and restaurant-clubs in the county, five are on the Westside. Half a dozen Brazilian bands rotate their samba, Brazilian jazz or bossa nova shows among the clubs in West Los Angeles, Venice and Santa Monica.

Many restaurants that feature samba also serve Brazilian cuisine, such as feijoada , one of Brazil’s main dishes--a combination of beans and pork.

The Westside is also home to a Brazilian cultural center and a market that offers products ranging from Brazilian olive oil to an Amazon energy powder.

In addition to food, the Brazilians have brought with them a unique religion.

Although predominantly Roman Catholic, Brazilians observe many other faiths. One is Candomble, which originated in Africa and blends some forms of Catholicism with African religious beliefs.

Aspects of Candomble have been brought to the Westside in performances of Capoeira --an Afro-Brazilian martial art form blending worship, dance and that most important of Brazilian pastimes:

Music.

Imagining Brazil without music is like imagining France without wine. It defines the nation’s soul. And because Brazil has a rich and diverse culture, its music includes virtually endless combinations of rhythms, melodies and harmonies.

“What makes Brazilian music special is that it has the power of African rhythm but it also has the finesse of classical music like Debussy and Ravel. It has the subtlety and harmonies of European influence, but it also has the improvisational surprise of jazz. It is the only music that combines all of these elements,” said Tom Schnabel, host of radio station KCRW’s eclectic music program “Cafe L.A.”

On Pico Boulevard, in a nondescript two-story walk-up called Cafe Danssa, Brazilian singers, dancers and musicians have found a niche for one of their country’s passions: samba.

“Following the release of the movie ‘Zorba the Greek’ [in 1964], there was a surge in interest in Greek folk dancing,” said Dave Blume, who has owned the 30-year-old nightclub for nearly 20 years. “Then in the late ‘70s, the great influx of Israelis to the U.S. produced a huge interest in Israeli folk dancing. Now the Brazilians have started their own ‘nights,’ and they are pretty successful.”

Every Friday and Saturday evening is Brazilian night at Cafe Danssa, with lessons by members of the local Mila samba school, founded three years ago by Louis Ferreira.

“Samba is very popular among Americans here,” said Ferreira, 34. “We started the school with only Brazilians. Today, it is about 80% American and 20% Brazilian.”

Ferreira, who lived on Rio’s famed Copacabana Beach, left his country in 1989 and decided to stay in the United States after touring here with a Brazilian singer. Today, he continues to work as an entertainer. “For me, music is everything,” said the singer-dancer-promoter. “With samba, one cannot listen to it sitting down. You have to stand up and start moving. It is a very sensual music.”

Other Brazilian performers, such as Sonia Santos and Ana Gazzola, have found their own place in the music world with Afro-Brazilian jazz--a fusion of reggae, funk and samba.

“Music is the strongest feeling inside my heart,” said Santos, a husky contralto who personifies the African legacy of Brazil. “I tried journalism and [studying] law, but my strongest feelings were for music.” The Rio native was the lead singer in the popular Brazilian musical show “Oba Oba” four years ago.

“We have more opportunities here,” said Santos, 51. “It is like being in the center of the world. The whole world looks [to Los Angeles].”

Although some Brazilians are accomplishing lifelong goals, others are sharing the more familiar immigrant experience--working many jobs to survive.

Five days a week, Mario Massinelli, 46, drives a truck for a living. On weekends, he gives private tours to Disneyland and promotes Brazilian concerts.

“You have to make ends meet and at the same time try to develop your professional future,” said the Sao Paulo native, who moved to California 24 years ago. Now married with year-old twins, Massinelli said he can no longer just hope to make it in the entertainment industry.

Despite having to work three jobs to provide for his family, he said he is grateful to live in California. “This is where I found my education,” said Massinelli, who has a political science degree from Cal State Los Angeles. “Anything I have wanted to do, I have had the opportunity to do.”

As surely as music inspires Brazil’s spirit, food nourishes its soul. And locally, Brazilian food is plentiful. The adventurous can choose from about half a dozen restaurants and one Brazilian supermarket to sample the country’s cuisine.

The recipes range from red snapper sauteed in coconut milk, bell peppers and onions at the funky, colorful Zabumba restaurant in West Los Angeles to a combination plate of grilled steak, pork and sausage served with yucca flour at By Brazil 2 in Santa Monica.

At Bossa Nova in West Hollywood, the menu includes shrimp croquettes or green vegetables sauteed and served with black beans, rice and fried plantains (bananas). And at Super Mercado Brasil, a tiny Brazilian market in West Los Angeles, customers can buy anything from magazines to music and rent videos profiling a week in review in Brazil.

The market, which opened three months ago, was founded by non-Brazilians.

“Believe it or not, I’ve never been to Brazil,” said owner Martha Cantt, who was born in Nicaragua. “This happened as a need. We provided immigration and tax services to Brazilians, and people would ask: ‘Do you have sugar, coffee and newspapers?’ ”

So Martha and her husband, Enrique, who is from Peru, opened the market offering customers all kinds of goods from Brazil, including a popular energy powder called guarana , which comes from the seed of an Amazon tree.

Another integral part of Brazilian culture is Capoeira. Brought to Brazil by African slaves, it endured as a means of survival and resistance. Throughout the period of colonization, African slaves would practice Capoeira to distract their owners during an escape or as a means of self-defense.

The martial art enabled freed slaves to maintain their own colonies, called quilombos , for nearly a century. Capoeiristas were the warriors, the first line of defense when the independent black republics were attacked by the Portuguese. Candomble was practiced in these communities.

Three hundred years later, despite colonial attacks and attempts by the military government to outlaw the practice of Capoeira , the tradition continues.

Amen Santo, 30, continues that tradition. He was mesmerized by Capoeira at age 6 when he saw it being practiced by a neighbor in his hometown of Bahia. Yet, making a living as a Capoeirista in Brazil was impossible, so he sold limes on the street to survive.

Ten years ago, when he was offered the opportunity to perform with New York’s Caribbean Cultural Center, he jumped at it. But he found East Coast weather unbearable, so he made his way to Los Angeles and brought his art form with him.

“When I saw [ Capoeira ] for the first time, I loved it so much I begged my mother to take me to a place where I could learn,” said Santo. “I love the movements and the connection between the music, the dance and the martial art.”

Santo, who lives in West Los Angeles with his wife, Amy, and their two children, is the founder of the Brasil Brasil Cultural Center and artistic director of the Ballet Folclorico Do Brasil. At the center, in a rented space at Santa Monica Airport, Santo and his troupe practice Capoeira and teach it to non-Brazilians.

The center also offers Afro-Brazilian dance classes and music instruction. Members of the ballet, in conjunction with the Los Angeles Music Center’s Education Division, offer Capoeira classes and performances at Los Angeles Unified School District schools.

Although Capoeira has become a source of modest income for Santo, the practice remains spiritual and a source of pride in his African ancestry. Like most Capoeiristas, Santo practices Candomble and incorporates it into the performances.

At the beginning of each performance, the dancers pray to the spirits, called Orixas, that represent, among other things, purity, beauty, strength and peace.

“They bring a lot of strength,” said Santo, a powerfully built man with a gentle demeanor. “You know when the spirits enter you [through] the way you act. You feel their power and their influence.”

Yet at times Santo feels his spirit wane as he thinks of home and family.

“I miss my friends, my family, my community. Over there everybody knows you and they care about each other,” he said. “Here it’s different. I live in an apartment and I don’t know my neighbors. In Brazil, you talk, you touch people.”

Sandra Zeminian knows what he means.

Although she has a successful ceramic art studio in Venice, the Sao Paulo native said she often yearns for the people of Brazil. “I miss the feeling, the warmness of the people,” she said.

One way of remembering Brazil is through her art. One of her most popular designs features a Bahiana , a woman from Bahia. To Zeminian, Bahiana symbolizes Brazilian sensuality, with full lips and a long, slender body surrounded by a sea of blue or banana leaves in the background.

“I can live without Brazil,” she said, “but I can’t live without Brazilians.”

She has found those Brazilians here as well as a diverse circle of friends. She also has a family--an American husband and two American-born children. Her life, she says, is full.

“I like my life here,” she said. “Each time I go back to Brazil, I realize this is where I belong.”