An Invitation

To visit and explore my site to discover the history, the geography, the literature, the music, the cinema of Brazil, as well as one of its best kept secrets -- the wonderful 18th-century towns with their baroque art and architecture.

Many of these wonderful historic towns are in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais. Chief among them is Ouro Preto, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This picturesque town, nestled in the mountains, seems frozen in time.  In Ouro Preto you will find many of the masterpieces of Aleijadinho [the Little Cripple, in Portuguese].  He is Brazil's greatest 18th-century baroque artist and architect -- and nowadays a veritable Brazilian icon.

Throughout this site you will also find dozens of links to other highly informative websites devoted to Brazil and its culture.  Also, you'll find dozens of the pictures I took of the colonial towns of Minas Gerais. So, whether you are an armchair traveller, or a prospective visitor to Brazil, or just interested in learning about other cultures,  here you will find a wealth of information about the world's fifth largest country.  Enjoy!

You are listening to Tico-Tico no Fubá, a universally known piece of music by Zequinha de Abreu (1880-1935), one of Brazil's greatest composers of popular music. All his compositions have become Brazilian classics.

Tico-Tico is a typical choro or chorinho, an essentially Brazilian musical genre that had its origins in Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century. In the 1940's Tico-Tico became well-known  in the USA and throughout the world thanks to the Brazilian singer Carmen Miranda (1909-1955), who was one of the greatest promoters of Brazilian popular music outside Brazil.

As for the meaning of the title: Tico-Tico is a tiny bird, very common throughout Brazil. Fubá is Portuguese for corn meal.  Thus, the title means "the little bird in the corn meal."