I am moving to Brazil this summer and would like to be "au fait" with
the culture when I arrive.  I'm already reasonably familiar with
Brazilian musical styles, but I would like to know some more about
Brazilian artists and writers.

As a starting point, how about finding the following:

1)  Top ten selling recordings by Brazilian artists in Brazil in 2001

Please don't tell me the top ten recordings in Brazil - I only want to
know about the Brazilian artists.

2)  Top ten selling Brazilian music artists of all time

3)  Top ten selling books by Brazilian authors in 2001

Titles in Portuguese are fine, but I'd love to know if there's an
English version available as well.

Does Brazil have its own version of the Grammy awards?  Is there a web
site with the winners?

Thanks.  Great idea, these answers...

Dear Sagwalla,

Thank you for your inquiry.

It is always good to prepare yourself for the trip abroad by trying to
understand the peoples whom you will be temporarily living with.  The
fun part of the trip is getting to know and assimilate another
culture’s views.

Sites listed with ** mean they are in Portuguese.



Music

The top selling recordings by Brazilian artists in 2001 can be found
at Hot100@Brasil (http://www.hot100brasil.com/annual2001pt1.html),
which lists the most played songs in Brazil's FM stations compiled
from 265 selected stations in 27 States.

I was a little confused because immediately after you requested the
recordings you specified that you did not want the top ten recording
but want to know about the artists.  For that I have 2 sources for
you.

Brazzil Magazine has a pretty good article database of interviews with
currently popular and legendary Brazilian artisans.

Another good place I found was a website called The Brazillian Sound
(http://www.thebraziliansound.com/linksby.htm ).  This site has a list
of artists and links to either interviews or direct links to the
artist’s websites.

For a listing current popular songs, try going to:
**MusikCity : http://www.musikcity.mus.br/parada.html
Hot100@Brasil: http://www.hot100brasil.com/annual2001pt1.html


Music Awards
Hot100@Brasil lists the winners of the 2001 Music Awards but,
unfortunately, does not lists the name of the awards event.  For the
2001 Music Awards winners, go to:
http://www.hot100brasil.com/awardpage.html

To keep on the newest and greatest on the Brazillian music scene try:

All Brazillian Music:
http://www.allbrazilianmusic.com/en/home/home.asp
** MTV Brasil: http://mtv.uol.com.br/

Hot100@Brasil lists the tops selling hits ever at:
http://www.hot100brasil.com/triviapage.html Hot100@Brasil also has a
history of Brazilian music:
http://www.hot100brasil.com/timemachinemain.html.

I apologize but I could not find the top-selling artists of all time
but there is a link below, which lists a Brazilian music enthusiast
“must have” list. See Extra Credit section for rec.music.brazilian.



Books
After searching all over for what I thought would be a fairly
straightforward, easily found list, I just checked on a site I came
across while surfing through a couple of the music artist’s
biographies.  They kept pointing to a magazine called Brazzil.  After
doing a search on this site for “best selling books,” I came up with
the following information for you.

Brazilian best-seller books, plays and movies in Brazil - Brazilian
Culture - June 2001: http://www.brazzil.com/culjun01.htm

Brazilian best-seller books, plays and movies in Brazil - Brazilian
Culture -
March 2002: http://www.brazzil.com/culmar02.htm

The following article lists all the candidates for the Jabuti
Laureate, Brazil’s most prestigious literary award.  It’s a great
resource because it lists the authors of all the works broken down by
category – romance, short stories, poetry, children’s literature, and
a host of non-fiction categories as well.
http://www.brazzil.com/p05mar02.htm

The 50 Best Brazilian Novels of the 20th Century - Portuguese Language
- Brazilian Literature - September 1998
http://www.brazzil.com/p12sep98.htm



Extra Credit Information

Here is a list of information I came across in my research which I
thought might also be of interest to you.


Music and Books

rec.music.brazilian is a newsgroups dedicated to Brazilian music. 
Here is a link to this newsgroup’s FAQ.  I thought it was nice
resource, which gave direct succinct answers.  I also think from the
quality of this FAQ the newsgroup could be a quality resource for you
to keep up on the current Brazilian music scene.

Richard Miskolci has a site where he lists his favorite Brazilian
books.  He is a native Brazilian. Go to:
http://www.richardmiskolci.slg.br/favbo.htm

“Brazil's best-selling author, dies” is an article from the Houston
Chronicle about the famous Brazilian author, Jorge Amado who recently
passed away.

“Top women writers” by Brazzil magazine:
http://www.brazzil.com/cvroct96.htm


General Culture facts and perspectives

The following site has nice links to topics like: highlights of
Brazilian literature, 11 greatest Brazilian artists of all time,
common popular sayings, movies from Brazil:
http://www.brazilbrazil.com/culture.html

ExecutivePlanet.com has this link which goes over the Brazilian
business culture: http://www.executiveplanet.com/community/default.asp?section=Brazil

FAQ for soc.culture.brasil has a great overview of Brazilian culture:
http://wwwagr.informatik.uni-kl.de/~awangenh/brasfaq.3.0.html

Globo.com is a nice Brazilian general news site.  Thought it would be
a nice way to keep up with happenings in Brazil.  Go to
http://www.globo.com/.  This site is in Portuguese.


Outsider’s perspective of being in Brazil

I thought you might enjoy these slightly humorous articles about how
an Australian has experienced integrating into Brazilian culture.

Brazil - BRAZZIL - An Australian Living in Rio - Brazilian Behavior -
A Foreigner's Impressions - December 1998
http://www.brazzil.com/p40dec98.htm 

An Australian in Rio in a Night Out - Brazilian Behavior - A
Foreigner's Impressions - February 1999
http://www.brazzil.com/p36feb99.htm

There are more in this series on Brazzil if you enjoy these.  Just do
a search on their website!


I hope you have a great time, learn lots, and come to truly appreciate
this unique culture!

Thanks, roguedog - your answer was excellent.  I also appreciate the
extra credit info!

If I confused you, my apologies.  I re-read my question, and it is a
bit ambiguous.  What I was after was the domestic artists - the
Brazilians on the list.  I didn't want to know about the international
pop that is big in Brazil.  If you look at some of the lists, you can
see what I mean.  But just the same, the lists you pointed to were Top
50s, so I can eliminate the foreign stuff myself.

The Brazzil site is a revelation.  Many thanks for linking it!

I didn't get all the lists you asked for. And, believe me, a Top 10
list would never come close to the enormous environment of Brazilian
music, one of the few countries in the world where local artists sell
more than American artists. But I'd like to recommend you a nice
Brazilian site, in English, that covers the contemporary music scene
and also has lots of resources, like a glossary of Brazilian music
styles and artists.

http://www.uol.com.br/allbrazilianmusic/

Literature, however, has a totally different scene. As many Third
World countries, literacy isn't exactly a key characteristic of Brazil
- even if it has been changing in the last years, with the book
publishing business achieving some strenght in a growing market.

If you would like a personal recommendation, I believe you could find
some translated books, searching for the following contemporary
popular authors (I believe they have been translated: they are very
good writers who also are always in the best selling lists): Luís
Fernando Veríssimo, João Ubaldo Ribeiro, Rubem Fonseca.

Always keeping in mind that you may want to find some stuff in English
before you move down here, you could search for some authors that
would give you a nice overview of the country. I believe the following
had been translated: Machado de Assis (a giant, fantastic classic
writer who wrote in the end of the 19th century); Jorge Amado (the
best selling Brazilian writer of all times); Ignácio de Loyola
Brandão; Euclides da Cunha (who wrote Os Sertões); Monteiro Lobato and
Ziraldo (both authores of brilliant, unique children's stories).

Poetry: you may find English translations of the works of the works of
some of my personal favourites, like Manuel Bandeira, Carlos Drummond
de Andrade, Mário Faustino, Murillo Mendes, Vinicius de Moraes and
João Cabral de Mello Neto.

As for a new generation of brilliant writers - many of whom,
unforntunately, haven't had any works translated yet - you should keep
in mind the names of Luiz Ruffato, Rubens Figueiredo, Marçal Aquino
and Fernando Bonassi. Maybe after a while in Brazil you may risk some
pages in Portuguese...

On the issue of Brazilian history, I believe a good idea would be look
for books by Thomas Skidmore, an American scholar who dedicated his
life to Brazil and built a wonderful work about it.

Oh, and there's somebody whose works you'll certainly find in English.
His name is Paulo Coelho and he writes esoteric stories that were
translated in almost every language in the world - recently, I read
that he was on the best selling list of 17 countries or something.
Bill Clinton said once he was reading one of his books. But let me
advise you: his work is a waste of time. It sucks. Big time.

These recomendations are far from complete. But I hope this helps a
little - and that a researcher find the lists you asked for.

Have a nice trip and good luck in Brazil.

Oops. I believe my use of the word "literacy" wasn't exactly correct -
altough the illiteracy levels down here are really alarming, compared
with those of a developed country. The word I should have used is one
I don't know: something to describe a lack of interest of the general
public in literature.

Also, I don't have the faintiest idea about how my comment got posted
twice.

ren222-ga,

Thanks very much for the link to allbrazilianmusic.  I will give it a
look when I have some time.  And also thanks for your recommended
authors, many of whom I haven't heard from.

I'm studying Portuguese at the moment, and hope, at some point during
the year, to be proficient enough to read in the original.  I've
ordered a translation of Os Sertões as well as a copy of
Levi-Strauss's Tristes Tropiques, in English.

You asked about the brazilian grammy awards, I did find a website
which has the results for the grammy awards in 2001 I believe. It is
in another language which I am not familiar with, but maybe you will
be able to translate it. here is the website:
http://www.grammy.org/awards/latin_grammy/
there is another website with the names of musicians and their albums
from latin-america. here is the website:
http://www.grammy.org/awards/latin_hall_fame.html
here is a website which explains the origin of the latin grammy
awards. It is an article actually.
http://www.terra.com/music/articulo/articulo.cfm?ID=MUS533

I am sorry about the last comment I posted about the latin music and
grammy awards, my mistake.