Music Union : Live Your Music

Mariana Knabben, Brazilian, Journalist

It was New Year’s Eve, and I’m still in Brazil celebrating this wonderful time at the beach with my family. My sister and I decided to go out after 12am as it’s a rule over here. Nobody stays at home, especially in Brazil, where we can party until the sun is risen. The place? A club called “Bali Hai”, only 0.3 mile away from our beach house. The crowd? Young, very young, an average of 3.000 people all night. The music? All kinds, including 3 DJ’s (1 pop/hip-hop, 1 electronic, 1 Brazilian country) and a live band.

Bali Hai was the summer club Fernanda, my sister, and I used to go when we were teenagers and now who goes all the time is my younger brother, Fabio. Anyway, we celebrated the passage with champagne in our heads, watched the fireworks – a tradition here, like wearing white in this particular day – , and greeted everybody when the watches turned 12am. Around 1:30am, we left to the club, the time everything is closing in LA. Brazil’s night life is much better than LA’s one without comparison.

We had lots of fun, remembering our old times. First, we agreed to go check it out the place, see what has changed through times. Some of the structure and the decoration definitely changed, got improved, but the main idea was still the same. Then, and far the most important, the music. There’s one thing we were most sure we wouldn’t go was inside the dance floor with Brazilian country music. We both hate it!! So, we ended up with 3 options.

First one, the band called “Lizby”. They were pretty good playing pop music in general, mixing old pop music like U2 and new one like Lady Gaga. It was fun taking the fact they played some old Brazilian pop music that I’m tired of hearing it! During their break, we went to the bar to get some drinks and that’s how we found out we’re a little too old for this. To get a cocktail we had to go searching every bar at the club, because each one sells different kinds of alcohol. Finally, we got there, the last bar, of course. As we stayed in line about 6 feet from the cashier with the menu on top, we couldn’t read what it says. Fernanda asked me, “What’s that drink? Made with Brazilian Rum?” And I was like, “I’m not sure, it looks like, but I can’t really read it”. I stayed in line, but my sister got very close to the menu, so she could decide what she wanted. It was so funny and embarrassing at the same time.

                                  Mari & Fer

Well, we got back to the band and enjoyed the rest of it. When they finished around 4am, we jumped to the pop/hip hop dance floor. I like it a lot to dance and dance and dance. It was one of the best moments, and they still mix old hip hop songs like “Got What You Need” by Eve and relatively new ones like “Watcha Say” by Jason Derulo, among others artist like Britney Spears, Madonna and national ones. Out of the sudden, I look to my side and see a friend that I haven’t seen him, since I left Brazil, almost three years ago. I couldn’t believe! It was too good to be true, but it was. We hugged, chatted and danced together. What a best way to begin the year!

The club was still crowded by 5am. You could see everything distributed in a huge space, from dancing to making out, all that with a gorgeous view of the beach… That’s the Brazilian way… Fer and I stayed until the sun was rising and the music still rolling, around 6am… For these two “old ladies” we literally had more fun than we expected because of the music. It made all the difference!