How electrofunk 'dribbled' backcountry prejudice and invaded parties across the interior of the country

DJ Jiraya UAI and MC Jacaré, highlights of electrofunk
Reproduction/Instagram
The mix of tambourazão and funk voices with the beat of house or electronic EDM became a guaranteed presence at street parties in the interior of Brazil. Once niche and peripheral, electrofunk has become the "darling" genre at country parties and on the country's most listened to music lists.
Currently, names like DJ Brenno Paixão, DJ Jiraya UAI, MC Jacaré and Jeninho stand out and tour the country singing hits like "Chapeluda", "Ela Carrega Minha Bolsa" and "Rua de Ouro" - the latter occupied the top 50 on Spotify last week.
No However, even with more than a decade of history, it was only in the last five years that the genre managed to overcome the prejudice of the more traditional country folk and stop playing only on sound cars and reach the main events in the interior.
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"It's funk, but it's not funk"
Electrofunk mixes many elements and, even those who work with the genre, have difficulty explaining its characteristics.
"It's a funk that's not funk, it's funk but it's not funk. There's more electronic music", tries to summarize DJ Jiraya UAI. However, it is worth highlighting that funk is also electronic music.
The big difference lies in the clearer elements of what is considered traditional electronic music, the "putz putz" that is heard more at raves than at favela dances.
With lyrics that talk about life in the countryside, electrofunk became a rage at street parties and sound walls in the early 2010s, especially in the Central-West states.
The point of departure turning point
At the turn of the decade, songs like "Pipoco", by Ana Castela with Melody, and "Ela Pirou na Dodge Ram", by Luan Pereira with MC Ryan SP, put electrofunk in the repertoire of two of the main artists of the genre, breaking a niche bubble.
But the barrier still needed to be broken within the circle of rodeos and fairs, as well as making more conservative country artists understand the importance of the new generation. In the beginning, there were a lot of artists that I really didn't like, mostly because of the view that the lyrics were bad and so on. There are still people who look the other way, but the majority saw that there are good kids, doing really cool work", comments Luan Pereira.
"I even understand that the more traditional people don't want to see them at parties, but the electrofunk people have a lot of respect for country folk too, they know the importance of their roots."
Especially in the post-pandemic period, the main ones. Agricultural fairs and rodeo festivals in the country now have a guaranteed presence of artists singing or playing electrofunk in the lineup, attracting a younger audience and also interspersing new rhythms without giving up the connection with country music.
To give you an idea, this will be the third year in a row for DJ Jiraya UAI at the Peão de Barretos party. He will share the stage with Eduardo Costa and Paula Fernandes, Maria Cecília & Rodolfo, Kaique & Felipe.
Offline technology
One of the great differences of electrofunk is the dynamic dissemination of music using pen drive technology.
It is through devices that DJs and artists promote their work at street parties.
It's not as if platforms like Spotify and, especially, YouTube, which offers many playlists with remixes of the genre, weren't important for the work of connecting with the public. But pen drives are more popular as they work 100% offline and are easier to reproduce on the sound walls that play at public events.
"The culture of car audio is very strong, people put the "sonzões" on the doors of their cars - I myself have a full truck. And, like, the best quality to listen to the music there is on the pen drive", explains DJ Brenno Paixão, one of the big names in electrofunk.
"The guys go there, download it on YouTube and put it on the pen drive, because there are a lot of sound machines in Goiás, Paraná, in the interior of Brazil in general. People like to use their pen drive and walk around the city playing the best playlist."
The MC Jacaré "factor"
MC Jacaré - Friday, 27/02 - Funk closes Friday with energy
Disclosure
If the top of Spotify, the country's main streaming platform, is dominated by country music and funk, MC Jacaré managed to find the middle way and put electrofunk as a highlight.
Born and raised in Goiânia, he saw in funk a chance to make a living from music.
"I love country music, I play the viola, I play the guitar, I really like modão, but producing country music is a more expensive investment. Now, in funk, for example, I have a song that has 100 million views and I recorded the voice on my cell phone. In addition to the ease of producing, I also really like funk. Nowadays, there's no way you can go to a party and not play funk, right?", he told g1, during an interview in 2022.
Jacaré's success with electrofunk songs caught the attention of funk names from São Paulo, such as MC Ryan SP, with whom he released songs like "Posso À Não Te Dar Flores", a summer hit with hundreds of millions of plays on streaming platforms.
However, even with his national success, Jacaré didn't make the move to move. for the RJ-SP axis. He remained in his hometown, opened his own production company (Croco Hits) and became a music reference in the region
"Today, an artist can make a living from electrofunk. There is a producer focused on the genre, an artist who only sings that. It's no longer a niche thing that people look at crookedly. And I believe it will only grow", says Jiraya UAI.

Source: G1