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Ipanema

Ipanema

Ipanema is a district located on the southern zone of the city Rio de Janeiro, between Leblon and Arpoador. The beach at Ipanema was immortalized in the song Girl from Ipanema, written by Antonio Carlos Jobim and performed by Jobim, João and Astrud Gilberto, and Stan Getz.

Character

Ipanema is a five minute walk from Copacabana beach but it's worlds apart. Gone are the sleazy prostitute bars and sex tourism and in are lots of classy boutiques and chic cafes. Ipanema is not quite as upscale a neighbourhood as Leblon or Barra da Tijuca, but it is still expensive and well-policed.

The Beach

The beach in Ipanema is well-known throughout the world. Its name is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guarani#The_language Tupi Guarani] word meaning "bad waters" as the locale is notorious for dangerous currents and few fish. Despite the capricious currents, the view and atomosphere are considered supreme. Populated with tiny-bikini clad bodies and lots of rich Brazilian youth, the beach is a symbol of pleasure and wealth. Two hills known as the 'Two Brothers' rise at the western end of the beach. The beach is marked into segments with points known as postos. Posto 8 marks the beginning of what is considered the gay stretch of beach, which lasts up until Posto 9, which is known for the illicit smoking of marijuana. There are always circles of people playing football, volleyball, and footvolley, a combination sport unique to Brazil.

Nightlife

Ipanema has a few bars that attract a crowd, though considered somewhat touristic and mainstream. There are a couple of Irish bars - a current craze in South America - and small cafes known as botequim where Brazilians like to sit, drink, eat, and chat. On Rua de Maria Quiteria there is the popular bar the Emporio, where the crowd often pours out onto the street. It closes at 4am, but with Ipanema's all-the-time partying atmosphere, many people still drift down to one of the kiosks on the beach after closing.

Safety

Although Ipanema may look like a paradise of the rich, there are still two favelas or slums close by and there is still a subtantial risk of crime, especially at night. Although it's fairly safe during the day, there are still risks walking at night, especially near or on the hills close to the favelas.

External links


- [http://www.ipanema.com Ipanema Nightlife] - A rundown of Carioca culture
- [http://www.roadjunky.com/brazil/beachlife_brazil.shtml Guide to Beach life in Brazil] - Brazilian culture on the sands Category:Rio de Janeiro neighborhoods Category:Beaches of Brazil

Rio de Janeiro

:This article is about the city called Rio de Janeiro. For the state with the same name, see Rio de Janeiro (state). Rio de Janeiro (state)' song The Girl from Ipanema]] The Girl from Ipanema The Girl from Ipanema of Rio de Janeiro]] Rio de Janeiro (meaning River of January in Portuguese), pron. IPA // in Brazilian Portuguese and / in European (African and Asian) Portuguese) is the name of both a state and a city in south-eastern Brazil. Commonly known as just Rio (particularly in English), the city is considered by many to be amongst the most beautiful cities in the world. It is famous for the hotel-lined tourist beaches Copacabana and Ipanema, for the giant statue of Jesus, known as Christ the Redeemer ('Cristo Redentor') atop the Corcovado mountain, and for its yearly Carnival celebration. It also has the biggest forest inside an urban region, called Floresta da Tijuca, or 'Tijuca Forest'. Rio de Janeiro is located at 22 degrees, 54 minutes south latitude, 43 degrees 14 minutes west longitude (). The population of the city of Rio de Janeiro is about 6,150,000 (as of 2004), occupying an area of 1256 km² (485 mi²). The larger metropolitan area population is estimated at 10-13 million. It is Brazil's second-largest city after São Paulo and was the country's capital until 1960, when Brasília took its place. Residents of the city are known as Cariocas. The city's current mayor is Cesar Maia.

History

The area where Rio de Janeiro is now was reached in January of 1502 by Portuguese explorers in an expedition led by Portuguese explorer Gaspar de Lemos. As the Europeans thought primarily that the Guanabara Bay was actually the mouth of a river, they called it Rio de Janeiro, which means January River. The actual city wasn't founded until March 1, 1565, by Portuguese knight Estácio de Sá, who called it São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro (St. Sebastian of the January River), in honour of King Sebastian I of Portugal. For centuries, the settlement was commonly called São Sebastião - or even 'Saint Sebastian' - instead of the currently popular second half of its name. It was frequently attacked by pirates and privateers, especially by then enemies of Portugal, such as the Netherlands and France. In the late 16th century the Portuguese crown began treating the village as a strategic location for the Atlantic transit of ships between Brazil, the African colonies and Europe. Fortresses were built and an alliance was formed with nearby native tribes to defend the settlement against invaders - Rio's neighbour, Niterói, for instance, was founded by a native chief for the purpose of supporting defence. Niterói] The exact place of Rio's foundation is at the foot of Pão-de-Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain). Later, the whole city was moved within a palisade on top of a hill, imitating the medieval European defence strategy of fortified castles - the place has since then been called Morro do Castelo (Castle Hill). Thus, the city developed from the current centre (Centro, see below) southwards and then westwards; an urban movement which continues today. Until early in the 18th century the city was threatened or invaded by several - mostly French - pirates and buccaneers, such as Jean-François Duclerc, René Duguay-Trouin and Nicolas de Villegaignon. After 1720, when the Portuguese found gold and diamonds in the neighbouring captaincy of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro became a much more useful port for exporting wealth than Salvador, Bahia, which is much farther to the north. In 1763, the colonial administration in Portuguese America was moved to Rio. The city remained mostly a colonial capital until 1808, when the Portuguese royal family and most of the Lisbon nobles, fleeing from Napoleon's invasion of Portugal, moved to Rio de Janeiro. The kingdom's capital was transferred to the city, which, thus, became the only European capital outside of Europe. As there was no physical space or urban structure to accommodate hundreds of noblemen who arrived suddenly, many inhabitants were simply evicted from their homes. When Prince Pedro I proclaimed the independence of Brazil in 1822, he decided to keep Rio de Janeiro as the capital of his new empire, but, by then, the city region was losing importance - economic and political - to São Paulo. São Paulos in Rio, it was built in the 1920s]] Until the early years of the 20th century the city was largely limited to the neighbourhood now known as the historic Centro business district (see below), on the mouth of Guanabara Bay. The city's centre of the gravity began to shift south and west to the so-called Zona Sul (South Zone) in the early part of the 20th century, when the first tunnel was built under the mountains located between Botafogo and the neighbourhood now known as Copacabana. That beach's natural beauty, combined with the fame of the Copacabana Palace Hotel, in the 1930s the luxury hotel of the Americas, helped Rio to gain the reputation it still holds today as a beachy party town (though, this reputation has been somewhat tarnished in recent years by favela violence resulting from the narcotics trade). Rio was maintained as Brazilian capital in 1889, when the military overthrew of the monarchy and imposed a republic. However, plans for moving the nation's capital city to the territorial centre were considered off and on, until finally in 1955 president Juscelino Kubitschek was elected, promising to build a new capital. Though many thought that it was just campaign rhetoric, Kubitschek managed to have Brasília built, at great cost, by 1960. On April 21 that year the capital of Brazil was officially moved from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília. Between 1960 and 1975 Rio was a city-state (such as Hamburg in Germany) under the name State of Guanabara (after the bay it borders). However, for administrative and political reasons, a presidential decree known as A Fusão (The Fusion) removed the city's federative status and merged it with the state of Rio de Janeiro in 1975. Even today, some cariocas claim the return of municipal autonomy.

City districts

cariocas The city is commonly divided into the historic centre (Centro); the tourist-friendly South Zone, with world-famous beaches; the industrial North Zone; the West Zone; and the newer Barra da Tijuca region.

Centro

Centro is the historic centre of the city. Sites of interest include both the historic Church of the Candelária and the modern-style cathedral, the Municipal Theatre and several museums. Centro remains the heart of the city's business community. The "Bondinho", a tram, leaves from a city centre station, crosses a former Roman-style aqueduct - the 'Arcos da Lapa', built in 1750 and converted to a tram viaduct in 1896 - and rambles through the hilly streets of the Santa Teresa neighbourhood nearby.

South Zone

aqueduct The South Zone of Rio de Janeiro is composed of several districts, amongst which are São Conrado, Leblon, Ipanema, Arpoador, Copacabana and Leme, which compose Rio's famous beach coastline. Other districts in the South Zone are Botafogo, Flamengo and Urca, which border Guanabara Bay and Lagoa, Gávea, Jardim Botânico and Laranjeiras, which are inlands. The neighbourhood of Copacabana beach hosts one of the world's most spectacular New Year's Eve parties ("Reveillon"), as more than two million revellers crowd onto the sands to watch the firework display. As of 2001, the fireworks have been launched from boats, to improve the safety of the event. To the north of Leme, and at the entrance to Guanabara bay, lies the district of Urca and the Sugarloaf Mountain ('Pão de Açúcar'), whose name describes the famous hump rising out of the sea. The summit can be reached via a two-stage cable car trip from Praia Vermelha, with the intermediate stop on Morro da Urca. It offers views second only to Corcovado mountain. One of the highest mountains in the city, however, at 842 metres, is the Pedra da Gávea (Topsail Rock), in São Conrado. Hang gliding is a popular activity on the nearby peak, called Pedra Bonita (Beautiful Rock) - after a short flight, they land on the Praia do Pepino beach in São Conrado. Since 1961, the Tijuca forest ("Floresta da Tijuca"), the largest urban forest in the world, has been a National Park.

North Zone

National Park The North Zone of Rio is home to the Maracanã stadium, still the world's highest capacity football (soccer) venue, able to hold nearly 200,000 people (the biggest stadium of any type is located in Prague, Czech Republic. However, it is not suitable for football). In modern times the capacity has been reduced to conform with modern safety regulations and the stadium has introduced seating for all fans. Currently undergoing renovation, it will eventually hold around 120,000 people. Maracanã will be the site for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and football competition of the 2007 Pan-American Games. Besides the Maracanã, the North Zone of Rio also holds other tourist and historical attractions, such as 'Manguinhos', the home of Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, a centenarian biomedical research institution, with its main building fashioned like a Moorish castle, and the beautiful 'Quinta da Boa Vista', the old imperial palace (Paço), which is now the National Museum. The International Airport of Rio de Janeiro (Galeão–Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport), the main campus of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro at the Fundão Island, and the Governador Island are also located in the Northern part of Rio.

West Zone

The West Zone is the region furthest from the centre of Rio de Janeiro. It includes Barra da Tijuca, Jacarepaguá, Campo Grande, Santa Cruz and Bangu. Neighbouring districts within the West Zone reveal stark differences between social classes. The area has industrial zones, but some agricultural areas still remain in its wide area. To the west of the older zones is Barra da Tijuca, a flat expanse of formerly undeveloped coastal land, which is currently experiencing a wave of new construction. It remains an area of accelerated growth, attracting some of the richer sectors of the population as well as luxury companies. High rise flats and sprawling shopping centres give the area a far more Americanised feel than the crowded city centre. The urban planning of the area, made in the late 1960s, resembles that of United States' suburbs, though mixing zones of single-family houses with residential skyscrapers. The beaches of Barra da Tijuca are also popular with the city's residents. Barra da Tijuca is the home of Pan-American Village for the 2007 Pan American Games. Beyond the neighbourhoods of Barra da Tijuca and Jacarepaguá another district, which has exhibited good economic growth, is that of Campo Grande. Some sports competitions in the Pan-American Games of 2007 will be held in the Miécimo da Silva Sports Centre, nicknamed the 'Algodão' (Cotton) Gymnasium, and others in the Ítalo del Cima Stadium, in Campo Grande.

Social conditions

:Main article: Favela Favela] Rio is typical of the rest of Brazil in that there are enormous disparities between rich and poor. Though the city clearly ranks among the world's major metropolises, a significant proportion of the city's 13 million inhabitants lives amidst poverty. The worst of the poorer areas are the slums and shanty towns known as 'favelas'; often crowded onto the hillsides, where sturdy buildings are difficult to build, and accidents, mainly from heavy rainfall, are frequent. The favelas are troubled by widespread drug-related crime, gang warfare and other poverty-related social issues. A unique aspect of Rio's favelas is their incredible proximity to the city's wealthiest districts. Upper-class neighbourhoods such as Ipanema and Copacabana are squeezed in between the beach and the hills, the latter of which are covered with poor neighbourhoods. It is common for a flat in a wealthy district to face the ocean and beach at the front and to face poor slums at the back. The American School of Rio, the most expensive private school in the city, is located literally within a stone's throw of Rocinha, South America's largest slum, with an estimated population of 200,000; the school's basketball courts and classrooms are visible from the slum.

Carnival

The carnival in Rio de Janeiro has many choices, including the famous 'Escolas de Samba' parades in the sambódromo exhibition centre and the popular 'blocos de carnaval', which parade in almost every corner of the city. The most famous ones are the following:
- Cordão do Bola Preta: Parades in the centre of the city. It is one of the most traditional 'blocos de carnaval'.
- Ipanema's Gand: Gay parade, which goes along the Ipanema beach area.
- Suvaco do Cristo: Band that parades in the Botanic Garden, directly below the Redeemer statue's arm. The name, in English, translates as 'Christ's armpit', and was chosen for that reason.
- Carmelitas: Band that was supposedly created by nuns, but in fact it is just a theme chosen by the band. It parades in the hills of Santa Teresa, which have very nice views.

Sports

Rio de Janeiro will host the 2007 Pan-American Games. More notable sports events in Rio includes the MotoGP Brazilian Grand Prix and the World Beach volleyball finals. Jacarepaguá was the place of Formula One Brazilian Grand Prix into 1978-1990. WCT/WQS Surf championships was disputed on the beaches from 1985-2001. The city is building a new stadium near the Maracanã, to hold 45,000 people. It will be named after Brazilian ex-FIFA president João Havelange. Rio de Janeiro was also a candidate for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Copacabana beach will be the site of the triathlon and beach volleyball with yachting competitions held in Guanabara Bay. Sports are a very popular pastime in Rio de Janeiro. The most popular is futebol (football/soccer). Rio de Janeiro is home to four traditional Brazilian football clubs: Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense and Vasco. Other popular sports are beach football, beach volleyball, surfing, hang gliding, motor racing, jiu-jitsu, recreational sailing, and sport rowing. The peculiarly Brazilian dance/sport/martial art Capoeira is also popular. Capoeira Rio de Janeiro is also a paradise for rock climbers, with hundreds of routes all over the town, ranging from easy boulders to highly technical big wall climbs, all inside the city. The most famous, Rio's granite mountain, the Sugar Loaf (Pao-de-Açucar), is an example, with routes from the easy 3rd grade (American 5.4, French 3) to the extremely difficult 9th grade (5.13/8b), up to 280 metres. Hang gliding in Rio de Janeiro started in the mid 70’s and quickly proofed to be perfectly suited for this town due to its geography with steep mountains encountering the Atlantic ocean which provides excellent take off locations and great landing zones on the beach. Starting with amateur flights, this activity soon turned into a profitable industry of tandem hang gliding with some very experienced pilots at a cost for a ride around US$ 100.00. In the Summer, between December and March, it’s recommended to book in advance.

Airports


- Galeão International Airport
- Santos Dumont Regional Airport

Famous cariocas

The 'Cariocas', as residents of Rio de Janeiro are popularly called in Brazil, have made extensive contributions to Brazil's history, culture, music, literature, education, science, technology etc. - particularly when Rio de Janeiro was the federal capital and a great hub of Brazilian growth and innovation in all these areas. Some important Cariocas, who were born in Rio, are:
- Adolfo Lutz, physician and scientist
- Bruno Barreto, film director
- Carlos Chagas Filho, physician and scientist
- Carlos Lacerda, politician, governor of Rio
- Carolina Solberg Salgado, beach volleyball player
- Chico Buarque, composer, singer and writer
- Fernanda Montenegro, actress
- Fernando Henrique Cardoso, sociologist, twice president of Brazil
- Heitor Villa-Lobos, classic composer and regent
- Ivo Pitanguy, plastic surgeon
- Jô Soares, television entertainer and writer
- Machado de Assis, writer
- Milton Nascimento, singer and composer
- Oscar Niemeyer, architect
- Paulo Coelho, writer
- Emperor D. Pedro II
- Baden Powell, composer and musician (guitar)
- Romário, football player
- Ronaldo, football player
- Sérgio Vieira de Mello, diplomat
- Silvio Santos, entrepreneur, media mogul and television entertainer
- Tom Jobim, composer and musician, one of the creators of Bossa Nova
- Vinicius de Morais, writer, poet and musician
- Walter Salles, film director
- Zico, former football player, currently the Japanese national football team's coach.

Miscellaneous

In 1992 the city hosted the UNCED Earth Summit on Sustainable development. Rio has also been used as a backdrop for many films, such as 007 Moonraker (1979), Blame It on Rio (1984), Bossa Nova (2000), and City of God (2002). In The Simpsons episode Blame it on Lisa, the family visited Rio de Janeiro, only to encounter a myriad of ludicrously exaggerated problems. The episode angered several tourist officials and they threatened to sue the producers of the show. The Harbour of Rio de Janeiro was declared one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World by CNN.

See also


- List of Mayors of Rio de Janeiro

Sister cities


- Acapulco, Mexico
- Kobe, Japan

External links


- [http://www.rio.rj.gov.br Official homepage] (Portuguese)
- [http://eayearbooks.com/rio_images.htm Images of Rio— Hundreds of images from the 1920s to the present]
- [http://transito.rio.rj.gov.br/ Rio De Janeiro Webcams]
- [http://www.rio.rj.gov.br/riotur/en/ Riotur]
- [http://www.puc-rio.br/ PUC-Rio] - the Pontifical University of Rio de Janeiro
- [http://www.coppe.ufrj.br/ COPPE/UFRJ] - the largest post-graduate and research centre of Engineering in Latin America (part of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro-[http://www.ufrj.br UFRJ])
- [http://www.uerj.br/ UERJ] - University of Rio de Janeiro State
- [http://www.unirio.br/ UNIRIO] - Another federal university located in Rio de Janeiro
- [http://www.wikitravel.org/en/article/Rio_de_Janeiro_(city) Rio de Janeiro at Wikitravel] Rio de Janeiro Category:Rio de Janeiro state Category:Coastal cities
- ja:リオデジャネイロ市

Leblon

Leblon (whose name comes from the name of a French settler) is an affluent neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, just west of Ipanema, another neighborhood in that city. Category:Rio de Janeiro neighborhoods Category:Beaches of Brazil

Girl from Ipanema

"The Girl from Ipanema" ("Garota de Ipanema") is considered the best-known bossa nova song ever written, and was a worldwide hit in the mid-1960s. It was written in 1962, with music by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Portuguese lyrics by Vinicius de Moraes; English lyrics were later written by Norman Gimbel. It is often claimed to be the second-most recorded popular song in history, topped only by The Beatles' "Yesterday". The best-known version is that performed by Stan Getz and João Gilberto with vocals by Astrud Gilberto, from the 1963 album Getz/Gilberto. The first commercial recording was in 1962, by Pery Ribeiro. Numerous recordings have been used in movies, often as an elevator music cliché. In 2003 Gilberto unsuccessfully sued to block use of the song for advertising Doritos snack chips. The song "The Boy From..." by Stephen Sondheim and Mary Rodgers is a parody of "The Girl From Ipanema."

Background

The song was inspired by Heloísa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto (or, simply, Helô Pinheiro), an 18-year-old girl who lived on Montenegro street in the fashionable Ipanema district of Rio de Janeiro. Every day, she would stroll past the popular "Veloso" bar-cafe on the way to the beach, attracting the attention of regulars Jobim and Moraes. The song was originally composed for a musical comedy entitled Dirigível (Blimp), which was a work in progress of Vinícius de Moraes. The original title was "Menina que Passa" ("The Girl Who Passes By"), and the famous first verse was completely different. In Revelação: a verdadeira Garota de Ipanema (Revealed: The Real Girl from Ipanema) Moraes wrote that she was: :"o paradigma do bruto carioca; a moça dourada, misto de flor e sereia, cheia de luz e de graça mas cuja a visão é também triste, pois carrega consigo, a caminho do mar, o sentimento da que passa, da beleza que não é só nossa — é um dom da vida em seu lindo e melancólico fluir e refluir constante." which roughly translates to: :'"the exemplar of the rude Carioca: a golden-tanned girl, a mixture of flower and mermaid, full of brightness and grace, but with a touch of sadness, in that she carries with her, on her route to the sea, the feeling of that which passes by, of the beauty that is not ours alone — it is a gift of life in its constant, beautiful and sad ebb and flow." Today, "Montenegro Street" is called "Vinícius de Moraes Street", and the "Veloso Bar" is named "A Garota de Ipanema". There is also a Garota de Ipanema Park in the nearby Arpoador neighborhood.

Other interpreters


- Oscar Peterson (1965)
- Frank Sinatra (1967)
- Peggy Lee
- Gal Costa
- Lou Rawls
- Diana Krall
- Pizzicato Five
- Kompressor
- Al Jarreau and Oleta Adams (1997)
- Archie Shepp
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Eliane Elias (1998)
- Helge Schneider
- Ottmar Liebert (2001)
- Boston Pops Orchestra
- Stan Getz

English lyrics

Tall and tan and young and lovely
The girl from Ipanema goes walking
And when she passes
Each one she passes goes "aah"

When she walks she's like a samba
That swings so cool and sways so gently
That when she passes
Each one she passes goes "aah"

Oh, but I watch her so sadly
How can I tell her I love her?
Yes, I would give my heart gladly
But each day when she walks to the sea
She looks straight ahead not at me

Tall and tan and young and lovely
The girl from Ipanema goes walking
And when she passes I smile
But she doesn't see

Portuguese Lyrics

Vinicius de Moraes is today regarded as one of the most important Brazilian poets of his time. The original Portuguese lyrics were very different from the English lyrics. Girl from Ipanema, The Girl from Ipanema, The ja:イパネマの娘

João Gilberto

João Gilberto (born João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira on June 10, 1931 in the town of Juazeiro, Bahia) is a Brazilian musician and considered one of the co-creators, with Tom Jobim, of bossa nova.

Biography

A self-taught guitarist but mainly a singer, Gilberto moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1950 and had a stint of moderate success singing with the chorus group Garotos da Lua (The Boys of the Moon). However, after being kicked out of the band for his lack of discipline, he spent the next several years of his life in a marginal existence, imposing on friends, using marijuana, but above all, obsessed with creating a new way to express himself on the guitar. His efforts eventually came to fruition, and upon meeting Antonio Carlos Jobim — a classically-trained pianist and composer who was influenced by the contemporary North American popular and jazz music of the time — and a group of middle-class university students and musicians, they launched the bossa nova movement. Bossa nova was a distillation of the percussive syncopated samba rhythm into a simplified form which could be performed on a single unaccompanied guitar, and João Gilberto is credited with single-handedly inventing this technique. He sang in a very low volume with the syllables of the lyrics put alternatively in advance or delayed from the instrumental base, and trained intensively to eliminate almost all noise from respiration and other imperfections. This new style created a sensation in Gilberto's performances at private jam sessions and informal collegiate concerts. He played the guitar in Elizete Cardoso's album Canção do Amor Demais in 1958, featuring compositions by Jobim and his lyrical partner Vinicius de Moraes. Shortly after this recording, Gilberto made his own debut LP, Chega de Saudade. The title track (listen to excerpt ), a Jobim composition which was also featured on the Cardoso album, was a domestic hit single, and launched Gilberto's career and consequently the entire bossa nova movement. Besides a number of Jobim compositions, the album featured older sambas and popular songs from the 1930s, but all performed in the distinctive bossa nova style. This album was followed by two more in 1960 and 1961, by which time he featured new songs by a younger generation of performer/composers such as Carlos Lyra and Roberto Menescal. By 1962, bossa nova had been embraced by North American jazz musicians such as Herbie Mann, Charlie Byrd, and Stan Getz, who invited Gilberto and Jobim to collaborate on what became one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time, Getz/Gilberto. Through this album, Gilberto's wife Astrud became an international star, and the Jobim composition "The Girl from Ipanema" became a worldwide pop music standard for the ages. Gilberto continued to perform through the 1960s, but did not release another studio album until 1968's Ela É Carioca EP, recorded during a period of residence in Mexico. João Gilberto, sometimes referred to as the "White Album" of bossa nova, appeared in 1973, and featured a cool, almost mystical sensibility, his first discernible departure from the original sound of a decade earlier. 1976 saw the release of The Best of Two Worlds, a reunion with Stan Getz, featuring singer Miucha (sister of Chico Buarque), who had become Gilberto's second wife in April 1965. 1977's Amoroso backed Gilberto with the lush string orchestration of Claus Ogerman, who had provided a similar sound to Jobim's instrumental recordings in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As had been the case for all of Gilberto's albums, the album was mostly Jobim compositions, mixed with older sambas, and an occasional North American standard from the 1940s. On 1980's Brasil, Gilberto collaborated with Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, and Maria Bethânia, who in the late 1960s had founded the Tropicalia movement, which had fused bossa nova with rock. The 1991 release João was unusual in its lack of even a single Jobim composition, instead featuring tunes by Caetano, Cole Porter, and Spanish-language composers. João Voz E Violão, released in 2000, signaled a return to the classics, with Gilberto revisiting Chega de Saudade and Desafinado; the album was an homage to the music of his youth and a nod forward to producer Caetano Veloso. Evenly interspersed with these studio recordings have been the live recordings Live in Montreux, Prado Pereira de Oliveira, Eu Sei Que Vou Te Amar, Live at Umbria Jazz, and In Tokyo. While all of Gilberto's albums since Getz/Gilberto have been released on CD, the first three domestic albums were released in 1988 by EMI on a single CD entitled The Legendary João Gilberto: The Original Bossa Nova Recordings (1958-1961). The disc also included the singles O Nosso Amor and A Felicidade, merged into a single medley track to fit within the recording time of a CD. After its release, Gilberto successfully sued to have the title removed from sale as an unauthorized release of his artistic works. Gilberto has long had a reputation as an eccentric recluse, a nearly neurotic perfectionist. He reportedly has spent the last decades in a Rio de Janeiro luxury hotel, refusing all interviews and almost never going out. He has been known to walk out on performances in response to an audience he considers disrespectful, and at times demands that air-conditioning and emergency lighting be turned off at concert venues. Yet he continues to perform regularly in Brazil as well as a few select overseas venues to sell-out crowds.

Discography

João Gilberto's first recordings were released in Brazil as two-song 78-rpm EPs, between 1951 and 1959. In the 1960s, brazilian EPs evolved to the "double compact" format, and João would release some EPs in this new format, which brought 4 songs in a 45-rpm record.

Garotos da Lua EPs


- Garotos da Lua (July 1951, Todamerica 5075, 78-rpm EP)
- : Quando Você Recordar (Valter Souza, Milton Silva) / Amar é Bom (Zé Keti, Jorge Abdala)
- Garotos da Lua (November 1951, Todamerica 3120, 78-rpm EP)
- : Anjo Cruel (Wilson Batista, Alberto Rego) / Sem Ela (Raul Marques, A. Ribeiro)

Solo EPs


- João Gilberto (August 1952, Copacabana 096, 78-rpm EP)
- : Quando Ela Sai (Albeto Jesus, Roberto Penteado) / Meia Luz (Hianto de Almeida, João Luiz)
- 78 Rotações (August 1958, Odeon 14.360, 78-rpm EP)
- : Chega de Saudade (Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes) / Bim Bom (João Gilberto)
- João Gilberto (February 1959, Odeon 14.426, 78-rpm EP)
- : Ho-ba-la-la (João Gilberto) / Desafinado (Tom Jobim, Newton Mendonça)
- João Gilberto (June 1959, Odeon 14.460, 78-rpm EP)
- : Lobo Bobo (Carlos Lyra, Ronaldo Boscoli) / Maria Ninguém (Carlos Lyra)
- João Gilberto (July 1959, Odeon 14.491, 78-rpm EP)
- : A Felicidade (Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes) / O Nosso Amor (Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes)
- João Gilberto (July 1959, Odeon 14.495, 78-rpm EP)
- : Manhã de Carnaval (Luís Bonfá, Antônio Maria) / Frevo (Tom Jobim)
- Samba de Uma Nota Só (1959, Odeon BWB 1153, 45-rpm EP)
- : Samba de Uma Nota Só / Doralice / O Pato / Trevo de Quatro Folhas (also released in 1960 as 2 78-rpm EPs)
- João Gilberto (April 1961, Odeon 14.725, 78-rpm EP)
- : Bolinha de Papel (Geraldo Pereira) / Saudade da Bahia (Doryval Caymmi)
- João Gilberto (1962, Odeon, 45-rpm EP)
- : O Nosso Amor / A Felicidade / Manhã de Carnaval / Frevo

Albums


- Chega de Saudade (1959, LP)
- O Amor, o Sorriso e a Flor (1960, LP)
- João Gilberto (1961, LP)
- Getz/Gilberto (1964, LP)
- Herbie Mann & João Gilberto (1965, LP)
- Getz/Gilberto Vol. 2 (1966, LP)
- João Gilberto en Mexico (1970, LP)
- João Gilberto (1973, LP)
- The Best of Two Worlds (1976, LP)
- Amoroso, (1977, LP)
- João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira, (1980, LP)
- Brasil, (1981, LP)
- Live at the 19th Montreux Jazz Festival, (1986, double LP)
- Live in Montreux, (1987, CD)
- João, (1991, LP)
- Eu Sei que Vou Te Amar, (1994, CD)
- João Voz e Violão, (2000, CD)
- Live at Umbria Jazz, (2002, CD)
- In Tokyo, (2004, CD)

References


- McGowan, Chris and Pessanha, Ricardo. "The Brazilian Sound: Samba, Bossa Nova and the Popular Music of Brazil." 1998. 2nd edition. Temple University Press. ISBN 1-56639-545-3
-

See also


- Antonio Carlos Jobim
- Bossa Nova
- Stan Getz

External links


- [http://www.brazzil.com/pages/p43may98.htm Profile of João Gilberto, by Daniella Thompson]
- [http://www.thebraziliansound.com/ The Brazilian Sound: Brazilian Music & Culture Website]
- [http://www.bossanova.fm Bossanova.FM | Bossa nova and Brazilian Music] Gilberto, João Gilberto, João Gilberto, João Gilberto, João ja:ジョアン・ジルベルト

Astrud Gilberto

Astrud Gilberto (b. March 29, 1940) is a Brazilian-born singer best known for her samba and bossa nova music. Astrud was born Astrud Winert from a Brazilian mother and a German father in the state of Bahia, and grew up in Rio de Janeiro. Astrud married João Gilberto in 1959, and they moved to the United States in 1963, when she performed on the influential Getz/Gilberto album with João Gilberto, Stan Getz and Antonio Carlos Jobim. Astrud had never performed professionally before, and joined the recordings by insistence of Stan Getz. In the mid-1960s the couple divorced. The success of Gilberto's vocal work on the song "The Girl from Ipanema" quickly turned her into a jazz star, and soon she started recording solo. She started as an interpreter of Brazilian bossa nova and American jazz standards, but started recording her own compositions in the 1970s. The song "Astrud," by Polish singer Basia, is a tribute to Gilberto. Astrud Gilberto hated rock n' roll and stated that it destroyed music completely. Her favorite music is jazz and ragtime

Discography

Albums


- Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto - Getz Au-Go-Go (Verve, 1964 in music)
- The Astrud Gilberto Album (Verve, 1964 in music)
- The Shadow Of Your Smile (Verve, 1965 in music)
- Look To The Rainbow (Verve, 1965 in music)
- Beach Samba (Verve, 1966 in music)
- A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness with Walter Wanderley (Verve, 1967 in music)
- Windy (Verve, 1968 in music)
- September 17, 1969 (Verve, 1969 in music)
- Gilberto Golden Japanese Album (Verve, 1969 in music)
- I Haven't Got Anything Better To Do (Verve, 1970 in music)
- Astrud Gilberto With Stanley Turrentine (CTI, 1971 in music)
- Astrud Gilberto Now (Perception, 1972 in music)
- That Girl From Ipanema (Audio Fidelity, 1977 in music)
- Astrud Gilberto Plus James Last Orchestra (Polygram, 1987 in music)
- Live In New York (Pony Canyon, 1996 in music)
- Temperance (album) (Pony Canyon, 1997 in music)
- Jungle (Magya, 2002 in music)

Soundtracks


- The Deadly Affair (Verve, 1965 in music)

Other albums featuring Astrud Gilberto


- Stan Getz and João Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto (Verve, 1963 in music)
- Shigeharu Mukai and Astrud Gilberto - So & So - Mukai Meets Gilberto (Denon, 1982 in music)
- Michael Franks - Passionfruit (album) (Warner Bros., 1983 in music)
- Etienne Daho - Eden (album) (Virgin, 1996 in music)
- George Michael - Ladies And Gentleman - Best of George Michael (Sony, 1998 in music)

External links


- [http://www.astrudgilberto.com astrudgilberto.com] - Official Website Gilberto, Astrud Gilberto, Astrud Gilberto, Astrud ja:アストラッド・ジルベルト

Stan Getz

Stanley Getz, better known as Stan Getz (February 2, 1927 - June 6, 1991) was an American jazz musician. He is considered one of the greatest tenor saxophone players of all time, and was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical, and instantly recognizable tone as displayed in his version of the song "The Girl from Ipanema". Getz's prime influence was the wispy, mellow tone of Lester Young, yet Getz continued to develop his approach to playing throughout his life. He said of himself in 1986: "I never consciously tried to conceive of what my sound should be..."

Life and Work

Born in Philadelphia to Russian Jewish parents and raised in New York City, Getz played a number of instruments before his father bought him his first saxophone at the age of 13. In 1943, at the age of 16, he was accepted into Jack Teagarden's band. After playing in various other bands (1944 Stan Kenton; 1945 Jimmy Dorsey; 1945–46 Benny Goodman) Getz became better known as a soloist in the Woody Herman Band from 1947–49. He scored a hit with his melodic and lyrical solo on Ralph Burns' piece Early Autumn. With few exceptions, Getz would be a leader on all of his recording sessions after 1950. In the 1950s, Getz had become quite popular playing cool jazz with a young Horace Silver, Oscar Peterson, and many others. Getz's first two quintets were notable for their personnel, including Charlie Parker's rhythm section of drummer Roy Haynes, pianist Al Haig and bassist Tommy Potter. In 1958, Getz tried to escape his narcotics addiction (for which he had gotten arrested four years earlier), by moving to Copenhagen, Denmark. After returning to America in 1961, Getz would become a central figure in the fusion of jazz and Bossa Nova. Along with guitarist Charlie Byrd, who had just returned from a U.S. State Department tour of Brazil, Getz recorded the album Jazz Samba in 1962, and it became a commercial success. The title track "Jazz Samba" was an adaptation of Jobim's composition "So Danco Samba". Getz won the Grammy for Best Jazz Performance of 1963 for the track "Desafinado". The next step of this fusion was the meeting of Getz with the Brazilian musicians themselves — Getz recorded with composer Antonio Carlos Jobim, guitarist João Gilberto and his wife, the singer Astrud Gilberto. Their collaboration on "The Girl from Ipanema" (1963) won a Grammy award, making Jobim's style, known as Bossa Nova, much more popular. This piece became one of the most well-known jazz pieces of all time. The album Getz/Gilberto, a collaboration of Getz and Joao Gilberto, won two Grammy awards in 1964. They won Best Album and Best Single, besting The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night. This was no doubt a victory for jazz and for Bossa Nova and it resulted in the propagation of the music to millions, and paved the way for an influx of Brazilian music and instruments into jazz. Stan Getz understood the language of Bossa Nova and he sounds completely natural in his recordings with Brazilian musicians. Brazilian jazz has survived as a definite influence in the works of famous jazz musicians such as Wes Montgomery and Joe Henderson. In 1967, Getz became more inspired by jazz-rock fusion and other post bop developments, recording albums with Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke. After another drug-induced hiatus in Málaga, Spain, from 1969, Getz resurfaced, playing with electric ensembles into the 1980s, and experimenting with an Echoplex on his tenor saxophone, for which critics vilified him. To the relief of many jazz critics, he discarded fusion and the electric side of jazz in favour of acoustic jazz again, into the middle of the 1980s. Getz, later in the decade, gradually de-emphasized the Bossa Nova as his style of choice, opting for more esoteric and perhaps less mainstream jazz. He died in 1991 of liver cancer in Malibu, California. In 1998, The "Stan Getz Media Center and Library"' at the Berklee College of Music was dedicated to the memory of the saxophonist through a donation from the Herb Alpert Foundation.

Quotations


- "Flawless technique, perfect time, strong melodic sense and more than enough harmonic expertise, fabulous memory, and great ears. Add a superb sense of dynamics, pacing, and format. Top this off with a sound of pure gold and you have Stan Getz". - pianist Lou Levy on Stan Getz
- "Let's face it. We [tenor saxophonists] would all play like him, if we could." - John Coltrane on Stan Getz

Samples


- Download sample of 'Indian Summer'

Partial discography


- West Coast Jazz (1955)
- Hamp and Getz (1955)
- The Steamer (1956)
- For Musicians Only (1956)
- Stan Getz And The Oscar Peterson Trio (1957)
- At The Opera House (1957)
- Getz Meets Mulligan In Hi-Fi (1957)
- Focus (1961)
- Jazz Samba (1962) – Remastered in 1997.
- Stan Getz With Cal Tjader (1963)
- Stan Getz And Luiz Bonfa Jazz Samba encore! (1963)
- Getz/Gilberto (1963) – A Grammy award winner.
- Getz/Gilberto #2 (1964)
- Getz Au-Go-Go (1964)
- Stan Getz & Bill Evans (1964)
- Sweet Rain (1967)
- Captain Marvel (1972)
- The Best Of Two Worlds (1976)
- The Peacocks (album) (1977)
- Serenity (1991)
- People Time (1991) – with Kenny Barron
- Bossas & Ballads- The Lost Sessions (2003) – Recorded in 1989, but not issued until 2003.

External links


- [http://www.melmartin.com/html_pages/Interviews/getz.html 1986 Interview]
- [http://www.jazzdisco.org/getz/ Stan Getz Discography Project] Getz, Stan Getz, Stan Getz, Stan Getz, Stan Getz, Stan ja:スタン・ゲッツ

Copacabana

Copacabana is a district located in the southern zone of the city Rio de Janeiro, famous for its 4 km beach. The district was originally called Sacopenapã until the mid-18th century. It was renamed after the construction of a chapel holding a replica of the Virgin of Copacabana, Bolivia. It was incorporated into the city on July 6 1892. Copacabana starts at the beginning of the Princesa Isabel Avenue, and ends at Posto Seis (lifeguard watchtower six) nearby the Forte de Copacabana (Stronghold of Copacabana). After Copacabana there is the small beach of Arpoador, followed by the famous borough of Ipanema and then, the borough of Leblon. The Copacabana beach spans from Posto Dois (lifeguard watchtower two) to Posto Seis (lifeguard watchtower six). Leme is at Posto Um (lifeguard watchtower one).

Character

Rio de Janeiro must have truly been breathtaking when the Portuguese arrived hundreds of years ago. The hills that rise behind Copacabana and Ipanema are luxurious and green and wide beaches with islands dotted around the harbour. Currently, the reality is that Copacabana is home to 400,000 people making it one of the most congested neighbourhoods in the world. The promenade is dotted with expensive hotels, restaurants, bars, night clubs and residencials buildings. Rio de Janeiro

Safety

The safety of the Copacabana beach, mostly toward tourists, is good but it´s not recommended that tourists should leave their bags alone, or carry equipment such as expensive cameras or camcorders.

General

This is where the two metro stations can be found for underground transport to the rest of the city. This is preferable as the traffic jams during the day can become critical.

External links


- [http://copacabana.com/copahis1.shtml History of Copacabana (in Portuguese)]
- [http://copacabana.com/en/copahis1-i.shtml History of Copacabana (in English)]
- [http://www.gringoguides.com/brazil.shtml Guide to being a Gringo in Rio de Janeiro] - A look at how Brazilians see tourists in Copacabana. Category:Rio de Janeiro neighborhoods Category:Beaches of Brazil

Prostitute

:"Whore" redirects here. For the film, see Whore (film). Whore (film)] Prostitution is the sale of sexual services, such as oral sex or sexual intercourse, for money. A person selling sexual services is a prostitute, a type of sex worker. In a more general sense of the word, anyone selling their services for a cause thought to be unworthy can be described as prostituting themselves. In the UK a prostitute is any individual, "who allows her body to be used for lewd purposes in return for payment".

Overview and definitions

While prostitutes and their clients represent all sexes and all sexual orientations, the overwhelming majority of clients are male. Prostitution is rejected by most modern religions as being improper or sinful, and prostitutes are considered to be shameful or individuals of low standing in most societies; their customers are typically also looked down upon but are usually tolerated to a greater degree than the prostitute. The English word whore, referring to (female) prostitutes, is taken from the Old English word hōra (from the Indo-European root kā meaning "to like, desire") but usage of that word is widely considered pejorative and prostitute is a less value-laden term. It could also come from the islamic term houri, the name for an attentive female virgin in the afterlife, but this derivation is unlikely given the presence of cognates of the Old English word in other Germanic languages. On the other hand, in Germany most prostitutes' organizations deliberately use the word Hure (whore) since they feel that prostitute is an unnecessary euphemism for something not in need of euphemisms. The term sex worker is becoming the label of choice in Australia. Prostitutes may also be called hookers. It was rumoured to be first used during the American Civil War to describe the women who followed the Union army of General Hooker, however the term appeared in print as early as 1845, well before Hooker came into the public light. See also: call girl, courtesan, escort. Male prostitutes offering their services to male customers are called "gigolos", "hustlers", "rent boys", "punks", "trade", "man ho", "boy toys" or "bitches." Male prostitutes offering services to female customers are known as "escorts", "giglis", or "gigolos." Though there is a stereotype that such male prostitutes are rare, a comprehensive study by Nither Tinnakul of Chulalongkorn University at Bangkok found the number in Thailand alone to be at least 30,000, versus an estimated 100,000 female prostitutes. Male prostitutes serving both men and women are known as "taxi boys." Organizers of prostitution are typically known as pimps (usually male, and most often with regard to street prostitution), madams (female, general today but traditionally related to brothel prostitution), and mama-sans (if female and East Asian.) The term prostitution is sometimes used in the more general meaning of having sex in order to achieve a certain goal different from procreation or pleasure. This includes forms of religious prostitution in which sex is practiced in compliance with religious precepts. Prostitution in this broader sense is also used in spying or graft. Ancient China is replete with well-known instances of using sex to undermine an enemy. (See Xi Shi, Diao Chan)

Types of prostitution

Prostitution today occurs in various different settings.
- In street prostitution the prostitute solicits customers while waiting at street corners or walking alongside a street.
- Prostitution occurs in some massage parlors and in Asian countries in some barber shops where sexual services may be offered for an additional tip.
- Where prostitution is more out in the open, solicitation is done at bars, even open-air bars. Thailand is famous world-wide for these establishments.
- Brothels are establishments specifically dedicated to prostitution.
- Prostitution can also take place in the prostitute's apartment and in many countries this is the only legal form of prostitution. A hybrid between brothel and apartment prostitution exists in Australia, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, China and the Netherlands: female prostitutes rent tiny one-room apartments and solicit customers from behind windows or through advertising.
- In escort or out-call prostitution, the customer calls an agency and the act takes place at the customer's place of residence or more commonly at his or her hotel room. This form of prostitution often shelters under the umbrella of escort agencies, who supply attractive escorts for social occasions. While some escort agencies provide non-sexual services only, many turn a blind eye to escorts who provide additional sexual services or actively encourage them. Alternately, an escort may work independently of an agency and place advertisements in newspapers and magazines for his or her own services. Even where this prostitution is legal, the euphemistic term "escort service" is common. See call girl. In the US, escort agencies advertise frequently on the World Wide Web and example advertisements can be readily found on any major search engine.
- The setting common in Russia and other countries of the former USSR takes the form of an open-air girl market. One prostitute stands by a roadside, and directs cars to a so-called "tochka" (usually located in alleyways or carparks), where lines of women are paraded for customers in front of their car headlights. The client selects a prostitute, whom he takes away in his car. This leaves the woman (often very young girls) particularly open to abuse. Prevalent in the late 90s, this type of service has been steadily declining in the recent years.
- A "lot lizard" is a commonly-encountered special case of street prostitution. Lot lizards mainly serve those in the trucking industry at truck stops and stopping centers. Prostitutes will often proposition truckers using a CB radio from vehicle parked in the non-commercial section of a truck stop parking lot, communicating through codes based on commercial driving slang, then join the driver in his truck.

Street prostitution

In street prostitution, the prostitute solicits customers while waiting at street corners or walking alongside a street, usually dressed in skimpy, suggestive clothing. Often the prostitute (commonly called a "hooker", "street hooker", or "street walker" to distinguish them from other sex workers) appears to mind his or her own business and waits for the customer to initiate contact. The act is performed in the customer's car or in a nearby alley or rented room (motels that service prostitutes commonly rent rooms by the half or full hour).

Escort/Out-call Prostitution

street prostitution advertise the services of call girls]] Those who work for an escort agency may obtain the position by responding to an employment advertisement, usually placed in a regional newspaper. Escort agencies maintain a database or "stable" of employees of different types in order to cater to a wider client base. Some agencies may specifically cater to a certain type of prostitute. There are male-for-male, female-for-male, and female-for-female escort agencies, as well as a few male-for-female agencies. Agencies commonly specialise in only one sex. Transsexual prostitutes are available from some escort agencies. Escort agencies typically advertise in regional publications and even telephone listings like the Yellow Pages. Many of them maintain websites with photo galleries of their employees. An interested client contacts an agency by telephone and offers a description of what kind of escort they are looking for. The agency will then suggest an employee who might fit the client's need. The agency collects the client's contact information and calls the escort. It is then up to the escort to contact directly the client to make arrangements for an appointment. It is during this telephone call that details of the business arrangement are discussed—i.e., whether or not (and what) sex acts will be incorporated into the "date". The escort then makes a call to the agency to confirm the appointment's location and time. Generally the escort is also expected to call the agency upon arrival at the location and upon leaving to assure his or her safety. The purpose of these details is to protect the escort agency (to some degree) from prosecution for breaking the law. If the employee is solely responsible for arranging any illegal aspects of their professional encounter the agency can maintain plausible deniability should an arrest be made. The amount of money that is made by an escort is different depending on gender, service rendered and location. Generally male escorts make less than women, and women make less than transsexuals. For a point of reference, the gay escort agency "TOPPS", based in Washington, D.C., charges $150 an hour for male escorts, and $250 an hour for transsexuals. The agency takes $50 an hour from the employee.

Socio-economic and legal status of prostitution

There is a significant range in the socioeconomic status of prostitutes in Western countries. At the low end, a significant number of prostitutes are also drug addicts who use prostitution to pay for their habit, sometimes referred to as 'crack whores' because of the prevalence of this behavior among some communities of crack cocaine users. At the other end of the spectrum, 'high class' prostitutes may charge very high prices for their services and may be very selective about their clients. In many countries, illegal immigrants work in prostitution, sometimes against their will and generally in circumstances where they feel they have no other choice. Often these prostitutes are kept in financial debt by the brothel owners, who charge them for their travel and other costs. The arrangement may be such that the prostitutes can never earn enough to pay off the debt. The term used for forcing people into prostitution is "sexual slavery". In addition to the first world, this also takes place in countries of South Asia such as India and Thailand, where young girls are sometimes sold to brothel owners. In modern day Thailand and India this is becoming much rarer. Thailand is a destination of sex tourists, travellers from rich countries in search of cheap sexual services. Other popular sex tourism destinations are Brazil, the Caribbean, and former eastern bloc countries. Female prostitutes, especially street prostitutes, are commonly associated with a pimp, a man who lives off the proceeds of several prostitutes and may offer some protection in return. The relationship between pimp and prostitute is often abusive. In areas where legal restrictions on prostitution are greatest, the power of pimps over prostitutes can actually be increased by the illegality of prostitution. For example, in Finland, the immigration law allows the state to deport immigrants suspected of prostitution without a trial; thus in cases of physical abuse by the pimps, the prostitutes cannot even resort to the police. There are other commercial sexual activities that are generally not classified as prostitution. These include acting and modeling for pornographic materials, even if this involves engaging in sexual intercourse; exotic dancing, which is naked, sexually provocative acting (sometimes involving masturbation) without physical contact with the customer; lap dancing, where the dancer may come into contact with the customer in sexually provocative but strictly limited ways; and the services of professional dominants. In the case California v. Freeman, the California Supreme Court ruled that adult film makers could not be prosecuted under state laws against prostitution.

Legality of selling sex

In many countries, buying and selling sex among adults is legal, but many associated activities are not. These include advertising, solicitation and pimping, as well as owning, operating or working in a brothel. At one end of the legal spectrum, prostitution carries the death penalty in some Muslim countries; at the other end, prostitutes are tax-paying and unionised professionals in the Netherlands and brothels are legal and advertising businesses there (however, prostitutes must be at least 18 and the age of consent is 16 in other contexts). The legal situation in Germany, Switzerland and New Zealand is almost as liberal as in the Netherlands (see prostitution in the Netherlands, prostitution in Germany and prostitution in New Zealand). In some countries the legal status of prostitution may vary depending on the activity; in Japan, for example, vaginal prostitution is against the law and fellatio prostitution is legal. In all but two U.S. states, the buying and selling of sexual services is illegal and usually classified as a misdemeanor. Regulated brothels are legal in a number of counties of Nevada (see prostitution in Nevada). In Rhode Island, the bare act of sex for money is not illegal, but street solicitation and operating a brothel are. Rules vary as to which roles in prostitution are illegal: being a prostitute, being a client, or being a pimp. In Sweden it is not illegal to sell sex, but it is a crime to buy it, according to the Swedish Law (Brottsbalken "Criminal Code" 1962:700, 6 kap, 11 §). In the case of a prostitute under 18 in the Netherlands, being the client or pimp is illegal, but being the prostitute is not, except if the client is also underage (under 16). In Brazil prostitution per se is legal, but taking advantage or profit from others' prostitution is illegal. Establishments engaged in sexual slavery or owned by organized crime are the highest priority targets of law enforcement actions against prostitution. Police also frequently intervene when prompted by local resident complaints, often directed against street prostitution. In most countries where prostitution is illegal, at least some forms of it are tolerated. This ambiguous status allows the police to extort money or services, particularly information on criminal activities that prostitutes are often well-placed to obtain, from prostitutes in exchange for "looking the other way". Pimping is a sex crime in almost all jurisdictions. Some other countries retain the ill-defined offence of "living off the proceeds of others' prostitution", one of the Prima facie evidences of which is co-habiting with a prostitute. In 1949, the United Nations adopted a convention stating that prostitution is incompatible with human dignity, requiring all signing parties to punish pimps and brothel owners and operators and to abolish all special treatment or registration of prostitutes. The convention was ratified by 89 countries but Germany, the Netherlands and the United States did not participate. Some municipalities in the Netherlands would like a "zero tolerance policy" for brothels, i.e. not allow any, on moral grounds, but by law this is not possible. However, regulations, including restrictions in number and location are common. Whether a zero policy on urban planning grounds is allowed is still unclear. In his stand up comedy routine "Doin' It Again," George Carlin wonders why prostitution is illegal, since "selling" and "fucking" are both legal activies in and of themselves. He goes on to ask ". . . why should it be illegal to sell something that's perfectly legal to give away?"

Advertising prostitution

In countries where prostitution is legal, advertising it may be legal (as in the Netherlands) or illegal (as in Germany). In countries where prostitution is illegal, advertising it is usually also illegal. Covert advertising for prostitution can take a number of forms:
- by cards in newsagents' windows
- by cards placed in public telephone enclosures: so-called tart cards
- by euphemistic advertisements in regular magazines and newspapers (for instance, talking of "massages" or "relaxation")
- in specialist contact magazines
- via the World Wide Web

Regulated prostitution

In some jurisdictions, such as Nevada (see prostitution in Nevada), Switzerland and several Australian states, prostitution is legal but heavily regulated. Such approaches are taken with the stance that prostitution is impossible to eliminate and thus these societies have chosen to regulate it in ways that reduce the more undesirable consequences. Goals of such regulations include controlling sexually transmitted disease, reducing sexual slavery, controlling where brothels may operate and dissociating prostitution from crime syndicates. The Dutch legalisation of prostitution has similar objectives, as well as improving health and working conditions for the women and weakening the link between prostitution and criminality. Daily Planet was a brothel in Melbourne, Australia whose shares were listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2003, before legal difficulties forced its closure. There are various regulatory regimes governing prostitution in Australia and a level of increasing professionalism is being seen in the industry with the establishment of business associations like the Queensland Adult Business Association [http://qaba.org.au]that ascribe to a strict ethical code which entrenches the independence of service providers.

Prostitution of children

Regarding the prostitution of children the laws on prostitution as well as those on sex with a child apply. If prostitution in general is legal there is usually a minimum age requirement for legal prostitution that is higher than the general age of consent (see above for some examples). Although some countries do not single out patronage of child prostitution as a separate crime, same act is punishable as sex with an underage.

Prostitution and illegal immigration

A difficulty in many developed countries is the situation where persons immigrate illegally and work in the sex trade. (This is not quite the same issue as kidnapping and sex slavery). These people face deportation, and so do not have recourse to the law. Hence you get brothels that do not adhere to the usual legal standards intended to safeguard public health and the safety of the workers.

Sex tourism

Sex tourism is tourism, partially or fully for the purpose of having sex, usually with prostitutes. Sex tourism destinations are typically poor countries, where poverty drives people into prostitution. Examples of these countries are: Thailand, Vietnam, Mexico, Philippines, Cuba and Brazil. Cambodia has become a notorious destination for pedophiles and Argentina is now home to a significant number of so called sexpatriates, who have emigrated there to avail of the cheap peso and the opportunities for sexual exploitation Argentina's depressed economy gives them. Some pedophiles use sex tourism to have access to sex with children that is unavailable in their home country. These sex tourists organize themselves around a number of web sites where they boast about their conquests, share photos of their victims, discuss tips on how to have sex with men, women and children in foreign countries at the best possible rates and how to avoid detection both at home and abroad. Although most countries with a major sex tourism industry are working on attempting to reduce or eliminate sex tourism, the sex tourists have vested interests to promote their cause. Cities like Angeles in the Philippines and Pattaya in Thailand are given over almost entirely to foreigners who go there to buy sexual favors, both legal and illegal. Several western countries have recently enacted laws punishing citizens who, as sex tourists, engage in sex with minors in other countries. These laws are rarely enforced since the crime usually goes undiscovered. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1775221.stm] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3197861.stm] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3221905.stm]

Violence against prostitutes

Prostitutes are frequently victims of violent crime by a small number of violent clients and corrupt law-enforcement officers. Prostitutes (particularly those engaging in street prostitution) are also sometimes the targets of serial killers, who may consider them easy targets, or use the religious and social stigma associated with prostitutes as justification for their murder. Robert Pickton, a Canadian who lived near Vancouver, made headlines after the bodies of several prostitutes were found buried on his farm. He now stands charged with the murder of 27 Vancouver area women.

Human (or sex) trafficking

Due to the illegal nature of trafficking (in this context, the illegal forced transportation of people), the exact extent of women and children forced into prostitution is unknown. A US Government report published in 2003, estimates that 800,000-900,000 people worldwide are trafficked across borders each year. [http://www.stophumantraffic.org/] Between 80% and 90% of victims trafficked across international borders are female and the majority of those are women and girls are trafficked for sexual exploitation, forced into prostitution. In addition, internal passport controls in Russia and Ukraine have led to widespread internal sex trafficking. The 1996 report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography estimates that about one million children in Asia alone are victims of the sex trade. According to the International Labour Organization, the problem is especially alarming in Thailand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia and Nepal. [http://www.ecpatusa.org/index.asp] Human trafficking is so common now that it is the third most profitable criminal activity in the world after illegal drugs and arms trafficking. Globally, forced labour - which includes sexual exploitation - generates $31bn, half of it in the industrialised world, a tenth in transition countries, the International Labour Organization says in a report on forced labour ("A global alliance against forced labour", ILO, 11 May 2005). Trafficking in people has been facilitated by porous borders and advanced communication technologies, it has become increasingly transnational in scope and highly lucrative. Unlike drugs or arms, women and children can be "sold" several times. The trafficking in human beings is not the same as people smuggling. A smuggler will facilitate illegal entry into a country for a fee, but on arrival at their destination, the smuggled person is free; in people trafficking, the trafficking victim is kidnapped and enslaved.

Medical situation

Since prostitutes tend to have large numbers of sexual partners, prostitution has often been associated with the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as AIDS. Typical responses to the problem are:
- banning prostitution completely
- introducing a system of registration for prostitutes that mandates health checks and other public health measures
- educating prostitutes and their clients to encourage the use of barrier contraception and greater interaction with health care Some think that the first two measures are counter-productive. Banning prostitution tends to drive it underground, making treatment and monitoring more difficult. Registering prostitutes makes the state complicit in prostitution and does not address the health risks of unregistered prostitutes. Both of the last two measures can be viewed as harm reduction policies. In Australia where sex-work is largely legal, and registration of sex-work is not practiced, education campaigns have been extremely successful and the non-intravenous drug user (non-IDU) sex workers are among the lower HIV-risk communities in the nation. In part, this is probably due both to the legality of sex-work, and to the heavy general emphasis on education in regard to Sexually Tranmitted Infections (STIs). Safer sex is heavily promoted as the major means of STI reduction in Australia, and sex education generally is at a high level. Sex-worker organisations regularly visit brothels and home workers, providing health information and free condoms and lube, and other forms of support. The encouragement of safer sex practices, combined with regular testing for sexually transmitted diseases, has been very successful when applied consistently. Prostitution appears to have little effect as a vector of STDs when safer sex practices are applied consistently. However, in countries and areas where safer sex precautions are either unavailable or not practiced for cultural reasons, prostitution appears to be a very active disease vector for all STDs, including HIV/AIDS.

How common is prostitution?

According to the paper "Prostitution and the sex discrepancy in reported number of sexual partners", the number of full-time equivalent prostitutes in a typical area in the United States (Colorado Springs, CO, during 1970 - 1988) is estimated at 23 per 100,000 population (0.023%), of which fraction some 4% were under 18. The paper goes on to estimate a mean number of 868 male sexual partners per prostitute per year of active sex work, and offers the conclusion that men's self-reporting of prostitutes as sexual partners is seriously under-reported. The length of these prostitutes' working careers was estimated at a mean of 5 years. A 1994 study found that 16 percent of 18 to 59-year-old men in a U.S. survey group had paid for sex (Gagnon, Laumann, and Kolata 1994). Unscientifically comparing the rates given by the two studies cited here alone, assuming a steady-state model, and adjusting for the five-year working career of women prostitutes, this can be used to estimate that [have-ever-been] male clients outnumbered [have-ever-been] female prostitutes by a ratio of roughly 80:1. A number of reports over the last few decades have suggested that prostitution levels have fallen in sexually-liberal countries, perhaps as because of the increased availability of non-commercial non-marital sex.

Politics

Legal issues

Roughly speaking, the possible attitudes are:
- abolition: "prostitution should be made to disappear"
  - "prostitution is immoral and prostitutes and their clients should be prosecuted": the prevailing attitude in much of the United States and Muslim countries;
  - "prostitution is a sad reality of exploitation of the prostitutes, especially women, but prostitutes should not be criminalized", the current situation in Turkey.
    - "the clients of prostitutes exploit the prostitutes": prostitutes are not prosecuted, but their clients are prosecuted, the current situation in Sweden.
    - prostitution is legal, but discouraged, while pimping is prohibited, the current situation in the United Kingdom and France among others;
- regulation: prostitution may be considered a legitimate business, or at least an unavoidable evil; prostitution and the employment of prostitutes are legal, but regulated (with respect to health etc. concerns).
- legalization: "prostitution is a victimless crime, and should be made completely legal so that it is no longer an underground activity, allowing the normal checks and balances of society and existing laws to apply"
- decriminalization: "prostitution is inevitable, but exploitative; laws should target violent pimps and traffickers, not prostitutes." Proponents of this view often cite instances of government regulation under legalization that they consider intrusive, demeaning, or violent, but feel that criminalization adversely affects prostitutes. In some countries, there is controversy regarding the laws applicable to prostitution. For instance, the legal stance of punishing pimping while keeping prostitution legal but "underground" and risky is often denounced as hypocritical; opponents suggest either going the full abolition route and criminalize clients or making prostitution a regulated business. Many countries have sex worker advocacy groups which lobby against criminalization and discrimination of prostitutes. These groups generally oppose Nevada-style regulation and oversight, stating that prostitution should be treated like other professions. In the United States of America, one such group is COYOTE (an abbreviation for "Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics") and another is [http://www.bayswan.org/NTFP.html North American Task Force on Prostitution]. An international prostitute's rights organization is the [http://www.voy.com/164439/157.html?z=1 International Committee for Prostitute's Rights]. Other groups, often with religious backgrounds, focus on offering women a way out of the world of prostitution while not taking a position on the legal question.

Feminism

On prostitution, many schools of thought are prevalent among feminists. Some, like Grisélidis Réal, theorize prostitution as an act of sexual self-determination, decry discrimination and demand destigmatization and decriminalization; women are supposed to be adults who can choose what they wish to do with their bodies. In that view, the moral prohibition of prostitution is just mere masked patriarchal moralism, with a traditional view of considering women to be incapable of making decisions for themselves. Others, exemplified by the American radical feminist and ex-prostitute Andrea Dworkin, consider it to be sexual abuse or even rape; the prostitutes are then victims, who must be protected from the abuse of the clients and pimps. The former group pushed a law reform in Germany, resulting in January 2002 in the recognition of prostitution as a regular profession, making it possible for prostitutes to join the social security and health care system and to form trade unions. The latter faction of feminists was able in Sweden in 1999 to implement the law outlawing the buying of sexual favors but not the selling. In the United States, the only political party that favors legalization of prostitution is the United States Libertarian Party. The USLP believes all consensual crimes (any act that is against the law where all parties involved voluntarily consent to engage in the activity) should be legalised.

History

Prostitution is often described as "the world's oldest profession". Prostitution (at least in the modern sense) cannot have emerged before the emergence of money, which can only have taken place after the emergence of several trades, and it has been claimed that midwives are really the world's oldest profession. However, prostitution has been noted in Bonobo chimpanzee behavior based around access to food and gifts of food, and in penguins in regard to access for suitable stones for nest building. Until the age of industrialization the world was basically agrarian, so goods and services were most often obtained by barter. Any item normally exchanged for other goods was likely acceptable for a prostitute's services. One of the first forms is sacred prostitution, supposedly practiced among Sumerians. In ancient sources (Herodotus, Thucydides) there are many traces of sacred prostitution, starting perhaps with Babylon, where each woman had to reach, once in their lives, the sanctuary of Militta (Aphrodites or Nana/Anahita) and there have sex with a foreigner as a sign of hospitality for a symbolic price. A similar type of prostitution was practiced in Cyprus (Paphus) and in Corinth, where the temple counted more than a thousand prostitutes (hierodules), according to Strabo. It was widely in use in Sardinia and in some of the Phoenician cultures, usually in honour of the goddess ‘Ashtart. Presumably by the Phoenicians, this practice was developed in other ports of the Mediterranean Sea, like in Erice (Sicily), in Locri Epizephiri, Croton, Rossano Vaglio, Sicca Veneria and other towns. Other hypotheses regard Asia Minor, Lydia, Syria and Etruscans. It was common in Israel too, but some prophets, like Hosea and Ezekiel, strongly fought it; it is assumed that it was part of the cults of Canaan, where a significant portion of prostitutes were male. In the Bible there is a story in which (Tamar) poses as a false prostitute to seemingly commit incest with her father-in-law (Judah). In actuality, she was performing a Levirate Marriage; but Judah, taking her for a harlot, promised to give her a kid from the flock in order to sleep with her. In Jericho, a prostitute named Rahab assisted Israelite spies and she eventually married the prophet Joshua. In ancient Greek society, prostitutes were independent and sometimes influential women who were required to wear distinctive dresses and had to pay taxes. Some similarities have been found between the Greek Hetaera and the Japanese Geisha, complex figures that are perhaps in an intermediate position between prostitution and courtisanerie. (See also the Indian tawaif.) Some prostitutes in ancient Greece, such as Lais were as famous for their company as their beauty, and some of these women charged extraordinary sums for their services. beauty, Relief, around 2nd century, Head is missing]] In Greece, Solon instituted the first of Athens' brothels (oik`iskoi) in the 6th century BC, and with the earnings of this business he built a temple dedicated to Aprodites Pandemo (or Qedesh), patron goddess of this commerce. The Greek word for prostitute is porne, derived from the verb pernemi (to sell), with the evident modern evolution. The procuring was however severely forbidden. Each specialised category had its proper name, so there were the chamaitypa`i, working outdoor (lie-down), the perepatetikes who met their customers while walking (and then worked in their houses), the gephyrides, who worked near the bridges. In the 5th century, Ateneo informs us that the price was of 1 obole, a sixth of a drachma and the equivalent of an ordinary worker's day salary. The rare pictures describe that sex was performed on beds with covers and pillows, while triclinia usually didn't have these accessories. In ancient Rome, while there were some commonalities with the Greek system, as the Empire grew prostitutes were often foreign slaves, caught, bought, or raised for that purpose, sometimes by large-scale "prostitute farmers". Enslavement into prostitution was sometimes used as a legal punishment against criminal free women. A large brothel found in Pompeii called the Lupanar attests to the widespread use of prostitutes in Rome around the turn of the century. Life expectancy for prostitutes was generally low, but some managed to get free and establish themselves e.g. as folk doctors. Like Greece, Roman prostitution was highly categorized, with titles for prostitutes and their places of trade including: :AElicariae, Amasiae, Amatrix, Ambubiae, Amica, Blitidae, Busturiae, Casuaria, Citharistriae, Copae, Cymbalistriae, Delicatae, Diobolares, Diversorium, Doris, Famosae, Forariae, Fornix, Gallinae, Lupae, Lupanaria, Meretrix, Mimae, Noctiluae, Nonariae, Pergulae, Proseda, Prostibula, Quadrantariae, Scorta erratica, Scortum, Stabulae, Tabernae, Tugurium, and Turturilla. During the Middle Ages prostitution was commonly found in urban contexts. Although all forms of sexual activity outside of marriage were regarded as sinful by the Catholic Church, prostitution was tolerated because it was held to prevent the greater evils of rape and sodomy. Augustine of Hippo held that prostitution was a necessary evil: just as a well-ordered palace nee