One of the golden securty rules of Rio is never go by yourself to a favela, specially at night... Well, The Maze in is the place to break it! This amazing art gallery and bar (and also a B&B) is hidden on a calm favela in Catete, at the south zone of Rio. Every first friday of the month, this place turns into a jazz club, where cool locals and well informed foreigners meet to listen great jazz, bossa nova and samba. All that with great caipirinhas and an amazing view of Rio. And if you are a musician, dont be shy to talk to the musicians and perform with them, is highly recomended by then.

I just dont place a highly recomended because the only beer sold is Priums, a bad brazilian beer. Arrive early to get a good place with the view and get the discount, paying R$ 5 to get in.

from  ggodoi at http://www.travbuddy.com/The-Maze-v192564

por Adriana que visitou o Maze... 

Olha, é difícil eu prometer algo e não cumprir... pois é, tinha dito que ia pessoalmente ao The Maze, conhecer o local, o Bob e a Malu, e fui!

Agora gostaria de dividir com vocês as minhas impressões, um pouco diferentes daquelas que meu amigo descreveu e publiquei aqui no Blog: Caros amigos, vos escrevo...

Então, fomos em seis pessoas, pegamos dois táxis, e outros amigos deveriam chegar lá e nos encontar mais tarde. Demos o endereço e tudo bem. Fui no táxi de trás, com dois amigos. Meu amigo que já tinha ido e sabia como chegar foi no táxi da frente, explicando.

Realmente, se chega a uma rua de bairro, normal, e a rua vai subindo o morro, vai subindo, subindo e girando, girando, até chegar ao final da rua, onde há bastante espaço para fazer o retorno pois não se pode ir adiante. O táxi da frente começou a dar ré, e o meu taxista se assustou. Começou a dizer "Não é aqui! Não é esse o lugar! Está errado!"

Enquanto isso, meus amigos começaram a descer do táxi, nisso, o amigo que estava ao meu lado disse ao taxista: "Está certo, é aqui sim! Veja, o pessoal está descendo então é aqui mesmo que a gente fica..."

by David Juritz

I arrived in Rio later that morning and followed Bob Nadkarni’s instructions to The Maze, his guest house on the favela in Catece (the one obligatory destination in South America, this place, see http://jazzrio.info - ignore the fact that the website is sometimes out of date; Bob’s a busy man wheeler-dealing with top film companies on how they should compensate the favela for using it as a film location).

After a completely open schedule in Montevideo, Rio was pretty busy.  My first gig was a street in Carioca in downtown Rio where I set up amongst the card sharks. I really wasn’t sure how Bach was going to go down here so was really pleasantly surprised when a small circle formed around me.  I was joined after a while by Helen from the BBC, who lent a touch of glamour to the proceedings (it always helps to have someone holding a mike at you in the street – people stop just to work out what’s going on).

First there was Hollywood, then came Bollywood in Mumbai, Nollywood in Nigeria, and Lollywood in Lahore. But have you heard of Bobbywood? Anton Foek visits a friend to find out more.

Hot on the heels of his reports from the towns of Outlook in Washington State and Paradise in Northern California, he's now in Bobbywood in Rio de Janeiro.

Bobbywood - not internationally famous - is the nickname for the corner of a favela or shantytown in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, which an English expatriate has made his home.

Find the Full article on BBC World Service .

In a Rio shanty town, Andrew Downie experiences spectacular sights and sounds.

By Telegraph.co.uk

I am standing with a few others under a blue tarpaulin in one of those torrential Latin American downpours a few hundred yards from Bob Nadkarni's house and I fear the worst for his monthly jam session.

Cariocas, as residents of Rio are known, are like cats: they hate to go out in the rain. Nadkarni is about to stage Rio's most unusual jazz night, but it looks as though no one will be there to hear it.

Then a taxi emerges from the gloom and four Germans get out carrying guitar cases and saxophones. They join us under the dripping tarpaulin and we throw back beers and wait for the rain to ease. When it does, we dash through the puddles towards the entrance of the Tavares Bastos favela and head up a narrow staircase to the Maze.

The Maze is Nadkarni's sprawling, unfinished labyrinth of a home set on top of a favela, one of the 600-odd slums that dot the self-proclaimed Marvellous City. Nadkarni, 63, a former BBC cameraman and professional sculptor, started building it 26 years ago when most of the dwellings here were made from wood and tin. Now it is one of the largest buildings in the area.

"There is something about a favela that is so different from the controlled way we live in the West," he says.

Just wondering how this website has been done? The story began about a year ago, when hammond organ player Lennart from the Jazz Night first went to Bob's house in the Tavares Bastos Favela. It was a meeting as friends, nor did Bob know Lennart was into Jazz, nor Lennart had any ideas about Bob's singing talents...

But one thing was clear: a new website was needed for Bob's Bed & Breakfast, which was still under construction. Bob and Lennart brought ideas together, and a first page was created.

Find Lennart's Homepage here: 

  cariocadesign - Creative Webdesign Solutions .

Get in touch with Lennart: E-mail... 

New examples of Lennart's Works as a web designer:

• Graphos Brasil - furniture of famous Brazilian designers during the 50ties until the 70ties
  including design from Sergio Rodrigues, Roberto Fasanello, Jorge Zalsupin, Irmãos Campana and many more.
• Rio Artmosfera - Galeria de Artes Visuais e Eventos Performáticos
• 
  
• brasildesign - Rio de Janeiro Mansions for Sale - Real Estate
  The Portal for Real Estate, Consulting and Architecture of Wolfram Goebel, Rio de Janeiro
• Vivenda Les 4 Saisons - Luxury Resort and Hotel in the Vale do Cafe