Who’s up for some barbershop samba?  In 2016 I attended Harmony University for the first time. Among the many wonderful people I met that week was a new quartet from Brazil, Red Feet. Having lived in Brazil for two years as a missionary for my church, I speak fluent Portuguese and was excited to welcome these four guys to the barbershop community. And as a budding arranger, I offered to do a song for them in Portuguese, since there really isn’t a lot of barbershop repertoire that would be suitable for Brazilian audiences.  They picked “Aquarela do Brasil,” a song about Brazil itself. It’s very popular in Brazil – I’d say it’s similar in spirit to “God Bless America” or “This Land Is Your Land.” Except it’s a vibrant samba. The lyrics are lush with imagery (the title means “Watercolor of Brazil”), comparing Brazil to a lady walking the halls in a lace dress, a samba that makes you swing and sway, or (in a line I sadly excluded from my arrangement) a coconut tree where you hang your hammock. I don’t expect many copies of this arrangement to sell (my learning tracks will teach you the Portuguese!), but let it be known that barbershop as an arranging style can extend even to this kind of music.