As is the way with this kind of stuff, I was trying to think of the name of ... Dorival Caymmi to seed my newest Last.fm exploration.  Except I couldn't remember his name, and in the search for traditional nordeste music, I came across this New York Times article (from 2007) of a massive release of traditional Brazilian music recordings made in the 30s called Musica Tradicional do Norte e Nordeste 1938.  (The organiztion that put this CD series out has a nice site too - but neither actually point you to any place ot buy the damn things...)

I've heard a lot of this music

I've often wondered what was the (dare we say "karmic"?) reason for me to spend 2 years as a Tech Director at a school. I think one of the significant things I gained was an interest in examining the learning process. One thing my time at the school taught me was the basic concepts of not only learning, but reflecting on your learning. How do you learn? What makes learning easier or harder? And what have you learned? What came easily, and what took work - and how do you feel about either?

I started drumming when I was 21. There were a couple of long breaks, for a year or so, when I did not drum very much at all. And other periods when I was drumming for up to 10 hours a week.

I've now been drumming for 15 years, and in some ways, I can feel it. I'm comfortable playing and knowledgeable about a lot of rhythms. But it's like technology or wine - I'm either very capable and talented, or just a dabbler - depending on the level of the person I'm talking to.