My first destination on this madcap adventure is Brazil, largest country in South America and the largest exporter of music culture in the continent. I was here exploring the richness and diversity of Brazil's music, and giving Brazil a good dose of NZ's back. It was the first destination on this leg of travelling, filming a TV series for C4 called 'Making Tracks'. And I tell you what I'm not the type to moan and groan, and am by now fairly well adjusted to the world of long haul flights, but flying through America these days can test the patience of most sane people. So 36 hours later and our little band of three finally touched down in the city that is forever immortalized by the image of sun kissed beaches and the sweet sounds of bossanova - Rio De Janeiro. They say it's one of the most visually stunning cities you'll ever see in your life, and I'm gonna have to agree. Just 20 minutes from the airport and already Rio's showing off with it's incredible natural landscape. The other thing your eye can't escape are the notorious favelas, or slums, that line the hills surrounding Rio De Janeiro. The favelas are a law unto themselves, run by the local drug lords, they really are the place you want to avoid, even for locals. But for us, that's where we'd be spending the majority of time. One of the main elements of the TV series is to get influential musicians and artists from around the world to perform their own versions of kiwi classics. And first up we were headed to 'City Of God', which was made famous from the 2002 film of the slum's namesake. The soundtrack to the favelas across Rio is a style known as Baile Funk, a percussive style of music that revolves around heavy use of sampling and big big drums. Our first kiwi remake was courtesy of Deize Tigrona, one of the leading females of the scene, and working with a local producer called DJ Duda they were doing their own version of Shihad's classic 'You Again'. Surprisingly City Of God felt a lot less intimidating than I think we'd built it up to be, although you could feel the constant glare of eyes on us, and of course the camera....

The music of Baile Funk is so huge in the favelas, and down to the fact that the majority of the music is recorded on very cheap fairly primitive equipment means that any young kid with a mic and his mate with a basic pc can start belting out the genre's future anthems. And in Duda's tiny studio, overcrowded with young kids lining up to be the next stars, we heard the version, it was great and so what was needed was a music video. So we headed down into the streets of City Of God to shoot it, I guess as soon as the locals were aware that we were there with Deize and that we here because we were interested in their music culture, all those intimidating glares soon turned to curious stares, with alot of the kids of the 'favela' (Ciudad De Deus isn't technically a favela, rather a government initiated settlement that was supposed to draw people away from the favelas in the '60's, but soon the same social problems that affected the favelas occurred here) being eager to get in front of the camera.

Baile Funk is a style of music that although big within the communities in Rio, it's by no means one of this nations greatest musical exports. For most people when they think of Brazilian music, it's the legacy of Samba and bossanova, and in the show we got two great tastes of that.... We were in Rio two weeks out from Carnival (although we toyed with the idea, shooting a TV show during Carnival is just not recommended!!!), and Rio was ablaze with pre carnival madness, it's insane just how much pride the neighbourhood communities place in carnival, and how feverish they support their local samba school. It's also quite insane how secretive they are, and we found trying to get access to film some of the schools nigh on impossible. Luckily for us the favela of Rochina came through and inside it was some of the most incredible atmosphere I have ever witnessed, young to old, pug to thug, the whole communities come together to the mesmerising pulse of the bateria - the percussive part of the samba group. Over the years I've been to some pretty loud parties and gigs, but man, nothing is more intense then the sound in these halls. There was a lot of sweat, and allot of smiles - I was loving it

Second dose of rich musical heritage came courtesy of Marcos Valle, one of the legends of the music known as Bossanova, and this man has penned many of the genre's most recognizable classics. And I don't think you can ask for more than to be invited round to his house and hear him perform some of his best known classics by the poolside, at 64 year's old he's got the youthful spark of someone half his age, and he's a man that you can tell just wants to make beautiful music for people to enjoy. And I tell you what he does a really good job of it. For 4 hours we were enchanted with his stories and of course the music he makes. And as I big fan of his music for years before this day, it's moments like this that I really do think I have one of the luckiest jobs in the world. We didn't want to leave, but duty bound we had more filming that night, so said our 'belezaa's and made our way.

You might be thinking by now, wheres the club reports? Where's the tales of sexy ladies on the beach and blessed out days on Copacabana. Well truth be told, as lucky as it was to be working in Rio De Janeiro, it was exactly that - work. And so given the fact that most days start at around 7am, and finish up around 8 - 9pm, there wasn't much time for else other than running round furiously shooting and asking questions, which although many might think it sounds like easy work, really does take it out of ya after a long day. So sadly I don't have too much to report from the club side of Rio De Janeiro. Although regarding sexy ladies, I did manage to meet up with the real life Girl From Ipanema - Helo Pinheiro, who at 62 I gotta say, she's been looking after herself well these years. The Girl From Ipanema is easily the most infamous Brazilian song of all-time, and it was in 1962 that a 16 year old Helo inspired it's creation, being the most beautiful girl in a place where I'd say the beauty ratio of young girls per capita is quite higher than the average in other parts of the world, you know she really was deserved of such a title. And still to this day people flock from all over the world to meet with her. She runs a boutique in Ipanema, and is one of the loveliest ladies I've ever had the pleasure of meeting.

Final day in Brazil was back to the notorious favelas, this time the favela of Vigario Geral, a place where it's reputation for violence proceeds itself. This time we had an armed guard, who couldn't speak any English, and our Portuguese wasn't any better, but we certainly new what he meant when he told us we could shoot this way, but don't look left, and don't look behind you. Nearly all of the favelas are governed by the drug trade and the drug lords, and it would have been amazing to get footage of some of what we saw, but it wasn't worth the risk. A 14 year old walked past with an Uzi, young kids like 8 - 9 year olds on corners on walkie talkies, or with their kites and fireworks, ready at a moments notice to give a sign that the police were on their way, of their was some imminent threat to the trade. Pretty incredible stuff to witness up close, but still definitely made us watch our step. Lucky for us we were there doing a story on a group called Afro Reggae, who began their life after a police massacre 15 years earlier, had claimed the lives of nearly 50 innocent residents of Vigario Geral. Afro reggae's aim was to encourage the youth of the favelas into positive cultural outlets rather than the drug trade, which the figures are frightening. Afro Reggae have daily workshops in everything from sports, dance, circus performance, and of course music, and their bands have gone on to perform and tour all over the world. Afro Reggae's main performance piece is the Afro Reggae band, and we'd chosen them to do a version of Shapeshifter's 'Bring Change', and we'd be filming a music video for this in the favela. There version was great, and lead singer Luis Ferreria real did an emotional performance in a place where his group really is bringing change to a part of the country that desperately needs it.

After a long days worth of shooting, it was back home to the hotel, and although the temptation of a night out in Rio loomed, we still had many more countries to visit and many more late nights to be had… I think it was a wise decision to stay in.