SENSATI ON
What do you get if you throw a bunch of top Brazilian
and British musicians together? David Pollock finds out
banks in no small part to the popularity of endearineg loud-iiiouthed Sao Paulo disco—punks (‘88 on these shores. Brazilian alternative music has been gaining
increasing levels of recognition in the UK of
late. Yet exciting music originating from the
South American country neither begins nor
ends with l.ovefoxx.\' and her noisy crew. and the three-day 'I‘rocahrahma mini-festival should
introduce fans to a whole new crowd of
Brazilian rock artists. Programmed by the same people behind
Scotland‘s Triptych festival. it follows a similar
dynamic — a series of gigs are spread out over three days in three cities (in this case Glasgow. London and Liverpool). with all of the acts involved visiting each city in turn. The key theme of the event is collaboration. with each
of the British artists involved being paired off
with a Brazilian band whose style complements their own. in order that they might work on some new material together.
This year’s Trocabrahma project. in fact. started out over May and June. when a selection of British artists were flown otit to Sao Paulo — the undisputed centre of cutting edge music in Brazil - for a week of rehearsals and a culminatory gig with their chosen playing partner.
‘The thinking behind Trocabrahma is that we wanted to offer an alternative to the usual summer festival provision. and we wanted to do something that would give artists and audiences alike a fresh perspective] explains Neil Mowat. co-programmcr of the event. ‘We do rehearsal and live work in Brazil. there‘s a Trocabrahma podcast and forthcoming
documentary on (‘haniiel 4. btit obviously these shows are the ultimate end product of all that hard work.‘
To understand where Brazilian music is at now. however. it‘s important to recognise the differences and similarities between their pop musical history and our own. If Brazil has given the rock world one genre that couldn‘t have been created anywhere else. it's 'l‘ropicalia. a movement encompassing poetry and theatre. but mostly music. that emerged from the late mom and early 1970s as a combination of British and American psychedelia. and more traditional Brazilian influences.
At the forefront of this movement was a band called ()s Mutantes. a group who were complete unknowns in Britain during their heyday (they split tip in W78). yet who have since been rediscovered and promoted by artists including Kurt (‘obain and Sean Lennon. Beck named his l‘)‘)8 single "Tropicalia‘ in their honour. while The Bees borrow much of their stiiiimer-friendly sound from ()s Mutantes. The fact that the band are playing at 'l‘rocabrahiiia is a significant result for the organisers. as their reformation gig at London’s Barbican last May was the first and.
‘WE WERE JUST FREE SPIRITED AND DOING WHAT WE WANTED TO DO, FIGHTING WHOEV ER WANTED TO FIGHT US'
until now. only show they‘ve ever played in the (K.
"There‘s such a massive variety of styles and attitudes amongst the Brazilian artists that we’re working with that it would be hard to say there's one common influence between them.’ says Mowat. ‘But certainly. with most artists working in the contemporary field in Brazil. they’ll either be influenced by the music of 'l‘ropicalia. or great admirers of the political aspects of it.‘
The political edge to ()s Mutantes. and their contemporaries (‘aetano Veloso and (iilbcrto (iil (currently Brazil‘s minister of culture). is important. While their North American counterparts had Vietnam to rail against. those at the forefront of 'l‘ropicalisnio found themselves in active opposition to the Brazilian military dictatorship which held sway from l‘)(i—l until the mid—80s. Veloso and (iil even found themselves imprisoned. before exiling themselves in London.
'There was a huge division even among the Brazilian public about us.‘ says ()s .\lutaiites’ Sergio Dias Baptista. who formed the group with his brother Arnaldo when he was 14. ‘\\'e would play guitars. and they would call tis Yankees. Some of them would say we were right wing. while others would call us communists. revolutionaries.
‘II was a weird thing to be spoken of like this by all these guys that were older titan tis. the newspapers. the critics. We were just free— spirited and doing what we wanted to do. fighting whoever wanted to fight tis. because that‘s what kids do. Once we played a song on stage with Veloso called 'l'itii’bidden to l'tH'hltk
We look back over some other memorable musical collaborations
A match was made in musical heaven when Paul Simon (pictured right) hooked up With Ladysmith Black Mambazo. who later promoted Heinz beans. Recorded in and inspired by South Africa. world music met folk on the album Grace/and. a Grammy winning smash, full of African
10 THE LIST 10 Jul—2 Aug 200/
rhythms and timeless bangers such as 'You Can Call Me Al'.
Who could forget when tash-sporting rock god Freddie Mercury gazed into the eyes of hairspray IoVing Spanish opera diva Montserrat Caballé and belted out ‘Bai‘celona"? lliis Camp, Oil double drama
beats
queen combo made deliciously sweet. spine tingling music together.
After dabbling in a spot of transcendental meditation. the Fab Four decided to embrace the Indian sound all mantra chants and rolling on the ll/fi/te Album and Abbey Head. (‘ieoige l-lai'i'ison liatf alieady collaborated With l ill)(ltlt§i(tl): musician Ravi Shankar (pictured right) and went on
toswapbis i)“'l()‘.:"-tltlil1l.l'
for sitai :ii‘. the siiigie
'Nt )t'Wt it )i. in Wt )()( l'