Carlinhos Brown and his regional globalization
Musician releases his third album, Bahia do Mundo - Mito e Verdade, and talks about miscegenation, axé music, Herbert Vianna, water bottles, labels... and Kiko Zambianchi
Silvio Essinger
09/02/2001
The internationally acclaimed Carlinhos Brown has just put out his third solo album, Bahia do Mundo - Mito e Verdade (read the review). In the disc that is being simultaneously released in Europe (on Virgin), Brown reasserts his ideas on the advantages that miscegenation has bestowed upon Brazil, mainly through the music. "Brazil is a remake of itself and of the world, so it can absorb whatever it wants, keeping its very own identity", he claimed, halfway through a long and not always coherent speech in which the press conference for the release of the CD was turned into.
"Miscegenation kills the race and makes the real race emerge. Shall the future of the world be black or white? Nobody knows", stated the man from Bahia, willing to stand for polemic opinions on Brazilian musical inventions. "How long have I been saying: 'People, drum'n'bass and house only exist because of samba schools; trance only exists due to the Brazilian carnival.' And even the funk! (percussionist) Paulinho da Costa is the greatest responsible for the modification of American rhythms, having recorded with Miles Davis, with Madonna, with Micheal Jackson... Those things have a specific puch. The Americans and their marketing strategies claim that it is theirs." By the end of the day, Brown brought his feet back to ground: "I am not saying that we are the best. We are more experimental, therefore we get better results".
Bahia do Mundo is the first solo album that Carlinhos has produced himself . The recordings were done in his studio, in the Candeal community, in Salvador. "I hope it will become standard, that there will be recording studios in Rocinha and Cohab (Rio and São Paulo ghettos, respectively). We know that there are more composers in the favelas than in the condos. I don't mean to promote clashes between different social classes. I am sorry, but it is true, because those who live in the favelas search for the music as a means to disguise their problems", he said. As a big Candeal benefactor, who has built a music school and is deeply involved in social work, Brown understands that education and professional guidance are the best ways to overcome the tough reality in such places.
Along with the album, the musician has issued a Manifesto do Timbalismo (or Timbalism Manifesto) and released a new Timabalda disc. Timbalismo (Som Livre/Bahia Discos) features a version of Gilberto Gil's Touche Pas a Mon Pote. As the product of a Bahia "that is being born again all the time", Brown says that Bahia do Mundo is the musical expression of a notion that "going regional is the real globalization process". "The movement is alive. Naming names, even within the timbalism concept, is difficult, limiting. Maybe we just want to set the record straight". Below, some choice excerpts of Carlinhos Brown's interview.
About the track in English, Mess In The Freeway, from Bahia do Mundo:
"I don't write the lyrics in English; what I do is broken English. My colonizer did it in English - now, my response to him is broken. What I do is contre-culture."
About time and recognition:
"Everyone is in a rush for happy moments, expecting that things will turn out great very quickly. But it takes development. (Cathedral) Notre Dame took centuries to be finished! Time rules everything, only time can really identify things. Thus, I hope I will always be in development, then I can preserve myself through my work".
About the relationship with the recording company:
"EMI regards me as a working artist. But that is EMI's position. The way I see it, every artist that is polemic will sell a lot of records when they die. It seems that when it happens, people finally pay attention to the artist, because they're not doing crazy things, no more."
About axé music:
"I never liked that name, axé music - I'd rather call it timbalism. What probably harmed the so-called axé was the massive media exploitation and the anxiety to become rich and famous. It wasn't cool, for us. Now, the carnival thing is positive, joyous. Because the people who go party during carnival do not think much (...) I reckon in a few years, people will be studying (the group) É O Tchan! as an example of rebellion against MPB. Carla Perez gave us the opportunity to be sexual. She came up as a sexologist without a ready-made speech."
About facing hostility from the audience at the Rock In Rio:
"Ever since the 70s, Brazilian artists haven't positioned themselves. Everybody is afraid of being on the television and saying something stupid, because the next day it's gonna be on the newspapers, people will talk about it. Everybody is afraid of reaction. Many Brazilian acts have been water bottle targets, and have done nothing about it."
About the 80s:
"To me, the 80s were not deprived of creativity. Look at Cazuza, Herbert Vianna, look at what Kiko Zambianchi has written - I am dying to make a song with him! Not to mention Paula Toller. After Rita Lee, Paula is the one with a great presence, sound and voice. Some people think that romantic ballads do no good, stand for nothing. Amor I Love You [by Brown and Marisa Monte] and (rap group) Racionais MCs are saying the same thing, only the wording is different."
About Herbert Vianna (with whom Brown wrote Uma Brasileira):
"The human being is its own victim. In search for adventure, pleasure, comfort, we sometimes go over the edge. And it is hard to see someone in the same business as me, who has children, in this situation. I believe he is going to recover, and we are waiting for him to make more music."
About having performed João e Maria with his father-in-law, Chico Buarque, in Salvador:
"I used to sing his songs long before he became the grandfather of my children. João e Maria, I was singing that song in the Omelete Man concerts, which he had never seen. If we are going to write music together? Maybe, one day. It's like I always say: my children with his daughter, Chico and Clara, are our great composition, a great opportunity for the Brazilian miscegenation."
"Miscegenation kills the race and makes the real race emerge. Shall the future of the world be black or white? Nobody knows", stated the man from Bahia, willing to stand for polemic opinions on Brazilian musical inventions. "How long have I been saying: 'People, drum'n'bass and house only exist because of samba schools; trance only exists due to the Brazilian carnival.' And even the funk! (percussionist) Paulinho da Costa is the greatest responsible for the modification of American rhythms, having recorded with Miles Davis, with Madonna, with Micheal Jackson... Those things have a specific puch. The Americans and their marketing strategies claim that it is theirs." By the end of the day, Brown brought his feet back to ground: "I am not saying that we are the best. We are more experimental, therefore we get better results".
Bahia do Mundo is the first solo album that Carlinhos has produced himself . The recordings were done in his studio, in the Candeal community, in Salvador. "I hope it will become standard, that there will be recording studios in Rocinha and Cohab (Rio and São Paulo ghettos, respectively). We know that there are more composers in the favelas than in the condos. I don't mean to promote clashes between different social classes. I am sorry, but it is true, because those who live in the favelas search for the music as a means to disguise their problems", he said. As a big Candeal benefactor, who has built a music school and is deeply involved in social work, Brown understands that education and professional guidance are the best ways to overcome the tough reality in such places.
Along with the album, the musician has issued a Manifesto do Timbalismo (or Timbalism Manifesto) and released a new Timabalda disc. Timbalismo (Som Livre/Bahia Discos) features a version of Gilberto Gil's Touche Pas a Mon Pote. As the product of a Bahia "that is being born again all the time", Brown says that Bahia do Mundo is the musical expression of a notion that "going regional is the real globalization process". "The movement is alive. Naming names, even within the timbalism concept, is difficult, limiting. Maybe we just want to set the record straight". Below, some choice excerpts of Carlinhos Brown's interview.
About the track in English, Mess In The Freeway, from Bahia do Mundo:
"I don't write the lyrics in English; what I do is broken English. My colonizer did it in English - now, my response to him is broken. What I do is contre-culture."
About time and recognition:
"Everyone is in a rush for happy moments, expecting that things will turn out great very quickly. But it takes development. (Cathedral) Notre Dame took centuries to be finished! Time rules everything, only time can really identify things. Thus, I hope I will always be in development, then I can preserve myself through my work".
About the relationship with the recording company:
"EMI regards me as a working artist. But that is EMI's position. The way I see it, every artist that is polemic will sell a lot of records when they die. It seems that when it happens, people finally pay attention to the artist, because they're not doing crazy things, no more."
About axé music:
"I never liked that name, axé music - I'd rather call it timbalism. What probably harmed the so-called axé was the massive media exploitation and the anxiety to become rich and famous. It wasn't cool, for us. Now, the carnival thing is positive, joyous. Because the people who go party during carnival do not think much (...) I reckon in a few years, people will be studying (the group) É O Tchan! as an example of rebellion against MPB. Carla Perez gave us the opportunity to be sexual. She came up as a sexologist without a ready-made speech."
About facing hostility from the audience at the Rock In Rio:
"Ever since the 70s, Brazilian artists haven't positioned themselves. Everybody is afraid of being on the television and saying something stupid, because the next day it's gonna be on the newspapers, people will talk about it. Everybody is afraid of reaction. Many Brazilian acts have been water bottle targets, and have done nothing about it."
About the 80s:
"To me, the 80s were not deprived of creativity. Look at Cazuza, Herbert Vianna, look at what Kiko Zambianchi has written - I am dying to make a song with him! Not to mention Paula Toller. After Rita Lee, Paula is the one with a great presence, sound and voice. Some people think that romantic ballads do no good, stand for nothing. Amor I Love You [by Brown and Marisa Monte] and (rap group) Racionais MCs are saying the same thing, only the wording is different."
About Herbert Vianna (with whom Brown wrote Uma Brasileira):
"The human being is its own victim. In search for adventure, pleasure, comfort, we sometimes go over the edge. And it is hard to see someone in the same business as me, who has children, in this situation. I believe he is going to recover, and we are waiting for him to make more music."
About having performed João e Maria with his father-in-law, Chico Buarque, in Salvador:
"I used to sing his songs long before he became the grandfather of my children. João e Maria, I was singing that song in the Omelete Man concerts, which he had never seen. If we are going to write music together? Maybe, one day. It's like I always say: my children with his daughter, Chico and Clara, are our great composition, a great opportunity for the Brazilian miscegenation."