Graforréia Xilarmônica: unknown pioneers
With two obscure albums, they have influenced many artists and remained as a cult band
Silvio Essinger
03/04/2001
Diego Medina, of the Video Hits, is the first to acknowledge: "Graforréia Xilarmônica was the big inspiration for Porto Alegre's new rock. When the band broke up, there were many orphans left". In fact, if nowadays the southern bands tend to make music inspired by the jovem guarda and the '60s rock with lyrics that offer an ironic view on things, it should be credited to the band founded in 1987 by Frank Jorge (bass and vocals) and Marcelo Birck (guitars and vocals), which sadly ended its activities in January of 2000. With two demo tapes and two albums released on small labels and already out of print (Coisa de Louco II 
, 1995) and Chapinhas de Ouro ( , 1998), Graforréia is one of the best examples of what it means to be a cult rock band in Brazil. "It should have been famous, but died in its shell", Frank Jorge regrets, claiming that he's had the "biggest hangover" after the band split.
Their fan club, though, is growing by the minute - bands like Pato Fu (who covered Nunca Diga
) and the Rio de Janeiro-based Los Hermanos love them. Good news: after putting out solo discs (Marcelo Birck and Carteira Nacional de Apaixonado , both from 2000), Birck and Frank Jorge have just restarted writing music together. They have performed together late last year and will do it again this month. Frank and Birck even consider the possibility of making a new album.
Between the new school and the avant-garde
Frank and Birck have been friends ever since childhood. They started out in music with the band Prisão de Ventre, which lasted from 1982 to 1985 and used to combine jovem guarda, new wave and Arrigo Barnabé. When they put Graforréia together, with drummer Alemão, they sort of revived the spirit of Prisão: "We intended to mix jovem guarda, tacky music, '60s rock and avant-garde music research", says Marcelo Birck. By that time, other bands from Porto Alegre, like Engenheiros do Hawaii, Nenhum de Nós, Replicantes, Garotos da Rua, TNT and Defalla were going national. "I was glad, witnessing the success enjoyed by my friends, but we were on the border. Graforréia was rejected even in Porto Alegre, and no radio stations played our music", Birck says.
Some time later, Marcelo left the band, being replaced by Carlo Pianta (former Defalla) on the guitar - anyway, he continued to write Graforréia songs with Frank Jorge, who chose a more jovem guarda aproach over the avant-garde. The unexpected popularization of the band through demo tapes made them sign up a contract with the label Banguela Discos, recording Coisa de Louco II. The album enjoyed relative success, because the videoclip of Você Foi Embora was on heavy rotation on MTV Brasil.
In the meantime, Birck assembled Aristhóteles de Ananias Jr. with Pedro Porto (bass) and Luciano Zanata (sax alto), releasing the homonym CD in 1996 on Grenal Records, a label started by the guitarist himself. "I regarded it as one step forward in relation to Graforréia", he says. More on the vanguard than anything made with Graforréia, the disc assembles two demo tapes with totally different sound standards. Birck mixed it anarchically, picking parts from both tapes to insert in one song at the Dreher brothers' studio. "The southern rock can be divided into before and after the Dreher brothers", the musician praises. Apart from Graforréia, other important artists from Rio GRande do Sul have recorded there, such Júpiter Maçã (later Jupiter Apple) and Ultramen.
More in the forefront than the Aristhóteles' disc is Marcelo Birck, which gathers demo tapes and new songs on a CD that, as explained on the credits, was "recorded, mixed and mastered between December 1997 and June 2000". "I did not record thinking of an album", Birck explains. With surf music, dodecaphonic elements and electronic interventions along songs like Ié-Ié-Ié do Oiapoque ao Chuí, O Meu Cigarro, Biquinis em Versos and Tchap Tchura, the album was half recorded at the Dreher studio and half on the musician's computer. He played different instruments. Besides promoting Marcelo Birck and making music with Frank Jorge, Marcelo dedicates the rest of his time to another project: Atonais, a band that plays jovem guarda only.
Recording like crazy
Even while playing with Graforréia, Frank Jorge never deprived himself of side projects. By the late '80s, he played the bass with the Cascavellettes ("Whose major importance was having taken me onto the road", he says) and was the composer of one of the band's greatest hits, Menstruada. Two years ago, he joined Cowboys Espirituais, a country trio lined-up with Júlio Reny and former TNT Márcio Petraco. The band put out one album on Trama, but nothing came out of it and Frank thought it was best to move on. "It was like keeping a marriage because of the children", he says. Living the hangover provoked by the breaking of Graforréia, he decided to make a solo album ("I started recording like crazy, and I didn't know how I was gonna pay for it"), eventually released on the label Barulhinho, which belongs to the duo Os The Dharma Lovers. The style is close to that of Graforréia, with songs like Serei Mais Feliz (Vou Largar a Jovem Guarda), Cabelos Cor de Jambo, Não Recebo em Dólar and a version of Nunca Diga.
"Maybe Frank writes tunes. I am more acid on my remarks", Birck explains, pointing out that Graforréia's songs only exist when the two of them write together. According to the bassist, though, the band's longevity should be credited to the member's posture. "We were not a bunch of advertising moguls willing to have a funny little band. We had our own ways of searching for the Brazilian elements [as noticed on sogs like Benga Minueto, on the album Chapinhas de Ouro]."
"Until Graforréia realized its importance, a lot of things had taken place, already", Frank regrets, observing that "the bands deal better with the industry, these days". "But Graforréia's music seems more feasible, as time goes by", Birck adds. "There is recognition, but we haven't capitalized properly." Since no record company seems interested in Graforréia, they considered releasing a demo tape compilation on their own, but the quality sways too much and they gave up on it. Maybe next century...
, 1995) and Chapinhas de Ouro ( , 1998), Graforréia is one of the best examples of what it means to be a cult rock band in Brazil. "It should have been famous, but died in its shell", Frank Jorge regrets, claiming that he's had the "biggest hangover" after the band split.
Their fan club, though, is growing by the minute - bands like Pato Fu (who covered Nunca Diga
) and the Rio de Janeiro-based Los Hermanos love them. Good news: after putting out solo discs (Marcelo Birck and Carteira Nacional de Apaixonado , both from 2000), Birck and Frank Jorge have just restarted writing music together. They have performed together late last year and will do it again this month. Frank and Birck even consider the possibility of making a new album. Between the new school and the avant-garde
Frank and Birck have been friends ever since childhood. They started out in music with the band Prisão de Ventre, which lasted from 1982 to 1985 and used to combine jovem guarda, new wave and Arrigo Barnabé. When they put Graforréia together, with drummer Alemão, they sort of revived the spirit of Prisão: "We intended to mix jovem guarda, tacky music, '60s rock and avant-garde music research", says Marcelo Birck. By that time, other bands from Porto Alegre, like Engenheiros do Hawaii, Nenhum de Nós, Replicantes, Garotos da Rua, TNT and Defalla were going national. "I was glad, witnessing the success enjoyed by my friends, but we were on the border. Graforréia was rejected even in Porto Alegre, and no radio stations played our music", Birck says.
Some time later, Marcelo left the band, being replaced by Carlo Pianta (former Defalla) on the guitar - anyway, he continued to write Graforréia songs with Frank Jorge, who chose a more jovem guarda aproach over the avant-garde. The unexpected popularization of the band through demo tapes made them sign up a contract with the label Banguela Discos, recording Coisa de Louco II. The album enjoyed relative success, because the videoclip of Você Foi Embora was on heavy rotation on MTV Brasil.
In the meantime, Birck assembled Aristhóteles de Ananias Jr. with Pedro Porto (bass) and Luciano Zanata (sax alto), releasing the homonym CD
in 1996 on Grenal Records, a label started by the guitarist himself. "I regarded it as one step forward in relation to Graforréia", he says. More on the vanguard than anything made with Graforréia, the disc assembles two demo tapes with totally different sound standards. Birck mixed it anarchically, picking parts from both tapes to insert in one song at the Dreher brothers' studio. "The southern rock can be divided into before and after the Dreher brothers", the musician praises. Apart from Graforréia, other important artists from Rio GRande do Sul have recorded there, such Júpiter Maçã (later Jupiter Apple) and Ultramen.
More in the forefront than the Aristhóteles' disc is Marcelo Birck, which gathers demo tapes and new songs on a CD that, as explained on the credits, was "recorded, mixed and mastered between December 1997 and June 2000". "I did not record thinking of an album", Birck explains. With surf music, dodecaphonic elements and electronic interventions along songs like Ié-Ié-Ié do Oiapoque ao Chuí, O Meu Cigarro, Biquinis em Versos and Tchap Tchura, the album was half recorded at the Dreher studio and half on the musician's computer. He played different instruments. Besides promoting Marcelo Birck and making music with Frank Jorge, Marcelo dedicates the rest of his time to another project: Atonais, a band that plays jovem guarda only.
Recording like crazy
Even while playing with Graforréia, Frank Jorge never deprived himself of side projects. By the late '80s, he played the bass with the Cascavellettes ("Whose major importance was having taken me onto the road", he says) and was the composer of one of the band's greatest hits, Menstruada. Two years ago, he joined Cowboys Espirituais, a country trio lined-up with Júlio Reny and former TNT Márcio Petraco. The band put out one album on Trama, but nothing came out of it and Frank thought it was best to move on. "It was like keeping a marriage because of the children", he says. Living the hangover provoked by the breaking of Graforréia, he decided to make a solo album ("I started recording like crazy, and I didn't know how I was gonna pay for it"), eventually released on the label Barulhinho, which belongs to the duo Os The Dharma Lovers. The style is close to that of Graforréia, with songs like Serei Mais Feliz (Vou Largar a Jovem Guarda), Cabelos Cor de Jambo, Não Recebo em Dólar and a version of Nunca Diga.
"Maybe Frank writes tunes. I am more acid on my remarks", Birck explains, pointing out that Graforréia's songs only exist when the two of them write together. According to the bassist, though, the band's longevity should be credited to the member's posture. "We were not a bunch of advertising moguls willing to have a funny little band. We had our own ways of searching for the Brazilian elements [as noticed on sogs like Benga Minueto, on the album Chapinhas de Ouro]."
"Until Graforréia realized its importance, a lot of things had taken place, already", Frank regrets, observing that "the bands deal better with the industry, these days". "But Graforréia's music seems more feasible, as time goes by", Birck adds. "There is recognition, but we haven't capitalized properly." Since no record company seems interested in Graforréia, they considered releasing a demo tape compilation on their own, but the quality sways too much and they gave up on it. Maybe next century...
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