João Parahyba invests in electronica
The percussionist with Trio Mocotó and Suba's partner recovers and releases a disc made seven years ago, which was rejected for being too techno
Carlos Calado
09/04/2001
São Paulo-born percussionist and songwriter João Parahyba has paid a price for having conceived an album that did not follow the musical trends of the time when it was made. Seven years ago, his CD Kyzumba (read review) was rejected (only a small amount of copies was print on the label Visom) because it was allegedly too electronic. Today, the same album is regarded as an unplugged project by the producers at the label YB, who has just put out the disc. "Rica (Amabis) and Maurício (Tagliari) love that album, but they see it as an unplugged album of instrumental Brazilian music", Parahyba observes. He is one of the founding members of the legendary Trio Mocotó.
Producer Mitar Subotic, or Suba (dead at age 38 in a fire, in 1999) shared the musical direction, production and mixing of the album with Parahyba. Both had met shortly after the Yugoslavia-born producer arrived in Brazil for the first time, in 1990. "We hit it off instantly, and used to meet every day to produce music", the percussionist remembers.
In 1993, as studio partners, they decided to make an album out of Parahyba's 11 electronica compositions. "Suba mixed the album with me. It was rewarding, because I had spent a year making the songs", the percussionist says. Kyzumba was made in a computer, with sequencers and synthesizers. Only later did guest musicians like vocalist Jane Duboc, guitarists Heraldo and Luiz do Monte, accordionist Toninho Ferragutti and pianist Benjamin Taubkin, among others, recorded their solo parts on the songs that were ready. "I wanted them to trip with the music. I told them to listen and create ad lib on top of what was recorded", Parahyba explains.
Rejected
With the album already mixed, Parahyba had an unpleasant surprise when he started showing it to colleagues. "Most of the musicians who specialize in instrumental music rejected it because it featured electronic instruments. There was a big barrier against electronica at the time", he recalls. In spite of the disappointment of having his work rejected, Parahyba did not give up electronica and kept working with Suba.
"We stregthened the concept of processing the percussion sounds and then Suba started using the sounds in his productions", the percussionist says, mentioning albums by Édson Cordeiro, Marina Lima and Bebel Gilberto, besides Suba's own São Paulo Confessions
. "We used to work very well together. We would go into the studio without having previous guidelines and I would start playing and he would process the sounds right there and then. It was instant music, because we used the same language", he says. "He brough an art quality to that kind of music", Parahyba claims.
If he faced prejudice while recording Kyzumba, Parahyba has experimented the opposite situation, lately. Last year, for instance, he was invited to write the theme for Formula 1 events in Brazil. "Vitória Régia is a samba-techno, featuring a samba school. I recorded dozens of instruments, one at a time, and reprocessed everything", he explains. His reprocessed percussion also appears on the track Central do Brasil, that opens the compilation Caipiríssima - Batucada Eletrônica , which has just come out on Alternet Music.
Parahyba started working with electronica in 1984, when he joined the band Prisma, led by pianist César Camargo Mariano. Their concerts attracted attention, at the time, because they were using a type of technology that was new in the country, back then. "In 1972, I had already used a synthesizer on a Trio Mocotó album. To me, the timbre is everything in music. It doesn't matter what instrument you're using. What matters is that it sounds the way you want it to", he claims. "There's no point in making an album in the same fashion as Naná Vasconcelos or Airto Moreira. Why should I put out one more percussion solo disc? Only to show off how much I can play? I'm not just a percussionist".
Trio Mocotó
While finally enjoying some recognition, Parahyba spends a lot of time at the YB studio so as to finish the awaited CD that celebrates Trio Mocotó's comeback. Having paused for 25 years, the group includes Parahyba, Nereu Gargalo (tambourine) and Fritz Escovão (cuíca), in 1969. Besides releasing four albums, the trio accompanied Jorge Ben, sharing with him the merit of having created the samba-rock and made it popular.
"Max de Castro has just returned from London saying that we're bigger than João Gilberto, there. The DJ's were all talking about Trio Mocotó", Parahyba says, informing that the new album is not out to revive the good old days. "The album shall bring a new concept. Since the younger generations are all sampling our music, we have decided to make a CD with the same energy, with digital recordings, in a good studio, with grooves that will allow DJs to remix the tracks. Trio Mocotó was ahead of its time, because we were into the groove. And contemporary dance music is essentially about groove", Parahyba explains.
The album shall come out in the first week of May. The repertoire features new songs and a few covers, like Adelita (Jorge Ben) and a new one by Rita Lee. "She wrote that song special for us. Rita is still very updated, she knows how to use the language of the youngsters. And we're doing the same", he says, noting that the fact that they haven't performed together in 25 years has not dissolved their well-known chemistry. "We sound the same, we have the same energy as we did before", he vows.
Producer Mitar Subotic, or Suba (dead at age 38 in a fire, in 1999) shared the musical direction, production and mixing of the album with Parahyba. Both had met shortly after the Yugoslavia-born producer arrived in Brazil for the first time, in 1990. "We hit it off instantly, and used to meet every day to produce music", the percussionist remembers.
In 1993, as studio partners, they decided to make an album out of Parahyba's 11 electronica compositions. "Suba mixed the album with me. It was rewarding, because I had spent a year making the songs", the percussionist says. Kyzumba was made in a computer, with sequencers and synthesizers. Only later did guest musicians like vocalist Jane Duboc, guitarists Heraldo and Luiz do Monte, accordionist Toninho Ferragutti and pianist Benjamin Taubkin, among others, recorded their solo parts on the songs that were ready. "I wanted them to trip with the music. I told them to listen and create ad lib on top of what was recorded", Parahyba explains.
Rejected
With the album already mixed, Parahyba had an unpleasant surprise when he started showing it to colleagues. "Most of the musicians who specialize in instrumental music rejected it because it featured electronic instruments. There was a big barrier against electronica at the time", he recalls. In spite of the disappointment of having his work rejected, Parahyba did not give up electronica and kept working with Suba.
"We stregthened the concept of processing the percussion sounds and then Suba started using the sounds in his productions", the percussionist says, mentioning albums by Édson Cordeiro, Marina Lima and Bebel Gilberto, besides Suba's own São Paulo Confessions
. "We used to work very well together. We would go into the studio without having previous guidelines and I would start playing and he would process the sounds right there and then. It was instant music, because we used the same language", he says. "He brough an art quality to that kind of music", Parahyba claims. If he faced prejudice while recording Kyzumba, Parahyba has experimented the opposite situation, lately. Last year, for instance, he was invited to write the theme for Formula 1 events in Brazil. "Vitória Régia is a samba-techno, featuring a samba school. I recorded dozens of instruments, one at a time, and reprocessed everything", he explains. His reprocessed percussion also appears on the track Central do Brasil, that opens the compilation Caipiríssima - Batucada Eletrônica
, which has just come out on Alternet Music. Parahyba started working with electronica in 1984, when he joined the band Prisma, led by pianist César Camargo Mariano. Their concerts attracted attention, at the time, because they were using a type of technology that was new in the country, back then. "In 1972, I had already used a synthesizer on a Trio Mocotó album. To me, the timbre is everything in music. It doesn't matter what instrument you're using. What matters is that it sounds the way you want it to", he claims. "There's no point in making an album in the same fashion as Naná Vasconcelos or Airto Moreira. Why should I put out one more percussion solo disc? Only to show off how much I can play? I'm not just a percussionist".
Trio Mocotó
While finally enjoying some recognition, Parahyba spends a lot of time at the YB studio so as to finish the awaited CD that celebrates Trio Mocotó's comeback. Having paused for 25 years, the group includes Parahyba, Nereu Gargalo (tambourine) and Fritz Escovão (cuíca), in 1969. Besides releasing four albums, the trio accompanied Jorge Ben, sharing with him the merit of having created the samba-rock and made it popular.
"Max de Castro has just returned from London saying that we're bigger than João Gilberto, there. The DJ's were all talking about Trio Mocotó", Parahyba says, informing that the new album is not out to revive the good old days. "The album shall bring a new concept. Since the younger generations are all sampling our music, we have decided to make a CD with the same energy, with digital recordings, in a good studio, with grooves that will allow DJs to remix the tracks. Trio Mocotó was ahead of its time, because we were into the groove. And contemporary dance music is essentially about groove", Parahyba explains.
The album shall come out in the first week of May. The repertoire features new songs and a few covers, like Adelita (Jorge Ben) and a new one by Rita Lee. "She wrote that song special for us. Rita is still very updated, she knows how to use the language of the youngsters. And we're doing the same", he says, noting that the fact that they haven't performed together in 25 years has not dissolved their well-known chemistry. "We sound the same, we have the same energy as we did before", he vows.