Moleque de Rua makes a comeback
With a new line-up, the group of poor suburban drummers from São Paulo puts out a new CD, while the first is being reprinted
Carlos Calado
08/03/2001
Ten years ago, when the first Moleque de Rua album was coming out, the group raised interest due to its coarse drum section, comprised of poor kids from the suburbs of São Paulo. Doing sambas and raps, the Moleque musicians used to bang on oil containers and primitive percussion instruments that they would build themselves. Dissolved in 1997 after having played about 200 shows around Europe, the band now makes a comeback with new members and a new, independent CD, at the same time when the debut album, Moleque de Rua 
, returns in a new edition on the series Columbia Raridades (Sony).
"I was influenced by Lobão's concept. I've been trying to contact recording companies for four years and have gotten nowhere.", says Duda, mentor and leader of the group, who has decided to follow the steps of the rocker from Rio, focusing the distribution of the album on newsstands and very few, selected record stores.
Another difference from the old days is right on the cover of the CD Pimenta Malagueta , which is sold along with a small magazine: now, Duda's name is printed on the cover, with the name of the band. "When I found myself all alone, after having put the band together and having done all that we did in Europe, I felt so empty", says the songwriter and guitarist, recalling that, soon after the band split up, the shack where they used to rehearse started attracting dozens of poor kids willing to substitute the former members.
"I realized that I couldn't let them down, because the work developed with Moleque de Rua is mine, but I couldn't make more of the same. I decided to take on a career which would not limit me to the social assistant's perspective. I also want to talk about my inner self, the love I have for my wife", goes Duda, now a 40-year-old, who eventually married British culture producer Louise Robbins while in Europe.
The new face of the band comes up on some of the tracks in the album, such as the soul ballad O Porto (Duda/Oswaldo Gregório) and the romantic O Primeiro Beijo (or The First Kiss), inspired by the relationship between two members of the group. "I was shocked when I saw a guy and a girl from the group French kissing at the door of the shack. I immediately remembered my first kiss.", the songwriter reveals.
Still angry
But the usual sambas and raps are also present, such as Esmola (Charity), whose lyrics display heavy loads of nonconformity. "That song was made in a moment when we were very, very angry. When we returned to Brazil, we saw a number of social projects that were ripping off the aesthetics that we had created, but their goals were not like ours", Duda explains, adding that he gets annoyed with the instrumentation of that kind of social work that is done by companies which are only interested in promoting their own names and brands.
"We talked about it and the kids all looked at me in awe. The anger built up and I wrote the lyrics", he says, revealing how the chorus "enfia essa esmola no c*" (or "stick the charity up yours") came up. "I was privileged enough to go to college, but I was born deep down in the suburb. The relation with these kids has to be based upon solidarity. The two people interact and educate one another", says the former bank teller who has made a living off of percussion workshops for poor community kids in the past couple of years.
The crisis that wrapped the first phase of Moleque de Rua began in Europe, where the group was living and performing for a total two years between 1993 and 1996. "The kids were tripping on pagode. They thought it was not fair that the cats that clearly did not have half as much musical talent were getting a lot more media than them", explain Duda, saying that he tried to talk the kids out of trading trends and embracing the pagode, but the conflicting points of view fomented the break-up.
Besides Duda, only guitarist Oswaldo Gregório and bassit Carlinhos Alves remained from the first line-up. Gargamel became a freelance drummer and now is the director of a samba school's drum section. Felipe is now a back-up musician and plays with Arlindo Cruz & Sombrinha. Caio started the samba group Força de Expressão. Bombinha and Jelo coordinate a percussion project for street kids in the countryside of São Paulo. Pelé, the most talented among the kids of the first line-up, according to Duda, got into crack and is doing time.
The new line-up features seven percussionist "moleques" (or kids) and a girl called Pâmela. The band has already received invitations to play in Germany, France and Italy in 2002, but Duda reckons they shouldn't spend so much time overseas. "I'd rather get less money and build a solid structure in Brazil. The long periods that we spent aborad was great to magnify our view on the world, but there is an abyss between Vila Santa Catarina (the poor neighborhood wehre the group comes from) and Europe", he states.
The album Pimenta Malagueta starts being sold next week in about 100 newsstands in the city of São Paulo, for R$10 (about US$ 5).
, returns in a new edition on the series Columbia Raridades (Sony)."I was influenced by Lobão's concept. I've been trying to contact recording companies for four years and have gotten nowhere.", says Duda, mentor and leader of the group, who has decided to follow the steps of the rocker from Rio, focusing the distribution of the album on newsstands and very few, selected record stores.
Another difference from the old days is right on the cover of the CD Pimenta Malagueta
, which is sold along with a small magazine: now, Duda's name is printed on the cover, with the name of the band. "When I found myself all alone, after having put the band together and having done all that we did in Europe, I felt so empty", says the songwriter and guitarist, recalling that, soon after the band split up, the shack where they used to rehearse started attracting dozens of poor kids willing to substitute the former members."I realized that I couldn't let them down, because the work developed with Moleque de Rua is mine, but I couldn't make more of the same. I decided to take on a career which would not limit me to the social assistant's perspective. I also want to talk about my inner self, the love I have for my wife", goes Duda, now a 40-year-old, who eventually married British culture producer Louise Robbins while in Europe.
The new face of the band comes up on some of the tracks in the album, such as the soul ballad O Porto (Duda/Oswaldo Gregório) and the romantic O Primeiro Beijo (or The First Kiss), inspired by the relationship between two members of the group. "I was shocked when I saw a guy and a girl from the group French kissing at the door of the shack. I immediately remembered my first kiss.", the songwriter reveals.
Still angry
But the usual sambas and raps are also present, such as Esmola (Charity), whose lyrics display heavy loads of nonconformity. "That song was made in a moment when we were very, very angry. When we returned to Brazil, we saw a number of social projects that were ripping off the aesthetics that we had created, but their goals were not like ours", Duda explains, adding that he gets annoyed with the instrumentation of that kind of social work that is done by companies which are only interested in promoting their own names and brands.
"We talked about it and the kids all looked at me in awe. The anger built up and I wrote the lyrics", he says, revealing how the chorus "enfia essa esmola no c*" (or "stick the charity up yours") came up. "I was privileged enough to go to college, but I was born deep down in the suburb. The relation with these kids has to be based upon solidarity. The two people interact and educate one another", says the former bank teller who has made a living off of percussion workshops for poor community kids in the past couple of years.
The crisis that wrapped the first phase of Moleque de Rua began in Europe, where the group was living and performing for a total two years between 1993 and 1996. "The kids were tripping on pagode. They thought it was not fair that the cats that clearly did not have half as much musical talent were getting a lot more media than them", explain Duda, saying that he tried to talk the kids out of trading trends and embracing the pagode, but the conflicting points of view fomented the break-up.
Besides Duda, only guitarist Oswaldo Gregório and bassit Carlinhos Alves remained from the first line-up. Gargamel became a freelance drummer and now is the director of a samba school's drum section. Felipe is now a back-up musician and plays with Arlindo Cruz & Sombrinha. Caio started the samba group Força de Expressão. Bombinha and Jelo coordinate a percussion project for street kids in the countryside of São Paulo. Pelé, the most talented among the kids of the first line-up, according to Duda, got into crack and is doing time.
The new line-up features seven percussionist "moleques" (or kids) and a girl called Pâmela. The band has already received invitations to play in Germany, France and Italy in 2002, but Duda reckons they shouldn't spend so much time overseas. "I'd rather get less money and build a solid structure in Brazil. The long periods that we spent aborad was great to magnify our view on the world, but there is an abyss between Vila Santa Catarina (the poor neighborhood wehre the group comes from) and Europe", he states.
The album Pimenta Malagueta starts being sold next week in about 100 newsstands in the city of São Paulo, for R$10 (about US$ 5).