Music from Brazil, Birmingham and beyond on new Espirito Brum compilation
12 September, 2011The Espirito Brum festival brings together music and art from Brazil, Birmingham (where the festival is held) and other parts of the UK. The 2011 edition will be happening from September 16th until the 18th, and we have this exclusive compilation of tracks from artists appearing at the festival for you to listen to.
You can find out more about the Espirito Brum festival line-up in our preview here: soundsandcolours.com/news/music-news/artists-from-brazil-and-birmingham-come-together-for-espirito-brum.
Here’s a little more information on the Brazilian artists involved:
Babilak Bah is a self-taught musician, percussionist and poet. For the past five years he has been performing using a manipulated hoe (“enxada”) as his instrument of choice, resulting in a unique sound that continually moves in unexpected directions, yet also keeps a rhythmic base that stops the songs from becoming too “out-there”.
Flavia Bittencourt mixes samba, Northeastern Brazilian rhythms and instrumentation, a pop gloss and the musical finesse of choro music for a combination that has won her many plaudits in Brazil, where the success of her debut Sentido in 2005 gave her the opportunity to tour the country extensively. Her second album Todo Domingos arrived in 2009 and was dedicated to Dominguinhos, who also appeared on the album. Live expect her to cover the Dominguinhos classic “Eu Só Quero Um Xodó”.
Jota III is a rapper clearly enthrall to the style and sound of Jamaica. This is abundantly clear on his new material, recorded with his crew Académicos da Rua (listen to Volume 1 and watch the video to “Rap das 3 Raças” from latest album Rap Rasta). After initial successes, including performing with Racionais MCs, O Rappa and Gabriel Pensador, and supporting Ja Rule on a US tour, he broke his leg during carnival and questioned whether he would be able to continue. Currently living in Barcelona and recording plenty of new material, those dark days now seem a long way off!
Wanderson Lopez will be making his UK debut with his performance at Espirito Brum. What will be really interesting will be seeing how his presents compositions such as “Poema (Fantasia for 4 Guitars)” live. Lopez his been playing guitar since a young age and this shows his multi-layered compositions that incoporate elements of classical Brazilian guitar and rhythms from samba and baião, among others, and take them into new directions.
Tabacarana are a three-piece group from Minas Gerais specialising in samba-rock. No surprise then that songs by Jorge Ben, Tim Maia and Seu Jorge feature heavily in their repertoire then, alongside their own original compositions.
Gilberto Mauro is a pianist and composer from Belo Horizonte. He has performed solo, in a trio, with a band and with an orchestra, with compositions ranging from acoustic to electric to instrumental. Always though his piece show abundant imagination, taking cues from Western music as well as Brazilian folk and classical styles.
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