Meia Volta #7: Xand Avião's Devotion to Northeastern Music, Luciane Dom's Fav Brazilian Song, and a Portrait of Rio Grande do Norte's Pop
Painting a Fuller Picture of Brazilian Music
Olá, Brazilian music lovers! ❤️
Co-editors Beatriz Miranda and Ted Somerville here, and it’s great to see you again :)
Welcome to Issue #7 of Meia Volta, the first newsletter to present the nuances of Brazilian music they don’t tell you about 👌
In this issue…
An exclusive with forró eletrônico superstar Xand Avião; the song that changed Luciane Dom’s perspective on Brazilian music, group Luísa e Os Alquimistas through the lenses of Jefferson Carvalho, and more!
Bora lá? :)
BRAZILIAN SONG OF MY LIFE
Luciane Dom is an award-winning singer, composer, and historian from Rio de Janeiro. She has released three albums and toured internationally. Her music is characterized by the mixing of afrobeat, jazz, reggae, and ijexá. She has sung at the MIMO Festival, IIE Honors at the World Trade Center, the Lincoln Center Theater, and Faro MPB.
Luciane chose “Eu e a Brisa” ( which translates to “The Wind and I”), by bossa nova pioneer Johnny Alf. Learn more about his importance to Brazilian music history in Beatriz’s New York Times article.
“When I was a teenager I listened to a lot of American gospel music because of the complex chords and refined melodies. I heard “Eu e a Brisa” when I was probably twelve years old, and I remember getting goosebumps. Every time he sang “buscando um sonho em forma de desejo” (“seeking a dream in the form of a desire”), I was mesmerized, and I wanted to repeat the entire song whenever he reached the part “fica… oh brisa fica...” (“stay… oh breeze stay…”). It felt like I had never heard any song in my life. Listening to Johnny Alf was so exciting and meaningful that I realized I needed to explore Brazilian music. Everything afterward was different for me in terms of sounds and word choices. The poetry of Brazilian song is so deep that there is no way to simplify the feelings.”
“I could spend days praising Northeastern music”
Q&A with Xand Avião
Two decades ago, those who weren't acquainted with the electronic forró scene (popular in Northeastern Brazil since the late 1990s/early 2000s) would not have heard of Xand Avião. Today, those who keep up with Brazil's pop music industry have certainly sang or danced to one of his tracks. The voice behind huge Brazilian hits such as "Coração" and "Chupa Que é de Uva", composer and singer Xand Avião is interested in newness and diversity. In recent projects, he embraced the freshest genres from Northeastern music (from piseiro to arrocha) and invested in the new talents from the region (he is a partner at Vybbe, an artist management company focused on piseiro and forró). Below is an edited version of our talk with Xand:
Meia Volta - What are your first memories in life linked to music? And forró, specifically?
Xand Avião - My first connection with music, and with forró, was at the age of six, when I saw Luiz Gonzaga in person, playing an accordion in the city of Exu, in Pernambuco, the city where Gonzaga himself was born. In other words, it was the “King of Baião” himself who, indirectly, got me into forró.
MV - What was the path like until you understood you wanted to pursue music professionally?
X - It was a little complicated. The truth is that my father didn't want me to pursue music. I had to prove to him that he was wrong, and that I was going to change my life and that of our family through music.
MV - With Mastruz com Leite, electronic forró appeared, which was new to Brazilian music. Why do you think this new language has been, and continues to be, so successful?
X - I think everything has to be renewed - but, of course, always respecting our origins. With the arrival of Mastruz and so many other electronic forró bands, we brought younger people into the forró culture.
MV - You have already spoken about the prejudice against and the depreciation of forró and Northeastern culture in other interviews. How did Aviões do Forró manage to establish itself and consolidate itself in the national music industry, despite this prevailing prejudice?
X - Through talent, through musicality, and by the originality of our sound. There is no prejudice that can resist the sound of The Commander, hahaha (“Commander” is Xand’s artist nickname).
MV - You also talk about the pandemic as a watershed moment for contemporary music from the Northeast. How has the increased consumption of live streams, and music on streaming platforms, strengthened Northeastern music?
X - Live streams and digital consumption made Brazil look a little more closely at our music. Not just Northeastern music, but the diversity of Brazilian music as a whole. Anonymous people with gigantic talent gained their place and voice through live streams.
MV - About the new generation of Northeastern artists - Zé Vaqueiro, Mari Fernandez, Nattan, etc. - What do they have to teach previous generations?
X - The greatest lesson, in my opinion, is that dreams can become reality. Mari and Nattan sang in bars until two years ago. Zé Vaqueiro sang on top of a truck less than four years ago. In other words, dream, fight, and persist, and it will come.
MV - You talk a lot about dialoguing with other genres of Brazilian music. This was one of the purposes of your latest album. How important is it to be open to the diversity of music scenes?
X - Brazil is a sea of musicality and rhythms. I think that anyone who says they don't like rhythm A or rhythm B is failing to gain different audiences, and failing to get to know our musical cultures.
MV - What, in your opinion, makes Northeastern popular music so special?
X - I can’t help but be biased when it comes to Northeastern music, but a region that has Luiz Gonzaga, Alceu Valença, Djavan, Raul Seixas, Elba, Alcione...Anyway, I could spend days praising popular Northeastern music. But what catches my attention most is the richness of the lyrics, rhythm, and melody.
BRAZILIAN MUSIC IN A PHOTO
Luísa e os Alquimístas by Jefferson Carvalho
Jefferson Carvalho is a multi-artist from Imperatriz (a city in Maranhão State, Northeastern Brazil) who works as a photographer, director, singer, and composer, with a strong involvement in audiovisual production. He lives and works in São Paulo.
“As soon as I arrived in São Paulo, I met my friend Wandalo, who is from Piauí (state in Northern Brazil). At the first opportunity, he took me to Brega Dance Clube, a party organized by Luísa and Tupy, members of Luísa e os Alquimístas. In the following edition, I was the official photographer for the party. Since then, I've been photographing all the editions so far. I discovered that Luísa Nascim was actually born on the same day as me, September 5th, which was a really nice coincidence. It is incredible to photograph artists who inspire me musically and whom I love. Luísa e os Alquimístas is like a powerful dawn. They are making history and opening paths for artists like me. I feel like my own music reflects what they are accomplishing. After all, my photography also reflects the other arts I develop.”
Sharing as well about his roots and his growth as an artist, Jefferson included: “I think that anyone who comes from the Northeast, and in my experience from the interior of Maranhão, has a spirit of expansion, of transformation, explicitly with blood in their eyes and ants in their pants. I came from a place where art wasn't seen as a job, you know? So, over the years, I needed to build professional self-esteem to realize that I can make a living from art.”
Check out more photos from Jefferson’s shoot with the Alquimístas on our Instagram.
And get a peep of this fiery music video of one of our favorite Alquimístas songs:
INTERSECTIONS
In Rio, as we transition to autumn next Wednesday (20), heavy rains will likely fall, just like a summertime closure ritual. With the heavy rain season that welcomes autumn, we couldn’t help but think of “Águas de Março,” a song that, outstanding for the sonority and rhythm of its verses, was composed by Tom Jobim. One of the central names behind the development of Bossa Nova after its birth in the late 1950s, Jobim, a composer, lyricist, and instrumentalist, also wrote the English version, “Waters of March”.
ON THAT NOTE…
Brazilian movie theaters recently displayed the beautiful documentary “Elis e Tom,” based on the story behind the namesake album by Elis Regina and Tom Jobim - an album, by the way, among the golden ones of the MPB catalog. The documentary is available on YouTube, and here’s the movie trailer.
That’s all, folks :)
Hope you enjoyed this edition! See you in two weeks for Issue 8 💫
Até já!