Various Artists - Hidden Waters : Strange and Sublime Sounds of Rio De Janeiro
Hidden Waters: Strange and Sublime Sounds of Rio de Janeiro is a sample of what Rio de Janeiro has produced in the last decade in terms of pop music, experimentalism, MPB, Tropicália and neo-bossa nova. In its 23 tracks you can discover different ways of reinventing both carioca and Brazilian music. Scene veterans Kassin and Jonas Sá redesign Lincoln Olivetti's radio pop, absorbing the soul influences of Tim Maia and Cassiano; while Ana Frango Elétrico, of the new generation, won the world with the ironic pop of her second album, Little Electric Chicken Heart. Ana’s work shares many traits with a group of emerging artists – Vovô Bebê, Thiago Nassif, Raquel Dimantas and Antônio Neves – capable of synthesising pop, bossa nova and rock, as well as others who follow the tradition of Brazil’s great singer-songwriters: Ilessi, Mari Romano, Dora Morelenbaum, Letrux and the duo Troá.
In the realms of experimental music, linked to the Audio Rebel/Quintavant scene in Rio, Negro Leo and Ava Rocha sing an unlikely cross between free jazz and tropicalist legacy, while the duo of Juçara Marçal and Cadu Tenório create industrial reinterpretations of vissungos (slave work songs), collected by the philologist Aires da Mata Machado in Minas Gerais. Lê Almeida, a veteran of Rio de Janeiro lo-fi rock, and founder of Transfusão Noise Records, appears with a track from his solo work, while Joana Queiroz, a member of the jazz band Quartabê, explores the sonic nuances of her clarinet and vocals.
The economic growth of the first decade of the 21st Century opened space for initiatives in Rio to be strengthened, reaching even more of the city's population. This same city is now experiencing a different situation, a dystopian nightmare of an unprecedented political and social crisis. How could it be possible to envision avant-garde music in a city with no future? What this collection demonstrates is that, immersed in a sea of references linked to music — from carnival to baile funk, from Bossa Nova to various manifestations of pop — Rio has never stopped evolving. Rio, despite everything, resists.
Ana Frango Elétrico - Saudade
Pedro Fonte - Clichê
Bala Desejo - Lua Comanche
Ava Rocha - Boca Do Céu
Exército De Bebês - Avós Da Experiência
Thiago Nassif - Soar Estranho
Negro Leo - Mulato
Mari Romano - Amélie
Rosabege - Sigo Num Site / Mármore
Dora Morelenbaum - Vento De Beirada
Cadu Tenório, Juçara Marçal - Candombe - La Cacundê Lauê
Jonas Sa - Gigolô
Troá - Bandeide
Marcelo Callado - Simbora
Ovo Ou Bicho - Moços
Lê Almeida - Apreço Antigo
Vovô Bebê - Briga De Família
Joana Queiroz - Dois Litorais
Raquel Dimantas - Flecha Azul
António Neves*, Thiaguinho Silva - Das Neves
Letrux - Dorme Com Essa
Os Ritmistas - Sambolero