Brazil - BRAZZIL - Cleverly Slippery Carlinhos Brown - Brazilian Music

A social and cultural phenomenon, Carlinhos Brown is critically aware of the societal responsibility of a high-profile Bahian artist and is much more complicated a man than could ever be known from the shallow press releases about him. Brown's first solo project, Alfagamabetízado, won my unqualified praise (see "Planetary Minstrel" in Brazzil September, 1996). Alfagamabetízado had a wonderful "alienness" about it, and I wrote much about Brown's spontaneity and breadth of vision, his talent as a composer, the ascendancy of unexpected textures and ideas as well as his colorful response to musical problems and challenges.

Restlessly active, Carlinhos Brown is recognized as one of the most influential musical minds of the day. He has a personality so highly developed, and ideas of such deep significance, that forming a conscientious appraisal of his work is no easy task. He has opened himself up to what the people of Bahia feel, what they want, and what they don't want. He toils at giving kids a real reason to believe that there is a relevant place for them in society. The danger for Brown lies not in an affectation of genius or in a false order of ideas, but rather in a powerful imagination, which he evidently controls with difficulty.

I anticipated the release of his second CD, much as I had each new album by the Beatles and each new Miles Davis venture, with the feeling that after listening, music would be changed forever. But none of the unalloyed artistic power Brown poured into its predecessor seemed to be salvaged for the conceptual mold of this inorganic collection called Omelete Man. That wondrous alien spirit, at first keenly critical and so artistically creative, had been transformed. Here the familiar and the experimental lie strangely side by side. I started to wonder whether that "alienness" was such an important quality in a new work and if so, to what extent. Accustomed to giving any new work a thoroughly objective treatment, I went back and listened.

Before I could condemn Carlinhos Brown for creating a work of frightful excesses and accumulated commerciality, one that didn't negotiate every corner smoothly, I found much that was eminently satisfying. The range of moods was highly individualistic and enigmatically interconnected. There were arrangements by Eumir Deodato as well as Jaques Morelenbaum and contributions from, among other luminaries, Luiz Caldas and the choro group Época de Ouro. Produced by Marisa Monte, the disc is a work of imagination and subtly shifting colors. Both as a document and a musical reality, Omelete Man marks a port in the voyage of a visionary.

I spoke with Carlinhos about language, social issues, cinema, education, and music in a wild stream-of-consciousness encounter that left me feeling like I had just played a game of soccer where the rules kept changing.

Carlinhos Brown—I can't tell you because I didn't go. I did participate in the first one and another a few years ago. PercPan has great possibilities. It's the greatest percussion event in the world, of course, after Carnaval where people see more. And it is the most important event in Bahia. The festival is a huge demonstration. It's a very big festival that has great repercussions throughout Brazil. You can't tell this from outside. It started very big, but in the beginning we had many more attractions than we have now. The problem is that we are going through a very big financial crisis, an economic problem, and that reflects on the festival. But it is good for Brazil anyway and for the percussion island of Bahia.

Brazzil—Do percussion festivals like PercPan help to reduce racism in Brazil?

C.B.—Racism in Brazil is ignorance. What is going to reduce this is education and being conscious of what it is to be Brazilian. Racism is anchored to the past everywhere. The problem has been in Brazil for five hundred years, and now politicians want to fix it in two months, in every aspect, judicially, legislatively, educationally. It is important that people want to fix little things in this country, but a problem of this reach is going to take time . . . the next millennium. When the media doesn't have anything to say, it talks about racists. And every time the subject is mentioned in print, we are pressed by the press. The collective unconscious is trapped. People in music and with culture are putting people together and asking the press to remove the word, but they continue to print it. I'd rather you asked me about the merging of people, the juncture, because every time I mention that word, I'm helping it exist. Every time we say this word, we are putting it into peoples' minds, and people like me and others are trying to take it out of peoples' minds. I hope we don't mention this word again in our interview because our victory is "miscegenated" not separatist.

Brazzil—Will the universal language of percussion advance the process of world peace?

C.B.—It's in the drums where peace is written. But the whole world has been preoccupied with deciphering the codes on the Pharaohs' pyramids because there was gold inside. People were worried about getting things, immediately. They were worried about understanding the Earth and the moon and wondering if Mars was red. But they forgot that all of man's language was written in the drums. I have a percussive formation. When the drummer plays he looks crazy, but he is transmitting something. It's an onomatopoetic situation. Who is the percussionist? Not anyone but the person who maintains a culture's voice. To be more direct, we are in a world that communicates through language. We understand codes of words, and we have found a dictionary that can hold a couple, but we don't understand anything about linguistics. Making not only sound, but a live force of nature, in the way nature created life, is percussive. Percussion makes all those words happen. This is how our communication allows us to get in touch with others. Percussion makes the planet earth the classical one among the other planets of the universe. It's our way of communicating, and that's what interests the extra-terrestrials (laughs).

Brazzil—Will the international attention from films like Central do Brasil and the Grammies of Milton Nascimento and Gilberto Gil ...

C.B.—You have a short memory. I won a Grammy before those two… for the disc Brasileiro. I'm not defending myself. I'm defending percussion. Now let's talk about Gilberto Gil.

Brazzil—I was wondering if you thought the attention from these awards helps to change the world's view of Brazil and in turn Brazilian culture? Does it bring back the image of a country that is often forgotten by the rest of the world?

C.B.—I don't believe that prizes change the profile of anybody in any place. What changes is the attitude of people who have taken Brazil to the point it is now. This is what changes. Trophies are schoolboy remnants that still exist in the soul of a mature adult. I don't believe that things like that change the image of anything. What changes is the effort of these people to present the reality of the country, how it is. It was the strength of Fernanda Montenegro that got the world to recognize us. It was her power that helped Brazil to be known. It was through her. Her effort forced the world to see us in one moment. Brazil represented there by Fernanda Montenegro was seen by many eyes as a very strong, proud presence. And people focused on her effort to show Brazil the way it is. If there hadn't been a camera there for Fernanda Montenegro, it would never have happened, and she was proud of it.

Brazzil—But Brazil had been left out of the cinematic world. Don't you think these awards brought attention back to an image of Brazil that many had forgotten?

C.B.—I never thought that Brazil was forgotten. The Brazilian people that are abroad are talking about Brazil, so I never saw Brazil left out. The concept of the country did not appear again just because of an Oscar or a Grammy. Brazil is lit in the heart of every expatriated Brazilian who says, "I'm in this country, but I cannot have my attitude, my behavior, my manners."

Brazzil—I'm not talking about Brazilians that live outside Brazil. I'm talking about the vision of the non-Brazilian public.

C.B.—From the point of view of a foreigner, what is changing is that they are going to the movie theater to watch our films, and they are consuming our music. But this is an old situation because Brazilian films were watched before. Carmen Miranda, for example, is responsible. She was the starting point in Hollywood for the vision of Brazil. Before Carmen Miranda, I didn't understand Hollywood, but after, I could. And then I started paying attention to Ginger Rogers and getting interested in others. The fact that Fernanda Montenegro was nominated for the Oscar was their luck. Because then we started paying attention to things we never paid attention to before. Brazilians didn't connect with the Oscar before. That Oscar doesn't look like anything Brazilian. Benigni was already a big thing in America.²

Brazil's nobility is attacked by its corruption, its violence, and its lack of education. But we are a noble people, and the two can be mixed. It's a form of saying, "I'm a Brazilian, and I don't want to divide the laurels. You know why? Because I'm a baby, and you've had a long life. It's my life now, and if my life interests you, and you want to hear my story, to increase the index of Brazilian films in the Hollywood system, which is only a hundred years old, then I am Brazil. I have many stories." I believe that people like happy stories, and Brazil has many happy stories.

Brazzil—Will you be making a film with cartoonist Maurício de Sousa?³ And if so, will you write the sound track music?

C.B.—Well, I'm going lateral then directly to the goal. I will be here praying, and when the movies find out about Carlinhos Brown… Oh, how delicious this world of dreams! Oh God, what a wonder. I know that I'm an anxious boy, but I also know that God reserved this destiny for me. The day the world's cinematographers cover my music, Brazilian music, there is going to be a cloudburst in the movie industry. I want to be happy. I want my work to bring me happiness. I want to have my work utilized. I'm prepared to write this Brazilian sound track. And if I do, it's not going to be something that somebody has already done. It won't be like what the Afro-Cubanos did when their music got confused with the dramaturgy of Beethoven's fifth symphony.

In respect to Maurício de Sousa, I am open. I'd love to do it because even the homeless read Maurício de Sousa. I think he is very original, and Brazilian music is very original. And we won't trip. We'll hit with something like Disney's Zé Carioca or like Amigo da Onça (Friend of the Jaguar).⁴ Did you know that character was inspired by the composer Lamartine Babo (1904-1963)? That small man with a big forehead reminds me of the president of the Central Bank. Now things are going to be different. New faces are going to appear. People who come to Brazil and expect to find a sequence of similar situations, will discover that we are different. And what talent is in our people is going to explode.

Brazzil—Can you tell me about your percussion school in Salvador? (Pracatum—Escola Profissionalizante de Músicos no Candeal)⁵

C.B.—I'm not trying to establish just a school of percussion. I'm working with a vocational school, but I'm starting with music. I'm not interested in a trendy school in the Bahian fashion. What I want is a school that will last a millennium. I want a strong foundation. We have the school and the teachers all set. This is what I believe is the beginning of education in this country. Even if instruction falls apart, the base is going to be there for a long time. I believe that the medical system will get to the point where, a year from now or maybe two hundred years from now, it will realize the need for this kind of a base.

Today schools are teaching how to have "it," but not how to keep "it." Schools have to recognize the importance of a vocation. And when that happens, we are not going to have students who can't decide what to do when they go to college. What happens now is that the market dictates what students study. They see something is good right now, so that's what they choose to study. But that is not a vocational decision. The market is fashion, not necessity, and it changes and gets weaker. Necessity is always here. The person who invests in a pharmacy is correct because he knows we need pharmacies.

People today have thrown away their shamans and witches and realize we have to go to doctors, to the pharmacy, that we need medicine. Before we had curandeiros who would treat people with their teas and roots and herbs. But people are more sophisticated now and know that they have to go to doctors. That's why someone who invests in a pharmacy recognizes that he will have a return.

They used to say that we came from the monkeys, but was this ever observed? Now this story is only in the comic strips. If schools follow the professor, he decides who the heroes and who the villains are. How can the professor know everything? Won't he just be repeating the same stories he was told? Our books have already taught us Lampião was a villain, and Antônio Conselheiro was a villain, and Zumbi was a villain too. That's what they taught me. But Zumbi gave his blood, and it's very unfair.

This school has become my teacher. It has taught me many things. And because we are very serious and nourish and spread the idea, the spirit of improvement, we have become the teacher of all the other schools around here. The first students I had are already professional. Now I'm trying to get to the next stage. For this I asked for help from Pomar, Credicard, USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development), and UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund). I asked everyone for help. I went all over asking with my hat in my hand. And the reason I did that was because I believe it is selfishness if the entire society doesn't participate. Am I wrong to ask for money to make this thing happen?

After all, poor people don't exist. What exits is poverty, and people are lead to it. We have projects that look out for people who have nothing. And we try to help by saying no to slavery. I'm not talking about black slavery. I'm talking about how this life that we live is a form of slavery. We have to find a future. A lot of people want to help, but they don't know how. BNDES (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social) has been contributing money to the school, and I hope that they don't stop.

They are a group that pays attention to social areas and has been helping other groups, not only mine, although I was the first. Their help has been of extreme utility for the people and for communication within a Brazil that hates the situation with the least favored people. I am a volunteer, but the people who work with me have salaries. We recently formed a third sector in the school that is made up of professionals who solicit money and who are working to translate dreams into the reality of social improvement in the poor areas.

Today education is changing, and the people of Bahia want solutions. A place that doesn't try to improve will never improve. This is a school of research and there is non-stop research going on in Bahia because we are the ones at risk. If it's going to work, Bahia will be the example for all Brazil. We'll know years from now. People say that Baianos don't want anything, and it looks like we are very slow because the ocean is there, and the ocean is always going to be there. It looks like nobody does anything, but we are moving a thousand miles an hour. We want a comfortable world for those who come into the world. For us the world is already comfortable, so let's use our time wisely!

The human spirit is one with the domain of God. And when we talk about God, we say there is just one spirit. But no, man has several spirits. Human beings, the ones who are the fruit of miscegenation, have acutely more spirit. You cannot say that they have just one spirit. We live and function for each other. People from mixed backgrounds are more intense. What Bahia doesn't want in its dictionary is the word or the idea of racism and the behavior that comes with it. Let's use our leisure hours wisely to work better. This is what we are trying to do, and it's healthy. It's work and it's entertainment. We need education to have fun. With this idea of entertainment for education, the formation of the organization comes together. And this is what will translate as our Carnaval.

C.B.—I don't have a concept. I don't deal with this. I don't have the background to have a concept. I just do it. I love looking for organic forms, for new things where you don't think new things exist. My concept was to find what I was looking for, so I asked Marisa (Monte) to produce. That was my concept. I wanted to do something with her that she hadn't done before with other people. Calling a woman to produce was the best thing that could have happened. Everybody should do this, including calling their wives to produce because their wives are the ones who know them the best. I called Marisa because we are two people that understand each other musically. We speak the same language.

Brazzil—Many of the tunes sound as if they were inspired by the music of the Beatles: "Irará," "Soul by Soul," "Cold Heart." Would you comment on this?

C.B.—No, no, no, no, no, no, no… No, no, no, no, no. I am so sorry. This beetle came flying out of nowhere. My Beatles are Tim Maia and Renato e Seus Blue Caps, not the Beatles. I am in Brazil, and I think the Beatles are in another time. To me the music of the Beatles sounds like Nordeste music. If the Beatles influenced me, I didn't realize it because what influenced me first was Luiz Gonzaga and Jackson do Pandeiro, all those musicians that are fashionable now in Brazil, but who I've known for years. If the Beatles influenced me, I didn't hear.

Brazzil—Do you think all the English and the string arrangements on Omelete Man will surprise any of your axé music fans?

C.B.—I don't know. I'm not interested in surprising axé fans. Axé is a movement that moves parallel to mine. It's a movement that feeds on my movement. "Rapunzel" was a landmark in the axé movement. I wrote it, and Daniela Mercury sang it. The song exploded all over Brazil, in Portugal, in Europe. But I cannot say that I make only popular music. I've written music for soap operas, for films. I write songs, but I never write the label. Everybody knows that. Rather than having this axé thing, I would prefer to have a movement of music in Brazil. Music needs to be modernized. I make music in Brazil, and we can say that it's Brazilian music, but it is part of the music of the world. Music is trying to have a more international barometer. When you only create music for Brazil, you risk never being accepted abroad. When we make Brazilian music, we make music for Brazilians, but when we make music for the world, everybody can understand.

Brazzil—Will you reach a wider audience outside Brazil by singing in English?

C.B.—I don't write in English. I write in broken English, broken Yoruban. The languages are broken. No, I think you have to communicate; it doesn't matter which language you use. If it is English that people understand more now, I'm gonna try. If I need to express the way Brazilians think, it's going to be difficult because my English is limited. I think in Portuguese, but I use some English words. This new language that people have found to communicate is not an old language like Latin.

A language is a linguistic code, and English is not an extensive language. But English is the door to the Tower of Babel. Everybody's started, so let's go! What's the best way of communicating? Let's communicate! I don't have an interest in singing in English because I don't know it. I don't speak English. My generation wasn't prepared. The English that I learned, I learned on the streets. I know how to ask for a hamburger and to say thank you very much to the people who receive us very well.

Brazzil—The tunes "Mãe Que Eu Nasci" and "Hino de Santo Antônio" make connections with Brazilian music from earlier times. How important is an understanding of these styles to your overall musical concept?

C.B.—First of all, music is not from the past. Music is eternal. Your age and your level of education don't matter. If the spirit of the music decides to catch you, it's going to talk through time—not just for a moment, not just for now. This is the real inspiration. The music today is what we call self-consuming or commercial music. But if the composer wrote it with his soul, he gave it an aura. And then the music doesn't want to disappear. If we continue to hear music from the past, it's a sign that in its sound there are some answers for the future.

Brazzil—Do you have any shows planned to celebrate the 450 years of Salvador?

C.B.—We had a show planned, a very beautiful one in Fonte Nova. I would have liked to extend it throughout Bahia because I don't think Salvador belongs to Bahia any more. Salvador now belongs to the world. But they told me that I couldn't do a show there, and I had to cancel. It was almost done. I had received money from sponsors and had invited artists from all over the world to demonstrate ritual folklore. But I was told that I couldn't do it there, so I didn't have a space for the show because in Salvador we don't have many places that can seat a lot of people. But we have a stadium, and they say that a ball and music go together. So let's take music to the stadium! We are a culture of the masses. The problem was the money. We had a question mark there. What do you think of Padre Marcelo? Padre Marcelo is music or he's a cult?⁶

Brazzil—I know that Marcelo's celebrations and songs carry messages that have driven thousands of people back to the Catholic church.

C.B.—Padre Marcelo had a show in Fonte Nova, and (sarcastically) then the light from God came to him. Maybe it's my opinion, but the church's objective is to bring people back. My concept is that God is free and freedom, and I don't need a cult to reach God. I hope that religion is a path that leads you to God, but not one that makes people richer, not a bank. Religion is to help poor people. It's time for the rich to give, not to take. The function of religion is to support poor people.

The churches put all those glittery things inside, and then they call to the poor to come. And when those poor, miserable people come, they are asked to give to the church. The church reaches everywhere in the world. Clerics are descendants and dissidents. It's time for them to think about giving and not taking. They attack candomblé. But the priest (Marcelo) gets his inspiration, his music, and his movements from candomblé. I have no religion. I am God. And God was the one that created even the pagan. We need to put all religions together.

C.B.—We learn all the time from everybody. Before getting to know him and being part of the family, I had already learned from his music, especially one of the first songs I played on guitar. The harmony, I learned from him.

Brazzil—Is there anything I haven't asked you that you would like to tell your fans in the United States?

C.B.—The only thing I have to say is for people who are going to the show. Go without makeup! Free! If you don't like to dance, and don't like to be wet with your own sweat, don't go! It's not that I want this. It's that the music is contagious; it will seize you. When you realize the floor is wet, you won't know if you are a person or part of the celebration. And I want to send a special kiss to all the people in Los Angeles. Please come and introduce yourself because I'm very shy.

1. Panorama Percussivo Mundial is an annual world percussion festival that takes place in Salvador. There has been some discussion about bringing it to New York in the year 2001.

2. Actor Roberto Benigni won the Oscar for his portrayal of Guido in the film Life is Beautiful. Benigni is only the second person in Academy history to win an acting award for a foreign language film.

3. Maurício de Sousa is the cartoonist who appears to be following in the footsteps of Monteiro Lobato, an author of children's literature whose style allowed young people to easily grasp complex facts about the universe.

4. Amigo da Onça (Friend of the Jaguar) was a two-faced character who claimed to be a friend, but was not what he appeared to be.

5. Vocational School for Musicians in Candeal. There is no literal translation for the word "pracatum." It is an onomatopoetic word that imitates a percussion pattern.

6. Father Marcelo Rossi is a former physical education teacher turned Catholic priest that has become a mass communication phenomenon. In 1997, he held a celebration in Morumbi soccer stadium, where 70,000 followers listened to his sermon while 30,000 waited outside for a chance to get in. His debut CD, Músicas Para Louvar ao Senhor (Songs to Praise the Lord), sold more than 3,000,000 copies and carried the word of God to every quarter in Brazil, the largest Catholic country on Earth. It is worth mentioning that all the income generated by this CD is given to charity.

The article "Planetary Minstrel" in the September, 1996 issue of Brazzil can be found on the Web at the following address: http://www.Brazzil.com/mussep96.htm

Selected Discography:

Title....................Artist ..................Label ......................Date

Omelete Man .....Carlinhos Brown ...EMI .......................1998

Mãe de Samba ....Timbalada............ Mercury/PolyGram .1997

Livro ....................Caetano Veloso.... Mercury/PolyGram 1997

Alfagamabetízado Carlinhos Brown ....EMI .....................1996

Roots .....................Sepultura ..............Roadrunner ...........1996

Andei Road ............Timbalada ............Mercury/PolyGram 1995

Cada Cabeça
É um Mundo...........Timbalada ............Philips/PolyGram ...1994

Rose and Charcoal. Marisa Monte .......Metro Blue ...........1994

Timbalada ...............Timbalada ............Philips/PolyGram ...1993

Tropicália 2 .............Caetano/Gil ..........Elektra/Nonesuch ..1993

Bahia Black (Ritual
Beating System) .........Various ...............Axiom/Island ........1992

Brasileiro ..................Sérgio Mendes...... Elektra .................1992

Estrangeiro............... Caetano Veloso .....Philips/PolyGram ..1989

Caetano .....................Caetano Veloso .....Philips/PolyGram ..1987

THE LYRICS

Busy Man
(Carlinhos Brown/Arnaldo Antunes)

Pra onde eu vou agora livre,
Mas sem você?
Pra onde ir o que
fazer como eu vou
Viver?
Eu gosto de ficar só
Mas gosto mais de você
Eu gosto da luz do sol
Mas chove tanto agora
Sem você
Chove sem você
Sem você
Chove sem você

Às vezes acredito em mim mas às
Vezes não
Às vezes tiro o meu destino da
Minha mão
Talvez eu corte o cabelo
Talvez eu fique feliz
Talvez eu perca a cabeça
Talvez esqueça e cresça
Sem você
Chove sem você
Sem você
Chove sem você

Talvez precise de colchão, talvez
Baste o chão

Talvez no vigésimo andar, talvez no
Porão
Talvez eu mate o que fui
Talvez imite o que sou
Talvez eu tema o que vem
Talvez te ame ainda
Sem você
Chove sem você
Sem você
Chove sem você

Maybe your heart
Maybe I hold on
I get to travel
Yellow summer
My super rain
I get to travel my road
Summer about every day
I like you, you like me
I love you, you love me
I touch you, you touch me
I'm missing you my lover.

Busy man
Like a busy man
Busy man
Like a busy man

Busy Man

Where am I going now free,
But without you?
Where am I going, what am
I going to do, how can I
Live?
I like to be alone
But I like you more
I like the rays of the sun
But it rains so much now
Without you
I rains without you
Without you
It rains without you

Sometimes I believe in myself but
Sometimes I don't
Sometimes I see my destiny
In my hand.
Maybe I'll cut my hair
Maybe I'll be happy
Maybe I'll lose my head
Maybe I'll forget and it grows
Without you
It rains without you
Without you
It rains without you.

Maybe I need a mattress, maybe
The floor is enough

Maybe on the twentieth floor, maybe in
The basement
Maybe I kill what I was
Maybe I imitate what I am
Maybe I'm afraid of what's coming
Maybe I still love you
Without you
It rains without you
Without you
It rains without you.

Maybe your heart
Maybe I hold on
I get to travel
Yellow summer
My super rain
I get to travel my road
Summer about every day
I like you, you like me
I love you, you love me
I touch you, you touch me
I'm missing you my lover.

Busy man
Like a busy man
Busy man
Like a busy man

Wit and
Witchcraft

The new CD from Bahian singer, composer, and instrumentalist Carlinhos Brown signals his legion of fans to expect only the unexpected.

Bruce Gilman

THE LYRICS

Wit and Witchcraft

The new CD from Bahian singer, composer, and instrumentalist Carlinhos Brown signals his legion of fans to expect only the unexpected.

Bruce Gilman

THE LYRICS

Wit and
Witchcraft