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// Seu Jorge and Almaz
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Seu Jorge & Almaz
Seu Jorge and Almaz bring a soulful psychedelia to their new album of inventive covers. Isadora Dartial talks to Brazil’s favourite pop chameleon.
How did all the members of Almaz get together, and what inspired you to make this album of covers?
Seu Jorge: We met up in 2008. Lucio Maia and Pupillo (the guitarist and drummer from Naçaõ Zumbi), and Antonio Pinto (bassist and City of God soundtrack composer) were making the soundtrack for a Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas film, Linha de Passe. They got in touch with me to do a version of ‘Juizo Final’, a song by Nelson Cavaquinho. We decided to continue the experience and in less than a week we had recorded around 18 covers. We chose 12 for the album.
The range of songs you cover is deep, from black American hits (Michael Jackson, Roy Ayers) to Brazilian classics (Jorge Ben, Baden Powell), and even a Kraftwerk track. Who chose the songs?
Seu Jorge: It was a collective choice. We all brought in our favourite vinyl LPs, and listened to them together over a few beers…and we worked it out as a group. It was easy, it all felt really natural.
You have a very close connection to samba. What is it like playing with members of Naçaõ Zumbi?
Seu Jorge: Naçaõ Zumbi is really the best thing to happen in Brazilian music in the last 20 years. Their new sound put Recife and the North-East on the map. Lucio and Pupillo gave us a psychedelic sound. Samba has spontaneity, they brought images, colours…giving Almaz music a cinematic dimension.
And your contribution to the Almaz sound…?
Seu Jorge: In Brazil, people see me as a popular samba artist. Almaz gives me an opportunity to go into darker, more rocky and psychedelic sounds. It’s a chance to break with clichés about Brazilian music, to resist that circus. And it’s a new experience, working with a group. I’ve been making music solo for a while, so it’s great to have this ping-pong of inspirations with Almaz.
‘Seu Jorge and Almaz’ is an album of covers, and you’ve included covers on almost all of your records (Bowie, Gainsbourg, Presley). Do you prefer to be an interpreter rather than a composer?
Seu Jorge: I love to compose, and I’ve written songs for Marisa Monte and Carlinhos Brown, but it’s true that being an interpreter connects with my work as an actor. I love revisiting the classics and doing a new reading of them. With immortal songs you can really let yourself melt into them, and create something new out of it. It’s really perfect to start the Almaz project with covers.
Seu Jorge and Almaz is out 27 September 2010 on Now-Again
17 October 2010 - Seu Jorge and Almaz live at the Roundhouse, London NW1
Isadora Dartial
// ALSO
- Everybody Loves The Sunshine
- Wilson das Neves
- Venus On Earth
- Paranoia and passion: Almodovar’s movie music
- Quantic and his Combo Barbaro album launch tour starts Friday 5 June at the ICA
- Joe Bataan & James Pants live at Cargo 11 June plus dates in Leeds and Birmingham
- Youssou N'Dour, I Bring What I Love
- Mr Bongo, Mr Bongo - Twenty years of Bongo beats
- DJ Floro, Chart
// ALL SEU JORGE AND ALMAZ'S INTERVIEWS
Seu Jorge & Almaz
09/09/2010
// LINKS
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