Flight to Brazil: Dig into the Vaults of YB Music

Ivan Conti a.k.a. Mamão is a legend among Brazilian artists. Founder of the seminal Azymuth and drummer for dozens of great classic names in Brazilian music—especially those rooted in Black music. He is still active and very creative at the age of 75! He’s even collaborating with artists of new generations, such as on these two songs. “Caatinga” and “A Mina” are a meeting of Ivan's grooves and the electronic sounds of Grassmass, an artist from the state of Pernambuco. This is yet another proof of Mamão’s vitality.

Paulo Tó works with original textures of horns and percussion yet uses Brazilian rhythms in non-conventional ways. His songs are under the influence of several artists from the YB Music family such as Romulo Fróes, Rodrigo Campos, and Kiko Dinucci—all three of them are also part of our Passo Torto project. There's a contrast of Paulo Tó’s smooth voice and squeaky guitars, fragmented sambas, and fluid arrangements. That creates a sense of novelty and originality begging to be sampled.

The language of the Brazilian 7-string guitar originates from samba and choro. Traditionally, Gian Correa plays the double bass and works with extremely complex melodic lines and rhythmic divisions that are always very interesting. But the 7-string guitar is always played by a companion; a sideman. Gian subverted this logic and placed his instrument in front of a big band of the type traditionally used in jazz.

I believe that Gian Correa Big Band is one of the most original instrumental works of recent times using big band instrumentation and music with Brazilian rhythms. Besides that, musicians of the highest level in the Brazilian scene play these songs.

The poetics of Adriana Vieira are full of originality. She is very free in her musical conception. A little out of time, she deals with a sound very dear to Brazilian musicians of the new generations: tropicalismo, in its more underground definition. The sound of Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, and Jards Macalé from the 70s permeates Adriana's work. Her music features organically recorded songs made without fixed BPM, which at times sound primitive. There’s a certain avant-garde sophistication in her music, waiting to be discovered.

I like to think that the sounds I create can be sampled and generate new sounds. That's why most of my work is not structurally based on samples. But the use [of samples] as texture, timbres, and color attracts me a lot. I was very happy with the works I listened to that sampled my song “Vem Pra Chuva” last year. I am constantly encouraging fellow YB Music artists to be more active on Tracklib—both as sample providers ánd users. Tracklib makes it easier and fairer to use samples, which is very positive for everyone involved.