“Estado de Poesia” (Urban Jungle/Natura Musical) is an album that combines the richness of Brazilian rhythms with universal sound. In the same album, samba, forró, frevo, toada and reggae mix and give life to Chico César’s new work.
The CD is produced by the artist himself, in partnership with Michi Ruzitscha, and executive produced by Urban Jungle, distributed by Pommelo Distribuções and digitally distributed by Laboratório Fantasma. The pre-sale of the album begins on June 15th and will be exclusive to the iTunes Store. Whoever buys at this stage, gets two unreleased tracks as a bonus.
The project that includes recording the album and launching tour through five capitals (João Pessoa, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre and Salvador) was contemplated by the national notice of Natura Musical. “The program was created to value Brazilian music in several aspects: from preserving the legacy to revealing talents, but also to contribute to the realization and expansion of access to special initiatives by renowned names, those that our committee of specialists in the musical environment indeed considered emblematic. The beauty and diversity of Chico César’s new album, who hadn’t released a new album for eight years, tells us that we are fulfilling our goals”, says Fernanda Paiva, Natura’s support and sponsorship manager.
About the record, matured through new experiences, Chico César says:
“Having spent the last six years of my life as a public manager of culture in Paraíba, the place where I was born and where I lived my first twenty years, sharpened my perception of the contradictions so present between creative vigor and the relative poverty of the means of production, but it also sharpened my senses of affection and creation. The result is this “State of Poetry”, which was born in Paraíba since the beginning of the songs, grows in complicity with the musicians from Paraíba Xisto Medeiros (bass), Helinho Medeiros (piano, keyboards and accordion) and Gledson Meira (drums) who created the base mortar of this sound house with me, still matures in Paraíba in the participation of fellow countrymen Escurinho, Luizinho Calixto and Seu Pereira who sing with me on the album. al Nacional do Natura Musical – without a doubt, a successful and innovative case in the relationship between the private sector and Brazilian music production. People, societies, ways of making music, listening to music and loving are reinvented. For the dream, for the affection, for the desire. That’s what this record is about, which has physical distribution by Pommelo and digital distribution by Laboratório Fantasma. And I won’t say more. Whoever tells you about him now is Dominique Dreyfus, a French-Pernambucan journalist who has been a longtime activist in the French press and is considered by many here and elsewhere as the author of the best biography on our Luiz Gonzaga. With the word, Dominique.”
What is “State of Poetry”? I met Chico César one night in August 1996 in Natal. He was there to put on a show and I was there to launch my book on Luiz Gonzaga. In the restaurant where the meeting was organized, we sang a duel – “duel” is not appropriate, better to say “challenge”, being the scene in the Northeast and between two Northeasterners – in which each claimed admiration for the other’s work. After the exchange of compliments was over, we had dinner and became friends forever.
From then on, and I don’t know why, Chico and I started to meet regularly in a totally unexpected way, in the most unlikely places… like the time when, for a documentary, I was filming a rehearsal of a samba school in São Paulo and there was Chico in the drummer’s wing! But there were also properly scheduled meetings, at Chico’s concerts, whether in France or Brazil… And there were virtual meetings, when Chico’s new CDs arrived, which always provided a great moment of happiness: I’m a fan of this universal Paraibano!
Now, suddenly, there were no more encounters – neither accidental nor foreseen nor virtual: Chico who never spent more than two – at most three – years without us present a new record, silenced the production. Not that his inspiration had dried up. He left for others: presidency of Funjope and then secretary of culture in Paraíba. It could only be good for the culture of the state. But for me, what a cruel diet filled with homesickness. Luckily to kill them there were delicious CDs of him in my disco.
Until that invitation to write a text about Chico’s new album arrived. Me: Wow! Of course I accept! But first tell me what you’ve been doing for six years…
Chico: Why count, if everything is said on the disk? The title of the album (and track 3) “State of poetry” already speaks, for having been generated in these six years that I stayed in my state, Paraíba, as a public manager in the area of culture. State of poetry is a state altered from the inside out, it’s how I saw my state of origin and how I saw myself. The album has an A-side, which talks more about internal things, about the love for the girl who came to live in São Paulo with me now, a Paraíba. Music has to do with it all. “Pto live in a state of poetry / I would enter these backlands of you / to leave the life I lived /of gypsy before I met you… And there’s a B-side that is a more social look, for out to the world. “They deny that there is black here, nigga / they deny that there is color prejudice here / < em>deny blackness and this denial denies / the attitude of a black love…”
Side A – side B or the two faces of a Chico César back to music, his most certain place. Such a long silence could have damaged the thread of inspiration. However, will it be the fruit of the fire of passion? From the experience in cultural management? From maturity? From the six-year truce? Undoubtedly all together: Chico’s writing here reaches an impressive degree of sophistication, creativity, sensitivity, beauty, in short, perfection.
And that, both in the song of love and in the cry of protest. Because if love gives wings to Chico, his conscience as a citizen gives him the claws to denounce endemic racism in Brazil (Negão), the limits of freedom (Miaêro, in a rhythm that recalls the Cape Verdean morna), the commodification of life (Guru) , the problem of poverty and drugs (Sumaré, samba à la Adoniran Barbosa), the difficulty of being gay in a repressive society (Alberto, frevo in honor of Santos Dumont) and, the only song not exclusively by Chico, Quero Viver, posthumous partnership with lyricist and tropicalist poet Torquato Neto, who committed suicide in 1972, paradoxically leaving this ode to life that Chico set to music and arranged in a very Jackson do Pandeiro style.
Samba, forró, frevo, toadas, reggae, morna, the caboclo voice of Chico César appropriates a vast range of rhythmic forms with mastery and an undeniable northeastern harmonic accent led by a massive team of musicians from Paraíba: Xisto Medeiros on bass, Gledson Meira on drums, Helinho Medeiros on piano. Contrasting these rural accents, the delicately urban percussions of Simone Sou (except in Negão where Felipe Roseno enters), the Moldovan accordion (that’s right!) by Oleg Fateev, the guitar of Michi Ruzitschka and a handful of special guests: the voices of Escurinho in Sumaré, Seu Pereira in Alberto, Lazzo Matumbi in Negão, Raul de Souza’s trombone in Miaêro and…
Sobre a Natura
Fundada em 1969, a Natura é a maior multinacional brasileira de cosméticos e produtos de higiene e beleza. Líder no setor de venda direta no Brasil, registrou R$ 7,4 bilhões de receita líquida em 2014, possui sete mil colaboradores, 1,7 milhão de consultoras e operações na Argentina, Bolívia, Chile, México, Peru, Colômbia e França. Maior empresa B Corp do mundo, foi a primeira companhia de capital aberto a receber a certificação, em dezembro de 2014, o que reforça sua atuação transparente e sustentável nos aspectos social, ambiental e econômico. A estrutura da companhia é composta por fábricas em Cajamar (SP) e Benevides (PA), oito centros de distribuição no Brasil, além de centros de Pesquisa e Tecnologia em São Paulo (SP), Manaus (AM) e Nova Iorque (EUA). Detém 65% da fabricante australiana de cosméticos Aesop, com lojas em países da Oceania, Ásia, Europa e América do Norte. Produtos da marca Natura podem ser adquiridos pela Revista Natura ou pela Rede Natura www.redenatura.net. Para encontrar uma Consultora Natura por perto, os consumidores podem enviar um SMS gratuito com a palavra Natura para 28128. Para mais informações sobre a empresa, visite www.natura.com.br e confira os seus perfis nas seguintes redes sociais:
About Natura
Founded in 1969, Natura is the largest Brazilian multinational of cosmetics and hygiene and beauty products. Leader in the direct selling sector in Brazil, it recorded R$ 7.4 billion in net revenue in 2014, has seven thousand employees, 1.7 million consultants and operations in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Colombia and France. The largest B Corp company in the world, it was the first publicly traded company to receive the certification, in December 2014, which reinforces its transparent and sustainable performance in the social, environmental and economic aspects. The company’s structure comprises factories in Cajamar (SP) and Benevides (PA), eight distribution centers in Brazil, as well as Research and Technology centers in São Paulo (SP), Manaus (AM) and New York (USA) . It owns 65% of the Australian cosmetics manufacturer Aesop, with stores in Oceania, Asia, Europe and North America. Natura brand products can be purchased by Revista Natura or Rede Natura www.redenatura.net. To find a Natura Consultant nearby, consumers can send a free SMS with the word Natura to 28128. For more information about the company, visit www.natura.com.br and check out their profiles on the following social networks: Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. Press office Estado de Poesia
Titita – Patrícia Dornelas/ Cell: 11 99365 0944 email: patriciarnelas.news@gmail.com .com Natura Musical Press Office
Content Communication / Telephone: (11) 5056-9800 Leandro Lara: leandro.lara@conteudonet.com< /a> Paula Vianna: paula.vianna@conteudonet.com< /a>
Claudio Sá: claudio.sa@conteudonet.com
Roberta Montanari: roberta.montanari@conteudonet.com