uced to and dive is a chance to be introd ce ien Sc ico Ch ão aç Ocup day life of the musician surrounding the every rse ive un ve ati cre the into lled cena mangue the creators of the so-ca of e on o, uc mb rna Pe from personal belongings, s, his writing, some of his ng so t His ]. ne sce e gu [man hibition. The beats tha are displayed in the ex cs mi s co nd his d frie an his s, s, ok ce his bo shed pla d inspired him, his cheri an to d ing an en ily list fam ed his joy to he en longing as well. Documents be ed rat ne s ve thi are for s on roe ati he and are the inspir ect on his career – and his music pals help refl publication. nt texts written by this fanzine brings curre n, itio hib the ex s thi of rt pa As a witnessed and echoed by standing near, have or r afa ce m ien fro Sc o, ico wh se Ch tho the 1990s. took place in Recife in cultural revolution that work has placed Brazil His ry. sto r one in this ge on str n a n, su of rt so a was erated in cinema, desig music scene and reverb the in s el ltie lev cu nt diffi ere diff the in a taken and cybernetics. The paths and visual arts, fashion, ian helped to create are sic mu s ment that thi ve mo the by ed nc rie expe ing articles. described in the follow Instituto Itaú Cultural
JORGE DU PEIXE
CHAPTER I In the early 1980s, a time when the hip hop culture was becoming widespread in Brazil via scarce video clips in the few TV channels that broadcast music shows, I would attend an association of dwellers in Rio Doce, in the town of Olinda, where some breakdancers used to gather every Saturday night. There I met another street boy who was a fan of the electro funk beat (Kraftwerk, Afrika Bambaataa, Neucleus, Zapp, Grand Master Flash...) and soul music, called Chico Vülgo. On the following week, a friend of mine took me to Chico’s workplace (an x-ray clinic in Recife downtown area, where he used to produce some beats and played rap in one of the rooms equipped with only a desk). Once we struck up a friendship, we started exchanging ideas and showing one another our small collections of vinyl records and later digging stuff out in secondhand bookshops (the plan was to steal the books from the bookshelves in my house and sell them to secondhand bookshops to buy new or used records). At that time, Duck Rock, by Malcolm McLaren; Electric Café, by Kraftwerk; and Planet Rock, by Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force were being released. The contact with that type of music drove us to attend breakdance crews on the streets in Recife downtown (7 de Setembro, Avenida Guararapes, Parque 13 de Maio) with huge tape recorders that worked with power coming from illegal electricity connections – we resorted to that when we could not chip in to buy batteries. We created the “Hip Hop Legion,” one of the first b-boys’ team in town. The sound came from cassettes and sometimes the recording was so poor that one could only recognize the beats, but this is what mattered then.
ON WHAT SIDE YOU DANCE THE SAMBA As a result of new acquisitions, which made the record collection expand, the parties began popping up. Franci’s Drinks, Adilia’s Place, Mauritztadt, Galeria Joana d’Arc, Soparia, and Oficina Mecânica served as a stage. By working on the do-it-yourself basis, we made the posters, the flyers, we took care of the production, publicity, and DJed. Those were the crabs with brains exploding night after night. This was the beginning of the “fun taken seriously,” Chico’s favorite words and greatest motto – as one can see, he loved revelries. From 1986 to 1992, I worked for an airline. I was virtually living in the airport and visiting home occasionally. Meanwhile the children came as well as responsibilities and result: less time for fun. Chico, however, continued with his sound struggle. While he wandered downtown dropping by the stores to have his ears updated, he would meet youngsters that had already put up their bands, such as Fred Zeroquatro (Mundo Livre S/A band), Renato L. and Herr Doktor Mabuse, who showed us other sound lines in their collection of videos and vinyl records. During those hearings, the Bom Tom Rádio was created with electronic drums, an old bass, and scratches made in a “three in one” equipment, with which Chico used to outline his plans to become the trickster of the stages. Now and then, when I had a break, I would go to some of those jam sessions at Mabuse’s house, in Casa Caiada, Olinda, and that lasted all night long. By the end of the 1980s, still in Rio Doce, Chico met Lúcio Maia and Dengue, who worked with him in those first band experiences. They put up the Orla Orbe and later on it would become Loustal, with a conventional formation playing soul, ska, and the 1970s rock covers plus a few songs of their own. After that, Chico got a job in a data-processing company owned by the Recife government office. He would spend nearly all his salary in rehearsals and studio recordings. In that same company, he met Gilmar Bolla 8, who took him to Daruê Malungo, a center that provided support to Chão de Estrelas needy community, located in Peixinhos, between Recife and Olinda, led by Mestre Meia Noite. In this quilombo (a Brazilian slave settlement), children and adolescents learned capoeira, music, and other art forms. This is where part of the science of Chico took shape: the encounter of
the drums of the Lamento Negro (an African group that lived there, with Toca Ogam, Canhoto, Gira, and other drum players) with Lúcio’s electric guitar and Dengue’s bass. They teamed up and formed the Chico Science & Lamento Negro band. *** Mangue. This was the word I suddenly heard when I was in a bus with Chico traveling from Olinda to Recife. “There is no jazz, mambo, soul? Then I’ll play mangue!!!” From that day on, fun got even more serious. Together with Fred and Renato, they wrote the first manifesto: Chamagnatus granulatus sapiens – or Crabs with Brain. In the early 1990s, I had a break from the nearly-slavering job at the airport and went to see their show at Teatro do Parque. The band was still playing under the name Chico Science & Lamento Negro. There I saw science evolving, the drums were still getting in tune, but one could feel what was about to come next. After the show, I went backstage still flabbergasted with what I had just seen. Chico, grinning from ear to ear with his usual excitement, was thrilled. I talked about some ideas with the guys and headed home with the thought in my head of what that would eventually turn to. A couple of years later, I was newly unemployed and, on the eve of a trip to the Southeast with Mundo Livre S/A band, Chico invited me to be part of the percussion combo of what was already called Nação Zumbi. We performed in Recife together with Mundo Livre to make a buck. By that time, there were some recording companies orbiting the band as the flies do. CSNZ had already gained some popularity in town and received support from the local media. In this enterprise, which we named the Caravan of Courage, we used scheduled buses to travel to Sao Paulo – and it was filled with several adventures, TV shows, accommodation in hostels, friends’ houses -, accompanied with plenty of spring chicken, beer, hangover, and many low-priced meals. The next step was the recording of Da Lama ao Caos [From Mud to Chaos], with a contract signed and many plans. The mud moved... Recife changed and the science of Chico started hotting up... Up to these days. XILA, RELÊ, DOMILINDRÓ!!!
JORGE DU PEIXE, Chico’s great friend, withstood and held firm when he passed away. With the Nação, in his own way, he continued, transformed and expanded his partner’s dreams. In addition to music, he works with design and, together with his wife Valentina, is responsible for the art design of the CD covers, stage design, and posters.capas de CDs, cenografias e cartazes.
Fred Z eroqua
tro
More than privileged sen sitivity or a sort of “walking antenna,” the Francisco Fra I met was a born leader, nça an enthusiastic urban act ivist. From what I could see believe that he developed ,I that amazing talent for aes thetic invention mostly as result of the intense conta a ct with the various subcu ltures that coexisted – in last decades of the 20th the century – in the outskirts of Pernambuco’s capital today no one doubts tha city. And t in the field of popular mu sic my mangueboy partn learned to use his mobil er izing potential in a way tha t very few other Northeas natives of his generation t did. It is no exaggeration to say that his utmost creation, the Chico Science frontman – a mix of Flavor Flav (the devilish clown from Public Enemy) with a caboclo (of white and indian mixed race) with a spear –, has reshaped forever, by resorting to a conscious dialog with the big global entertainment industry, the manner the Brazilian Northeastern youth culture is depicted in the major spheres of global intercommunication. And the people from these lands, whenever they have a chance, make a point of revalidating the phenomenon. Just like it happened, in an emblematic fashion, a few days ago. The echoes of that Wednesday – believe me – are still with me. That is a day that thousands of mangueboys will remembe r for many and many years: December 9 2009 . Yes, I was there, I was one of the almost 100 thousand privileged people who took part, at the Recife Marco Zero, in the recording of Nação Zumbi’s second live DVD. The festivity was not only meant to celebrate the opening of a historic and daring even t, namely, the second edition of the Feira Mús ica Brasil [Brazil Music Fair]. Deep inside what most of us had planned to do that nigh t was to share this kind of collective pride , as if we said to ourselves: what other plac e in the world can say so appropriately that it is the legitimate trustee of such legacy?
When I stepped on the stage to sing Rios, Pontes e Overdrives with Jorge du Peixe and other fellows of the Nação, I felt that Francisco França’s energy not only nourished me, but worked as fuel of the highest power for all those raving boys and girls (of all ages) squeezed in the public square right in the middle of the week. The greatest legacy that his keen verses, his charisma, and his unusual sense of rhythm has left behind is precisely this: after all the aesthetic avalanche provoked by dissemination of the seductive, sinuous, and fluid mangue-beat symbology, the self-image of the people from Pernambuco will never be the same.
Fred Zeroquatro saw a mere bar-table joke turn into something that would change a city forever – and the history of Brazilian music as well. In the lead of the Mundo Livre S/A band, Fred is the one who signed the first Mangue Manifesto. Four of his records have been acclaimed by critics. He is married to Maria Eduarda and is the father of two children.
t)
(Manifes
atro
Fred
qu Zero
Estuary. The end portion of a river or lake. Stretc h of the river with brackish water. Their banks house the mangues [mangrove swa mps], a community of subtropical or tropical plants partly covered with water due to the tidal mov ements. Because of the exchange of organic matter between fresh and salty waters, the mangues are amo ng the most productive ecosystems in the world. Estimations show that 2 tho usand species of microorganisms and vertebrate and invertebrate animals are somehow connected wit h the mangue vegetation. The estuaries provide wat er for the laying of eggs and offspring for the pro duction of two thirds of the yearly volume of fishes worldwide. At least 80 species that are important for trade depend on the coastal swamps. It is no pure chance that the mangues are considere d to be a primary link in the sea food chain. Despite the mosquitoes, flies, and horse-flies – enemies of housewives -, the mangues are a symbol of fertility , diversity, and richness to scientists.
founded is e Recife was er wh banished n ai pl e Dutch were th r T he coastal te Af . x rivers the (ex-) crossed by si th century, 17 ion e th in anned expans pl un an from the land h ug and wn went thro reclamation nd la te Mauritian to na of indiscrimi ps. as a result mangrove swam e th of n io destruct um of a stible deliri si re ir e th a rank hand, ich ended in wh On the other ” s, es gr in the of “pro “metropolis” a to cynical idea wn to it was. e little how fragile ed al upgrade of th ve re gion, soon Northeast re were enough ” of history ds in “w e th appear s in ic sclerosis om Minor change on ec of s the t sign st 30 years, la for the firs e th In tence 1960s. th the persis wi ed in the early in mb co ndrome, iven to an stagnation sy , has only dr th ions my s” li po verty condit po e th of the “metro of n deterioratio accelerated aos. and urban ch ment rate est unemploy gh hi e th s lives record e population th Today Recife of lf ha y. Over According in the countr rshy areas. ma or ] ms lu r Population in favelas [s Institute fo d se ba C,D rst city in to Washington the fourth wo y da to is fe Studies, Reci live in. to d the worl
cy!
Emergen
om else Recife dies fr Quick, a shock or be a doctor to ere is no need to a heart attack! Th e heart of a lest way to make th know that the simp Likewise, the blocking his veins. subject stop is by to and emptyuse a heart attack ca to y wa st ke ic qu is killing its a city like Recife of ul so e th t ou ing n one do so estuaries. What ca s it m ai cl re d an pararivers nic depression that ro ch a to in nk si enthusias not to n one recover the ca w Ho ? ns ze ti ci lyzes the ty batteries? and recharge the ci asm, unlobotomize, mud and stimusome energy in the Easy! By injecting ity in Recife l left from fertil il st is at wh ng ti la veins. organizar the creation and fo s rk wo e th , 91 In mid-19 a research and rts in the city of tion in several pa The purpose is of pop ideas began. production center nnect the good rgy circuit� to co to generate an “ene ulation network with the world circ ns io at br vi ue ng ma tenna pushed ol: a parabolic an mb Sy . ts ep nc co p of po in the mud.
The mangueboys and manguegirls are individuals who take an interest in comic books, interactive television, antipsychiatry, Bezerra da Silva, hip hop, midiotia, artism, street music, John Coltrane, chance, non-virtual sex, ethnic conflicts, and all advances on applied chemistry related to consciousness alteration and expansion.
Hilton Lacerda
The town of Olinda is located in Recife metropolitan area. They are so clos e to each other that one town is said to be inside the other. With Jaboatã o dos Guararapes, it happens likewise. The former is to the North of Recife; the latter, to the South. The sea merges the three towns into one single place. It was in Olinda, in 1991, that I saw the first performance of the Chico Scie nce & Lamento Negro band (which late r became Nação Zumbi). The venue was called Oasis – a very appropriate name. They warmed up the crowd for Mun do Livre S/A (led by Fred Zeroquatro ). At that time, in practice, the man gue movement was becoming known (a small and interesting audience).
e is important to The identification abov light to a very me for it gave the green attack front of representative cultural d its effects still the 1990s in Brazil (an ry culture). influence contempora the crabs had Before that, however, The webs already been around. ning of the gin be existed. Since the negro’s nte Mo ed 1980s, “Rat” (Fr roquatro) Ze d lle ca nickname – later tive imagination had been putting his ac re radical change to the service of a mo uco culture in the official Pernamb ionalist abuses dominated by the tradit nt. The Mundo of the armorial moveme en sustaining a Livre S/A band had be ce 1984. They small fauna of fans sin t skinny scene, were people behind tha gain weight. in need for vitamins to
Those were years of severe money shortage. Information was shallow, short, and resigned. This was the scene in which Fred rehearsed his explosive mixture of cerebral message anarchically built together with an unceasing search for popular concepts. The outskirts were where they had always been, but they sent their message even though there was no channel to use. The channel was on the way, though. The idea of the mangue as a symbol of diversity was evolving.
In the late 1980s, Recife was the meeting point of the Jaboatão dos Guararapes and Olinda worlds. In that moment, several people were engaged. Chico (with Orla Orbe and Loustal) and Fred (always Mundo
Livre S/A) met. One came with his black music and hip hop inheritance (together with his fellows Jorge du Peixe, Lúcio Maia, Dengue, and DJ Aranha). On the other end, the anarchic-samba and punk rock inheritance of the Montenegros and their followers. Now the plot thickens. And then, in a very different scene, the crabs start outlining a brain. The early 1990s’ days brought a hangover out of all proportion. An election (the first election with direct voting for president since the 1964 military coup) had put in power what we considered – at least I think this way – the most conservative portion of our politics. Nevertheless, what seemed to be harmful served to nurture, it was the vitamin that was missing.
The combination of factors intensified the need for a lever that would take our world out of that isolation. The virtual world was knocking at the door. Bitnet was already showing a channel. It only needed to spread out. A matter of time – and it did not take too long. And this is when the show at Oasis took place. After that...
The Mangue Manifesto, with a trip to São Paulo, in 1993, propelled mangue from a local exacerbation to the level of excellence required by the Recife province. The awesome reception in São Paulo (Xico Sá, Bia Abramo, and Alex Antunes helping to rock the boat) opened the doors of its own house. Now Recife was the Manguetown that the brains of the crabs desired. Fred
Zeroquatro, Renato L. (“the mangue’s minister of information ”), and Chico Science in the forefron t. They were surrounded by the mo vement diluters. And one thing must be clear: the mangue is not a music type, but rather a front that was able to open paths of visibility, make the peop le in the outskirts tune in with the world , and bring that world back. The audience was not the only one to pay attention to those kids. The record companies also show ed they were waiting for them (there is no free lunch). Chico Science & Naçã o Zumbi took the lead: in 1994 they released the Da Lama ao Caos [From Mud to Chaos] record (that is true – a record). Helder Aragão (DJ Dolores) an d I were invited by the band to take ca re of the record graphic design. We for med a creation duo named Dolores & Morales (and the design was signed as such). A joint work was put into practice. Many interesting people around and an ongoing resistance from the rec ord company. But it worked out all right. The record was eventually released an d until today it is one of the most importa nt records in contemporary Brazilia n music.
Right after Da Lama ao Caos, Samba Esquema Noise (Mundo Livre S/A) and Mestre Ambrósio (Mestre Ambrósio) followed. This small overview is enough to reveal the diversity of the movement, which joined with other artistic currents, such as visual arts and film-making – this flirting with them started with the short films Maracatu, Maracatus (Marcelo Gomes), and Cachaça (Adelina Pontual) and the feature film Baile Perfumado (Paulo Caldas and Lírio Ferreira). And one manifestation was not tied in with the other: they were parallel circuits whose waters eventually met in the same river.
world. Of course, this popped up more or less brilliantly in several parts of the planet. The mangue had somethi ng very interesting, though: the con stant interest in the technological univ erse as a manner of change, as a transfor mation tool. Beats grow old, bits rejuven ate every day.
An instigating thing is the role of the outskirts (in every level of relation ship). The turn was occupied by the insistence? Does it have anythin g to do with the historical moment? Are the outskirts a marketplace now? All those questions, and some more, togethe r? I leave my question there instead of my certainties. There are many soc ial scientists bending over the them e. I watch through the window, wishing to be par t of it and yearning for the discour Its beat. a as d ses labelle was bit e mangu The to be increasingly radical. And I wis sions. h discus heated ed nourish ion dimens that - from the abuses and vulgariz ation Some were left along the way, but the – we can discover a new world, whi of range a ch cing influen on kept ent movem swings on its ends for the reverbe these ratio until rate n reverbe that events l cultura to happen right there in the center. for or it with g agreein for either – days stating that it is outdated. Hilton Lacerda
However, what is really important there? For me it was the channel opened in the outskirts: the loudspeaker that, stemming from likelihood, carried the breath of this cosmopolitism of the poor to the
is a screenwriter. He wrote the screenplays of Baile Perfumado (1997), Texas Hotel (1999), Amarelo Manga (2002), and Baixio das Bestas (2007). He is the Morales in the Dolores & Morales duo and directed the first video clips of the mangue scene, like Maracatu de Tiro Certeiro (Chico Science & Nação Zumbi) and Samba Esquema Noise (Mundo Livre S/A) .
h.d. mabuse A metaphor was created in mid-19 91 representing the direct relationship between the richness of the man grove (mangue) swamp ecosystems in Recife and the pop scene that was flou rishing at the time between the towns of Olinda, Recife, and Jaboatão dos Guarara pes. Many things have been written abo ut this subject, but the belief that som e major points are still to be explore d and the understanding of its central role played in the events that have evo lved since then led to the writing of this text. At this point, before proceeding with our journey to the center of the mangue , it is worth lining up the different way s to understand metaphors: we are take n, as
ir use in poetry or a habit, to consider the s as an exclusive rhetoric, that is, alway We believe, dear exercise of language. not happen this reader, that things do e of the mangue way. The direct influenc idered a driver of metaphor can be cons le exposed to its actions made by peop the individuals’ influence, thus guiding paths chosen the behavior and showing titu ins tions. by social groups and ue metaphor And what is the mang , subtropical or about? Brackish water ities flooded tropical plant commun fertility, diversity, because of the tides, purposes of this and richness. For the e as a starting short essay, let us tak of this metaphor point for the analysis s process. the role of chance in thi
nction of Just like there is a conju ns co tellation of circumstances and a to explode in influences that allow life production. Such comb ersity of factors ination resulted Recife estuaries, a div in a change of the axis of pop traditions of er mb the then nu a of s an by me music industry, thus op nts, and de stu , en ers ing ch the path tea ral ve and se to productions not on the highly red rtu ly nu fro o m als Re ve cife but ha s friend from all the North and t favored tha th No bro rth ral ea ltu st cu regions lex comp in the field of music an likely un an d ch als su o of a n va tio riety ma the for of artistic expression for orary music mp nte ms co , su in n ch tio as ina comb fashion, cinema, literat ure, and software.
In one of the various centers of this network-like ecosystem was Chico. We first met by a freak of fate during one of the recording sessions of a radio program produced by Fred Zeroquatro. A Chico who still signed his name as Vülgo showed up with records of Biz Markie, Afrika Bambaata & Soulsonic Force and the soundtrack of Beat Street (1984) under his arms. His interest in black music and German electronics and the geographic proximity (he lived in Rio Doce while I lived in Casa Caiada, neighborhoods in Olinda) brought us together and paved the way for friendship. In mid-1987, together with Jorge du Peixe, in the afternoons with short money and plenty of will, we put up the Bom Tom Rádio (a sort of laboratory
where songs like A Cidade and plans that eventually led to the creation collective Re:combo were conceived and developed). In the early 1990s, a jump: after moving to Capibaribe Building, on Aurora Street, and as we saw each other every day, I could witness his ability to build complex networks of meanings. If the knowledge of biological aspects of the mangrove swamps was deeper in Fred, the one to baptize what was then understood to be only a rhythm was Chico. At lightning speed that escaped our notice, all the web of meanings took shape for we were engaged in the same movement. And so the connections between chaos theory, funk, Josué de Castro, samba, heavy electric guitars, punk, do-it-yourself, hacking, subversion in entertainment, maracatu, internet, psychedelia, science fiction, and altered states were informed in music. At that moment, several reasons ultimately sent me away from Chico and many other dear friends. Then, in
February 1997, over three thousand kilometers far from Recife, I received a call informing that, fate once again (in the form of a change of car or a broken seat belt) had brutally and prematurely discontinued the life of a friend and his vertiginous production flow that had just begun. At this point, I ask the reader to refer back to the mangue metaphor: the cycle of life transformations bubbling in the mangrove swamps, the chemical processes that take place in the viscous liquids, solid grains, and gaseous bubbles, the ongoing liquid transformation. Now, separated by over a decade of distance from those events, we can evaluate the effects of this process: Pernambuco’s music production remains as one of the richest in the country in a time when it is facing (and benefiting from) the new challenges arising from a radical change in the music industry. The vitality of cinema is one that has not been seen since the beginning of the last century. New beaches and ports appeared to strengthen the connections between art and technology. From the production of games to software, we
have seen the emergence of two major phenomena: a free militant softwar e community in the best of punk styl e of the do-it-yourself type and an industry directly guided by the man gue ideas, understanding that, if mak ing such cultural and business change in the music industry was possible, the same can be achieved in the soft ware industry. The changes produced by the idea s and concepts formed by Chico and others, after so much time, are star ting to escape our notice. However, they go on changing our reality every day and at different degrees. Just give one more step forward and always kee p your mind focused on the hugene ss. Herr Doktor Mabuse is the code name of José Carlos Arcoverde, webdesigner from Pernambuco and the “technology minister” of the mangue movement. Mabuse was the one who introduced the people from Rio Doce (Olinda), Jorge du Peixe, Chico Science, and Lúcio Maia , to those from Candeias (Jaboatão dos Gua rarapes), Fred Zeroquatro and Renato L. (the “com munications minister” of the movement).
THE GOWN
DJ Dolores
I am fascinated by the names of streets, neighborhoods, and favelas [slums] in Recife: [literally translated into English, they are like] Shooting Line, Planet of the Apes, Forced Entry, Wheel of Fire, Harmony Street, Friendship Street, Street of the Flowers - or simply – and I’m not making it up, it’s true! – Shit Street. I used to live on Daybreak Street, across the Capibaribe River from Sun Street. And following this megalomania of the people from Recife, that river is said to meet the Beberibe River to form the Atlantic Ocean.
a lowOn that day, Chico was coming from Rio Doce, e minut my reach To a. Olind in od income neighborho walk and apartment, he would get off at Cabunga sun that about four blocks under this scalding hot in mind keep to tant impor burns us every day. It is on foot then and bus the first this long itinerary head from me costu a ng weari was guy – because the I – y nicel it ng putti – that el appar an to toe, would only describe as crazy. ”, Recife, “the largest small city in the world the , bread with pots crack t raises its stree fore, Brazilian brandy cachaça, and stones; there ut a witho ved it is astonishing that he had survi no torn and clean ssly rooster on his forehead flawle clothes. small Let me describe what I saw: on his head, that of smell a with es brimless straw hat and big glass ace neckl bead a neck, his second-hand store; around on based tion tradi (a mblé with a taste of cando e African beliefs); a discreet white Hering-mak inay-sh halfw y flower loose with asted contr T-shirt leg his down going long cotton pants exposing socks ers. up to a Conga-make pair of sneak
st-watch, and a Well, there were rings, a wri oy’s swinging and final touch given by the b-b drifting face he pulled. arre to see Today it would be nothing biz of a sugarcanesomeone dressed with that mix m the fro y plantation worker and a bbo you should s, die Parque 13 de Maio. But, bud ly 1990s ear the understand that we were in laying our e wer we and for the very first time ter for rac cha eyes on Science embodying the . which he would be acclaimed oquatro, vocal I was accompanied by Fred Zer ato L., Ren of the Mundo Livre S/A, and ister of min also known as “the mangue’s surprise ng information”. It was a sweepi e that tru is and so was the mockery. It bizarre e som r Zeroquatro also used to wea s, plus pin al trimmings, like chips and met Science’s to se a huge straw hat, nothing clo eccentricity, though.
The purpose of that encounter was the first interview to MTV, the most important source of music information in that web-less Brazil nourished by amateur magazines and sly journalists. Chico’s outfit was an opposition to – and an innovation of – the dressing style of the Brazilian popular music culture. Particularly on that occasion, irony was very strong because MTV had been shaping and teaching the kids how to dress like a rock fan, a clubber, or a bboy. Chico’s outfit broke with the patterns set by those who were going to interview him. His strong sense of communication imposed a concept based on the rural maracatu with his background of a breakbeat dancer. There it was an intelligent and original manifesto establishing a dialog with the core of the international pop music while at the same time he addressed the hinterland suffering crowd. The echoes of our “greia” – this is how the satirical song is called in Recife – have lost their track in time, but that odd outfit will remain in the memory of people until a future unreachable to the eyes. Dj Dolores is the name adopted by Helder Aragão, from the state of Sergipe, who moved to Recife in the 1980s and became an activist of the mangue scene. He designed posters and flyers for amazing parties. Together with Morales (Hilton Lacerda), he directed the first video clips of the time and conceived the cover of CSNZ’s first record.
Renata Pinheiro
O cotidiano do Recife segundo a utopia mangue, representado graficamente por Dolores & Morales. HQ feita sob encomenda para o encarte do disco Da Lama ao Caos
Bia Abramo
time I I do not recall quite well the first been has It . saw or heard Chico Science is It . ago rs something like 15 to 20 yea ly cise pre er easy, however, to rebuild rath bi, Zum ão Naç the world where Chico and atro oqu Zer Mundo Livre S/A, and Fred ple that landed, as all the Pernambuco peo followed them did. weird. The beginning of the 1990s was 9 at last, 198 in We had had direct election : the ated defe albeit the fact that we were t mos the of winner was the other, the son , erer flatt t, gan old-fashioned elite, an arro wing provincial man. In 1992, the centerinst aga bet ’ members’ and the rightists to ting star the Labor Party and Lula was to k bac e wer fall through and, again, we de lor Col do nan the streets to demand Fer Mello to be impeached.
On the other hand, our generation, to the good or the evil, was more internationalized than the previous one. This meant that, in the 1980s, the narrow-nationalism felt like a prison to us. We wanted to be where the world youth was – and one of those places was rock and pop music turning back after the English punk; another one was Martin Scorsese’s, Francis Ford Coppola’s, and Wim Wenders’ cinema; and a third one was all the American In the cultural front, the 1990s also and English literature that Brasiliense represented a sort of counterflow . To my publishing house had just started people, at least, it did. In the pre vious releasing. decade, we had tried to build a syn thesis of the various historical forces that That is, we wanted to listen to rock formed us. with a post-English-punk look (we knew that punk, real punk, could not be, even because of a matter of class), more intellectualized than that pop that had started playing on On the one hand, there was this the radio but that, somehow, would commitment (not written, of course, but criticize the Brazilian music and, lastly, deeply embedded) to go on bein g the were still leftist. The project sounded opposition, those against, the lefti sts. complicated, but the most skilled and Nevertheless, the choices created by brave of us were inspired and gaining the Brazilian culture of the 1960s/1 970s, momentum from the punk word of both their most nationalist and resi stance command – do-it-yourself – and, line and their most hedonistic, hipp ieish therefore, it seemed to be possible. line, were bogging down in a type of aesthetic self-condescension that was, at least, repetitive, if not simply pat hetic.
São And so it was to a certain extent. tive, crea Paulo put up an entertaining, le utab rep “from the opposition”, and was t mp underground scene. The atte ’s to create, mirrored in the Factory rnative alte an experience, in Manchester, the k too circuit of shows and records; storm by n atio magazine of a large corpor a in e wer and made politics as if they were, We . fuss fanzine; made a reasonable the of face however, very scarce in the arrogant music industry machine and very would ch whi in the face of the audience, ) or mas rala prefer the most winsome (Pa e mor or ) ana more teen-like (Legião Urb h suc of old-fashioned (Titãs) version restlessness.
being In the 1990s, the entire scene was n flat falle had taken apart. Several bands h reac to on their face when they tried tired had ers out to the record labels. Oth ty. curi obs in ng themselves out of remaini nge cha ld wou MTV’s coming to the scene and pop everything. Even the creative rock to land Eng music base had moved from of ce rgen eme the United States due to the , nce elle exc par grunge, anti-intellectuality
really have loved to have someon e tying the two ends of that evolutio nary line proposed by the tropicalists, and that somehow was broken sometim e But then Chico and Zero arrived in the 1970s, and those new days. with their The manifesto. We got excited. They São Paulo generation of the 1980s had an actual manifesto, had put up a sce belo nged to the combative and denialne that was not limited to music (it incl mov eme nt group; the mangue beat uded cinema, fashion, and cyberculture represented the most invoked way ), spoke about computers and we were still to resume the tropicalism and Chi at the co dawn of internet, their Brazilian pop was its front-line man who was able to music showed a cosmopolitan atmosphere confront the long stardom of Cae , they tano had a percussion that here in the & Gil, Chico & Milton in the MPB. Southeast sounded new and lively and, on top of that, had been influenced by that very The hell of it is that Chico went awa same y scene that my people had invented too soon and there was no time years ago. They were intelligent and artic enough for all this. I do not even kno ulated w their intervention in the press very – and we have no means to know – shrewdly. They were of the left-wing. whether our plans for him matche d up with those of his own. I suspect that at It was as if that synthesis effort mad e some least part of it did. years earlier was showing the ups hots Bia Abramo is a journalist and profe in an unexpected and much, very ssor at much, Campinas Colleges (Facamp). In improved manner. the 1980s, she worked for and hip hop, which was combative but deeply attached to the race issue.
And Chico was, let us say, the guy who was coming from the rock, pop sce ne and was in a much better position to move back and forth among the MPB [Bra zilian Popular Music] big shots. Despite our criticism posture towards the 196 0s/1970s’ generation, we thought very high ly of them for what they had done – and we would
Bizz magazine and, in the 1990s, was the editor for the Folhateen and Ilustrada sections of Folha de S.Paulo new spaper. Together with journalists Alex Antu nes and Xico Sá, she represents the more than welcoming reception of the mangue scene in São Paulo city.
The rust of the long wait in the eyes of the grown woman. Now what? What is left to say one another? Only sand and long distance. Not even the temptations and the tramp life were submitted, and this would bring some suspense to the plot. That absence was a bitter pill to swallow. And that was it. They looked at each other, looked at each other. Each one with their “deep insides” hardened with reefs. She still tried to find in his body a blackhead that only she – and no other girl – could pull out in the afternoons of quietness and tenderness. He remained still in the corner and seemed to sink in his childhood quicksand. Then an intriguing breeze blew on the nape of his neck a question: – For love or for fun? He only wants to hear what she has to say. He has a Corto Maltese tattooed on his chest left side. “Balad of the Salty Sea,” she deciphers.
His little heart made of baked ghost crab neither felt love nor tickles for it was aching so much.
Ilustração: a partir de desenho assinado por Renata Pinheiro para este fanzine
(Based on the songs “Amor de Muito” and “Risoflora”, by Chico Science & Nação Zumbi)
He thought “two lost in paradise”, but said nothing for it would be so foolish and obvious to break the silence with such a dull prologue. Was there any solution? He thought of another thing: “I’m a crab and am drifting along. Just because of you.” That would be something, but she no longer knew how to read his thoughts. Sad thing, repeat with me.
He gave it a second thought: “Maybe moistening the ideas with beer”. There was no vendor selling the frothy thing within miles. Would he have hurt the girl medium-rarely? He remembered that there was a rehabilitation samba song beating in the head. Something
was wrong, he suspected. He did make a vow. OF STARTING A NEW LIFE. However, like every man: memory worn out by the rust of carelessness. Flowers just to decorate the after-shack. Quick in the limp sand of sabotage. Enough. Rumors in the air, a strong sound of a door slamming.
Then she said to the wind: “Once again, why is he here?” (She) felt like writing on the Corto Maltese tattooed balloon: “I’m a tacky sailor!” The sea returned to the beach the sculptures made by pure chance, like in an old exhibition of artist Paulo Bruscky. She used to like it. The longest afternoon in the century.
Maybe the tackiness of a beautiful sunset takes us out of this, she in a rare tick-tack of hope. A romantic? “In the old days,” she replied to her own suspectometer.
The girl who was waiting for her man to arrive had lost the sea gracefulness.
He was sinking down with his quick flippers. She still tried to say things. But he was no longer at her level. The girl who was waiting for her man to arrive had lost the sea gracefulness. The girl who was waiting for her man to arrive had lost the sea gracefulness. The girl who was waiting for her man to arrive had lost the sea gracefulness. (Repeat until the guy fully understands it!)
Eduardo BiD
I met Chico in a bus back in 1995, when I wa still playin s g in the Prof essor Antena destination ba nd . Ou was Sesc Baur r u, in the inte Paulo state, rior of São which meant a long rounddeparting fr trip journey om the capita l. I was not with their mu acquainted sic, had only heard of. Alon we had time g the way, enough to ch at about musi plans. This is c and music the origin of a partnershi resulted in p that the producti on of the so-s pecial second record of th e Nação Zumb i band, Afroci berdelia.
One month after that encounter, Chico and Jorge du Peixe dropped by my studio for a couple of lab sessions with new sounds. Macô and a new reading of Roda Rodete Rodeano, by the Caju & Castanha duo, evolved from those sessions. One thing was already very clear: the beats, the samplers, the scratches, and the synthesizers would meet there and provide the support to the rhythmic force of Gilmar Bolla 8 and Toca Ogan, the magic in Lúcio Maia’s electric guitar, and the hardness of bass player Dengue. Maracatu, Africa, rock, and psychedelia would merge for the new coming phase of the group. Even Isaac Asimov would set an appointment with Santos Dumont in heaven. I was very happy with Chico’s invitation to produce the band’s second record. We lived in a music universe that was very alike and enjoyed the same sounds. Those included only the old Jorge Ben, Willy Bobo, KRS-1, Sugarhill Gang, Tricky, Goldie, Kraftwerk, Mano Dibango, and other crazy stuff. We were sure that a fucking good record was on the way. As I had never produced a record before, Sony Music, surprised that Chico had picked me for his producer, sent me to Recife. The idea was to prepare a demo wherein the label could listen to what we were planning to record. I went back with seven songs, including Cidadão do Mundo, Samba do Lado, and Peixinhos, which had been created during the recording sessions and after the police gave us a telling-off – and they took away Gilmar Bolla 8’s walkman because he did not have the purchase receipt with him.
Chico stood firm in working with me and we were happy to know that the label eventually decided to buy into the idea. Quickly, we were in Nas Nuvens studio, in Rio de Jan eiro.
In order to make the sound gai n weight, I called G-Spot, an Ame rican sound engineer who had worked with great hip hop and rock artists at Battery studio, in New York. And, with my computer, samplers, and reco rd pla yer combined with Nação Zumbi’s ama zing musicality and concept, we went deep into the Afrociberdelia univer se with freedom and expressiven ess. The three drums were given the treatment they deserved: three microphones each, one attached to the dru m shell; one very closely cap tur ing the skin; and the other one, from afar, capturing the room. The weight of the drums from the “live” show was ther e, at last being recorded. Chic o was thrilled. The winds of Tiquinho, Hugo Hor i, Bidinho, and Serginho Trombo ne were used in tracks such as Peixinhos and Amor de Muito. Another mea nin gfu l change: the roll of the small drum (cai xa) played by virtuous Pupilo, who rep laced Canhoto when we were about to start the recording sessions, had the accompaniment of a Hi-Hat and a bass drum. I clearly remember our buddies bringing ice at the end of the recording sessions to drink fresh water in the Santa Teresa estate whe re Chico and Nação were staying. In that pla ce, the lack of a fridge and mat tresses well spread across the floor indicated an atmosphere of a refu gee camp, where there was not even a TV set. I still recall that it was pouring and the light usu ally went off almost every day in the studio, thus interruptin g the sessions, wiping the smile off our faces, and putting us a little behind the schedule to deliver the work to the record company. Maybe the strength and energy that appeared in the record come from those has sles that came up during those recording days.
Acervo Soulcity:photos
Acervo Soulcity:photos
the studio and season of endless nights in Once we were done with the el in the heart stay in a sort of messy hot my additional over-one-month ing. São Paulo for the record mix of Copacabana, we headed to G-Spot because of the work would be done by In order to save time, half mixed by Luís k. The other songs would be he had to return to New Yor dio. Paulo Serafim, from Mosh stu record Maracatu Mosh, we were convinced to On the first mixing day at eady tried to was radiophonic. We had alr Atômico, as Sony thought it pler we would quit the idea because the sam record Mautner’s song and we Smiths, did not the Sun I Am the Air, by the use in the introduction, I Am a room with Luís was mixing Manguetown in turn out fine. Ultimately, I h G-Spot. tu Atômico in another one wit Paulo while recording Maraca
On that crazy day, the one who showed up in the studio unexpectedly was producer Mário Caldato Jr. (of Beastie Boys and Jack Johnson), who ended spending the rest of those days with us as he was on vacation in Brazil. He went crazy about Chico. When we finished mixing, it was a blast. We hosted an audition and celebrated the outcome. The mission had been accomplished. I bought a Dom Perignon champagne and we had a toast, everyone in the kitchen of the Soul City, my production company, with cups in hand and small tots for we were nine. Cheers! With the record in my hands, Chico and I flew to Los Angeles and New York, where we ourselves showed the songs to David Byrne, from Luaka Bop record company. We were applauded and received an invitation to release the record in Europe, Japan, and the United States. Unfortunately, the Brazilian label, having another priority in those territories, kept their eyes glued to it. The Afrociberdelia release took place counting on artists like Julio Iglesias and Gloria Estefan. It was a big mistake. I played the Afrociberdelia CD to listen while I was writing this text and got moved when I remembered the recording sessions, the feelings, and the courage we had along the whole process of this work. How the record is updated and is ahead of its time! I listen to several details in the arrangement and interludes, with experimentations and lots of trips. And the very truth above all. Today I can very well recall my talks with Chico about how to prepare the kids - the generation interested in music and that was on their way - for what was coming next. I am sure that, somehow, we made it with the powerful and timeless Afrociberdelia. Thank you, Chico, for the opportunity, for the friendship, and for the trust. And for having opened this door that today is my life and my work, with much love and pride.
Eduardo BiD is a musician, music producer, and a father with a family. He works in his production company Soul City (www.soulcity.com.br) and lives in São Paulo. He produced the Afrociberdelia CD, a challenge in the attempt to capture the sound of the alfaias, typical maracatu drums. The experience was considered “astounding” by those who went through it
ILHO
ONÇA F
MEND KLEBER
In a mysterious action of artistic expression that was uncoordinated and unplanned (if it had been, it surely wou ld neither have any value nor would have gone anywhere), a new spasm – a new cycle - was affecting the filmmaking industry in Pern ambuco running concurrently with the mangue beat. Such phenomenon still awaits a study to determine why and how it happened, although theories abound. One of them explains it with the amount of coriander used in the local cuisine. Pernambuco professor and critic Alexandr e Figueiroa had very well defined that films made in the state seemed to exist by phases. Those production cycles appeared and ended soon, like the Recif e cycle in the 1920s or the Super-8 Film Cycle in the 1970s. My version, which probably is not supp orted by solid scientific grounds, is that the 1990s’ generation, both in music and imag ery, saw themselves free in a Pernambuco where the social, cultural, and historical state of mind is that of the sugarcane monoculture. This is the source of man y misfortunes, but also – I believe – of glow ing sparks of dissatisfaction and rebellion that have generated and generate artistic thou ght. All this happened with the gradual arriv al of new technologies that indicated freed om from the heavy and bureaucratic production means. Suddenly, the promise of an inter connected world that was about to be fulfilled (and the recording and capturing of images) found in Chico Science the most outstanding enth usiast for this state of things. Popularly recognized as an enlightened guy, the power plant that Chico embodie d illuminated everyone, and his friends, contributors, fellows fully repaid the type of energy that he generated. Fome de tudo
In cinema, this new generation was naturally feeding themselves with music originating not only from the 35-mm films, but also from video. That initial impact of listening to Da Lama ao Caos [From Mud to Chaos] in 1993 raised an eagerness for images, certainly inside of me. It is fundamental to clarify an aspect of Da Lama ao Caos in that particular point in time. The record, its narrative cadence, suggested me I was seeing a movie. In a Pernambuco theater that was at the outset again in that year, the first record by Chico Science & Nação Zumbi filled the gap left by any great movie that we did not have yet at that time. There was an initial inspiring force in that record, a visual universe that began from the insert and went on unchanged through the lyrics of rich and fertile images. And there came also Samba Esquema Noise, by Mundo Livre S/A, to reiterate our Pernambuco audiovisual new wave. Differently from some movements that only made sense from a retrospective viewpoint, that was something felt at the moment, at every record, show, feast, and lot of images being born. I am talking about a chain reaction that pulled more bands, more songs, more desire for recorded, shot, edited image.
At that time, there was a stimulus that was clear (and unique, years before the internet settled down), represented by the then new MTV Brazil, a mirror of the universal pop music with a Brazilian taste that validated whatever was happening in Recife music. Video clips were imagined at bar tables with executive productions made exclusively by the “bros” and counting on zero budget. And they generated some of the happiest moments (nearly forgotten, lost in our chronic incompetence to keep things in archives) of Pernambuco imagery, such as the promotions made by Dolores & Morales (Hilton Lacerda and Helder Aragão, the so-called DJ Dolores) to Nação Zumbi and Mundo Livre S/A.
Curiously, when the bands signed with record companies, the first “official” video clips were made by crews of famous advertising companies from the Southeast. With no bro, finally with adequate budgets, the filtered-out results seemed to seek a certain MTV standard, even though the sound track was different from everything that MTV used to play. Then, what we saw in those “pro” video clips were products that did not seem to quite understand what we had heard in the vinyl record and in the CD in Recife. When we check the timeline of this mysterious uncoordinated action between music and cinema in Recife in the 1990s, we find that filmmakers like Marcelo Gomes, Lírio Ferreira, and Paulo Caldas did not waste their time. They incorporated in their films that music that seemed to be a perfect and natural match for their images. In the short films Maracatu, Maracatus (1994) and in the feature film Baile Perfumado (1996), we have the movie-theater version with Dolby Stereo sound of what had initially defined mangue, pulling many good things that were also popping up in the so-called Pernambuco musical scene, such as Mestre Ambrósio and Stela Campos, a São Paulo native exiled to Recife. In the core of everything was Chico. His spectacular images already reconfirmed in Afrociberdelia (1995) and his stage typical performances ensured us an artist who was suggesting something very strong from a screenwriter endowed with a special sense of stage design. It is curious that the term in Portuguese “cena musical,” used to describe the events of that time in Recife – probably deriving from the English music scene –, sounds perfectly related to filmmaking to work as a bridge between music and image. Chico was a catalytic element of this all and it is wonderful to see that he still enlightens the present procedures. At that time, for instance, he traveled around the world with his music in the same way that, throughout the 2000s, the Pernambuco films traveled around the world with stops in Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Locarno, and Rotterdam. Every new festival seems to remind of the international music festivals of the 1990s, which showed us, at the time, that “speaking about the place where you live is the most important and true thing that exists and, no matter how far you travel, all the places resemble your place”. The words are his, but now it has been a while that they are mine, too.
Kleber Mendonça Filho is a cinema critic and filmmaker. In 1997, he directed O Enjaulado, a film whose soundtrack resulted in the first collected edition of songs from Recife mangue scene. His films Vinil Verde (2004), Eletrodoméstica (2005), and Noite de Sexta Manhã de Sábado (2007) have traveled the world. His last film, Recife Frio (2009), was given the critics’ best film award in the last edition of the Brasília Film Festival.
In mid-July 2009, the Itaú Cultural team began to discuss the programming for this year. When we started listing the prospect artists to honor with the Ocupação project and Edson Natale, Music Dept. manager, suggested Chico Science, a pleasant sensation of working again with a universe that is part of my life – intensively - came to me. Then, we all decided to go with it and bent ourselves to Chico’s work. We contacted the artist’s family, represented by his sister, Goretti, and his daughter, Louise, as well as musician Jorge Du Peixe and producer Paulo André. Everybody’s reaction was delightfully positive. In addition to those ones, we thought of bringing together other people who could help us conceive the exhibition. A natural thought that came to mind was to reunite the Dolores & Morales duo – that had played a major role in building the mangue aesthetics in the 1990s. With this project, we discovered a very delicious format of collective work in which there is no concept imposed. We put our minds to think together about every single issue
Ana de Fáti m
a Sousa and the good ideas were executed, improved, expanded, changed, and ultimately they generated something actually new, relevant, beautiful. And perhaps it better captured the essence of Chico, who had this spirit of a shared, collaborative, collectivelyexecuted, partnership-driven creative process. We flew to Recife to give the final touches to the exhibition concept and have a look at the memorabilia kept by dona Rita (Chico’s mother) and Paulo André (the band’s producer in the 1990s). At dona Rita’s place, I saw myself before another bright side of the artist – the dear son, the caring brother, the person who people miss so deeply, an ordinary being whose birth, growth, and premature departure they witnessed. Every object of his carried a story and Goretti told them to us. She was the one who moved us with every new account and every tear that she insisted on trying to control. Those recollections are still
painful to her. And she recalls them every day. She strives not to forget any detail, for she knows that her brother’s memory needs to be preserved, cherished, and told.
greater. And Chico showed tha us. With a t to concert o n the earl afternoon y of April 2 5, openin the festi g val progr am, the ar performed tist in that fr ontman an pop star f d ashion. T her such thin g in Recife e was no . Chico was under the spotl ight. He w the novel as ty. His pe rformance was follow ed by Mund o Livre’s completel , y differen t from the ones we ha d known si nce the 19 from the u 80s ndergroun d festivals They playe . d punk roc k no more. It was noi .. se samba!! ! We recor everythin ded g and kept up with th scene dur e ing the fo llowing ye - Abril Pr ars o Rock, Po koloko, Soparia, Recbeat, Mangue Fe Franci’s liz, Drinks, A dília’s P Galeria J lace, oana d’Ar c, MTV...
Paulo André seemed to be aware of that, too, since the first day he worked with Chico. He carefully kept every badge worn, all the posters of shows (small and great), playlists, pictures, documents, letters, objects, drafts. In his manuscripts written in 1996, Paulo already had some proposals for an exhibition displaying everything he had collected. It was very nice to be able to help him materialize part of his ideas 14 years later. The talks with the producer generated dozens of suggestions for the exhibition and took me back to the We knew tha t, to make early 1990s, when we first met. the Ocupa Chico Scie ção nce happen He was already a producer then and cha , the main racters wo uld have to I was a student obsessed with that to retell be engaged everythin Recife music scene. g. And so they I researched and catalogued every music-related event that had taken place in the city. I shared the information collected with journalist and friend Marcos Toledo; we were talking about, breathing, and listening to a production that had begun in the 1970s (with Ave Sangria, Lula Cortes, Alceu Valença, armorial movement) and tried to collect interviews, stories, and sounds to understand what would the “new” stuff be in the city two decades later. In the first Abril Pro Rock, in 1993, we realized that we were witnessing something much
did and they are still telling us the history of the artist and the movement that he helped to crea te. Several of those people appear on the pages of this fanzine; othe rs can be found in the exhibition – such as the case of photographer s Fred Jordão and Gil Vicente, artists Félix Farfan and Evêncio, and the musician’s friends Fred Zeroquatro, Renata Pinheiro, Sonally, Roger de Renor, Stella Campos, Renato L... A list that never ends as I write it and that will not end afterwards. Many have contributed with their accounts , available at the project website (www.itaucultural.org.br/ ocupacao), and others are getting ready to do so. Because Chico Science’s legacy will remain. I feel rewarded for many reasons: for working for an institution that provides support to the building and preservation of the Brazilian artists’ legacy and works; for having seen close up
music ed by Chico’s the impact caus the ng vi ha w for no and presence; hing yt er ev r fo m r hi chance to hono e th music (and in he changed in rned ; for having tu e) city cultur oric st hi g in someth my youth into e th r fo , ty ci e (for me, for th ving ha r lastly, fo country); and, d an , ng laugh, si made me dance, ys wa al d ul wo work be sure that my er os cl t ar ng gi be that of brin r So, approach (o . le op pe e th to ic st ti ico’s ar reapproach) Ch f e, as he himsel us ca Be ! universe ’s rate: “[...] it used to vocife eel to start wh time for this a, y samba makoss running, heav ”. brate! let’s all cele
Ana de Fátima Sousa is known by everyone as Aninha. Born in Recife, she has been living in São Paulo for 13 years and works for Itaú Cultural (as Communications Dept. manager). She produced some of the first video images of the mangue scene. By keeping a close eye on everything, she devoted herself to two academic researches on the subject: Movimento Rock em Recife nos Anos 90 [The Rock Movement in Recife in the 1990s] (1993) and Recife Jam (1996). Aninha is a member of the team responsible for conceiving the Ocupação Chico Science exhibition.
EXHIBITION thursday 4 february to sunday 4 april 2010 tuesday to friday 10 am to 9pm saturday sunday and holiday 10am to 7pm
MANGUE AT THE MOVIE THEATER thursday 25 to sunday 28 march 2010 Itaú Cultural Auditorium
thursday 8pm
Program 1 (93 min) Baile Perfumado Paulo Caldas and Lírio Ferreira, PE, 1997, 93 min. Screenplay: Hilton Lacerda; cinematography: Paulo Jacinto dos Reis (Feijão); art direction: Adão Pinheiro; music: Fred Zeroquatro, Lúcio Maia, Siba; cast: Jofre Soares, Duda Mamberti, Luís Carlos Vasconcelos. This film, which creates the “making of” of Benjamin Abrahão’s shooting sessions with Lampião’s gang in the middle of the Northeast hinterland, is one of the most riveting portraits of the cangaço [sort of social banditry] in Brazilian cinema. With the support of a rich research material, Baile Perfumado houses under the pop world umbrella the character Captain Virgulino Ferreira (a.k.a. Lampião). A primary hub between Pernambuco cinema and the mangue beat movement. Interestingly, Roger de Renoir and singer Ortinho appear in the film as cangaceiros [bandits], in addition to the whole Mestre Ambrósio band during a party in the film.
friday 8pm
Program 2 (100 min) Texas Hotel Cláudio Assis, PE, 1999, 14 min. Screenplay: Hilton Lacerda; cinematography: Walter Carvalho; art direction: Renata Pinheiro; cast: Jeison Wallace, Jonas Bloch, Conceição Camarotti, Jones Mello, Fernando Peres. This short film is a curious language study leading to building the narrative for Amarelo Manga feature film. The character is a hotel and the film makes up people that form the urban fauna of an imagined Recife. The sentence “What happens while the cow moves back and forth” was the provocative synopsis used at its release. Here, the mangue beat appears in the music and performance – having also cast Gilmar Bolla Oito and Otto. O Mundo É uma Cabeça Bidu Queiroz and Cláudio Barroso, PE, 2004, 17 min. Screenplay: Cláudio Barroso and Bidu Queiroz; cinematography: Paulo Jacinto dos Reis (Feijão). By using accounts given by Chico Science himself and other members of the mangue beat movement, the film intimately unveils Science’s thoughts. Interestingly, Roger de Renor appears as a guide in different parts of the accounts. Key film.
14
“suitable for people aged 14 and above”
A Perna Cabiluda Marcelo Gomes, Beto Normal, Gil Vicente, and João Vieira de Melo Veira Júnior, PE, 1997, 19 min. Cast: Chico Science, Fred Zeroquatro, Danuza Leão. One of the most surrealistic urban legends watched by the filmmakers’ keen, funny, and intelligent eyes. For a distant person, the documentary seems to be fiction. Local and national celebrities mingled with the account and the people’s memories turn A Perna Cabeluda into one of the most interesting films in Pernambuco audiovisual scene. Um Passo à Frente e Você Está Mais no Mesmo Lugar Cláudio Assis, PE, 50 min. Using a clever editing as a starting point, this documentary made for television is one of the most interesting references about Science in which filmmaker Cláudio Assis is not satisfied with humbling himself before the artist. Instead, he prefers to revive him by resorting to the visual and oral memory of an entire generation.
saturday 6pm
Program 3 (89 min) Maracatu, Maracatus Marcelo Gomes, PE, 1995, 14 min. Screenplay: Marcelo Gomes; cinematography: Jane Malaquias; soundtrack: Chico Science, Antônio Carlos Nóbrega; cast: Jofre Soares and Meia-Noite. Combining documentary and fiction, this film addresses the shock between different generation members of a maracatu group. The story of this manifestation is observed with a sharp eye, putting face to face tradition and modernity when the way how the manifestations become revitalized was revealed. Important appearance of Mestre Salustiano, one of the chief pop culture standards for Chico Science.
14
“suitable for people aged 14 and above”
O Rap do Pequeno Príncipe contra as Almas Sebosas Paulo Caldas and Marcelo Luna, PE, 2000, 75 min. Screenplay: Paulo Caldas, Marcelo Luna, and Fred Jordão; cinematography: André Horta; art direction: Cláudio Amaral; soundtrack: DJ Dolores and Garnizé. Two actual characters, Helinho and Garnizé, form the documentary backbone. Helinho, a vigiliante, 21, known as “the little prince,” is charged with the killing 65 thieves in the neighborhoods of Recife outskirts. Garnizé, a musician, 26, is a member of the Faces do Subúrbio rap group, political militant, and community leader at Camaragide, and uses culture to face the harsh survival in the outskirts. The two are opposite to one another and equal at the same time as to their status of children of a silent social war with daily battles in the outskirts of the large Brazilian cities.
14
“suitable for people aged 14 and above”
saturday 8pm
Program 4 (87 min) Cachaça Adelina Pontual, PE, 1995, 13 min. Screenplay: Adelina Pontual; cinematography :Jane Malaquias; soundtrack: Fred Zeroquatro and Otto; art direction: Cláudio Cruz, Péricles Duarte; cast: Chico Diaz, Edmilson Barros, Jones Mello. In a bar downtown, two men put a bet: who can drink more cachaça. The night goes by with its revelations and characters. The first sign of daybreak will reveal the winner.
14
“suitable for people aged 14 and above”
Se Liga na Parada... Ou um Abraço Michelle Assumpção, PE, 1997, 22 min. A record made by a journalist who thoroughly tracked the hip hop movement in Recife in the 1990s. The film shows the way of living of the protagonists: young people who embraced rhythm as a search for attitude.
Josué de Castro – Cidadão do Mundo Silvio Tendler, RJ, 1995, 52 min. Voiceover: José Wilker; interviews: Jorge Amado, Betinho, Dom Helder Câmara, Milton Santos, Chico Science. An inspiration for the mangue movement, the life and work of geographer and humanist Josué de Castro direct this documentary. Nominated to the Nobel Peace Prize, Josué de Castro died exiled in Paris in 1973. He wrote Geografia da Fome and Homens e Caranguejos, mangue beat reference books.
sunday 3pm
Program 5 (87 min) Maracatu de Tiro Certeiro Video clip, PE, 1993, 4 min. Band: Chico Science & Nação Zumbi. Direction: Dolores & Morales; production: X-Filmes Still in the pre-Sony period, Chico Science & Nação Zumbi shot this Hi8 video, which is a must. It contains some of Science’s mythology recurrent elements: quotes to urban violence, mud, and mockery. Samba Esquema Noise Video clip, PE, 1995, 5 min. Band: Mundo Livre S/A. Direction: Dolores & Morales; production: Etapas Vídeo. Four friends meet in a desert beach. Under the effect of chemical additives, they go into a lysergic ecstasy. All shot in black & white, it is one of the most awesome Mundo Livre S/A’s video clips. Its format and narrative ultimately exiled it from the music specialized TV shows. It was made on a thoroughly independent basis, which hence allows complete freedom. A video clip to unveal the band, not to sell the record. A Cidade Video clip, PE, 1993, 4 min. Band: Chico Science & Nação Zumbi. Direction and production: TV Viva. Demo version of one of Chico Science & Nação Zumbi’s biggest hits made by TV Viva on the streets of Recife. This is the first video clip made for the band. In this case, one must draw attention to the role played by the producer (TV Viva), which was one the major partners of the mangue movements in the 1990s.
Maracatu Atômico Video clip, RJ, 1996. Band: Chico Science & Nação Zumbi. Direction: Raul Machado; production: Chaos/Sony Music. Remarkable images for the explosive version made by Chico Science and Nação Zumbi for legendary song by Jorge Mautner. Manguetown Video clip, RJ, 1996. Band: Chico Science & Nação Zumbi. Direction: Gringo Cárdia; production: Chaos/Sony Music. The video clip tracks the band’s rocketing period after releasing their second CD, Afrociberdelia. The picture at the entrance of the Ocupação Chico Science exhibition was taken by Roberto Amadeo, cinematographer to this film. Samydarsh – Os Artistas da Rua Adelina Pontual, Claudio Assis, and Marcelo Gomes, PE, 1993, 12 min. Recife, a ruined capital. Overcrowded streets, alleys, and marketplaces in the downtown area with street vendors, beggars, town criers. In the middle of such Latin-accent Babel, street singers or, as they call themselves, popular musicians fulfill their singing ritual. Punk Rock Hard Core – Alto José do Pinho – É do Caralho! Marcelo Gomes, Adelina Pontual, and Cláudio Assis, PE, 1995, 13 min. A community considered needy is fully integrated to the world via its youth, who gained respect not for the caliber of the weapon that they carry, but rather for the voltage of the amplifier connected to their electric guitars. The documentary includes a video clip of the song Punk Rock Hard Core, by Devotos do Ódio (today only Devotos), all shot in 35mm with the negatives left from the film Maracatu, Maracatus, by Marcelo Gomes. De Malungo pra Malungo Alexandre Alencar, PE, 1999, 42 min The documentary depicts the so-called ”Pernambuco music scene.” Narrated by its 53 interviewees, the video shows a type of “official version” of how the scene works not only in the music field but also in fashion, cinema, and visual arts.
sunday 5pm
Program 6 (100 min) Amarelo-Manga Cláudio Assis, PE, 2003, 100 min Screenplay: Hilton Lacerda; cinematography: Walter Carvalho; art direction: Renata Pinheiro; music: Jorge du Peixe, Lúcio Maia; cast: Matheus Naschtergaele, Dira Paes, Conceição Camarotti, Chico Diaz, Leona Cavalli. Guided by passion, the characters in Amarelo Manga seep into a universe made of traps and revenge, unrealizable desires, the endless search for happiness. This universe is that of a satellite-life and of those types who travel around their own orbits, thus coloring life with a throbbing liver yellow. Not the yellow of gold, shine, and richnesses, but the yellow that dulls everyday life and the yellow that ages things set. A glutted mangoyellow.
18 “suitable for people aged 18 and above”
MANGUE TALK sunday 28 march 2010 7pm Itaú Cultural Auditorium [247 seats] Music experts and protagonists of the mangue movement discuss the scene echoes both in Brazil and abroad. Beco Dranoff A Brazilian music producer who lives in New York, Dranoff put up the Ziriguiboom, a production company and music label responsible for the international debut of artists like Suba, DJ Dolores, Trio Mocotó, and Bebel Gilberto. Borkowski Akbar A co-founder of Womex, one of the most important alternative-music business fairs in the world. Producer of the German festival called Heimatklange, which means “sounds from the earth”, and also Piranha Records, a Berlin-based label that pioneered the world music introduction in Europe. Fred Zeroquatro Leader of the Mundo Livre S/A band, Chico Science’s friend, and protagonist of the mangue beat movement, Fred also wrote the Caranguejos com Cérebro [Crabs with Brain] manifesto, a milestone in the scene appearance.
Bill Bragin Programming director at the Lincoln Center, in New York, where he oversees the Midsummer Night Swing and Lincoln Center Out of Doors summer festivals. He is also a co-founding producer of the annual globalFEST, in its 7th edition. A long-time fan of Brazilian music, he has presented many of the pioneering artists of the mangue beat movement, including the US debut of Chico Science & Nação Zumbi, at SummerStage in 1995. Paulo André Pires Chico Science’s partner, friend, and music producer, Paulo André created in Recife one of the most important alternative music festivals in the country: the Abril Pro Rock. The first edition was held in 1993 and played a primary role in spreading out the mangue movement throughout the country. The performances of Chico Science & Nação Zumbi and Mundo Livre S/A at the festival are memorable. Carlos Eduardo Miranda A mangue scene enthusiast, this producer from Porto Alegre was there in the first editions of the Abril Pro Rock festival in Pernambuco. He founded Banguela Records, a major Brazilian independent-music label, and is responsible for the Mundo Livre S/A’s nationwide debut.
SHOWS thursday 1 to sunday 4 april 2010 Itaú Cultural Auditorium [247 seats]
thursday 8pm Institute
friday
Mundo Livre S/A and guests
saturday
Mundo Livre S/A and guests
sunday
Bomba do Hemetério pação
saiba mais em itaucultural.org.br/ocu
Expediente Fanzine Ocupação Chico Science Ocupação Chico Science’s fanzine is an editorial adventure shared by Mariana Lacerda (lavishly helped by Marco Aurélio Fiochi and his critical eye), Liane Tiemi Iwahashi (art direction), Estevan Pelli and Jader Rosa (ideas and illustrations), Rodrigo Silveira (art on pages XX, XX, XX), and Renata Pinheiro (insert illustration). Contributors to this edition are Jorge du Peixe, Fred Zeroquatro, h.d.mabuse, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Bia Abramo, Xico Sá, Eduardo BiD, Aninha de Fátima Sousa, Hilton Lacerda, and Helder Aragão (with texts), plus Caio Camargo (editorial production) and Rachel Reis (revision). Acknowledgments: Marcelo Calheiros, Patrícia Cornils, Hilton Lacerda, Helder Aragão, Jorge du Peixe, Carlinha Sarmento, h.d.mabuse, Fred Zeroquatro, and Luciana Veras. Ficha Técnica Ocupação Chico Science A exposição Ocupação Chico Science é resultado da curadoria coletiva de Helder Aragão e Hilton Lacerda (Dolores & Morales), Goretti e Louise França, Paulo André Pires e Núcleo de Música, de Comunicação e de Produção do Itaú Cultural Curadoria musical dos shows Jorge du Peixe e Núcleo de Música do Itaú Cultural Projeto expográfico Helder Aragão e Hilton Lacerda (Dolores & Morales) e Equipe Itaú Cultural Comunicação visual e produção gráfica Núcleo de Comunicação do Itaú Cultural
Videoinstalação Landau Marcelo Pedroso/Símio Filmes (Recife) Grafite Derlon Almeida Acervos Família França, Paulo André Pires, h. d. Mabuse, TV Viva, Videoteipe e Marcos Toledo (imagens) Fotografias do acervo Fred Jordão, Gil Vicente, Família França, Paulo André Pires e Roberto Amadeo Fotografias do Espaço Sósias de Chico Cia de Foto (São Paulo e Rio de Janeiro) e Projeto Lambe-Lambe (Recife) Captação de depoimentos Marcelo Pedroso/Símio Filmes (Recife), Guga Gordilho (São Paulo e Rio de Janeiro) e Cia de Foto (São Paulo) Produção do site Núcleo de Comunicação do Itaú Cultural Produção da mostra de filmes Núcleo de Audiovisual do Itaú Cultural Agradecimentos Dona Rita, Goretti, Janusse, Louise e Família França. Sonaly Macêdo Cavalcanti, Paulo André Pires, Jorge du Peixe e Nação Zumbi. Dolores & Morales, Amanda Barroso, Sonally Pires, Marcelo Pedroso, Fred Jordão, Gil Vicente, Roberto Amadeo, Evêncio, h. d. Mabuse, TV Viva, Fred Zeroquatro, Videoteipe, Projeto Lambe-Lambe, Félix Farfan, Roger de Renor, Marcos Toledo, Melina Hickson, Adriana Vaz, Maria Duda e Renato L.