Albums
Arícia Mess | Versos do Mundo
Tracklist:
1. Batuque é Reza Forte
2. Noite de Temporal
3. A Fome e o Canibalismo
4. Sem Medo do Mar
5. Meu Bem Bem
6. Há Quem Chame
7. Lovely
8. Eu Pagã
9. Versos do Mundo
10. Versos do Mundo Continuous Album Mix
Koro Koro is excited to present the third full length album by Arícia Mess. The artist emerged from Rio’s underground music scene in the 90s and has been active, singing, dancing, touring and recording ever since.
She composed and recorded the album with the apt title ‘Versos do Mundo’ (freely translated: “Wandering Verses”) while traveling between São Paulo, London and Lisbon. The trip led to chance encounters and departures, gains and losses, dreams and disappointments, happiness, new friends, new partners and a new focus on her creative path, with more freedom and depth. Eventually, things began to flow and take direction; when she felt lost she began to find herself. Encounters with other artists completed her ideas and ignited something new and exciting.
Aricia met fellow musicians Aleh Ferreira, Gabriel Muzak, Ricardo Dias Gomes and the one and only Dona Onete who all inspired her massively and last but not least the poet Marco P. Cremasco (to quote Aricia: “an encounter full of magic!”). Back in São Paulo Aricia Mess recorded with a band she has played with before: João Deogracias, Samba Sam, André Lima and Loco Sosa. Furthermore there is a feature appearance of the great Chico César, the Anglo-Colombian poet and singer Maria Del Mar, who recites her wonderful poem dedicated to the city of Salvador. A great honour is also that Wally Salomão’s family gave their consent to the use of his voice on the track “Sem medo do mar”.
The release of the album was delayed by the pandemic but that just meant that Aricia Mess’ journey continued to the Brazilian countryside, closer to nature, and her album found a new home with Koro Koro. Luckily music knows no borders and can roam freely to reach listeners around the world.
Jam da Silva | Vuko Vuko
Tracklist:
1. Meu Jardim Secreto
2. Leve e de Brisa
3. O Que a Gente Fez
4. A Dor do Outro Doi Em Mim
5. Vuko Vuko
6. Leoa
7. Remendo por Remendo
8. Inanae
9. Danca Com Lua Cheia
10. Talking Pi
Vuko Vuko – that is turmoil, hustle and bustle. That’s excitement in the air when crowds come together to celebrate in the streets. That’s a wild party where the dance floor is boiling over. That’s the ecstacy of the carnival. That’s the perpetual motion of dance, whenever you can let yourself go and forget about your worries.
The Latin Grammy awarded Brazilian singer, percussionist and songwriter Jam da Silva takes us on a musical journey with his new album ‘Vuko Vuko’. In times when we are confined to our homes Jam’s music allows our minds to float to a dreamscape where we can all celebrate, mingle and travel.
There is a poetic sense of longing, some sweet melancholy and a lot of optimism and positive vibes looking forward to a brighter future. All these emotions resonate in us throughout this extraordinary beautiful album.
“I like to walk around lightly and free / No matter if I leave or return / Travel without much plan / See the world / all its colours”, whispers a female voice in the introduction of “Leve e de Brisa’ (Jam da Silva/Mani Carneiro), the first single on the new record. Embracing the contradictions of a world in a state of uproar to transform them into party, rhythm and poetry reveals a mood that runs through the entire album.
‘Vuko Vuko’ opens with ‘Meu Jardim Secreto’ (Jam da Silva/Manuela Cavadas). A first impression suggests that it is a love song. However, it is not classical romance, but a declaration of love for music. Breathing in difficult times, fantasy and praise for the power of music, the track connects distant cultures of common origin: samba de roda from Bahia meets the coco de roda from Jam’s hometown Pernambuco, the ijexa (ritual music of the Afro Brazilian religion Candomble) reverberates with the gravity of Jamaican bass lines and it all swirls with a touch of kizomba from Angola, bringing Africa, Brazil and the Caribbean together.
Solely produced by Jam over the course of two years, ‘Vuko Vuko’ is his first album entirely recorded in Recife after a decade of travels and tours. It is also the first album to be released on the recently launched digital label Koro Koro Music, based in Berlin.
Although all the lyrics on the album are in Portuguese, the universal language of the music and the blissful vibes catch audiences around the world like a breath of fresh air.
Salma e Mac
Tracklist:
1 – Canção de Amor
2 – Seu Olhar
3 – Eu Te Odeio
4 – Alegria Triste
5 – Passarin
6 – Amiga
7 – Alguém Pra Esquecer
Description “Salma e Mac” is a new acoustic project by the two founders of Carne Doce, one of the most important bands in alternative music from Brazil. Actually, it’s not so new: the format precedes the band, Salma and Mac live together for 12 years in Goiânia, in the Brazilian Midwest, and have been making music with voice and guitar since 2011.
In 2013 they founded the band Carne Doce, but never stopped composing. Only now during the pandemic – after all these years playing with the band, after releasing an EP and four critically acclaimed albums, more than 40 songs and after tours through Brazil and Portugal and UK – they took on the simplicity of the acoustic format, voice and guitar, returning to their roots in the Música Popular Brasileira (MPB) that constitutes them as musicians.
Early in 2021 the couple recorded this beautiful EP with seven songs, three of them new and unreleased compositions, the other four acoustic versions of Carne Doce hits. The new EP “Salma e Mac” promises to take the duo to the universe of traditional Brazilian songs and Bossa Nova. “Age, the restrictions imposed by the pandemic or even the cosmos ignited in me the will, faith or simply the need to record these songs in voice and guitar,” says Mac. “We prepared everything at home, with great tranquillity and affection, so all the calmness and our intimacy are tangible in these seven songs. They are songs that reflect our life as a couple, the observation of our daily lives, our dilemmas, our conversations, the songs we listen to together, the experience of sharing life,” says Mac.
The Coup d’État Factory | A Fantástica Fabrica de Golpes
Tracklist:1. Pots and Pans Factory
2. 1964
3. Order and Progress
4. The Wait
5. Mantra Interlude
6. Vampires
7. Baiãozinho
8. Song for a Prince
9. Pelas Tabelas
10. Benedita, you beautiful
11. It’s Not a Dream
12. Mariele
13. Fake News
14. Good Luck
15. Roda Viva
The Coup d’État Factory is a documentary about media bias and its role in the collapse of Brazilian democracy. These topics sound stern and grim for a film, and one would hardly expect a vibrant and soulful soundtrack such as this. Three rising artists and one of the biggest veterans of Brazilian music got together in order to create the dirty sounds associated with media manipulation, corruption, fascism and… kitchen utensils! Erika Nande authored the instrumental tracks, while Josyara and Francisco El Hombre revisited two classics by Chico Buarque. The outcome is both surprising and enrapturing. These 15 very inventive and Brazilian-sounding tracks will get you shaking your hips, banging pots and pans and screaming historical battle-cries out of your window: “Stop the coup”, “Temer Out” and “Not Him” (in reference to Bolsonaro’s neo-fascist government).
The first track ‘Pots and Pans Factory’ blends the noises of a pots and pans factory (as featured in the film) with the banging of pots and pans, and a distorted version of the Brazilian national anthem. It sounds as twisted as the baseless impeachment of president Dilma Rousseff in 2016. The French word “coup” in the film title also alludes to the noise made by banging the kitchen utensils. ‘1964’ recalls the sadness and melancholy associated with such coups. ‘Vampires’ refers to coup-mongering president Temer (portrayed as a big vampire during carnival), injecting static television sounds into elegant piano compositions. ‘Little Baião’ borrows beats from the titular Northeastern Brazilian genre. ‘Music for the Prince’ pays tribute to the Fernando Haddad, the presidential candidate defeated by Bolsonaro, while ‘Gorgeous Benedita’ is a homage to the first female black governor of Brazil. The song ‘Pelas Tabelas’ was composed to Chico Buarque in 1985. It describes people banging pots and pans while asking for the return of presidential elections. Josyara sings the 2021 version, at a time when banging pots and pans has acquired an entirely different dimension.
The harp and a music box were used in ‘Marielle’, which commemorates the Brazilian activist assassinated by the Rio militia. The song is inspired by Paulinho Moska’s ‘Namora Comigo’, one of Marielle’s favourite songs. ‘Good luck’ combines various elements associated with the coup: rubber ducks, sambas, pots and pans, the cuíca and even a donkey. The meaning of each one of these items is addressed in the film. The final track is a modern rendition of the dictatorship resistance classic Roda Vida, composed by Chico Buarque in 1967 and delivered by Francisco en Hombre. Juliana Strassacapa’s magnificent warble will entrance you, the lyrics alluding to the cyclical nature of history (and coups). The song remains as current as ever.