Tam Tam Tam
Reimagined is the second album to come from Gilles Peterson’s Sonzeira project.
Overseen by GP, with Will LV and Rob Gallagher as vital co-pilots, this second
album picks up where the first one left off. Where Brasil Bam Bam Bam brought
together the all-stars of Brazilian music, this album focuses on a key moment
in the country’s history; a record made at a crucial moment serves as the
jumping off point for an open-ended project of musical reimagining.
Of all those
records released in Brazil, however, the search for one in particular has taken
on a real significance for GP over the past couple of years: José Prates’ Tam
Tam Tam. An accompaniment to a stage production financed by the Brazil Culture
Ministry, it was created to promote the country’s culture to the world. Hearing
the album – including its prototype of ‘Mas Que Nada’ that became a Sergio
Mendes mega anthem – through Ed Motta during the making of the last Sonzeira
album, it sparked a long hunt to get his hands on a copy (including a plea live
on Channel 4 news).
With a mint
copy successfully procured – not long after Jonny Trunk’s re-issue championed
by Record Collector mag – it was taken as a starting point for creating
something new. Working with production associates Will Horrocks from UK
bass-meddling duo LV and Rob Gallagher from 2 Banks of 4 – along with
appearances from drumming prodigy Moses Boyd and Kassin from Rio’s Orquestra
Imperial – they picked out phrases and snippets to build songs and tracks
around.
Released in
1958, Tam Tam Tam celebrates a distinctly Afro-Brazilian culture that was later
suppressed following a coup in the early 1960s that led to a military
dictatorship. From sparkling recreations of the atmospheric original to
reverb-laden dub, the album takes a magpie-like approach to re-interpreting the
most exciting aspects of Prates’ postcard of Brazil to the world. Tam Tam Tam
Reimagined forms another part of the Sonzeira project’s aim to take apart and
reassemble the pieces of what makes Brazil’s music so unique.
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