Artists around the world responded to the forced isolation brought about by the 2020 pandemic in various ways. In Brazil, superstars such as Caetano Veloso, Milton Nascimento and Gilberto Gil (who, amazingly, will all be celebrating their 80th birthday in 2022) shared performances from their homes, performing their hit songs for their fans. Performing in this new format, for people in need of healing and comfort that music can provide, further strengthened the already deep impact these melodies and lyrics had on Brazilian culture.
Among those fans were Anat Cohen and Marcello Gonçalves, quarantined in Rio. As Marcello puts it: “I've been dreaming of Anat singing those words through her clarinet, imagining how her unique way of interpreting melodies would powerfully convey the message of the lyrics to anyone familiar with them, even when played instrumentally.” When listening to these quarantine-era performances, “each one of these concerts reminded me of songs that I could play with Anat, so this project made even more sense to be done at this moment.”
Against the backdrop of a country and a world turning inward, distilling the importance of music in the lives of so many, the duo set out to record an album inspired by the beauty of Brazil, and the spirit of its people. The result is at once intimate and virtuosic, mournful and hopeful, soaked with the feeling expressed uniquely in the Portuguese language as saudade – bittersweet, at once deeply happy and sad, and full of emotion.
The songs chosen for come from Brazil’s greatest composers and song-smiths, including the aforementioned Veloso, Nascimento and Gil, and also from Dorival Caymmi, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfá, as well as Venezuelan Heraclio Hernandez, and closing out the album, “Never Dreamed You’d Leave In Summer” by Stevie Wonder.
Reconvexo (Caetano Veloso) – Caetano was in Rome and saw cars full of dust. He was impressed when learning that it was the Saharan dust, and later came up with this phrase that starts the song: “I am the rain that casts the Saharan dust on Rome's cars / Eu sou a chuva que lança a areia do Saara sobre os automóveis de Roma.” Caetano was born in Recôncavo Baiano, a Region in the State of Bahia. Salvador, the capital of Bahia, is known as The Black Rome. It’s the city with the most African descendants outside of Africa. If Rome is the capital of Catholic Church, Salvador is the capital of Afro-Brazilian religions. This song is a samba de roda, a musical genre born in the Afro-Brazilian culture of Bahia. Samba de roda is kind of the opposite of Bossa Nova. While Bossa Nova simplified the rhythm of samba and enriched the harmony, samba de roda has a simple harmony but a complex rhythm. In our duo version, the syncopation is challenging since there is no percussion to hold down the rhythmic pulse.
Ânima (Zé Renato/Milton Nascimento) – Zé Renato composed the melody of this song and sent it to Chico Buarque to write the lyrics. However, on a visit to Nascimento’s house, he played this melody and the rest is history. With Chico’s approval, Nascimento ended up writing the lyrics and it became one of his hits. In Jung’s philosophy, Anima is the feminine part of a man, and symbolizes virtues as sensibility, inspiration and creativity. This song talks about a man that, on a quest, after traveling and experiencing many things, realizes that, the “soul goes beyond everything our world dares to perceive, or, Alma vai além de tudo que o nosso mundo ousa perceber.” Not being able to travel, the year of 2020 offered a moment to focus on our own souls. In the pianissimo parts of our version, Anat is singing Alma with her clarinet. Alma means Soul.
O que é que a baiana tem? (Dorival Caymmi) – This song talks about the beauty of the woman from Bahia, the Baiana, and asks repeatedly, “What does a baiana have?” Caymmi described a whole new world in Bahia that the rest of Brazil didn’t know. Caymmi, one of the fathers of Brazilian music, crafted this tune which became a hit for Carmen Miranda. Considered one of the best singers from Brazil, Miranda was actually born in Portugal. Born outside of Brazil as well, Anat sings it through her clarinet with a perfect Brazilian accent!
Andar com Fé (Gilberto Gil) – Andar com Fé means to walk with Faith. The lyrics say that faith is everywhere: in a woman, in a coral snake, in a piece of bread. It also says that even for those who have no faith, it often walks with them, just in case . . .
In the middle of the uncertain time of the 2020 quarantine period, these words became extra meaningful. On Gilberto Gil’s 78 birthday, a video clip of this song was released, showing various artists singing from their homes, wishing Gil a happy birthday and reminding all of us to walk with faith. We couldn’t help but sing the lyrics, so this is our short vocal debut!
Maria Maria (Milton Nascimento/Fernando Brant) – At Nascimento’s concerts, “Maria Maria” is always a moment of a collective catharsis, with the whole audience singing together. I wanted to invite Anat to this ritual, not only letting her sing the beautiful melody with her clarinet but also to open a free part in the middle of the song for her to improvise inspired by this energy. During the recording, inspired by this powerful melody, magic happened in the free part so we left with the first and only take we did. Brazilian singer Elis Regina used to say that if God sang, it would be with Milton’s voice. I think God borrowed Anat’s clarinet for a moment.
Correnteza (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Luiz Bonfá) – On our recording sessions we usually record our parts as we would be playing them in a performance – playing our instruments, one clarinet and one 7-string guitar simultaneously. On this version of Correnteza we had fun adding a few layers of clarinet and bass clarinet inspired by Jobim’s version. We aimed to keep it simple and beautiful, as love could be, as expressed in the phrase of the lyrics that says, “I fell asleep smiling, dreaming of our love”.
Paula e Bebeto (Milton Nascimento/Caetano Veloso) – Nascimento composed this melody to a couple named Paula and Bebeto, when he learned they were breaking up. He believed they would be together forever. After he spoke with Caetano Veloso about Paula & Bebeto, Veloso wrote the lyrics. One phrase of the lyrics expanded the subject of the couple and transformed the song into a hymn of free love: “Any form of love is worth loving / Qualquer maneira de amor vale amar”.
El Diablo Suelto (Heraclio Hernandez) – The first time Anat came to Rio was in the year 2000. It was an optimistic period in Brazil, when many were rediscovering their own culture. Those days there was a small bar in Rio de Janeiro’s Lapa, called Bar Semente, where young musicians, Brazilians and non-Brazilians, used to gather and play Choro, Samba, Forró and other Brazilian genres. Soon after, the Latin community in Rio joined in and a Latin night was added to Semente’s calendar. Semente vivid energy and exciting cultural exchanges were influential for everyone who attended. In 2020 we streamed a concert for an online festival celebrating Bar Semente and we played this Venezuelan waltz titled, ‘El Diablo Suelto’ (the devil on the loose), remembering those Latin nights and the era of Semente. We enjoyed playing it and relished the memories it brought to light and decided to include the concert version on Reconvexo.
Never Dreamed You’d Leave In Summer (Stevie Wonder/Syreeta Wright) – The year of 2020 showed how important it is to have music in our lives and how the same song can have different meanings at different times. This album includes songs that accompanied us during this year, and this song gained a different meaning when we listened to it in 2020. Stevie Wonder appears last on the video clip of “Andar com Fé,” celebrating Gilberto Gil’s 78 birthday. We love Stevie and this connection inspired us to end our album with one of his songs.
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