Amarelo

Description

With its title inspired by a Paulo Leminski poem: Amar é um elo / entre o azul / e o amarelo (Loving is a link / between blue / and yellow), AmarElo is Emicida's most ambitious project to date.

In today's polarised world and as one of Brazil's most successful rappers whose very stage name is a combination of the words for 'MC' and 'killer', Emicida has deliberately chosen to focus on a positive message of Love, in all its forms, as our common bond.

Born 1985 in a poor area of São Paulo, multi-award winning Emicida a.k.a Leandro Roque de Oliveira, along with his brother Evandro Fióti, now own and run their own recording and production company, Laboratório Fantasma, including a merchandising division that challenges several stereotypes.

AmarElo includes contributions from a wide range of Brazilian musicians, not least Dona Onete and Zeca Pagodinho, or more contemporary artists such as Drik Barbosa and Pabllo Vittar. International contributors include the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra and the Afro-French Cuban sisters, Ibeyi.

Simultaneously with its European digital release in 2020 AmarElo will receive its first international release on compact disc and as a limited edition, double LP vinyl album, both formats including a full English translation of all lyrics.

Description

With its title inspired by a Paulo Leminski poem: Amar é um elo / entre o azul / e o amarelo (Loving is a link / between blue / and yellow), AmarElo is Emicida's most ambitious project to date.

In today's polarised world and as one of Brazil's most successful rappers whose very stage name is a combination of the words for 'MC' and 'killer', Emicida has deliberately chosen to focus on a positive message of Love, in all its forms, as our common bond.

1. Principia
"I wanted to find a way to bring the beautiful force of American Gospel into a Brazilian yard" says Emicida. With direct reference to the music of Candomblé, 'Principia' includes the congregation of a church originally built by African slaves and which was first recognised as Catholic in 1802. The closing words are by a Protestant pastor. 8203;

2. A ordem natural das coisas (The Natural Order Of Things)
Featuring MC Tha, the song riffs on how it's the simple things of life which help us survive and even prosper: "The sound of kids heading to school / Beans growing in cotton fields / Life always wins".

3. Pequenas alegrias da vida adulta (Little Joys Of Adult Life) https://youtu.be/RVZCB3_011c
"Nappies on sale in the chemist / Some extra money from work" and even superheroes can take the bus. It includes Marcos Valle on piano: "When I saw him recording I thought, 'Fuck, Jay Z and Kanye West sampled Marcos Valle and here we actually have Marcos Valle!". It ends with a cautionary tale from comedian Thiago Ventura.

4. Quem tem um amigo (tem tudo) (Who Has A Friend (Has Everything)
Featuring the great Zeca Pagodinho, Emicida focuses on the importance of friendship. Referencing some of Brazil's most popular musicians "Being brothers like Gil and Caetano / It's a rare thing in this crazy world" it is also a tribute to legendary drummer Wilson Neves (1936 - 2017): "Mr. Wilson didn't use WhatsApp, but he would post me tunes on a cassette tape. I was working on something to record together again, but he left us before that was possible."

5. Paisagem (Landscape)
An exploration of contemporary society, poltical power and feelings of powerlessness, the song also points to the complexity of our personal responses: "Anxiety eats you away like rust / An induced vertigo ride / When you realize the monster arises / Directly from the smoke of the valley".

6. Cananéia, Iguape e Ilha Comprida
As the list of place names for its title, along with the recorded introduction suggests, this song is rooted in Nature and its importance: "This one comes / From the bottom of my heart / From the deepest corner of my core / To this wrecked world".

7. 9nha
In the vein of Chico Buarque's 1980s hit 'O Meu Guri' and using a title taken from an article of Brazil's Penal Code, with heavy irony Emicida inverts the form of a gentle samba because, in this case, the object of his love is a gun: "Babe, sweet babe / Someday we're gonna be on the news / This excitement is so crazy / Dangerous and exciting, Know what I'm saying?". Particularly apt as Brazil is currently considering relaxing its gun laws.

8. Ismália
Another song with a name taken from a poem, this time by the Symbolist poet Alphonsus de Guimaraens. The intro is sung by Larissa Luz, and the poem at the end read by one of Brazil's best-loved actors, Fernanda Montenegro. "Usually, the emphasis given to this poem is its romantic aspect, or rather, highlighting the madness of love. I see it differently, a metaphor of being black in Brazil."

9. Eminência Parda https://youtu.be/fXHpmuPJ4Ks
The title is the Portuguese version of the French phrase "e 769;minence grise" and in interviews Emicida has questioned "Where does the real power come from? Who has reduced us to believe that power and people like us are contradictory?"

10. AmarElo https://youtu.be/PTDgP3BDPIU
Featuring Majur alongside Pabllo Vittar, powerful voices for Brazil's LGBTQ+ community, they sing Belchior's powerful words "Ano passado eu morri mas esse ano eu na 771;o morro" (Last year I died, but not this year), both as protest against and a positive response to the life expectancy of young black men and LGBTQ+ individuals in Brazil.

11. Libre https://youtu.be/36QtCikBJt8
In company with the Afro-French Cuban sisters, Ibeyi, the song is a rousing call for freedom, its international dimension enhanced by mixing English, Spanish and Portuguese: "Se o gueto acordar" - "If the ghetto wakes up"

12. Who Has A Friend, Has Everything
Bonus track: an alternative version sung in English – a first for Emcida – of track 4: 'Quem tem um amigo (tem tudo)'.

Born 1985 in a poor area of São Paulo, multi-award winning Emicida a.k.a Leandro Roque de Oliveira, along with his brother Evandro Fióti, now own and run their own recording and production company, Laboratório Fantasma, including a merchandising division that challenges several stereotypes.

AmarElo includes contributions from a wide range of Brazilian musicians, not least Dona Onete and Zeca Pagodinho, or more contemporary artists such as Drik Barbosa and Pabllo Vittar. International contributors include the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra and the Afro-French Cuban sisters, Ibeyi.

Simultaneously with its European digital release in 2020 AmarElo will receive its first international release on compact disc and as a limited edition, double LP vinyl album, both formats including a full English translation of all lyrics.