The São Paulo subway is playing host to Red Bull Sounderground next week. Here are the Brazilian musicians who will be causing a commotion...
ANA GOES
After dabbling with guitars, piano and singing, Ana’s passion for music exploded when she took hold of her first saxophone. Now Ana’s repertoire takes in all rhythms of sound that the tenor sax can reproduce, such as blues, jazz and bossa nova. It's this spiral of sounds that makes Ana’s music so hard to pigeon-hole, something that delights her. “People who define themselves, limit themselves. Human beings are too inconsistent for that.”
THE BENETIZ DUO
Wagner Ortiz and Evandro Benedito intend to delight riders on the São Paulo subway network with choro music. In this case the traditional Brazilian music is played by Wagner’s flute and Evandro’ classical guitar. Choro harks back to a time when people would gather in public spaces to enjoy music and Wagner believes this makes it the perfect style for Red Bull Sounderground. “All you need to do is go to Praça da Sé, for example, and soon enough you’ll see people’s reactions. You start playing and then suddenly there’s a giant circle of people around you watching.”
LES MAGA
For years Carlos Maga had been searching for the sound to set him apart from his contemporaries. The first piece of the jigsaw was meeting guitarist Charles Raszl, the last piece was his introduction to bassist Rafael Guedes. Now Carlos is looking forward to using Red Bull Sounderground as a platform to exhibit his rhythmic rocking and promote busking in Brazil. “We know the busking culture, mainly from travelling around Europe. I hope that this becomes a strong practice here in Brazil, leading to the opening of more performance spaces. Musicians like playing, it doesn’t matter where.”
MUSTARD AND CUSTARD
Folk is the thing for Kadu Abecassis and Peter Hossell when they perform together as Mustard and Custard. Englishman Peter is a veteran of the swinging sixties in London and has got Kadu excited with his tales of what is capable when people are given such direct exposure to the music. “It’s something that São Paulo’s missing and it would be a good link for the other arts. I see people using cell phones to listen to music, simply because they have nothing better to listen to or watch."
Red Bull photofiles
RAFAEL MASGRAU
Rafael splits his time between shredding his axe and worshipping at the altar of Ozzy Osbourne. The riff-based rocker may only be aged 23 but he has already played in bands in Brazil and Germany. With artists at Red Bull Sounderground restricted to a maximum 60-watt amplification expect Rafael’s Black Sabbath inspired set to push the noise barrier to the absolute limit. “Your musical style is in your blood. In my case it’s heavy metal, or anything that is related to heavy sounds and well-executed solos.”
PEDRO LOOP
As Pedro Loop’s name suggests tape loops play a big part in the Brazilian’s performances. What is less expected is that he complements the loops by plucking a double bass. With regards to his sound, Pedro defines it as experimental, mixing a variety of Brazilian influences with reggae, ska, dub, jazz and funk. Pedro Loop has mixed himself a brand new set-list especially for Red Bull Sounderground as he launches himself into the spirit of the festival.
VADIM KLOKOV
After achieving notoriety for his bassoon playing in his native Moscow the talented Mr Klokov was invited to teach in Brazil. 12 years later he is still living in the samba nation and still enjoying his music. There will be few artists at Red Bull Sounderground who will find their musical styles clash with Vadim, especially once he whips out his duduk. “The duduk is a primitive wind instrument, with wider keys than the bassoon. It’s very popular around Armenia, Georgia and Iraq, and has gained more recognition after appearing in several film soundtracks. It’s a small instrument, but you can get a very deep sound from it.”
VIBRAFONE CHORAO
Choro music is the glue that holds together Wesley Vasconcelos, Ricardo Valverde and Luis Felipe, otherwise known as Vibrafone Chorão. The talents of these three multi-instrumentalists include classical guitar, cavaco, mandolin, guitar, bass, percussion, and, of course, vibraphone which leads to a unique approach to the popular genre. The trio are hoping the audience enjoy the festival just as much as they intend to do. “Red Bull Sounderground is a great opportunity to promote our style, we are looking forward to getting out of our usual surroundings.”
THE VIVIAN DEL PINTOR TRIO
Twentysomethings Vivian Del Pintor, Cláudia Peracio and Vinícius Hoffman (pictured, top) play pop covers with two acoustics guitars accompanying a violin. When the organisers of Red Bull Sounderground heard the trio’s version of a Lady Gaga song it was an immediate no brainer to invite them along. Vivian explains the message they hope to bring to the festival. “Many people judge pop music without really knowing what they are judging. I think that giving people the chance to listen to different versions of these songs might help them to lose a bit of their prejudice.”
For more information on the underground extravaganza visit our event page...
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