Amaro Freitas Interview
AMARO FREITAS INTERVIEW
I’m waiting for Amaro Freitas backstage at the São Paulo Jazz Weekend Festival. He was backstage watching Henrique Mota’s show. The last time we met in person was in 2019, right after the release of “Rasif”. In 2021 we met again, but this time online to talk about the album “Sankofa”. Now, in 2024, the conversation is about “Y’Y” (Ye-Ye). “I remember we didn’t have gray hair, right? Am I sure about that?”, he asks. My answer is yes.
Almost 5 years later, not only has our hair changed color. A lot has evolved. With his genuinely Brazilian jazz, Amaro Freitas has conquered the world. He has performed and won acclaim at the biggest festivals in the world, and was nominated for a Latin Grammy for the song “Esperança”, made in partnership with Brazilian Criolo and Portuguese Dino D’Santiago. “Y’Y” is eligible for Grammy Awards voting in the categories Best Latin Jazz Album; Best Global Musical Performance “Encantados”; and Best Packaging.
Before taking the stage at SP Jazz Weekend in late September, the jazz musician talked about his latest album, Grammy, achievements and future plans.
In&OutJazz: You must have told a lot of people this same story, but I wanted to understand a little more about the influence that the Amazon had on «Y’Y», an incredible album that is being acclaimed all over the world.
Amaro Freitas: It was a transformative experience to get to know a Brazil that Brazilians don’t know. Even though we see images on TV or in the newspaper, it’s very different when you’re there, experiencing this territory. It’s a different food, a different dialogue, a different perspective on life. There are several indigenous communities, more than 300 languages… it’s a very powerful nature. There’s a river where you can’t see the bank on either the right or the left side. It’s a meeting of the waters between two rivers, with totally different colors, that don’t mix: the Rio Negro and the Rio Solimões. It was an educational experience to be able to participate in this ritual, to see the Tucandeira dance, which is a rite of passage for boys to become adults, to eat alligator meat, fish and Tambaqui ribs with the indigenous people, to drink pure Guaraná from the Amazon in the ciranda, where everyone is on equal terms. So, all of this had a huge impact on me. Especially the Sateré-Mawé indigenous community… Professor Heron, who is from the Federal University of Amazonas, took me to the village. And there, I understood a little about the work they do, right? That it is a work very focused on indigenous communities, but to also connect this with the Federal University, to connect students with the community in the villages, to make money, to generate money, for these communities too. So, there is a very difficult and tough logic, because drug trafficking is very present today in indigenous communities and there are several communities disguised as indigenous and drug trafficking is behind it. And then, I was impressed by another Brazil that I think every Brazilian should know. A Brazil that for many people in São Paulo, many in Pernambuco, is not interesting. It’s better to go to Disney than to Amazon. This touched me and I wanted to make a connection with what I had already been studying, which was the prepared piano. This prepared piano is a very specific technique developed by John Cage, which puts several things inside the piano, and in this way it changes the sound of the piano. So now I wanted to mix this sound of the prepared piano with the experiences I had in Manaus. And talking to the people there, we talked a lot about some legends, right? About the Mapinguari, about the Pink Dolphin, about the mermaid Uiara, about the Headless Mule, about the importance of these popular details, and how the indigenous people believe in this, that the dolphin transforms into a man, that the dolphin is also a guardian of the waters and that it saves people when they are drowning. There is a real belief in this… I was very curious because I was very impacted and wanted to pay homage to the forest and the river through these mystical and folkloric elements and also through the popular Brazilian saying. But I wanted it not to sound like appropriation. So, we understood that paying homage in this place was much more an exchange between communities than an appropriation of the territory.
In&OutJazz: How can you transfer this experience to the piano and transform it into jazz and transmit it to the world?
Amaro Freitas: I think jazz has become an art that embraces various types of music. And I think this type of music connects through spirituality. I realized that I was talking about a much deeper Brazil through the way I spoke. So I think this aligns with a place of spirituality. This has a very strong place in spiritual jazz, which talks about ancestry, and not only black, but also indigenous. For me, it was about thinking about how to transform this piano into this sensorial noise that would take you, transport you to this emotion that I experienced in the Amazon. So, I got a guitar ebow, put it inside the piano and the ebow takes some harmonics from the guitar, which I managed to get from the piano. Man, it sounded like the song of Uiara. So, in my head it was the mermaid calling you to dive into the river and then when you go into the river you see the connection with the Pink Dolphin, that is, the connection between the dolphins. And then I try to find an onomatopoeia for the sound of dolphins. When I put my hand inside the piano and take it out, it makes the sound of the animal in the river. And then, there is an image that stays in my head, which is when some divers go down in a submarine to a point in the ocean where the light no longer reaches. They turn off the submarine’s light and when they turn it back on, all the animals that reflect light shine in front of the submarine. So, it is as if we had dived to the bottom of the ocean and I start: «tan-tan-tan-talan-tan». Now we are making a trail through this constellation of fish, you know? This also brings up a question and a reflection of how wonderful these corals are, these fish that reflect light are wonderful, the river is wonderful, the dolphin is wonderful. Are you sure this is the place you want to throw a straw in? I think this reflection remains: what are we doing to our planet, and this issue of balance on the planet is something that indigenous people talk about in a very powerful way. So, I wanted to bring some of this reflection with this tribute to Rio as well.
It makes people see another country too, as you said, a Brazil that we don’t know, but also, to experience this experience there too, right!?
Many people, when they finish a show, say to me: wow, I felt like I was in the forest. It’s like we’re being transported from the heart of the Amazon rainforest.
Why?
In addition to trying to translate a story, there are several elements that are from there. I have a rattle, several whistles, a harmonica flute, which came from Manaus and is very reminiscent of the sounds of the indigenous people, of the flutes they play in their communities. So I think that this whole mix, also having Naná Vasconcelos and Milton Nascimento as references, makes the work reach a place that connects the spiritual Brazil that already exists with my current experience.
I was in Portugal at a cultural journalism meeting and one of the talks was about jazz and we got to the question of what jazz really is. I wanted to ask you, in your opinion, what is jazz?
I think jazz is a place of freedom where we have to express creative music that has been developed and processed over a long time. This music brings the expressiveness of a people with their characteristics, their identities, and it also manifests itself in a very improvised way. The mix of bringing something that is extremely sensitive, but also extremely intellectual, and also with the possibility of doing things that will be different at each concert. I think that’s what jazz is all about. Jazz allows you to have a unique experience at each concert you go to by the same artist. So I think that the difference between classical music, where you’ll listen to a piece, or popular music, which will always have the same rhythm, jazz is allowing for free music. Music that communicates with several people, whether it’s sung or played, whether you understand several languages or only have your native language, I think the spirit of jazz goes beyond all of that, breaking the language barrier. You also have the ability to observe the real feelings of that person. If we were to use a Brazilian term to describe jazz, we would say: jazz means now.
Speaking of which, you are currently in your career, being acclaimed all over the world… that Amaro who started playing in the church and then did all that running around to make a living from music, would you have imagined that Amaro would be where he is today?
I think so, because I have always been very ambitious because of my influences. I didn’t see influences as an impossible place, but rather as a possible place. So, I would see Chick Corea, I would see Thelonious Monk… and I would say: I want to play in this place where these guys are playing. My whole life I have fought, I believed, I did everything to reach these places. And for me it was very impactful that I played in some festivals now, this year, last year, where Chick Corea played and I watched, right? Like North Sea Jazz, Montreux Jazz Festival, Newport Jazz Festival… so, it was a really crazy feeling to occupy this place as a Brazilian musician in these jazz festivals where I watched my idols.
Today we are here at the first edition of the São Paulo Jazz Weekend, which is a jazz festival. There are few jazz festivals in Brazil, compared to Europe and the United States. Do you think there is a need for more jazz festivals, or for jazz artists to be at major festivals, so that it becomes more popular in Brazil, breaking the myth that exists in the country that jazz is a music only for the elite and intellectuals?
It’s complicated to talk about this. Do you think we should have a music market that guides artists more so that they can do their work as artists who will have the courage to support their own work… in my opinion, we have a lot of jazz festivals in Brazil. But this is also aligned with the public… people want to attract audiences to festivals and, sometimes, jazz ends up mixing with other types of music. I also understand that the contractor needs to be accountable for all of this. There are many things that need to be taken into account so that we can have a jazz festival like jazz abroad has. But I don’t know, at jazz festivals anywhere in the world, there will be pop artists, because it’s no longer the case that only pure jazz is played. I think that perhaps this type of music is in a transitional period, and I also don’t have an answer as to where this will lead. But if musicians have the courage to take their own work and have guidance on how to do it in the best way, I believe that this would greatly help the instrumental music market in Brazil.
You were nominated for a Grammy with Criolo and Dino D’Santiago for «Esperança»? How did you receive this news? Like, it’s kind of a… I wouldn’t say validation, right? But it’s also a crowning achievement for your work, right? Like, three black artists also making it to the biggest international award.
I got a call from Criolo, right? And then we were really excited… I had a feeling that we could be nominated and for me it’s a moment of great happiness. So much is happening and to be nominated for a Grammy is truly unbelievable. I’m really happy about this, especially making music with these two guys who are also a reference in what they do… I think Dino and I are being pulled by Criolo with this vision of our work and our connection, doing it in a really beautiful way and letting Dino and I feel very comfortable to be able to create the sound that comes from our soul. I think it’s going to be really beautiful to participate in this ceremony with him and who knows, maybe we’ll be able to bring Caneco here.
You’ve also been working with several artists, most recently you participated in Liniker’s beautiful album…
She’s a sweetheart… on the album Caju, I added a little spice to the song «AO TEU LADO» which we also shared with ANAVITÓRIA with an orchestral arrangement by Henrique Albino and a great band playing. It was a really cool moment for me to also be able to do this feat with Liniker, who is an artist I love so much, very powerful and I’m very happy with where we’ve ended up.
What are your next steps, your next plans?
There’s a lot to happen. I’m still not sure what I’m going to do next. If I record YY with a band, if I record with a trio from outside Brazil, if I make an album with an orchestra. I have a lot of plans, but I’ve always waited for life to give me signs of the best paths I can choose.
Written by Adailton Moura
Octubre 28, 2024
Comentarios recientes