Dj Dolores - Recife 19 Vinyl LP New 2019

Side A
1. A Casta - DJ Dolores
2. Rua - DJ Dolores
3. Mundanças - DJ Dolores
4. Adilia's Place - DJ Dolores
5. Teniente Ray, Amargura - DJ Dolores
Side B
1. 12 Segundos
2. Nanquim
3. Exú Ciborgue
4. The Wild One
5. O Gringo
6. Quase Nos Esquecemos

At first it was punk: “I was thin, very slim, which made it look like my head was a ball covered with spines balancing on a toothpick ... In Aracaju, whilewalking the streets in torn trousers and wearing boots, the sweetest thing I heard was faggot!”. But in 1986 Helder Aragao moved to Recife to study art, architecture and design, and where, at 30 C, average temperatureswere even hotter than in Aracaju.

Here he found himself embroiled in the emerging mangue movement and is credited with creating its ubiquitous ‘crabs with brains’ imagery. Recife is based around three islands and six rivers. The land is a swamp and it’s from the mangue or mangrove that the movement took its name: “In the beginning it was basically a DJ scene, which then consolidated and became dominated by two bands: mundo livre s/a and Chico Science & Nacao Zumbi. What was common within the small group was a love of pop culture, from hardcore tohip-hop, from emerging electronics to Algerian rai 776;, without categorization or labels, a paradise of philosophical abstraction.”

As the title suggests, and in a manner which echoes the radical stance of Kurt Weill as much as it continues to mine the rich musical seams of the Northeast, Recife 19 is a fabulous, stream-of-consciousness commentary on these uncertain times: “This album was produced between storms and darkness. Even if the mornings were painted in gold by the tropical sun, and the nights brought the dark that caresses sleep, even if we heard the bright laughter of children inthe street, a thick cloud of uncertainty and frustration now stands where hope once stood.” “In times like these may there always be music, coffee, courage and joy.”