It was all there, in those lyrics: stories of love, sex, deceit, cachaça (sugarcane alcool), and the naive hardness of those who are content with very little… The music is based on traditional rhythms, beefed up by electric guitars, drum machines and lo-fi computer programming. From forró to the music of the Jovem Guarda (the Young Guard of romantic Brasilian rock from the '60s), everything is incorporated into a format adapted to an audience which hopes to hear their life narrated and encapsuled in a song.
The originality of this re-invention of tradition in Recife's inner city environment was my main reference while producing this new album. It also certainly gave it its title: "1 Real" refers both to the crude reality exposed in those cheap songs, and to the fact that they're reproduced on CDRs and sold for a very low price (the real is Brazil's national currency) which, unlike anything produced by the traditional music industry, makes them accessible to the underprivileged classes.
DJ Dolores
This is DJ Dolores' third album, and it sees his multiple talents come to full bloom. Using once again elements of popular music from his native Brazilian Northeast, blended with dancefloor-friendly electronics, horns, and rock & dub influences, he's created these exhilarating songs which are contagiously joyful, yet based on the observation of a grim political and social subtext.
DJ Dolores found some of his inspiration for 1 Real in the music he heard in Brasília Teimosa, one of Recife's poor areas, on which his photographer friend Bárbara Wagner was doing a pictorial essay (now published in book form).
Building on these new popular hybrids, he gave them a series of musical twists, with the help of regular collaborators such as Isaar, Maestro Forró, Gabriel Melo, Fernando Catatau, vocalists Isaar and Maciel Salu, and guest appearances by acclaimed Nordeste fusionist Silvério Pessoa and by Marion, a young, Rio-based French vocalist. The lyrical content goes from harsh social comment to personal, humorous notes on men/women relationships.
The bonus track at the end of 1 Real is DJ Dolores' contribution to the Danger Global Warming project initiated by the Blacksmoke Organization, an international group of artists, filmmakers, photographers, musicians and actors whose aim is to support environmental causes by propagating audiovisual noise. For this particular project, they created a track, featuring vocals by The Stranglers' Hugh Cornwell, and are having it remixed by 50+ artists from all over the world.
DJ DOLORES
1 Real
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DJ DOLORES
Aparelhagem
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