DJ Dolores burst onto the global club scene with his explosive and highly original mixture of traditional sounds from the Brazilian northeast with dancefloor-friendly electronics and elements of rock & dub.

Drawing his inspiration from urban and rural musical styles traditionally shunned by the establishment but favoured by the working classes (dance rhythms such as maracatú, song forms such as emboladas), DJ Dolores blends them with loops, breakbeats, street sounds & live instrumentation to create a unique musical cocktail which is culturally & politically meaningful, yet first and foremost irresistibly festive! ...

After successfully touring around the world in the wake of his “Contraditório” album, winning the 2004 BBC World Music Award (in the ‘club global’ category) and making a noted appearance (alongside David Byrne, Gilberto Gil and the Beastie Boys) in November 2004 on the famous “Rip, Mash, Sample, Share” CD (in US magazine Wired) which champions the new Creative Commons license, DJ Dolores unleashed his second international album, entitled “Aparelhagem” and recorded this time for Crammed’s Ziriguiboom imprint.

“Aparelhagem” literally means “equipment”, and is the Brazilian slang expression for “sound system”. “Aparelhagem” (which is both the title of the album and the name of DJ Dolores’ new live band) features charismatic female singer Isaar, a horn section with a distinct Nordeste-cum-reggae flavour, rock guitar, percussion, vintage synths, and DJ Dolores on laptop and turntables.

DJ Dolores (aka Helder Aragão) has been active in the ebullient musical scene of his hometown Recife since his collaboration with Mangue Beat originators Chico Science and Nação Zumbi in the late ‘80s. He then worked as a graphic designer, TV documentary producer, soundtrack composer for films and theatre before adopting the turntables and sampler as a means of expression. He has remixed tracks for Gilberto Gil, Tribalistas, Fernanda Porto and Taraf de Haïdouks, and has won several awards in Brazil. DJ Dolores is definitely at the forefront of a new movement which reappropriates some of the country’s neglected traditions and brings them to a wider audience (both in Brazil and abroad), thus bridging the gaps between poor & rich, young & old, and showing that there’s an amazingly rich musical world beyond samba and bossa nova.