Marcelo D2 celebrates samba and his own roots in IBORU [REVIEW]

With always politicized songs, powerful lyrics and an unmistakable rap style, Marcelo D2 prepares to release the most distinctive album of his career: IBORUninth studio album released this Wednesday, the 14th. The project is the successor of This is how my drums play (2020) and the Rolling Stone Brazil had early access for the preparation of this review.

The new project has the same line as ATOMT, but explores samba much more and almost doesn’t sing rap, something that only stays for one track or another. This is not bad, because the sambas made by D2 are very interesting.

Throughout the 16 tracks, the Brazilian singer celebrates samba and all of his life (his roots) before becoming an artist. IBORU opens with “SARAVA.”, a kind of interlude that sets the tone of the album, with a repertoire of resistance, social discourse and many elements of samba and African-derived religions. In fact, saravá means “save” or “welcome.”

The influences and references to religions of African origin, in addition to being in the songs on the album, appear in the title of the work itself. iboru comes from the fulfillment “Iboru, Iboya, Ibosheshe,” used by Ifá practitioners, which has complex communication technology and transmitted through oral culture.

During an interview with Casa Natura Musicalthe singer also revealed other influences, such as knowledge of Luiz Antonio Simassamba de Clementine of Jesus and especially the wife, Luiza Machado. “She took me to this place, she took me there to candomblé, to Ifá,” she said. “She was always a person of great faith, not just religion, but faith. That sparked our partnership.”

Furthermore, Marcelo D2 it also acknowledges much of his origin and ancestry, with some passages in which he traces back to the environments in which he was born. This starts to become more evident in “KALUNDU,” the first song on the album to have more to do with rap, without letting go of the main focus, samba. He even mentions how survival makes him go back to his roots.

To make the future, we need to redeem the past,” sings in ‘SARAVA.’

It is worth remembering how IBORU comes a few months after a new album by planet hemp, one of the main rap groups in Brazil, and the singer wanted to do something different with this new album. “Writing a rap record, the planet hempmy solos… I’ve always come into a struggle, I’ve always written from a place of confrontation,” he explained to Casa Natura.

I decided to talk in a different way on this record, talk about ancestry, talk about the future, talk about where I came from, talk about down to earth, talk about food, talk about joy, about hope. This ancestry of the future is perhaps the concept behind the album.

It’s really cool to see this different approach in an extensive discography full of hits, because D2 shows a knowledge and intimacy with samba, and it leaves you with the feeling that he has worked with the genre for his entire career.

In one of the most powerful songs, “ONLY WHEN MY SAMBA DIE” opens with snippet of “Among the People” and talks about his relationship with samba, as well as exalting icons of the genre, such as Master andre, Zeca Pagodinho, Arlindo Cruz, Alcyone, Beth Carvalho, Bezerra da Silva, João Nogueirabetween others.

I only die when my samba dies,” he sings. “If I die, only if it’s from joy when the melody invades the mind.”

As if it were a true samba root, as if you were in a traditional samba circle, Marcelo D2 brings a lyric of perseverance in “OPINION TIME“: “And if I suffocate, I’ll remember who already fell for me. I will not surrender, my song is war. It will cover with earth who wished my end.”

“PIECES OF PULLET,” even though it’s an interlude, it’s one of the most emotional tracks on IBORU. in it, D2 honors mother, Paulettewho died in 2021. “Mothers are only physically gone, they stay in their hearts and the owner Paulette it is light, it illuminated any place where she passed,” he said at the time in a publication on social networks.

One of the strongest songs on the album, “THE SAMBA WILL SPEAK + LOUD” comments on all the strength of samba and even brings a sense of pride in being Brazilian. The high point is the partnership with Alcyonewhose legendary voice sings: “As long as it shivers, the emotion won’t die, if I can’t fight, samba will be there and it will surprise.”

On the final stretch of IBORUhas a song titled “FOR MARCELO,” described as “samba de morro.” In it, Marcelo D2 talks about himself, while taking the opportunity to send a social speech that comes as a blow: “When it’s force that shuts us up, it’s not peace, it’s fear.”

Even far removed from rap in IBORU (musically speaking), Marcelo D2 released a very authentic and emotional record many times. This work can be seen as a realization of how we deal with the passage of time and use it to evolve, with a lot of samba, of course.