‘A Coisa Mais Linda Que Existe’ is on the platforms, the second part of the double album tribute by the singer from Minas Gerais to the poet and multi-artist
Anyone who has had contact with historiography or with any aspect of the legacy of the poet, filmmaker, actor, journalist and lyricist Torquato Neto (1944-1972), known as the “poet of Tropicália”, tends to crystallize, along with the great character and intriguing that it represents, the image of a tormented, nonconformist person, guided by the myth of the suicidal poet, an act which unfortunately he committed at the age of 28. In fact, the artist, born in Teresina and emigrated to Rio de Janeiro in 1962, one of the most combative and affirmative figures in the field of the national artistic avant-garde of the 1960s and early 1970s, did not shy away from taking radical positions, such as he did not spare himself, in the name of the hallucinating and urgent dive made, together with his peers, towards the dream of modernizing and universalising the arts of the country, imagining a very lively and avant-garde Brazil, from its genuine cultural broth, instead, he, Torquato , experiences a profound anguish for the jarring contradictions of our territory, mixed with his own internal battles between multiple endings and (re)beginnings.
With the release of “A Coisa Mais Linda Que Existe – Patrícia Ahmaral sings Torquato Neto – Vol.2” (10 tracks), now available on digital audio platforms, singer Patrícia Ahmaral, in a way, is something of a counterpoint to this aura attributed to the author, bringing in this second part of his tribute album, a section dedicated exclusively to songs with love lyrics written by Torquato Neto. Among the best known, the classic “Pra diz adeus”, his partnership with Edu Lobo and “Go back”, a partnership with Sérgio Britto, a hit by Titãs, recorded by the group in the 80s.
The album, which features special appearances by Ná Ozzetti, Paulinho Moska and Zeca Baleiro, sharing vocal solos with Patrícia, continues the homage to the artist, which began with “Um Poeta Desfolha a Bandeira – Patrícia Ahmaral Canta Torquato Neto – Vol.1 ” (9 tracks)*, and previously published on platforms, on 10/11/2022, exactly on the anniversary of the author’s fiftieth anniversary. The project had the artistic direction of the composer and singer Zeca Baleiro, a collaboration that began informally and consolidated as official during the recordings.
TWO FACES
“There are two sides of Torquato, even if they are completely intertwined. Volume 1 with songs with more “stuck in Tropicália” speeches or with more existentialist or evocative verses. In volume 2, his lyrical speech, tender, but also crossed by his insistent and confessional way and, at times, mixed with his critical irony towards the contexts of the country, ”explains Patrícia. “A Torquato-style romanticism,” she adds.
Baleiro also comments, in a text on the subject: “Patrícia divided the poet’s repertoire into a more, let’s say, existential volume, and another more lyrical/amorous, even if in Torquato everything is mixed and confused. In Torquato’s poetry everything is chaos. That’s why it’s also an explosion of beauty.”
MUSIC PRODUCTION AND GRAPHIC DESIGN
The musical production of the work, recorded largely remotely during the pandemic period, is signed by the duo Marion Lemonnier (Honfleur-FR) and Walter Costa (Niterói), who create together, and by Rogério Delayon (Belo Horizonte) , a multi-instrumentalist who at the end of the 90s was part of the group that accompanied Patrícia, on the evening of the “First International Poetry Biennial of Belo Horizonte”, presenting the show “TorquaTotal”, an embryo that, in some way, unfolds in this double album, more than 20 years later. In the remote process, Patrícia’s vocals were recorded in São Paulo, by producer Gigi Magno, who sent them to be joined to the backing tracks, by Walter Costa, also responsible for mixing the album.
The album arrives on the platforms with a graphic design of the cover and the digital “booklet”, signed by Chico Amaral, award-winning visual artist and designer, Patrícia’s brother, who has so far been responsible for the graphic creation of all the singer’s recording works. . The photos are by Kika Antunes, a photographer from Belo Horizonte who has dialogued with the artist since the beginning of his career and who has now taken them, seeking an aesthetic of movements, layers, alluding to the fleeting, fragmentary and plural aura that surrounds the work of Torquato Neto. The booklet will be made available through the artist’s social networks on the release date. Some physical copies will be produced later for press and fans.
REPERTOIRE
In this volume 2, in addition to the best-known works, the aforementioned “Torna back” and “Pra diz adeus”, Patrícia saves other less publicized ones, such as “Uno di questo giorni ti sposo”, by Torquato with the native of Pernambuco Paulo Diniz (1940-2022), in the vast and interesting spectrum of collaborations that contribute to the author’s songbook. The song was published by Diniz on the LP “Canção do Exílio”, from 1982. Patrícia and Baleiro also tried to have the musician participate in the recording, also in 2021, which unfortunately did not materialize, due to health reasons. More recently, the same poem was the basis for the song of the same name by Minas Gerais composer Oneives, on the album “Segunda-feira” (2010) and, based on another version of the poem, Adriana Calcanhoto composed “Um dia des”, published in “Maré” (2008). ).
In addition to Edu Lobo, Sérgio Britto and Paulo Diniz, “The most beautiful thing that exists – Patrícia Ahmaral sings Torquato Neto – Vol.2” sees the collaboration of Torquato and Gilberto Gil, in the trio “The most beautiful thing that exists”, “ Minha Senhora” and “Zabelê”; with Geraldo Azevedo, in “The Name of the Mystery”; with Nonato Buzar (1932-2014), in “What a film”; with Zeca Baleiro, in the unreleased “Jardim da Noite (Esses Dias); and with Zé Roraima, in “Eh Morena”, a song from the album “Torquato Neto: Inéditas Entre Nós” (2019), produced by Piauí. In the participations, Ná Ozzetti, in “Che film”, Zeca Baleiro, in “Go back” and Paulinho Moska, in “Jardim da Noite (Esses Dias)”. (Check the repertoire and track by track at the end of the release).
“As for the participations, they are names of reference for me in Brazilian music and who, in the album, help me to promote the connections that Torquato appreciated. It was sociable and plural at the same time… of course, just like in the first volume, which brought numerous very symbolic collaborations (Banda de Pau e Corda, Chico César, Jards Macalé, Maurício Pereira and Tonho Penhasco and Projeto Moda de Rock ), there was the desire to include, also in this, bridges with different artists and invite them to enrich the musical cauldron of this poet!”, concludes Patrícia.
PATRÍCIA COMMENTS ON THE LYRICAL/LOVE MOTO AT THE LAUNCH
I had already started the album project, I had been awarded a tender by the Aldir Blanc Law (2020), which would have allowed me to start part of the recording and which I would then have concluded with a crowdfunding campaign. Around the same time I finally managed to watch the documentary “Todas as hora do fim” (2017), by the screenwriters Marcus Fernando and Eduardo Ades, now on the streaming platform, since unfortunately I hadn’t been able to see it at the cinema. At the end of the film, which has a very poetic and delicate approach, with a beautiful screenplay, it occurred to me to make this cut with the love songs. I ended the session very moved. And yes, there was the desire to overflow the love contained in that intriguing and grandiose character, a tender and radical Brazilian, drawn on the screen and who did not fit in himself… Or… overflow love in him . That’s how I found it. Return Torquato to the love he himself coined. Before the contact with the doctor, this more affective perspective was added to an unusual meeting that chance and luck brought me at the end of 2019, in São Paulo, with a cousin from Torquato, Adélia Araújo, an extremely affable person. In about an hour of conversation, she contemplated me with stories about her tenderness and her torments, seen from intimacy … I already keep a drawing of those songs, where their verses talk about romantic love, according to me, in a very unique way. . They are beautiful compositions, from a colorful spectrum, in extraordinarily diverse collaborations, as is all of his musical work. I brought the proposal to Zeca Baleiro, who welcomed it and we decided. So this cut has an artistic, but also emotional motivation.
UNDERSTAND THE HISTORY OF THE PROJECT
The embryo of Patrícia’s homage to Torquato dates back to the end of the 90s. Still at the beginning of her career and alongside the musicians who accompanied her at the time (Celso Pennini, Luís Patrício, Rogério Delayon and Thiago Corrêa) Patrícia Ahmaral presented, in a special evening at the “1st International Poetry Biennial of Belo Horizonte” (1998), the show “TorquaTotal”, a show created by the poets Ricardo Aleixo and Marcelo Dolabela (1957/2020) and scripted and directed by the producer Pedrinho Alves Madeira. At the time, Dolabela commented: “Patricia received and fulfilled the mission to capture the ‘scorpion’ alive, electrify it, and distill its venoms into more venom.” In a way, today’s album is an unfolding of that moment, more than 20 years later, but with a modified and expanded repertoire, new collaborations and research.
DELUXE VERSIONS
The singer promises, in the not too distant future, deluxe versions of the two volumes which will include songs dear to her, but which had to be excluded from the setlist.
He is also waiting for the opportunity to perform in shows to launch the project, combining the two repertoires.
ABOUT PATRICIA AHMARAL
Patrícia Ahmaral began her career in the 1990s. Her debut CD, Ah! (1999), was produced by Zeca Baleiro. Then came Vitrola Alquimista (2004) and Superpoder (2011), produced by Renato Villaça and Fernando Nunes respectively. After a career break, in 2022 she realized a dream that she had cultivated for years and published, on platforms, the first volume of a tribute album to the poet Piauí Torquato Neto. In her previous albums, she passionately venerates works by authors such as Walter Franco, Sérgio Sampaio and Alceu Valença, as well as exponents of her generation, such as Chico César, Zeca Baleiro and names from the independent scene, such as Edvaldo Santana and Suely Mesquita . She and she read classics, such as A Volta Do Boêmio (Adelino Moreira) and Não Creio Em Mais Nada (Totó). She graduated in opera singing at UFMG. In her most visible work, she recorded the opening themes and the main character’s themes in the first airing of the soap opera Xica Da Silva (Rede Manchete), to the soundtrack by Marcus Viana. She is also emerging as a composer and is preparing her album for late 2023/early 2024.
Source: Terra
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
