Cultural cross-over hits the right notes

Jul 20 2007 by Mike Chapple, Liverpool Daily Post

ALL those who thought Brazilian music started and ended with Sergio Mendez’s rendition of Mas Que Nada go away and shake your maracas in shame at the back of the class.

The annual Trocabrahma project has gone a long way to trash this myth and show just how varied, eclectic and downright perverse some of the musical influences that percolate its contemporary music scene really are.

Its centrepiece is the exchange project in which influential British musicians are first sent to Brazil to collaborate and perform live with the artists of their mutual choice, and then the visit is reciprocated.

And, for the first time, Trocabrahma is coming to Liverpool for a showcase weekend of the very best of the boys and girls from Brazil, a prestigious visitation only touching down elsewhere in London and Glasgow.

One of the Brits who will be performing with them is King Creosote, aka the one-man Scottish cult on the accordion, Kenny Anderson. The 40-year-old from St Andrews will be performing with his band at the New Picket on Friday, along with acclaimed Sao Paulo singer songwriter Romulo Froes, whose music is rooted in balmy samba and groovy bossa nova.

Kenny explains: “I was asked by the organisers ‘Do you fancy going to Brazil for this annual collaboration exchange between British and Brazilian musicians?’ I thought he was joking. It thought this is all very nice, but this doesn’t happen in the real world.”

The man who records on his own label the Fence Collective (hence his King moniker – ie, what do you put on a fence? Answer: Creosote! Bu-bum) picked out Romulo’s name from a list he was asked to look at on the internet.

“I liked the sound of Romulo because the other bands sounded quite European in their influences while he seemed more traditional and would be far more suitable to go with my material,” explains Kenny, whose music, while not being as recognisably Scottish as, say, The Proclaimers, has a distinctly rootsy Celtic feel to it.

They swapped emails and sent each other copies of their respective albums from which both picked out tracks they thought suitable to cover. Consequently, The King flew out to Sao Paulo at the end of May and the two musicians were introduced supported by their backing musicians which made it two drummers, two bass players, four guitars and a keyboard player.

“Rather than have both bands stand around doing nothing while two singer/songwriters get their act together, we went straight into getting used to playing each others’ songs.

“When you’ve got a nine piece band you’ve got to trust the other people around you not to lose it and fill in all the gaps. We found it worked really well. Romulo’s English is good, but way better than our Portuguese, so, while it’s corny to say, it proved that music really is a universal language.”

Next week, Romulo and his band will be in Liverpool to return the compliment. The collaborative part of the Friday night set at the New Picket will focus on two Creosote songs and two of Romulo’s, one of which, Naome Quer Assim Ta Facile, has had Kenny practising his Portuguese.

He’s looking forward to the Liverpool gig – the last occasion was supporting Arab Strap, downstairs at the Carling Academy, where his accordion playing brought rapturous attention from curious Scousers.

One Portuguese expression he has off pat translates as “it’s not good enough” – an exacting term that Kenny hopes will ensure that their performance will prove to be an experimental success.

Another on Friday’s bill is influential Radio One presenter and Brownswood record label owner Gilles Peterson. He will be DJ for the set featuring the meld between classically trained jazz hip hopster, Bristol-born Ben Westbeech and the samba jazz-siren Tita Lima.

“Brazil is renowned for carnival and dance but it goes beyond that,” he maintains. “There’s so much music coming out of Brazil – as well as the traditional influences, there’s a very potent drum and bass scene and rock, old and new, is celebrated.”

He thinks the city is a good choice for the only Trocabrahma visit outside the capitals.

“I go to Liverpool a lot and played a lot of the clubs over the past 20 years where there is a great understanding of Brazilian music which goes beyond the local Portuguese/Brazilian population. I think it’s going to be a special weekend.”

The King believes so, too.

“If you live in Liverpool you would have to travel very far and spend a lot of money to see what may well be a night of live music that you will never witness again. It will be the same for us – even though we would love to get together with Romulo and play again, in the future circumstances mean this may be the last time we will be able to do so.”

You’d be nuts, then, to miss it.

* TROCABRAHMA: Friday, July 27: King Creosote meets Romulo Froes; Gruff Rhys meets Tony da Gatorra; Ben Westbeech meets Tita Lima, Gil- les Peterson. The New Picket, 61, Jor- dan St. Tickets £14, doors 7pm. Satur- day, July 28: Os Mutantes meet JD Twitch (Optimo); Bonde Do Role meets Radioclit/Amanda Blank, Diplo. The New Picket. Tickets £14, doors 7pm. Sunday, July 29: Four Tet meets Open Field Church at Bumper, 14-18, Hardman St. Free, doors 8.30pm.

mikechapple@dailypost.co.uk