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Alborada do Brasil 2010

An extraordinary journey in search of the musical connections between Galicia and Brazil. "Ever since I discovered that my great-grandfather, a musician, had emigrated to Brazil and disappeared there, I have always wanted to uncover that mystery", writes Carlos Núñez in the booklet of his new album. "Alborada do Brasil is the result of our explorations, of an initiatory journey of more than a year in which we have discovered that there lives hidden there a part of us, happy and mixed, that can be key to our future".

Description

Songs

Alborada do Brasil is an example of musical craftsmanship in which Carlos Núñez has surrounded himself with some of the best of Brazilian music. The album is produced by Alê Siqueira (Tribalistas, Carlinhos Brown, Omara Portuondo…) and Mario Caldato Jr. (Beastie Boys, Marisa Monte, Manu Chao…). That’s nothing. Two of the greats to guarantee the final result of the album. But what’s more, on Alborada do Brasil, among the almost one hundred guest musicians who have played on the album are The Chieftains, Carlinhos Brown, Lenine, Adriana Calcanhotto, Jaques Morelenbaum, Dominguinhos, Fernanda Takai, Yamandú Costa, the Escola do Samba Beija Flor, Wilson das Neves, Dj CIA… A real cast of leading figures of Brazilian and Celtic music for one of the most interesting works that Spanish music has produced in recent times.

This is not the first time that Carlos Núñez has ventured in search of musical connections. With a mind always open to ideas that expand the frontiers of his music and his instruments of deep traditional roots, Alborada do Brasil is a pioneering work, scrupulously carried out and whose result will astonish more than one sceptic. The text that appears in the album’s booklet helps the understanding of the project and explains precisely the reason for each song, its connections, the bridge between Brazil and Galicia that inspires the album.

It is the Galician-Brazilian connection through a series of songs. Celtic music, like the Galician-Portuguese language, arrived in Brazil with the discoverers. In the first letter written from Brazil to the king of Portugal in 1500, it is said that the first European instrument to sound for the indigenous Brazilians was the Galician bagpipe, leading to an interracial dance on the same beach. Moreover, the name Brazil is believed to have its origins in an Irish legend about a mysterious island that Portuguese sailors knew well. These are the remote origins of a music that, mixed with African rhythms and other influences, eventually became samba or bossa nova, and which now appear with meaning on the album Alborada do Brasil.

Alborada do Brasil is the continuation of a musical career that began when, at the age of eight, Carlos Núñez decided to learn the secrets of popular music and the bagpipe from the old masters. At the age of 12, he was already invited to play as a soloist with the Lorient Symphony Orchestra. Shortly afterwards he began to study recorder at the Conservatorio de Madrid, where he graduated with honours and was awarded the Premio Extraordinario Fin de Carrera. In 1989 he recorded for the first time with The Chieftains for the soundtrack of the film La isla del tesoro and, since then, Carlos Núñez is the seventh Chieftain and together with them he has won a Grammy Award for their joint album “Santiago”, he has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York and at the Royal Albert Hall in London alongside artists such as Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, The Who, Lou Reed, Spin Doctors, Eddie Vedder (of Pearl Jam), Bon Jovi, Alice Cooper, INXS…

When in 1996 he released A irmandade das estrelas, his first solo album, Carlos Núñez was already an internationally renowned musician. It went platinum in Spain and featured collaborations with more than 50 musicians, including The Chieftains, Ry Cooder, Luz Casal and Dulce Pontes. In 1999 Os amores libres, his second album, was released, double platinum in Spain, an extraordinary event for popular music made in Spain with an international scope. Recorded in ten different countries over two years, Os amores libres explored the connections between Celtic music and flamenco with the participation of artists such as Jackson Browne, Noa, Mike Scott (from The Waterboys), Teresa Salgueiro (from Madredeus), Carmen Linares, Vicente Amigo, Cañizares, Carles Benavent, musicians from Morocco and Romania…

His third album, Mayo longo, was released in 2000 and signified Carlos Núñez’s natural approach to more pop structures, which increased his popular recognition. It was the discovery of Carlos Núñez as a composer, in some songs in collaboration with Roger Hodgson (from Supertramp) and with Sharon Shannon, Liam O’Flynn and Ronnie Drew from The Dubliners as special guests. In 2002 he released Todos os mundos, a compilation of his most significant songs and collaborations, and in 2003 Almas de Fisterra dedicated to Brittany, with Dan Ar Braz, Alan Stivell and Jordi Savall. In 2004 one of his most ambitious projects appeared: Carlos Núñez & Friends. Recorded live in Vigo in front of 30,000 people, Carlos Núñez was joined on stage by friends such as The Chieftains, Sharon Shannon and León Gieco, among other artists. Then, in 2007, Cinema do mar was released, an approach by the Galician musician to emblematic soundtrack compositions as a continuation of his participation in Mar Adentro. Now comes Alborada do Brasil, a new musical journey by Carlos Núñez, the latest adventure of one of our most international musicians. An extraordinary journey, surprising, stimulating and discovering new musical worlds.