As Said by the Brazilian Cinema Director Glauber
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As said by the Brazilian cinema director Glauber Rocha, to shoot a film, you only need “a camera at hands and an idea in your head.” For Brazilian singer/songwriter TIA- GO SARMENTO, it only takes a guitar at hand and some wine on his mind. Errant, vagabond, inebriated, mellow and always joyful, the folk artist that “took back boho from the elite” celebrates his 21 years of activity in 2020 – the year that never happened. SARMENTO’s steps grow far apart from Bob Dylan or Pete Seeger when compared to their social-political engagement – albeit the racism, in Los Angeles, this record drives SARMENTO away from violence against women, homophobia, and autocracy his rock ‘n roll days and points his career towards the folk are not forgotten by the Brazilian artist. But SARMENTO style. Whilst his second record harks back to his psyche- places himself somewhere between Simon & Garfunkel, delic rock by creating Pinkfloydian-ish atmospheres, like Peter, Paul & Mary and Neil Young’s Haverst Moon era, songs Quando as Cores Acabarem and the eco-political where he can develop his mellow, cheerful and love-re- O Rio vai Transbordar (The River’s gonna Overflow), it lated songs – romantic, yes, but mostly free, uncompro- was titles like Uma Adega para o Fim do Dia and Eu Ouvi mised, unconditional love through friendship, caring for Dizer (A Wine Cellar for the end of the Day and I have others, caring for pets, and caring for yourself. Heard, a song now translated into English and soon to be released as The Breeze Blew the News) that peaked the However, it wasn’t always like that. When SARMENTO internet by generating more than 40 thousand streams went professional – as the drummer of intentionally mis- – counting only one platform and only both tunes. It is spelled Dr. Froyd Hard Rock band in 1999 – his early in- also from Folk It! that comes TIAGO’s first music videos: fluences were rock ‘n roll bands like Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, the co-written ballad with his Martiataka fellow W. Del as well as Brazilian bands Engenheiros do Hawaii and Guiducci, Obrigado (released under the name Thankful- Cazuza. This led him to release his debut record, O que ly Yours on Tiago Sarmento’s Godafoss and Other Falls fizeram com você (2010) – roughly translated as What EP in 2020) and the cheerful ‘surf music’ A Essa Hora da have they done to you – which took nothing short of Noite (About This Late at Night) seven years and a half to be fully produced. Through- out these years, TIAGO went from drummer to guitar- 2019 also marks the musician’s personal life and career ist, enhanced his abilities and played with Brazilian The in four different but entangled ways. Whilst February Voice contestant Natalie Mendes, tributes to Pink Floyd marks the achievement of his Ph.D. in Psychoanalytic and The Doors, and surf music band The Barrels. Short- Theory, March brought us his 4th record Entressafra (ou ly before his debut album went public, SARMENTO also canções para se ouvir ligeiramente ébrio) – something joined briefly another rock band,Martiataka, with whom like Between Harvests (or songs to listen to when slight- he recorded another record, À Moda do Caos (2009) – ly inebriated). At first, this record was supposed to be roughtly translated as In Chaos’ Fashion. released as an EP with only a few songs; however, as the always ongoing list of TIAGO’s new lyrics exponentially TIAGO graduated in Communication/Advertising after grows, Entressafra became a full album and first one to dropping from Languages & Literature in its last semes- be released only on digital platforms. This record sounds ter. Holding a Master’s degree in Communication and homely with some funny lyrics and outtakes from pre- studying to become a psychoanalyst, SARMENTO re- vious records, uncompromised and free from every pat- leases a couple of records sponsored by his town’s cul- tern of musical formula. It also highlights the partnership tural support project. Quando as cores acabarem (2013) with Landau, another musician from TIAGO’s home- – When the colours fade away – and the one that would state, both by “lending” his autobiographic O Cowboy begin his big turnover regarding musical philosophy, do Asfalto for TIAGO to write his very own O Boho Folk Folk It! (2017), recorded at Brazilian famous singer Elba do Mato (Cowboy from the road and The Countryside Ramalho’s studio in Rio de Janeiro – Gigante de Pedra. Boho-Folk, respectively), and singing along SARMENTO, Besides being the first collaboration with producer Nan- by interpreting a melancholic and desperate bottle of do Costa, an ex-Berkeley alumni and currently residing a very old forgotten whisky waiting lamenting his long- lost love to the drinker on the pub. Both tunes became music videos from this album. SARMENTO’s third mark from 2019 is when he takes a sabbatical three-months trip in Europe after his new- found title of Doctor. Among catharsis in Icelandic wa- terfalls, Pompeii ruins with its famous amphitheatre and several pubs between Liverpool, Nottingham and London – not forgetting the 5-days gap between the Eddie Ved- der + The Who at Wembley Stadium and nothing short other than Neil Young + Bob Dylan at Hyde Park –, this amused artist decides to make a record right there, fully in English, due to the over-welcomed response of some tones TIAGO had developed over the years; but it is the listeners. And here’s where history becomes an entan- serenity of songs such as Sistine Chapel Girl and Goda- gled knot: right in the middle of his journey, SARMEN- foss that he outs on all his emotions. Besides, If Only I TO releases his 5th studio album in Portuguese, Boho, Could be Your Woman and Heat Cliff (or a woefully dou- once again produced by Nando Costa and recorded at ble-barrelled common tale) approaches social-cultural Versão Acustica, from Brazilian well-known Emmerson themes of homosexuality and violence against women, Nogueira. Out of this record comes a plethora of doc- in an musically ironic Mississippi Delta Blues inspired fi- umented video material, including a documentary and nale. The first is about a man who couldn’t care less if he several music videos – including the hilarious video to was a man or a woman as long as the woman he loves his Canção para se Perder o Medo da Chuva (Song to wants him back. But she doesn’t because she is a lesbi- Stop Being Afraid of the Rain). With cameos from sever- an; then he laments it, wishing he himself could become al friend like Lorena Fernandes, Fellipe “Piriquito” Lira, a woman just to try being loved by her. The great finale, Eminho and Xerém from the band Muamba – one of TI- with goose-bumped vocals by Priscilla Martins is a Delta AGO’s favourite in his early youth before being bitten Blues inspired by the music from those days where men by the rock ‘n roll bug – this point is where history gets mourns life on the road and having to leave – or to be weird: Boho was recorded before Entressafra and re- left by – their women. Historically, it is well known that leased at the same time Ye Olde Road To Reyourselfing quite often poverty, lust for fame or lust from fame and was being recorded in Lisbon, generating a merry jigsaw heavy drinking turn men into violent partners, abusing of dates and names. both physically and psychologically their “beloved mus- es”. In this song, SARMENTO gives voice to the women And here is where we got so far: to the 2020’s pandemic history shut down by letting Priscila Martins sing the fe- COVID-19 – the year that never was. With several releas- male counterpart of those tales: whilst the man sings es as EPs and singles, SARMENTO invited Rodolfo Krieg- about loneliness and questions why she left him since er (bassist of the formerly Brazilian hit band Cachorro he treated her so well from his point of view, now the Grande) and drummer Gui Amaral – both in Lisbon at unsung, unspoken and unable to be hear voice of every the same time – to go full drive at Haus Studios to record women seems to flow with repressed rage through Pris- songs he wrote the month before when travelling from cila’s voice in an explicit answer “I left you because you place to place – all songs had their melody, structure, treated me like s**t and hit me every effing day!”. If jus- arrangements, and rehearsal done in less than three tice is not served, at least music will be heard. weeks. This is another turning point for the musician: two songs were done only vocals + piano – an instru- So, whilst COVID-19 insists on getting the best ment he learnt to play less than 5 months before. out of everyone, SARMENTO works in mysteri- One of them is the hit song and music video Stop ous ways for an ambitious cover project. But, to Talking to Me, written by New York singer/songwrit- know more about it, one may need to do some er Sonia Kreitzer, who TIAGO met by some “holly- idle trippy wander through bohemia, smiles, woodian twist of fate” years ago. wines, and love because the man behind the hat and the moustache is far from done in this nev- Naturally, the record is not short of full raged er-ending well-known road to reivention. guitars, harmonicas, and the cheerfully romantic .