The French-Brazilian singer pays tribute to her ancestors via a new video mixing family history and the codes of Japanese manga.
Yndi Ferreira Da Silva, 27, began her career in 2012 as Dream Koala, producing, among other things, pop music performed in English on three EPs, Odyssey, Earth. Home. Destroyed and Exodus. Now, Yndi returns to her cultural roots, singing mainly in Portuguese and French, as shown by her appearance on the COLORS show a few weeks ago for her track “Amazona.”
Her first album, Noir Brésil, which will be released for the first time under her real name, transports us to an Afro-Brazilian rhythmic universe full of tropical electronic music and acoustic guitar. In the video for “Noir Brésil,” she shares a montage of memories, inspired by the codes of Japanese manga. These photographs, full of family love and youthful insouciance, contrast strongly with Yndi’s message against the racism suffered by black people in Bolsonaro’s regime in her home country. She explains: “My work evokes slavery, loss of faith and the famous saudade.” This term refers to the specific form of nostalgia evoked in the Portugeuse language.
Yndi also reconnects with bossa nova, which she defines as follows: “Bossa nova is linked to an imaginary and an era, the 60s and 70s. Its strength lies in the duality between joyful and bewitching melodies that illustrate deeply sad lyrics. It speaks of broken hearts, loneliness and the condition of the working classes. But like opium, bossa nova anaesthetizes all pain.”
The album Noir Brésil will be released in the coming months.
Find Yndi in our Songs of the Week playlist on Spotify and Deezer.