{"id":42286,"date":"2018-07-11T11:22:56","date_gmt":"2018-07-11T10:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/elza-soares-is-back-with-an-anti-reactionary-time-bomb\/"},"modified":"2020-10-14T18:12:19","modified_gmt":"2020-10-14T16:12:19","slug":"elza-soares-deus-e-mulher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/elza-soares-deus-e-mulher\/","title":{"rendered":"Elza Soares is back with an anti-reactionary time bomb"},"content":{"rendered":"
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What comes at the end of the world? The self-proclaimed \u201cwoman at the end of the world\u201d\u00a0since 2015 when she released her last album Mulher do Fim do Mundo<\/em>, unveiled the mystery; after the end of the world comes\u2026 God. But not your regular god. God is a Woman, and she\u2019s Black. Elza Soares\u2019 latest album is titled Deus \u00e9 Mulher<\/em>, one hell of a sacrilege in a profoundly sexist and catholic country like Brazil. And the art of provocation repeats itself too, after the singer dared to entitle her second album A Bossa Negra<\/em> (“The Black Bossa”) 58 years ago, facing a society that had always been racist to the core<\/strong>.<\/span><\/h5>\n

“Minha voz \/ Uso pra dizer o que se cala \/ O meu pa\u00eds \/ \u00c9 meu lugar de fala”<\/em>\u00a0(\u201cMy voice \/ I use it to tell what\u2019s kept quiet \/ My country \/ Is the place from where I speak” \u2013 “lugar de fala”<\/em>\u00a0is a safe and judgment-free place to talk for oppressed communities). Never short of provocative energy, which she\u2019s showed since her 20s and her debut in Musica Popular Brasileira – MPB\u00a0<\/em>(“Popular Brazilian Music”), Elza Soares has kept the same team she’s had since her last groundbreaking album and put them on the field again. Because there\u2019s a golden rule in futebol<\/em> (\u201csoccer\u201d) as well as in music: never change a winning team. The coach being Rio-based Guilherme Kastrup, in charge of the production, arrangements and multiple instruments. On the field, in charge of arrangements and performance, the musical avant-garde of S\u00e3o Paulo: Marcelo Cabral on bass, Kiko Dinucci<\/a> on guitars and keyboards (the pair play together in Met\u00e1 Met\u00e1), Rodrigo Campos on cavaquinho and guitar, as well as other commendable talents, amongst them Mari\u00e1 Portugal on drums, Maria Beraldo on horns, and lyricists Tulipa Ruiz, Rodrigo Campos and Romulo Fr\u00f5es. Notable guests on the album include the only-female and mainly Black percussion and chants group Il\u00fa Ob\u00e1 de Min, the first Afro-Brazilian bloco de carnaval<\/em> that appeared in S\u00e3o Paulo. The common point for these field players being that they\u2019re in their 30s or early 40s, and their artistic freedom is as deep as their admiration for Elza Soares, their female leader; 40 years their elder.<\/p>\n

This admiration for Elza Soares runs so deep that it gives them the audacity to experiment the richest syncretism the Brazilian music scene has ever heard since Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso\u2019s tropic\u00e1lia<\/em> in the \u201860s. The team daringly ventures into the samba and bossa field \u2013\u00a0an easy task at first glance, but the real challenge is to make\u00a0it sound modern \u2013 moving them into the more exotic sounds of post-punk, afrobeat and psychedelic rock; they dribble around the national championship of instruments (cavaquinho, classical guitar, violin, pandeiro, and samba percussions) as well as the international outsiders (rhythm box, synthesizers, distorted electric guitar). For the duration of the game, the Brazilian team offer their female coach a perfectly fitted strategy, allowing Elza her freedom to murmur, whisper, shout out and eventually scream, to express how happy she is to be alive as well as how she\u2019s angered to see the promises of an inclusive and united society quickly faded away. The very society that the end of its dictatorship in 1985 had given a taste of. This very society that Lula da Silva had laboriously tried to bring about between 2003 and 2011, during his presidency. No one would argue that post-colonial and post-dictatorship Brazil is today experiencing a deep political and social crisis, and that its society contains almost all of the issues the world has or will have to cope with pretty soon.<\/p>\n

Religion, decolonization, sexuality, domestic violence, corruption\u2026 the veteran diva of the show spares no prisoners and speaks out loud on the album and on the stage, to represent the voices of the oppressed, at an age when her contemporaries tend to be more discreet (Gal Costa, Maria Beth\u00e2nia, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, although the latter is known to be more activist when on stage).<\/p>\n

It can be heard on \u201cEx\u00fa nas Escolas\u201d, where she criticizes the dominating teachings of Catholicism at school, and advocates the importance of Afro-Brazilian religions and cultures, marginalized or made invisible. Or on \u201cBanho\u201d, penned by lyricist Tulipa Ruiz, where she pays tribute to two orix\u00e1s<\/em> figures that represent women and the water that comes out of their eyes, mouths and vaginas: \u201cEu n\u00e3o obede\u00e7o porque sou molhada\u201d <\/em>(\u201cI won\u2019t obey, because I\u2019m all wet\u201d). This mystic and sensual prayer\/manifesto has become the unofficial anthem of the lusophone lesbian community. Or on \u201cEu Quero Comer Voc\u00ea\u201d (\u201cI want to fuck you\u201d) where she explicitly talks of a woman\u2019s sexuality with an infectious pride. Or on \u201cCredo\u201d where she assures that \u201clove is a god that has nothing to do with religion\u201d. Or on \u201cDentro de Cada Um\u201d where she confronts both patriarchy, sexism and homophobia:<\/p>\n

“[A mulher] vai sair de dentro de cada um<\/span><\/em>
\n A mulher vai sair<\/span><\/em>
\n E vai sair de dentro de quem for<\/span><\/em>
\n A mulher \u00e9 voc\u00ea.<\/span><\/em><\/h6>\n
De dentro da cara a tapa de quem j\u00e1 levou porrada na vida<\/span><\/em>
\n De dentro da mala do cara que te esquartejou, te encheu de ferida<\/span><\/em>
\n Daquela menina acuada que tanto sofreu e morreu sem guarida<\/span><\/em>
\n Daquele menino magoado que n\u00e3o alcan\u00e7ou a porta de sa\u00edda.”<\/span><\/em><\/h6>\n
[loose translation by the author]<\/span><\/em><\/h6>\n
“[The woman] will come out in everyone of us<\/span><\/em>
\n The woman will come out<\/span><\/em>
\n And will come out from anyone<\/span><\/em>
\n The woman is you.<\/span><\/em>
\n [The woman will come out]<\/span><\/em>
\n Of the boldness of those already been beaten up,<\/span><\/em>
\n Of the suitcase of the guy who destroyed you and filled you with pain<\/span><\/em>
\n Of the girl who suffered so much and died without a lair<\/span><\/em>
\n Of the hurting boy who did not find a way out.”<\/span><\/em><\/h6>\n

Deus \u00e9 Mulher<\/em> is a bible for transgression, a manifesto for activism addressed to the oppressed minorities of Brazil and anywhere else. This anti-reactionary time bomb should be placed into the hands of anyone who has the courage to fight. \u201cN\u00f3s n\u00e3o temos mesmo sonho e opini\u00e3o \/ Nosso eco se mistura na can\u00e7\u00e3o \/ Quero voz e quero o mesmo ar \/ Quero mesmo incomodar\u201d<\/em> she confesses in \u201cL\u00edngua Solta\u201d: \u201cWe don\u2019t share the same dreams and opinions \/ Our echoes merge into this song \/ I want a voice and I want the same air \/ I really want to provoke.\u201d Elza Soares and her team are in a league of their own, truly too dangerous to be let on the field of panem et circenses<\/em> that has long ruled the society.<\/p>\n

Read next:\u00a0The Hustle: emerging Nigerian music artists to watch<\/a><\/span><\/h5>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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