When I was a child growing up it was kinda hard to get away from whatever pop music was polluting the charts at the time; whether I liked it or not, this music was soundtracking my childhood. However, what I didn’t realise at the time, basically because I found songs like ‘True’, ‘Rio’ or ‘Karma Chameleon’ irritating (though now admit to their pop genius), was that the people who sung numbers like these could not only hold a tune but were seriously talented. Tony Hadley (Spandau Ballet) had an absolutely massive voice, Simon Le Bon (Duran Duran) could really nail a hook, and as for Boy George, his voice had texture – just listen to ‘Do You Really Want To Hurt Me’ it’s stunning.
Then, of course, there was George Michael. I wasn’t exactly a fan, but as pop music went at the time George could normally meet with pretty much universal approval and was about as close as you get to pop perfection. I always knew he was a good singer, I mean, I bought ‘Older’, which is a fine album with a jazzy late night feel that makes for a very chilled listen, but it was only recently that it really hit me.
Since the turn of the century, we’ve been inundated with “talent” realities – Idol, X-Factor, The Voice to name a few – and a number of alumni from these shows have gone on to achieve considerable success. The shows themselves have thrown up a number of memorable moments where singers have stunned crowds with incredible voices or stand out performances. A handful are even genuine talents with a long history of hard work behind them; think Adam Lambert and Leona Lewis, but in reality most are just winging it, benefitting from big production, teams of songwriters and talent makers like Simon Cowell looking for a quick return on their investment. However, singers like these, and other internet sensations discovered via YouTube or wherever, have become the norm and are everywhere.
So when, a few years ago, I happened across a George Michael live show on a satellite music channel – it was an unplugged style thing – it struck me just how easy he made it look and how little production he needed. Where the reality stars were singing their hearts out to make it look good, George hardly broke sweat, where the wannabes were struggling to reach a note and get all the words into the melody, George had smoothly glided through and never missed a beat or failed a note. Thinking back over his career, a couple of big ballads aside, he rarely belted out a tune, there was always this sensation that he was singing well within himself and that he could sing pretty much anything with consummate ease. And therein lies George’s genius, ok, his career may have waned in recent years, but his early work has stood the test of time, simply because it was so well done. Great voice, great talent.
Anyway, here’s a bunch of times George nailed it in his own inimitable style.
‘Careless Whisper’
One of the few times George really lets loose, showing off an enviable range and stunning power. Sure, it’s about as slushy as a ballad can get, but the sax riff is genius and the vocal nothing short of incredible. Hats off to Andrew Ridgeley for writing such a timeless classic.
‘Somebody to Love’
Move over Adam Lambert, George was the original choice as the new Queen vocalist, such was the supremacy of his performance at the Freddie Mercury tribute. There was a lot of speculation in the media that he really would join as permanent replacement, but rumour has it that John Deacon vetoed the project (among other rumours). Whether he could’ve cut it on the rockier numbers will also remain open to question. Anyway, George described ‘Somebody to Love’ as the hardest song he ever had to sing, but boy does he nail it, whether in the famous rehearsal video or on stage at Wembley, where he puts in a sublime performance – take note singers, that is how you work a crowd.
‘Father Figure’
For me, this is one of the most underrated songs in George’s back catalogue and is often overlooked, yet it has stood the test of time and his understated vocal shows the depth of his singing talent. This performance from the Mtv Unplugged of 1996 is testament to the talent of the man.
‘Older’
In my humble opinion, this darkly jazzy track is one of George’s finest moments. It’s a beautifully understated song that shows off some fine vocals – there’s a bit of bite, a bit of hush – and really was a coming of age. The whole album stands up for its quality until today – ‘Jesus to a Child’, ‘Fastlove’, ‘Spinning The Wheel’…great songs, brilliantly sung.
‘As’
Ok, so I’m a bit of a sucker for a big bad Mary J vocal, she always kills it, but on this Stevie Wonder classic George more than holds his own on what is a superb duet. Whether it’s trading riffs between verses or when they go head to head as the song gathers to its killer gospel climax, George puts in an awesome performance.
Despite having lived in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, for the last thirteen years, I will readily admit to not being the most assiduous follower of the Brazilian music scene. There is some stuff that I really like, a whole load of stuff that I steer well clear of and a gaping black hole in between. Basically, I use the excuse that I just don’t have the time, but the simple fact is that I mostly prefer English language music, which is a little short-sighted of me. However, as recent experience has highlighted how difficult the music industry has become for new bands in England nowadays, it got me wondering about the situation here, so I decided it was high time I found out what was going on. In fact, I didn’t have to look very far; between ex-students, good friends, friends and relatives of other students and a handful of acquaintances I suddenly had access to a whole host of local bands, perfect for comparing the grass roots scene here with what goes on back home.
Primarily, I wanted to know about the difficulties faced by upcoming bands in Rio de Janeiro and the unanimous response was that outside of the Lapa district in Rio, there is a distinct lack of venues with high quality sound and an appropriate infrastructure. Personally, I put this down to a lack of pub culture, no sweaty beer soaked backrooms or spit and sawdust venues here, but the complex legal system and, at times, lack of adherence to is also a factor. Throw in the fact that if you can actually find a place to play, getting paid for it is a mission in itself, because not only are gigs badly paid, it is also par for the course for venue owners/promoters to pay late – we are talking weeks or months – no musicians union backing here. Also, according to Alexandre Daumerie of the “On The Rock” project, “That’s when they don’t ask you to play for free, which many unknown bands will often do just to show their work and get the exposure”.
In fact, the basic consensus is that there is not much money to be made unless you are playing covers of popular music or are willing to sweat blood for your art, and even then you won’t get paid what you deserve and you’ll have the demands of promoters to contend with. One reputable promotor that I spoke to, Vitor Da Cunha Gomes of A Conspiração Produções e Eventos, who moonlights as the bassist in metal core group Ambstract, goes as far as to suggest that to get on a relatively interesting bill “you have to sell a pornographic number of tickets for the event promoter, and the bands that do so are not always top quality (cover bands etc), so the event ends up full of poor bands that bring down the level.” Vitor’s company goes against the flow by only inviting bands with their seal of approval, with good material and marketing, and that are supportive of the local scene.
The proliferation of covers acts and the willingness of bars to book them as an attraction, also means that even bands with a strong local following are battling for space in the market. João Paulo Barreira of Barcamundi goes a little further still, citing “a lack of incentives for independent culture on the part of public organs, as well as a certain disinterest of the majority of the public for original music or for that not endorsed by mass media.”
This lack of interest on the part of the public could be a reflection of the dynamic of the class system here. In England basically you have a working class spectrum, so any given venue can pull people in democratically, whereas here you have a working class chasm between the haves and have nots, which is reflected in the public frequenting certain venues. The paradox here is that the bands making alternative, indie or rock tend to be from middle class backgrounds but don’t have access to middle class venues. Ok, so I admit that this is something of a sweeping generalization, but the point is that the structure and tastes of society here is a far more complex issue than in the UK.
Eduardo Marcolino of progressive rockers Anxtrongoes deeper into the issue of apathy on the part of the public: “many people are satisfied with free online material and don’t bother going to shows. Besides, almost nobody pays for an album anymore, making recording even more costly as it doesn’t generate much return.” Sound familiar English bands?
As such, the influence of the internet is frighteningly similar the world over, with bands more often than not peaking at the thousand true fans level and living in the hope of going viral or getting picked up by the mass media. In the meantime it’s online marketing and social media to divulge the new material, show etc, and just like in the UK (and probably the rest of the world) Brazilian acts love the fact that they have control over how they appear to the world and how they communicate with their fans. However, João Paulo´s guitarist in Barcamundi, Leon, makes the pertinent observation that number of likes/followers can be a doubtful indicator and just because one band has 20k “fans”, while another has the faithful thousand, it doesn’t mean the first band is 20 times more popular than the other. João completes the idea by saying “It’s necessary to work, make contacts, rehearse and publicize your band in the real world, but with the help of the internet.”
Although the internet is seen by all concerned as a useful tool in terms of publicity, especially given Brazil’s highly digitalized society, being social media savvy is quite simply not enough. Why?
Two words:
Organizações Globo.
Globo is one of the most powerful media organisations in the world and its influence here in Brazil is nothing less than massive. What little space they give to music, is dedicated to the mainstream or established “alternative” acts, as well as for more traditional Brazilian styles such as Sertanejo (Country), Samba, Pagode, Axé and even Funk Carioca. Even their coverage of Rock in Rio is a little limited, with the Sunset stage (the b-stage) only shown on one of their satellite channels, which does go to redress the balance a little by also showing events like Lollapalooza, but the homegrown programmes on the music channel are very old guard. So basically if Globo is behind you or willing to give you a shot, this will open a lot of doors, as in the case of Scalene, but if you are not a media darling, which most indie and alternative acts tend not to be, otherwise they wouldn’t be called alternative, getting any media exposure outside of social networks is gonna be difficult.
OK, so Globo is by no means the only media outlet in the country, but they lead by example and most other outlets tend to follow suit, so the indie/rock/alternative scene is very much an underground one. However, according to Vitor of A Conspiração and Fabricio Figueiredo of Útero Ruídosproductions it is a thriving scene and there is a lot of talent in Rio. Both suggested that São Paulo has a better infrastructure while Rio has the better bands. When I asked about how competitive the scene was, there was agreement that, as in England, in general it tends to be one of mutual support and incentive, despite the fight for attention and the occasional envious eye on another band’s success.
Vitor: “I always like to watch the local bands and see how they are doing well, recently there’s been an enormous improvement in the quality of the bands; they’re making music that’s getting richer and more elaborate, which always makes me want to improve.”
He goes on to cite a number of interesting local bands that cover the entire rock spectrum, far too many to mention here, but I checked out as many as I could and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Menores Atos, Cervical, Lougo Mouro and the one that particularly caught my eye, Parola, who play a highly competent brand of Brazilian Hard Rock.
As for other aspects of band life, just like their British counterparts it’s a labour of love here too. Having to run a band part-time means rehearsing only once a week and long term plans remain un-ambitious, the focus being on improving and continuing to enjoy playing, whilst hopefully building a competent body of work. So, all in all being in an indie or alternative rock band in Brazil has all the difficulties of the British scene plus a whole host of structural and cultural questions thrown in for good measure.
Nevertheless, there has to be some kind of middle ground between this level of virtual obscurity and media endorsed mega stardom, and just as English bands are starting to find with forward thinking indie labels and innovative PR companies, there is life beyond the DIY circuit and outside the limited rosters of the major labels. Companies such as Útero are working like a creative hub for artists where they can gain access to expertise in production, recording and mixing, creation of audio-visual projects, fundraising and distribution.
Fabricio Figueiredo explained that Útero’s vision actually goes beyond the artist; they see the lack of know-how on the local music scene as an opportunity to help stimulate and organise the market, providing a safe haven for artists to get their work produced and a focus for fans to connect with quality sounds. By coordinating the activities of studios, musicians, promoters, venues and fans they work as a catalyst for artistic projects and an opinion maker on the local scene. However, their vision goes beyond the local; the video they recorded for Rebeca Sauwen being one of the factors getting her on to The Voice.
Therefore, despite the apparent difficulties of the Brazilian music scene, it is by no means all doom and gloom, especially when you not only have talented performers, but also forward thinking individuals willing to stimulate the music industry in the name of art. Given a more sober vision of the music business, as is already being seen in the big international markets, there is no reason why we cannot form a sound middle class of music operating way above the thousand true fans level, but without the necessity to be the next big thing; whether it’s Brasil (sic) or back in the UK.
Hard Pressed 