Lucas Santtana (Gilberto Gil, Bolsonaro protest) Live in London March 23

LUCAS SANTTANAANNOUNCES LONDON HEADLINE DATERICH MIX – MARCH 23, 2020

ACCLAIMED NEW ALBUM: ‘O CÉU É VELHO HÁ MUITO TEMPO’

OUT NOW

HERE

ON NØ FØRMAT!

Santtana’s focus for this excellent album is clearly on the body politic

**** New Internationalist

Santtana takes precise aim at his country’s government

**** Financial Times

Singer-songwriter’s pared back seventh’s LP spotlights socio-political abuses

MOJO

These gentler sounds hold space for an unflinchingly raw outrage at and examination of the rise of the far-right and injustices occurring in Brazil right now

London in Stereo

Time to take a stand with Santtana

The Morning Star

Brazilian musician and singer Lucas Santtana has announced details for his first UK headline show in five years, at London’s Rich Mix on March 23, 2020, in support of his critically praised eighth album, ‘O céu é velho há muito tempo’ (out now), also his third release for French indie label Nø Førmat! An uncompromising study of the political, social and ecological tensions in his native Brazil, Santtana recently released the arresting video for latest single ‘Ninguém Solta A Mão De Ninguém’ (meaning ‘hold on tight to each other’s hands’), also featuring fellow Brazilian artists, queer DIY musician Jaloo, transgender rapper Linn Da Quebrada and singer Juçara Marçal: watch here. It follows previous single release, ‘Meu Primeiro Amor’ – featuring emerging Brazilian star DUDA BEAT – which has so far clocked over 1.7 million streams: watch the official video here.

Tickets for Rich Mix are on sale from 10am on January 10, 2020 from here

.Having made a name for himself across a string of seven richly inventive, polycultural albums suffusing nods to Brazilian cornerstones like Tropicalia & Bossa Nova with elements of everything from electronica to hip hop (2011’s ‘Sobre Noites e Dias’ featured both the rapper Féfé and French actress Fanny Ardant), for ‘O Céu….’, Santtana has pared back his palette to little more than his own voice and a guitar, for an album which unflinchingly zeroes in on the parlous machinery dictating the political, social & cultural balance of his own country. “We’re living in a time in which everybody is talking loud’ he observes; “I thought the time had come to whisper into people’s ears”.The world is living through dark times – the far right and its reactionary ideas are gaining ground everywhere, and Brazil hasn’t been spared either. A militia government has come to power in the country by dubious means, then proceeding to obstruct human rights by way of violence and censorship. It has since propagated a deadly approach to agriculture by using pesticides that are banned the world over and has also legalised the possession of fire arms, whilst also seizing indigenous lands in Amazonia to exploit their mineral wealth, accelerating the region’s already catastrophic rate of deforestation.

Whilst ‘O céu…’ might operate with the gentlest of touches musically, the urgency of Santtana’s cautionary counsel is unmistakeable. At the outset, the gauzy strains of ‘Portal De Ativação’ – meaning ‘Activation Portal’ – give way to an ominous monlogue; “Who wants to speak? Raise a hand / Who wants to listen? Raise a hand / Who wants to demonstrate? Well then get up on your feet”. A passionately politicised trio of tracks follow, including ‘Brasil Patriota’, whose deceptively irresistible bossa nova lilt subverts the Brazilian National Anthem to take direct aim at the corruption of the country’s human & criminal justice systems. It sits alongside similarly unequivocal ‘Um Professor Está Falando Com Você’ (A Professor Is Talking To You), speaking of the institutionalised corruption which breeds “Justice that lies, Police that kill and the church that extorts”.These sentiments of resistance and resilience are captured both by the aphorism Santtana has named his album after – meaning ‘The sky has been old for a long time’ – and by the striking cover art for ‘O Céu….’. The star constellation from the Brazilian flag – appearing here as a blood red portent of struggle – is met with various symbols of resistance from different cultures, including Shamanism, Hinduism, Social Movements, Afro-Brazilian Religions and the Maya Calendar.

https://idol.lnk.to/OCEVHMT_LSanttana

LIVE

23 March LONDON Rich Mix https://rockfeedback.seetickets.com/event/lucas-santtana/rich-mix/1480604

BiographyHaving played flute in various orchestras in the Brazilian state of Bahia, Lucas Santtana (son of producer Roberto Sant’ana and nephew to pioneering tropicalist artist Tom Zé) made his recording debut in 1993, performing on Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil’s Tropicalia 2 album, continuing to work as a flautist with Gil and on a variety of sessions throughout the 90s. However, at the same time Santtana was learning to play the guitar and writing his own songs in downtime while touring – these songs started to see the light of day through collaborations with Arto Lindsay, Marisa Monte and Daniela Mercury until he released his first solo album, Eletro Ben Dodô, in 2000. It was the start of a cycle of albums that focused on different sounds and textures. That debut was percussive; his second, Parada de Lucas (2003), was electronic, inspired by the nascent baile funk; the third, 3 Sessions In A Greenhouse (2007), was heavily influenced by dub; Sem Nostalgia (2011) was a response to bossa nova, inventively crafting new sounds from just guitar and vocals. His fifth – like its predecessor, released via the Mais Um Disco label championed by Gilles Peterson – The God Who Devastates Also Cures (2012), suggested the start of a new cycle, a synergy of everything that has gone before, and which has continued with the “post-tropicalist” album Sobre Noites E Dias (2014).