Still under the impact of recent extreme weather episodes in Brazil, I received Voz da Taba (independent, with Proac-SP support), the new physical album (also digital on music platforms) by Macapa singer Patrícia Bastos. When I saw myself faced with a bill in defense of the Amazon, I got excited! Listening to the outpouring of love for the forest, the rivers, the riverside communities, the quilombos and the original peoples, I daydreamed... it is, in fact, Brazil is back!
To say that I was moved is an understatement – what I heard made me want to scream against the destruction of the Amazon, which has been methodically degraded by criminal actions by deforesters, miners and illegal invaders of indigenous territories.
By singing songs created especially for the album (which had an exemplary musical conception by the creative Dante Ozzetti as producer and arranger), Patrícia Bastos became an example to be followed. Singing Amazonian poets, she proves that music and poetry are transformative weapons.
I even wonder and dare to suggest to Minister Marina Silva that, at the next international meeting on climate and environment, she take with her Patrícia Bastos and some of the poets present in Voz da Taba – they who exposed in verse the despair of those who were born and live in those lands . But that's another conversation.
With special appearances by the voices of Caetano Veloso, Ná Ozzetti, Ana Maria Carvalho, Fabiana Cozza, Alzira E, Ronaldo Silva and the piano of Cristóvão Bastos, Patrícia sings with extraordinary strength. Her voice, in tune and emotional, supported by Dante's arrangements, embodies such devotion that makes her a citizen of the world, singing for balance and the preservation of nature.
With tips from Dante Ozzetti, here are the songs I selected: sung as a duo by Patrícia and Caetano, “Jeito Tucuju” (Val Milhomem and Joãozinho Gomes), with an arrangement where strings and percussion shine, is a marvel. With a beautiful melody, “Cobra Sofia” (Dante Ozzetti and Joãozinho Gomes) is a blast. In the zouk “Espartano” sax (Fernando Sagawa), trumpet (Estefane Santos) and trombone (Deivide Souza) swing, while in the cacicó “Maninha do Céu” (both by Paulo Bastos) Patrícia's dancer brejerice comes into play. The ox from Pará “Bailarina da Água Doce” (Ronaldo Silva) has the bass (Fi Maróstica) in an effect that echoes like a lament, under the author’s voice reciting the verses. In “Voz da Taba” (Enrico Di Micelli and Salgado Maranhão), the indigenous Lundu who titles the CD, Patrícia sings like a true Uirapuru. “Yárica” (Cristóvão Bastos and Joãozinho Gomes), made in homage to Patrícia’s voice, sounds beautiful with just her, piano and acoustic bass (Zeca Assumpção).
I finish with some verses by Joãozinho Gomes in “Jeito Tucuju”: “Whoever has never seen the Amazon/ Will never understand the belief of a people/ Their homely science/ The prayer of the healers, the miraculous gift”.
For the world to know about the Amazon, just coming here to feel and believe.
Aquiles Rique Reis
Our protectors never give up on us.