Nelson - I accepted with pleasure your invitation for a talk about Tribalistas, first because I was pleased by what I had heard, and later by the homely way it was produced, with no hurry nor pressure. This reflects on the musical result. Our today s talk is to inform with sincerity everything about the record. How did everything start? Who called who? How did the idea appear? Marisa - It did not appear as an idea. I recorded a participation on Arnaldo s album, produced by Brown, last year. We got together for a week and, as it uses to happen every time we meet, we made lots of songs. We were not thinking about doing anything together at that moment. Nelson - As you had made other times... Marisa - As we had never made... We live each one in a different city; they are rare the moments the three of us meet physically to compose. It happened once, I remember, when we made Água Também é Mar together. Arnaldo - Not only Água Também é Mar but other three or four songs we composed here in your house. Brown - Not only Brazil, but the entire world seems to direct itself to understand its interior as a whole, not only its interior as the city, not only its surroundings, but interior as a place where you really live. And the tribalists bring that; they bring in the song the fertility, as someone who sows corns... Nelson - It is an urban music with much rustic information. Brown - The fact of existing an ensemble among the tribalists, which is the complete and chemical tune, brings to the team spirit the contribution between the three of us... resulting in a new craftsman that is not the three of us, and the three of us separately would not make this, what each one was. This is an addition of the three, which is one... the tribalist. But Marisa was beyond. She was beyond because she ended up as a leader, as she had the producer role. She ended up by leading and also doing something that perhaps is difficult considering the total personality of what her work is and what our work is. We agreed to have Marisa as the coordinator and producer of everything. So we truly listened to what she had to say, and the fact that she received us so well at her home... That thing I mentioned before about the interior came in the biscuits, a real flavor, came in the pão de queijo (a kind of bread made with cheese), in the cakes, in the food, came in the contact we had with the dog... Nelson - It is an album totally domestic. Arnaldo - We had never got together to compose such a great number of songs in such a few days as it happened in Salvador. But, somehow, we have been making songs together over the last years, Carlinhos and I, or Marisa and I, or Carlinhos and Marisa, or the three of us together. This has happened frequently, in spite of living in different cities. And I do think this is a question of language affinity, which is rare. I compose with many other people, I have many partners. But it is not as fluent as it is with them. Actually it happened with Titãs when I was part of the band, I think it was also easy... as it still is to compose with them nowadays, although with much less frequency. Nelson Which songs became first, at that moment you met and started composing in Bahia? Marisa - We did not meet to compose an album. I went to record with Arnaldo and I knew I would stay some days with him, I searched for things here, he had things in his mind there, and naturally when we met, the three of us together, these songs start to be made, to be concluded.
Nelson - Is there any special method, or is each music composed in a different way? Arnaldo - Sometimes we start from a melody that one of us three has already brought, sometimes we start from a part of the lyrics, and other times we start from nothing. Marisa - Sometimes a thing that Brown and I had started, we finish with Arnaldo, sometimes an old thing that I had brought, sometimes a thing that they had started and I add any detail. When we realized, we had already finished in one week almost 18, 20 musics. Some unfinished ones, some that we left behind, and others that we kept on singing during the whole week, every night, one followed by the other. Each night we composed two more songs and kept on singing the ones we had made the day before... In the end we had those musics. Arnaldo - Nights passed. And in the break of one day, in Brown s house, we made Lá de Longe... Brown - It pictures exactly the day rising. But it happened... all the details, rain and silver. The presence of nature was a very gentle thing also in our favor. I think this trio has a perception thing, there inside the three of us, there are many symbols on the trio, such as the triangle Rio, São Paulo, Bahia... Marisa - It is funny, I saw Titãs composing this way when I used to be around them. They used to make two musics a day when they were touring. Arnaldo - Yes, it was pretty easy. Now, with Brown and Marisa, we composed so many songs that in a certain moment we said... we should record all this! Marisa - This was not a project, it was a dream, a wonderful desire for each one of us. When I left Bahia we had this repertoire that we could either record together or not. We had no deadline, no dates, nothing was arranged. Arnaldo would release an album; Brown was making his own... I was finishing my tour. And we thought let s see if in the near future we meet and record together, it would be great! Arnaldo - Exactly, we didn t compose it as a specific project for a record. It just happened. Marisa - And we spent an entire year trying to get the best out of it, really germinating the idea. We recorded accurately one year after that week I spent in Bahia. Arnaldo - Actually, we had doubts whether we would make a record out of this repertoire or not. That was not very clear to us at that moment. Nelson - In which moment did you decide to do an album out of this repertoire? Marisa - It happened really fast because the repertoire was ready, and in my opinion repertoires and movie scripts are very much alike, they are both the foundation, the structure of all the remaining portion, as the repertoire was ready, it was very fast. We decided to do it, then one week or two after that, we entered the studio and started recording it. This album was made with two days of rehearsal and thirteen days of recording. Nelson - And did it have, since the beginning, this concept that the album would be practically an acoustic one, almost without base, with this sonority completely different from the standards of current pop? Marisa - This concept was discussed between us, it was based mainly in previous experiences
we ve had and in things we ve done before, that I considered that worked really well and fast, that are the songs that I ve recorded with Brown, Magamalabares, Arrepio, he went to the studio in New York and we recorded each song in a day. Arnaldo- Everything started by the acoustic guitars, the arrangements appeared while we were jamming during the process of composition. And we thought: It sounds cool already, and the album we wanted was very similar to that. So it was this that guided the creation of the arrangements, we just let them flourish, having the voices and the acoustic guitars as the principles of our compositions. Nelson - So, there are not musicians playing? I mean, are you songwriters playing, which we don t see very often, right? Marisa - Yes, we played along with Cézar Mendes and Dadi, who are also tribalists! Nelson - Were they with you since the first moment? Marisa - No, Dadi, besides a great musician, is also my neighbor, he lives across the street, I just had to invite him. Arnaldo - Cézar also had a participation in my album. Cézar and Dadi are songwriters too, they are our partners as well. Marisa - Cézar took some melodies we ve done together in Rio, and there in Bahia we just put the lyrics and included two of his songs in the album. Cézar is a friend we have in common, as well as Dadi, they used to come here a lot during this year, two or three times a week, and we used to play this repertoire. So everybody was already familiar with the harmonies, each one of us had an established position of each song itself. Nelson - And what about Dadi? It is funny because everybody knows him as a bass player and his participation in the album was beyond of that: acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, wonderful pianos and a beautiful Hammond organ. I have known him for thirty years, I would never have guessed. I wonder if it was really him playing the piano. (Laughs) Marisa - His mother was a piano teacher. By the way, he comes here very often, we always jam but he never plays the bass. I guess that when he starts playing the bass he turns into a professional musician. And here in my house, he is not a professional musician; he is just a member of the tribe. Arnaldo - Even in the few songs that have a bass, it wasn t him playing, it was Brown. Marisa - Dadi plays the guitar and the electric guitar beautifully. We ve been trying to persuade him to record his own album playing the electric guitar. Nelson - Two aspects in the album really called my attention: this sonority from a nylon guitar together with a steel guitar which is the rhythm/harmony base; and the light percussion that shows up in a subtle way, it is not heavy, you can see that it simply flows. This gives the album an expression completely different from what we use to listen to nowadays. As there are few interventions, these aspects have a great distinction. Brown - The percussion made in this album is extracted from them, Marisa and Arnaldo. Despite the fact that it was me playing, I tried to imagine how would Arnaldo play if he was in my place? Then I imitated his gestures...
Nelson - You incorporated Arnaldo? As if you were in an Afro-Brazilian religious rite terrace? (Laughs) Brown - Exactly. As I know him well, I can easily tell what kind of movements he usually does. Or the more delicate way that Marisa plays, I try to imagine how she would be playing at that moment. So the percussion, in a certain way, was a reflection of those artists, because it is much easier to picture them playing than myself. Arnaldo - In my opinion Brown did a beautiful job with the percussion in the record, because he was aware of the album as a whole, so in each song he was cautious enough not to repeat the same expression that he had already used. Nelson - There is an enormous variety of colours in this album that would easily disappear in a bigband, you wouldn t even be able to notice them. What is also interesting is the fact that the album is also being released in DVD, people will be able to see the instruments that are being played, such as: a bucket, a pipe, an emery board, even Christmas bells in the track Anjo da Guarda (Guardian Angel). Brown - Actually, that was a crusher used to crush a specifically small clover that produced that sound. It gives all these harmonics and that is really good to shoot things... Arnaldo - The subtlety you mentioned before, about hearing the details, all that, has a lot to do with Alê (producer). He was very important in this particular process, the electronic filters that had been used, the colours. Marisa - And Alê is also a musician. He is a part of this project just as we are, with the slight difference that we don t get to see him playing. But he is a real musician, he interfered as one. He was a great reference to all of us the whole time. Nelson - How did you divide the vocals? How this part was produced? Have you ever recorded something where you all sang together? Marisa - Not the three of us at the same time, but everything else had already been done, Brown with me, Arnaldo with me, Arnaldo with Brown. More than once, I guess. Once we all sang together on stage in Ibirapuera (a football stadium in São Paulo). But the vocal aspect, in the harmony sense, we have found it naturally. Brown - Marisa is a great conductor, of vocals and backing vocals. So the conduction of a voice emission for a person that might not have this knowledge is really important, because you end up by improving. She was in charge of that in the group. It is a generosity to improve the best of each one of us for what is best for the three of us. Arnaldo - We didn t map the songs previously. Each one of us would just go there, sing and later on we listened to it and we would build the vocals in each song separately. Marisa - Concerning what Brown said about the intention of the interpretation, I don t think it happened because I directed that way, I think it is mainly because I sing and they can hear me. There are different sorts of songs, some we sing to one person, some we sing to lots of people, some we sing privately and some we just sing out loud. I just gave a few suggestions. I don t think I directed it the way Brown said. Nelson - Singing solo is one thing, singing with someone else is a whole different thing, it demands
accuracy, humility and discipline, doesn t it? Marisa - But this is already natural between us. Even before we started recording together, when we used to sing in my couch, it was already like that. We really enjoy listening to one another, you know? That thing that Nelsinho is saying, this symbiosis is perhaps the main conceptual trace, not meaning that it was a consequence, but one thing that for sure is present in our work is the communion amongst us. This record really is a host, a communion itself. It is not even a merit, it is pure luck. Perhaps we ve been living that for ten years and now we ve lived it in a more intense way, and I honestly think that in this album I could offer something I wouldn t be able to in my solo work. Nelson - We can clearly see that. If we compare this album to each one s last albums, we ll notice a huge difference. The way you sing as well as an intimacy, which is a really difficult thing to obtain. Marisa - An intimacy, a relaxation, a comfort. Arnaldo - There is a lot of improvisation in the record, mainly in the vocals. Brown - This gives us security. We re not vivid to sing, we just do it in a softer way. Nelson - At a time of exacerbation of the star, the personality, the celebrity, the exacerbated individuality, three important artists who join each other in a project is Marisa To talk about the decadence of the individualism that can already be felt not only in music, but in many other areas. I believe that in life, some of the most interesting results we get out come from a collective work, as a real transformation of life. Arnaldo - I think that the album is an affirmation of that... of the tribe idea... to be working on it together... believing more and more in the daily joy of living together... Marisa -... in the collective expression... Nelson - Another important aspect is that it isn t simply a libertarian, romantic proposal, it is practical indeed. It proves that the result of all that is an advance for everybody, that you all grew individually out with this collective work. Marisa -... it really is learning for everybody... Brown - It was really successful because I left renewed. Arnaldo - I think that popular music is an appropriate territory for this kind of meeting. We have this tradition in popular music; many records that had been made in set presented something that the artists individually would never do, as Gilberto Gil and Jorge Benjor, Tom Jobim and Elis Regina, Doces Bárbaros, Chico Buarque and Caetano Veloso... Refestança (Gil and Rita Lee)... There are lots of examples. I think it is a creation area open to this kind of possibility. Nelson - Almost every time with excellent result... Arnaldo -... I think it is hard to see that happening in any other area. There isn t such thing in arts, in literature, in movies for example, it is a popular music thing. Marisa - It would be difficult to write a book with four or six hands, right? (Laughs)
Brown - But the Bible, for example, was written with 27 hands. There are 27 books inside one, right? (Laughs) Arnaldo Of course the joint work exists, but not as often as in popular music, because of its collective nature itself. People get together to play, to compose, to dance. This communion thing also happens in concerts, it is an experience with an collective substance. Nelson - You ve decided to register this record from the very first to the last moment, a sound/ image recording of the whole process. Usually we extract just a few things that we ll use, but you are going to leave everything just the way it is, really showing how it was, how everybody felt in that day, being at home, as if you were all joking... as in a reality show.(laughs) All of you without make-up, without artificial lightning, we can see the lamp, the blender, something really domestic. The artists at the same time that they want, they are reluctant to show this creation intimacy, but you do that and the result is wonderful, people will see now how it really works. This record is going to be released, but there will be no tour, nor television marketing, it won t have this kind of thing that regular records must have. This is also totally against the normal but at the same time coherent with the spirit of how it was done. Arnaldo - Look, what I feel is that there is a particular way of handling things that was created by the musical industry, the way the media works, but it doesn t have to be necessarily done that way. Marisa - You can be creative towards that too. Arnaldo - And this is ok too, why not? We are not obliged to follow that particular path. It can be done in a different way. Nelson - This is very interesting. It doesn t have to be like that all the time. There are other ways to get to the public. And particularly in this project, I guess that you are exposing, revealing yourselves so much that, in thirteen songs, shot non-stop from the very beginning, is worth more than 20 interviews that you could give to television. You are showing everything as if you were naked the whole time. Arnaldo - I think it goes beyond that. Marisa - It is the valuation of the register itself rather than its verbalization. Because an image tells more than a thousand words. The only thing we could do is verbalize what can be seen and heard there. Arnaldo - Also, we literally forgot the camera was there the whole time. So there was no place for that discomfort caused when we are in front of a camera. We are really natural, because the camera was there, all the time shooting, but it was such an easy relationship... Marisa - We had four equal cameras, with a similar image quality, plus a camerawoman, Dorinha, with such a light presence. Nelson - She is Tom Jobim s granddaughter, right? Marisa - Yes. Guillerme Ramalho who is directing, came by some days. Sometimes they were both there, and a lot of times just her. The cameras were fixed, and she had one in her hands. There wasn t a professional presence in this album, you know. It was just us... Arnaldo - The fact that we recorded it at Marisa s home studio, not in a professional one, creates a
relaxed and familiar environment. Nelson - When you started recording, you had already came up with the Tribalists idea? Arnaldo -We already had the Tribalistas song. We were thinking, trying to figure out a name, as if we were a band, not to call any attention to each one of us separately. Then we thought of Tribalists... we kind of wrote the song based in that idea... Marisa - The song was made after we came up with the name. First, we tried to find a name that came from three, trio, tribe. Nelson - This is a very funny idea, this concept of none movement... it is like a dadaista joke... Marisa - We do not have any commitment with any ideology, movement, nothing like that. Our only commitment is to search pleasure and joy in being what we are and accepting ourselves. Arnaldo - It is funny, today I was remembering a music of mine Marisa recorded, Volte para o seu Lar, that starts by saying: here in this tribe nobody wants to be catechized. Actually it is another way of saying believe in God and go ahead. I mean, it already existed, it was already there. Nelson - And who is Zé? Marisa - Many people speaks that way, Zé is my nickname only for extremly close people. Only my sisters and friends I have had for more than 15 years call me Zé. The origin is Marizete, Zete, Zé But newspapers have already published that. Sometimes a fan from the audience screams: Zééé! or Zéte... But even those people who know my nickname still feel awkward by calling me Zé. N elson - Probably after this song there will be more people in the audience crying out Zéééé... Marisa - But I guess I will always think it is a sister, an old friend, a joke made by someone really close to me. Nelson - It was great having an enormous variety of Brazilian genres, there are bossa nova, waltz, seresta, samba, rock, soul... and also a children s song, a lullaby, and even a Christmas tune! Arnaldo - It was the Brazilian composer Cassiano who made a beautiful Christmas song... ( Hoje é Natal, 1976). Marisa - Also Assis Valente composed a pretty but sad one. But we made the songs we wanted to. We had no pretension at all. Brown - I see it in a different way. I see ourselves expressing the family the way it is, in a natural way. Not exactly the family of the father and son... And at the same time, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, this tuned balance. Marisa - It is true, Christmas is a family party, it is one more intimacy aspect on the album. Nelson - I would like to talk about songs like Carnalismo, which is a Brazilian waltz, such as one by Pixinguinha, completely out of any current pop context. Arnaldo - This song coexists in the album, in a natural way, with songs that could be in the
current pop context... Marisa - In Carnalismo and Pecado é lhe deixar de molho, we can feel Cézar Mendes presence in the compositions. His acoustic guitar leads to those kinds of melodies. If I was the one playing the acoustic guitar, I would never come up with a melody like that. Then later we made the lyrics together. The Carnalismo is an idea... it does not exist such a thing like that carnalismo. Nelson - These lyrics were ancient ones... Expressions we don t use anymore, a very delicate language. Marisa - We wrote this song as if it was a song from a real love, without being platonic but a real fleshly, carnal love. Carnalismo. Someone who loves a real person, a live human being. So this is what the song is about, the smell of a real person who is the object of this love. It is not an ideal, nor an idea or an image, it is simply someone. Brown - But it also runs away from that and moves on to the desire of forgiveness itself, at the moment where you identify this other human being as your love. You do not identify sex or something like that, but simply that person, who you ve chosen to have as friend, as love, as a company. I guess the song identifies that, but to me the one that finishes making it explicit is Velha Infância (Old childhood), our 20 years are real. And even the fact that you acquire age, but at the same time it tries to show that it is still possible to have lightness and even purity. It is not hard to have purity, the age doesn t matter. Purity is really refreshing in our day-by-day, isn t it Arnaldo? Arnaldo - When we are composing, the process is as if everybody was thinking and speaking out loud, with many alternatives and possibilities... Nelson - In order to achieve a high level of trust among you. Arnaldo - Sometimes the most appropriate solution comes from somewhere really unexpected, from something you ve said, that you find stupid and suddenly they say: No, this is beautiful!, and then it turns into a beautiful thing, because at that moment the context transforms it. Nelson - The surrealism launched the automatic writing, the guy used to write without even thinking. He wrote what came up in his mind at that moment. Arnaldo - In our case there is this freedom of simply flowing ideas, the only difference is that the ideas have to go throw a screening by the three of us, it is a real stonecutting, the parameters and things like that. There is a selection itself. Marisa - You end up going through an acceptance exercise, because when you expose your ideas, you also submit to other people approval, this is the exercise. Arnaldo - This intimacy we have had, in a certain way, brings comfort and delicacy, to say things like apostila na mochila (textbook in the knapsack), or seu perfume inebriante (your overwhelming perfume), there is a delicacy in the entire album, this is a direct result of this intimacy. Brown - It turns into an intimate thing, I mean, it breaks this artistic barrier and brings us to the reality. It is as having in a concert artists and audience all at the same size, except for the stereos that would be in a higher position to offer the volume.
Nelson - This song, Pecado é lhe deixar de molho (It would be a sin to leave you idle), the bossa nova, also has many aspects from samba. It is a complaint song, which is also a tradition in this genre. But it is different, because generally these are songs filled with revenge, anger. Marisa - This one is really about giving, it is beautiful. It is about giving yourself, I complain but I surrender because it is good anyway, thank you. I am going to suffer, but I want to suffer, I want to love. Loving is very good, you know. Falling in love itself is great. There is no passion without suffering. Nelson - This song Lá de longe (From far away), in my opinion is simply wonderful, there is an ambiance almost... new age, in the good sense. (Laughs) Arnaldo - It is funny that you ve detached these two particular songs, Carnalismo you ve mentioned before, with its seu perfume inebriante / pendura o instante (your overwhelming perfume / hangs the instant high), and that song Lá de longe that talks about a voice that expands and hangs up the moment. They have similar images. Nelson - But it also has that Brazilian song tradition, it mentions someone who s singing far away from here... refers to Caetano Veloso s song... kind of a toada (a Brazilian music genre). Marisa - I think this song is a kind of a prayer, a mantra. Arnaldo - It is a song that talks about singing, about its power, to bring an ambience, to establish... Brown - This song truly restores a person s capacity, it stimulates you. It is a cure song. It s a song that Marisa started to compose when she was in Nepal, right Marisa? Marisa - There are many old songs in this album. I made this one in 1993, in Nepal. Later we wrote the lyrics together. When I went to Bahia I caught my music files with everything I had started but had not finished, to finish with them. So we can find there, for example, the tape I sent to Arnaldo with Beija eu in 1990, together with another song. He only made Beija eu. I showed it to him and then we made Já sei namorar (I already know how to love). We wrote the lyrics together. Nelson - How does it start, when you are writing a song, you already have part of the lyrics done, you already have an idea, you already have a concept? Or you have to talk, to discuss what the song is going to be about? Brown - This meeting happens half of the way. The sound leads it, the sound leads it above anything else. Marisa - We find a melody, then the melody brings an idea and half of the way we begin to realize that... Brown -... now it exists, I m going that way... Marisa - Já sei namorar (I already know how to love) already had the verse Tô te querendo como ninguém (I want you like nobody else). Sometimes we already have something done, other times we don t, it varies a lot. Nelson - This song Já sei namorar, in my opinion, has a lot of rock in it. Doesn t it have the 80 s spirit?
Marisa - This song is from the 90 s. Except for the lyrics, they are from the 2000 s. Brown - We loved it because this song is so contemporary. It is totally connected to Velha Infância. Velha Infância is the key to these authorships; it meant in a way, the start of everything, this song brought us more freedom. Velha Infância is a children s song, an excellent way to start a work. Listen to this one first and then... Nelson - I agree, Velha Infância is a really important song in this record. How did this one start? Arnaldo - Look, we even wrote other lyrics to this song... Marisa - It was interesting, the way this one was born. Now I remembered how it happened. We already had a melody; I had made it here in my house with Davi Moraes and Pedro Baby. Then I tried to finish it with Brown, but we weren t able to do that. This song is five years old. I tried later to finish it with Arnaldo, but we too weren t able to go ahead with the song. Arnaldo - It was when we met here one day, at Marisa s house, and made Água também é mar, we wanted to put the two lyrics together but it didn t work out either. Marisa - It was a beautiful song which was being wasted. So when I arrived at Bahia I said: Come on, let s try to save this song, there are great things in its lyrics. Nelson Had it already the same concept as Velha Infância (Old childhood)? Marisa - No. But it already had some of the verses seus olhos meu clarão (your eyes my radiance). There were a few things we thought we should save, all the rest we simply threw away, and based on these things we had saved, we started over. Brown - And there was a beautiful concept of friendship in this song. Marisa - The concept of our old childhood ( Velha infância ) appeared in the lyrics, and then we put it as the title of the song. Nelson - This song Passe em casa (Come by the house) is very nice, funny. Is this one also written by Margareth (Menezes)? Marisa - Margareth came by one day to visit us in the studio and the four of us made this song together. Everybody loves Margareth, we really care about her. She visited us more than once during this week, and her presence was always delicious. And she had no problem at all in listening to us playing the same songs everyday, the news from the day before, from the afternoon, from the night, the most recent things, and we ended up by involving Margareth in a song. Arnaldo - When we made this song, we couldn t stop singing it. Marisa - It doesn t have an end, it is cyclical. Velha Infância is also like that. Arnaldo - They are circular songs. Marisa - Many songs are circular. They start and they finish at the same spot. So, when you realize, you ve sung the same song for forty minutes. (Laughs)
Nelson - In my opinion this song has the same spirit from the very first Novos Baianos (a band appeared on the 70 s). Marisa - As this record has a defined authorial trace, all the songs are original, they are all ours, then we wanted to have Margareth, because her presence is legitimate, we really have affection for her. Arnaldo - And Tribalist! Nelson - Is it easier to make a decision about a song or a lyric? With one partner it can be already tough. What about three people, is it easier than with two? Arnaldo - In my opinion it doesn t matter how many people, but who are they. With us, whether it is, Brown and me, Marisa and me, Marisa and Brown, or the three of us together, we have this easiness due to a similar sensitivity area, so it really doesn t matter how many we are. Marisa - But we all have to agree, to accept well an opinion or an idea. Arnaldo - We all have to be happy with that. Actually, it also comes from... not being scared of throwing something away, you know, this is the origin of our courage. Marisa - It doesn t matter where it is leading to, what really matters is the path we follow in order to get there. If you get there, fine, but if you don t, we just keep walking till we do it. Arnaldo - Sometimes we exclude a part from a song because it doesn t fit there, but it can still be useful in another one. Marisa - And we never do it in an arid way. When it gets hard, we just move on to another song and later we go back to that one. But it is always pleasant. We are having fun, we are just enjoying ourselves. When it starts to get boring, we just go back to another song, we do something else, we go for a walk, we give a break and have a juice. Do you know that felling when you re just stuck, and can t find a way to move on? Arnaldo - Sometimes we are stuck but it is delicious to look for something till you finally find it. Marisa - But sometimes we give up, even if it is temporarily. Arnaldo - Yes, I agree, sometimes we just need to step aside in order to later look at it with distance. Nelson - Concerning this distance you ve mentioned, it was a blessing to have an entire year between the conception of the songs and the recording. Sometimes you can experience temporary enthusiasms, defects not noticed, there is the possibility of a better closure... Marisa - No, between what we ve done in Bahia, and what we recorded in Rio, the distance is very small, just a short correction here and there. What really bothered us, that s it. Except that, the rest remained just the way it was. Nelson - Do you have favorite songs from this record, Marisa? Marisa - Of course I have, but as I m not alone in this work, being with other people made me realize their sensitivity too. If they say something is nice, I just go ahead with it, you know?
Nelson - It is a kind of a second taste. Marisa - Exactly, it is like a mirror, a reference, in which you trust. Arnaldo - More than that. I think we end up by doing things that by ourselves we wouldn t do. More motivated, stimulated by the challenge of someone else s look. Then we naturally come up with verses, melodies, solutions and things like that. Marisa - And even because maybe I don t like something that much, because it may be more difficult for me. It is for me an effort they are offering me, a real self-overcoming. It is an opportunity to make something more difficult, something more distant, and approach myself to that. Nelson - O amor é feio (Love is ugly) is also a really strong song in the album. Marisa - O amor é feio was already done when I arrived in Bahia (by Brown and Arnaldo). Brown - No, it was advanced... Marisa - Listen to that... O amor é feio, with this particular verse already done, I don t think it needed any kind of complement. This verse was already there. Nelson - What is that in the beginning of Já sei namorar (I already know how to love)? A sampler? Arnaldo - You are talking about that small radio? Marisa - It is the same song, we just put it in a filter, it seems that it is being played in a small battery radio. Arnaldo - It sounds as if it was in a radio that is syntonized, and then suddenly... Nelson - I consider Tribalistas a great song, inventive, audacious, the concept of Tribalism is astonishing, everything is so well done. But being the title of the album it gave me an idea of something tribal as being connected to percussion, although as soon as you listen to that song you learn that it is not the idea at all and you simply get the concept of Tribalism. Arnaldo - Tribalistas is not only the title of the record but the name of the group as well. It s the band, we are the Tribalistas : Carlinhos, Marisa and Arnaldo... just like Titãs first record, it was called Titãs because it was the name of the band. Nelson - As if it was Doces Bárbaros (Maria Bethânia, Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa and Gilberto Gil). Arnaldo and Marisa - Exactly. Arnaldo - This is what I think: there are two great things about this album. One of them is the coincidence of the name tribe, bringing the concept of trio itself, the collective record of three artists. So there is something funny in all this. And it has also all the associations that can be made, you can relate it to Oswald de Andrade, to the hippie communities, to Macluhan s global idea of a village or a tribe... I think Tribalistas s lyrics speaks clearly about certainty, about dogmas, institutions, God, and about the great daily joy of living in communion, this idea of tribe comes from that. No certainty, nor judgment nor religion, nothing like that, simply the pure joy of making something together.
Nelson - Did the record have other titles before Tribalistas? Marisa - Never. Nelson - In the beginning of the track Tribalistas, Arnaldo starts by saying that list: trio, triângulo, tribo... ( trio, triangle, tribe...). Marisa - That Arnaldo recorded by telephone, in the speaker. We also had another option, a denomination of tribe from the dictionary, that was wonderful too. Arnaldo - Which was completely incomprehensible... (Laughs). Marisa - It was just so crazy... Arnaldo -... mathematical, therefore, analytical. Marisa - When we first thought of Tribalismo, we looked it up in the dictionary, as well as Carnalismo. In the first dictionary in which we looked it up, we could not find it, but we could find the verb correspondent to Carnalismo. Than I told Arnaldo to look it up in another dictionary, a more recent one, and there we couldn t find that verb I had mentioned, but we did find Tribalismo. Nelson - Many times, I feel people have a kind of nostalgia when it comes to musical movements. In lectures, in debates, people always ask me: Why there are no longer music movements such as Rock Brazil, Bossa Nova, Jovem Guarda...? Arnaldo - I think movements happen when people get together to respond to a particular cultural context. And nowadays we re living in a context divided in many facets. The illusion of a future with only one path doesn t exist anymore. I think that this state of cultural diversity in which we live nowadays is in a way a result of the Tropicalismo. After this movement, all the other efforts to create a new movement didn t seem natural. I don t think that the rock from the 80 s can be compared a movement like Bossa Nova, Jovem Guarda and Tropicalismo. I think it is much more interesting that way, with people coming from different places, then you will always have to reevaluate your critical parameters based on what is going on, instead of finding the easy way out, when you establish that this particular path is the one you should follow. Something that I consider really meaningful that we ve mentioned before, unfortunately in a quick way, is the fact that Carlinhos is from Bahia, Marisa from Rio and Arnaldo from São Paulo, this is a really interesting thing as a reflection. Nelson - I think this talk of ours fits perfectly the definition of João Gilberto on how should a record s advertising be: to correctly inform people who are interested. (Laughs) What about the DVD? Is it going to be exhibited before the album? Marisa - Yes, that s what we want. Nelson - This is really nice. You are not neglecting information to anyone, you are all being honest, showing everything that was done, how it was done, everyone who watches the DVD will see, who played what, who sang what, who wrote the songs, it is coherent with the concept of the album. Try to remember which Brazilian artist has ever submitted himself to such a nudity before? By showing its creative process from the start to the end, from the first to the last song, everything registered in its minor details? Arnaldo - Actually we interrupted our individual careers to make this record.
Nelson Is it going to be a CD and a DVD only or you are going make concerts? Marisa and Arnaldo - No. Nelson - This album has already finished, it is already made, everything has already been registered. From now on, what are you going to do? What about you, Brown? Brown - Now? Really? Does it fit in this tape? Man, it is a lot of stuff... (Laughs). I m preparing myself for Carnival, this year I m launching the walking-cabinet. Meanwhile I will record my new album so that BMG Spain can release it all over the world. And I ve just produced Timbalada s new record: Matumbà Bless. Arnaldo - I ll keep touring with the album Paradeiro till the end of the year. Nelson - And what about you, Marisa? Marisa - I am pregnant and preparing myself to be a mother. Nelson - Then we will close with our great poet Octávio Paz: Pureness is what remains after all the addition and remaining portions.