João Selva - Passarinho (Underdog)

What Your Ears Say & The Cover Looks Like

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What We Say

I thought I'd try some environmental engineering today & hasten the arrival of Spring's warmer days to the northern hemisphere with some Brazilian sunshine. So if your vitamin D levels need a boost, hit play on the joyous, uplifting samba soul & funktified fusions of João Selva as he explores the tropical end of the Lusa Diaspora with the aid of Bruno Patchworks & Underdog Records. It's put a spring in my step this morning & I haven't even had breakfast yet

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What The Release Notes Say

Brazilian singer and songwriter releases a new album of exuberant and vintage tropical pop music.

Somewhere, we get back to the carioca João Selva where we left him: sailing on the mythical Black Atlantic to create exhilarating music whose vibrations invite us to Rio, the Brazilian Northeast, the Caribbean, Cape Verde or even Angola. His latest album, “Navegar” (2021), acclaimed by critics, is an invigorating dance and dream machine that updates the tropicalist revolution of the 70s by offering a turbulent mix of samba, soul, jazz and funk.

Continuing to spread wings with “Passarinho” (2023), this time it is flying like a bird that the singer from Ipanema takes us into his musical universe, always as sunny as it is abundant. The 10 tracks of this new album span a generous palette of musical influences: from Angolan semba to Cape Verdean funaná, via Caribbean zouk or Congolese rumba – João Selva's music channels the musical pulse of the Black Atlantic. In the most (im)pure Brazilian tradition, he also digests the contribution of North American music and freely incorporates elements from elsewhere into the irresistible rhythms of Brazil.

Prolonging a fruitful collaboration with french producer Bruno Patchworks, this new LP is full of sound nuggets and offers a wide range of emotions and sensations. The contagious optimism of "Cantar cantar" backed by a radiant groove worthy of the best productions by Marcos Valle or Joao Donato. Psychedelic folk as Devendra Banhart on "Mar de estrelas" or "Cirandinha" often carried by orchestral arrangements which bring an unexpected freshness to this bewitching album. Of course, we do not give up to party on the irresistible “Seu Carnaval” or “Menina me encanta” and we dance with the rain in “Chuva”. In a more deep mood, the song "Por um amor" evokes the romantic relationship with psychedelia and sensuality.

After two years “without Carnival”, the Brazilian songwriter has chosen to celebrate hope and the joy of being alive in these lyrics written largely during successive confinements. In the title song “Passarinho” he wonders: how can a little bird keep singing in a cage? Before answering it on "Cantar cantar" by recalling that "when things are bad, you just have to sing that it already goes a little better". Universal and captivating poetry that drives songs that are both sensual and catchy. Ultimately, an album made to spread wings and fly high, the ideal soundtrack to offset a certain saudade and feel free as a little bird.

CREDITS
Produced By Patchworks Recorded At Ginger X Studio Mastered At Altho Studio Artwork By Edson Ikê Executive Producer Maxime Peron Published By Underdog Records

All Tracks Written And Composed By Jonathan Da Silva & Bruno Hovart
STARRING:

João Selva: lead vocals, viola, guitar and percussion Bruno Patchworks: guitar, bass, percussion, keyboards and accordion

FEATURING:
Carina Salvado: backing vocals
Boris Pokora: saxophone, trombone, flute and bugle Paul Charnay: Fender Rhodes

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If you need more global musicAL warmth then wrap yourself in the diverse sounds of the Slow World Playlist: