(Produced in collaboration with SBS Portuguese)
TRANSCRIPT
Honouring his Afro-Brazilian root with every note and flourish.
Thirty-two-year-old pianist and composer Amaro Freitas creates music to bring him closer to understanding his ancestors.
"I was somewhat cut from my Afro-Brazilian culture. A long time ago, there was a goal to ‘whiten’ Brazil so I didn’t start connecting with my roots until I became a young adult. I was raised in a church community on the outskirts of Recife and I sang with my mother, my father and the rest of my family at church. Music became a part of my life at that time. But, for example, at church I could not wear my hair as I do today; to have an Afro hairstyle wasn’t cool."
His brand of jazz is heavily influenced by Brazilian rhythms - but not the samba and bossa nova that most people are familiar with.
His hometown Recife – in the north-eastern state of Pernambuco – is a melting pot of sounds and rich folklore.
"The jazz that I play is a powerful mixture of Brazilian music. But not the Brazilian music that people are used to like samba, bossa nova - all the music that we dance to the most. I think about Brazil from the perspective of the connection that we have with the land. What I play is linked to indigenous culture, Afro culture, to rhythms from frevo and maracatu to caboquinhas as well as languages that evoke the sounds of rivers, the water and the Amazon Forest. It’s another type of connection with Brazilian music in the more experimental form."
A rising star whose story is one of resilience and perseverance.
Growing up, he didn’t own a piano.
"My music represents what I was denied when I grew up on the outskirts (of Recife). But in a way, I was already feeling the connection to my roots inside of me. Sometimes, I play piano in a more percussive way rather than in a melodic way. Nobody taught me how to play like that. But I think there was a percussionist already inside of me."
Despite the lack of financial means, his passion never died.
"It is very difficult to making a living from playing instrumental music in Brazil. Living off instrumental music in the Northeast is even harder. I always believed that music could transform my life, and I was lucky I found people who helped me. When I was 15 years old, I was accepted into the Pernambuco Conservatorium of Music, but my parents couldn’t afford to pay the tuition fees. At that time, I was given a Chick Corea Trio DVD, Chick Corea is a great pianist from the United States. I watched it and I was touched by the music. And I said, ‘my God, I want to do this’. My musical influences were already playing at big jazz festivals around the world such as Montreux and North Sea Jazz… I would look at that and say to myself: one day will be my turn - now, here I am."
His next album – out in March - was four years in the making.
It uses the prepared piano technique, which involves placing objects inside the instrument to alter its sound.
It's a homage to the forests and rivers of northern Brazil.
"When I played for the first time in the Amazon I was enchanted by the immensity of the river, the forests, the relationship indigenous people have with this place [the Amazon]. I think we can learn a lot from them; about achieving balance in the world we are living in right now. A modern, tech-driven world but at the same time a world that is not looking after its own planet."
The upcoming album is titled Y'Y, which means "water" in the dialect spoken by the Sateré Mawé Indigenous people of Brazil.
His latest work again evoking the rich cultural tapestry of his homeland.
