Mata Atlântica – Retiro e Ritmo (7D Media, 2022)
The Mata Atlântica – Retiro e Ritmo album uses a wide range of musical influences to bring attention to the Mata Atlântica, which is the coastal rainforest region of Brazil. Executive producer Mathias Derer envisioned the project with the goal of inspiring people to help preserve, protect and advocate for this bewitching habitat.
Versatile German multi-instrumentalist Markus Reuter produced and arranged the album. He brought in an impressive cast of musicians and added tropical field recordings to develop a varied landscape inspired by this biotope. Reuter and his colleagues came up with a fascinating mix of Brazilian rhythms, ambient atmospheres and jazz.
Highlight include the transfixing opening track, ‘Candles in Brazil’ that blends engaging vocals, seductive tropical grooves and electronics; the flute-fueled jazz fusion piece ‘Mata’; the smoky trumpet and irresistible beats in ‘Se deus quiser’; and the spellbinding 22-minute ambient composition ‘O fim do mundo.’
“In July 2017, I traveled to Bahía at the invitation of German nature photographer Markus Mauthe, where I had the opportunity to attend the founding phase of the environmental organization AMAP Brazil [Almada Mata Atlântica Project],” says Mathias Derer. “It was not only my first encounter with Brazil, but also with South America and the rainforest.
“After only a few steps into the tropical thicket, I realized that I was about to have a unique experience. The richness in which nature presented itself to me was overwhelming. Carefully, we moved through a complex web of shapes and colors: but even more surprised than my eye was my ear. Birds, insects, monkeys, frogs and countless other living organisms played their organic symphony on the basis of rustling and dripping leaves and creaking branches in the most species-rich biotope on earth.
“The beauty and lushness of this nature, its wildness, but also its vulnerability, have never left me since. In the present day, more than ninety per cent of the Mata Atlântica has been destroyed. What is left of it is still considered to be one of the most threatened tropical forests in the world. For the next few years, both of these factors continued to work in me – the audiovisual experience of the Brazilian coastal rainforest and the concern for its existence. How could I contribute musically to bring more attention to this fragile habitat, while recreating its soundscape?
“In the initial conversation I had about the project, I won over my friend Markus Reuter, and a plan to realize the album quickly crystallized. The vague basic idea was to lay down groovy patterns on field recordings of the Mata’s soundscape, over which lyrical melodies would unfold. “Together we drew up a wish-list of musicians, which (thanks to Markus’ numerous collaborations) included greats whom I would never have dared to dream of involving; and no instrumentalist failed to cooperate. On the contrary, each contribution surprised us with its richness of ideas, its playfulness and creativity.
“We proceeded according to the principle of a chain letter, and laid layer upon layer. Over field recordings from Mata Atlântica, Tobias Reber created complex electronic beats inspired by Brazilian rhythms. Raphael Preuschl added creative electric and double bass parts before Gary Husband contributed a variety of sound colors on piano, electric piano, organ and synthesizer. Next, Brian Krock, Luca Calabrese, Aralee Dorough and Colin Gatwood added flute, oboe, saxophone and trumpet parts; and then Andi Pupato completed the instrumental mesh with Brazilian percussion.
“After each intermediate step, Markus Reuter arranged, structured and supplemented the material into coherent compositions, until finally the singers Charlotte Pelgen, Graça Cunha, Zoey Gley, Lisa Fletcher and Deborah Carter Mastelotto could lend their voices to the vocal melodies (and Pat Mastelotto, usually better known for his King Crimson drumming, could lend his own voice to a poem by Lord Byron). To conclude the album, there is an ambient track that combines guitar soundscapes by Markus Reuter with percussion by Andi Pupato.
“The final result is a multi-layered sonic biotope, via collective composition by the musicians involved. What I am continually enthusiastic about is that I also get the impression of a well-rehearsed live band whenever I listen to it.“
The lineup includes Markus Reuter on synthesizers, samples, treatments, soundscapes; Charlotte Pelgen on vocals, Zoey Gley on vocals; Graça Cunha on vocals; Tobias Reber on electronic rhythms; Lisa Fletcher on vocals; Raphael Preuschl on bass; Deborah Carter Mastelotto on vocals; Gary Husband on keyboards; Pat Mastelotto on spoken word; Andi Pupato on percussion; Markus Mauthe, field recordings; Brian Krock on saxophones, flute; Christian Wolff, field recordings; Luca Calabrese on pocket trumpet; Aralee Dorough on flute; and Colin Gatwood on oboes.
For more information, and how to contribute to AMAP Brazil, visit: amap-brazil.org/en/welcome/
Buy the album from Bandcamp