An Interview With Two Pan-Cultural Magicians

Sacassaia’s debut album Sampleando Deus e o Mundo is a cross-section of every popular sound on the globe. Five languages, countless genres — from samba to electro to hip hop — and multi-ethnic backgrounds cram themselves into the LP, resulting in a special breed of crowded, pan-cultural magic.

Now living in Brazil, these MCs/producers recently won our Artist of the Week contest. We spoke to them about corruption, Michael  Jackson, and gringos in Brazil. Here’s what they had to say!

 

Your debut album Sampleando Deus E O Mundo (“Sampling God And The World”) seems to sample the world’s rhythms and tongues–featuring rhymes in English, Spanish, French, Hebrew, as well as Portuguese. What made you decide to rap and mix and match rhythms from so many different places?

GARDENEL: We, as Sacassaia and as Brazilians, come from a multi-ethnic background. All of us have already lived and visited various places in the world. Although the album fits a hip hop/dancehall label, we have a deeply eclectic musical taste. Tony and I love researching ethnic music for our DJ sets. I also am a language enthusiast. I speak those five languages in degrees that vary from intermediate knowledge to proficiency. My mom believes I was blessed with a sharp ear, which is good for music making and for learning languages also.

ROBALLO: I’m what you might call a third culture kid: first of all, my father’s Brazilian and my mother is Uruguayan, secondly, my dad is a diplomat so we moved around a lot. I’ve lived in many countries before jumping ship and settling in Brasilia: Switzerland, Iraq, Jordan, England, Venezuela, Dominican Republic. Experiencing such dramatically different cultures is wonderful, but, on the other side, my knowledge about Brazilian music, for example, is limited — and growing. So I’m not sure if it was a goal to make the album such a melting pot, or if I’m just unable to make something more in tune with current tendencies.

Sacassaia also seems to rep Brasilia (your hometown) hard. What’s the hip hop/music scene like there?

Besides the stigma of being an “artificial city, where those crooks in congress scam to rob us blind”, Brasilia is also known throughout Brazil as a cradle of good and innovative music. From classical to alternative. Many musicians who have achieved national stardom were either born or raised in Brasilia. In the 80s, it was considered the rock and roll capital of Brazil, because the best rock bands came from here. Brasilia is also home of the most respected choro conservatory in Brazil, a public school where the most recent stars of the genre have studied. It also has one of the strongest and oldest hip hop scenes in the country. Many of the best hip hop artists, (not only in music – graffiti and dancing also) have, and still come, from Brasilia.

GARDENEL: No doubt there are. Brasilia was built 51 years ago. The accomplishment of an old desire people had of transferring the Brazilian seat of government to the geographical center of the country, to help develop our wild west. People from all over Brazil came to build and work in the city. So, Brasilia became the focal point of Brazilian culture. Itself a mix of cultures of the many ethnical groups that form Brazilian people. This cosmopolitan aspect is further enhanced due to the many Embassies located here. Some of the local artists are oriented towards more traditional styles, often from their families’ places of origin. Others intend to create something anew, that, they hope, will be recognized as the culture of Brasilia specifically. We (Sacassaia) like to work a track until it causes us a feeling of awe. That happens easier when we let this multi-cultural orgy atmosphere influence ourselves.

ROBALLO: I feel we brasilienses are constructing our story from scratch. Brasilia is a mini-Brazil, in a sense that somehow every region is represented here, but at the same time, it is very different from everything else. I feel as though our music shares this uneasiness with normality.

Who are your influences?

GARDENEL: Michael Jackson, Dead Prez, Barrington Levy, Beastie Boys, Thaíde & DJ Hum, Yellowman, El General, 2 Live Crew, Zé Ramalho, Victor Victor, Tone Loc… too many to say or to remember now.

ROBALLO: Calle 13, Stevie Wonder, Prefuse 73, Siriusmo, Quinto Andar, Erik Truffaz, Mano Negra…

Next: “Everything I do comes out bloated and nerdy.”

Photo Courtesy of Hugo Santarem