Devotos

ENTREVISTA EXCLUSIVA COM DEVOTOS COMEMORANDO 20 ANOS DE CARREIRA NO SITE RECIFE ROCK
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Devotos - Roda Punk

DEVOTOS - Dia Morto

DEVOTOS - Luta pacifista
DEVOTOS Ao Vivo no site Show Livre
Apresentação: CLEMENTE
Música: Rádio comunitária para informar
DEVOTOS - Entrevista: CD recente, ONG e Punk Rock
DEVOTOS - A vida que você me deu
Devotos - Flores Com Espinhos Para o Rei
Com a banda Devotos não há segredos. Para Cannibal, Celo Brown e Neilton o assunto será sempre franco e direto como a própria trajetória da banda. Desde antes sabemos que a Devotos trata sua conduta com um doa a quem doer bem grande! Por isso seu mais novo cd oferta "Flores Com Espinhos Para o Rei". Mas, se engana quem pensa numa conduta sem causa nessa banda. A Devotos vem do Alto José do Pinho, lugar onde a causa é diária e tem sabor de auto-estima coletiva. Arte e cidadania estão juntas o tempo todo lá no Alto e nesse novo rebento musical da Devotos. As "flores" ganham o lugar simbólico da luta pelos direitos constitucionais. O "rei" passa a ser qualquer que venha a negar direitos sociais. Os "espinhos" são as armas de um povo que luta.
"Flores Com Espinhos Para o Rei" é um álbum do começo ao fim. É um livro em 15 capítulos sobre as crenças de um povo. Ali almas dançam e terras se movem. Tudo faz sentido para o espírito guerreiro e para quem protege. A luta é pacifista e a canção é para mudar. Também há a guerra, mas é a guerra daqueles que plantam flores e salvam vidas. Assim como se pode crer nas crianças, também se pode crer na sociedade alternativa e numa rádio comunitária, apesar do mundo cão. Por fim, a Devotos avisa nessa viagem que se explodir não é pecado e brinca do jeito que dá.
Impossível tentar calar o grito dessa banda! Ainda mais com as participações de Lirinha (Cordel do Fogo Encantado) e Adilson Ronrona (Matalanamão). A produção e a direção do cd "Flores Com Espinhos Para o Rei" são da própria Devotos, que pôde contar com um time e tecnologia de primeira. As ilustrações e o projeto gráfico têm a marca do guitarrista. É uma crua e delicada tradução das mensagens contidas no cd. Assim, a Devotos se revela intenso e leal aos seus primórdios. "Flores Com Espinhos Para o Rei" mostra uma banda revigorada e amigável com o pensamento de Anton Tchecov (" canta tua aldeia que cantarás o mundo"), dando a lição de quem nasce e se renova na aldeia do Alto José do Pinho. Basta ouvir para entender!
Por Evanildo Barbosa - coordenador da ONG FASE / Nordeste
Devotos: A Hardcore Look at Life in Recife
The band Devotos was formed in 1988 by vocalist and bassist Cannibal, guitarist Neilton, and drummer Celo Brown under the name "Devotos do Ódio" (Devotees of Hate), which was borrowed from the title of a book by José Louzeiro (1987) (Teles 2000:244). Louzeiro is the novelist, journalist and screenwriter whose Infância dos Mortos (Childhood of the Dead), a book about the life of a child who lived on the street, was made into the critically-acclaimed 1981 film Pixote by Hector Babenco. The group was and still is based in the Alto José do Pinho neighborhood of Recife, a low-income hillside neighborhood that has both abundant social problems and many people working to improve conditions there. They changed the name of the band to "Devotos" in 2000. When MTV began to be broadcast in Recife (over the airwaves, not on cable), the signal could be picked up clearly in the Alto José do Pinho neighborhood, and the future members of Devotos listened to punk rock and bands like The Smiths and The Cure along with punk rock from São Paulo. They were aware of the traditional genres that bands like Chico Science e Nação Zumbi would later incorporate into their sounds, but they were interested in playing a melodic style of hardcore rock (Teles 2000: 248).
The members of Devotos embrace the do-it-yourself ethic of punk rock. Guitarist Neilton explained to me in 2001 how he made his first guitar and amplifier himself--this includes carving the fingerboard and body of the guitar and winding the coils of the pickups--and played it for a long time without anyone noticing that it wasn't store-bought. Neilton's creativity extends to the artwork on the bands' CDs and the design of their web site. The band makes its own instrument cases and speaker cabinets, only buying what they can't make themselves. This isn't done, however, with a sense of deprivation. On the contrary, Neilton says, "I don't feel anguish about it. I take pleasure and pride in having done it, and having my work out there, a simple pride in seeing my work done, the idea conceived." Neilton was able to buy Gibson Les Paul and Fender guitars and a Marshall amplifier once the band became more successful, but he still felt the need to play with people's perceptions of product labels. He bought a cheap electric guitar, removed everything, including frets, made it over in his style, gave it the brand name "Robson," and started using it in concerts. Soon people were admiring its sound and asking where they could buy one. Among the obstacles the band faced in its early years were police repression and the disapproval of neighborhood residents for their choice of musical style. The Alto José do Pinho was home to caboclinhos and maracatu groups that were prominent during Carnaval. The media image of rock bands linked them to middle-class youth. When Devotos began getting press coverage, it was due in part to the perceived incongruity of a group of lower-class youths playing hardcore rock (Teles 2000: 251). Over time the band relationship to the community improved, as it demonstrated its commitment to by attracting abundant press attention to the many bands that had formed there, and founding an NGO, Alto Falante (a play on the literal expression "loudspeaker," altofalante, and the name of the neighborhood, "Alto," speaking, or "falante"), which does cultural and social projects.
The band has released three CDs: Agora tá Valendo (BMG, 1998), Devotos (Rockit!, 2000), Hora da Batalha (independent, 2003) and Flores Com Espinhos Para o Rei (independent, 2006). To return to the theme of Brazilian national identity that is addressed in such songs as "Aquarela do Brasil," by Ari Barroso, listen to "O Meu País" (My Country) from Devotos as an example of the band's work. It is less intense than many of the band's other songs, which use a high-intensity hardcore style while still remaining very tuneful; "Alien" from Devotos is a good example.
_______________________ Listening activity As you listen to CD track 19, "O Meu País" from Devotos, note the contrast between the medium tempo rock ballad style and the content of the lyrics, and the growing intensity of the performance.
My Country/b>
I live so happily This is my country And everyone that loves it Knows of its fame As the country of carnival Of the global forest Of the king of football (soccer) Of "the extermination of minors"We know about the present What will be our future? The minors are dying What an insecure country I've told you this already It's no use to forget I'll keep reminding you Just let me express myselfI don't sing just for myself I sing for you Equality and conscience/consciousness Is what we should have The future is uncertain/insecure The road is dark But there is a solution Let's all work together ________________________
The gentle rock ballad style may seem at first to be a jarring contrast with the lyrics, which address the serious issue of the assassination of street children in Brazil's major cities, a problem that has attracted international attention. But ultimately the message of the song is a hopeful one. Obra Citada - Teles, José. 2000. Do Frevo ao Manguebeat. São Paulo: Editora 34. Author John Murphy is Associate Professor of Jazz Studies at UNIVERSITY of North Texas College of Music. Extraido do livro "Music in Brazil"- editora Oxford - USA