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Carrossel - 2006
Biography
Skank started out in 1991, in Belo Horizonte, the same Brazilian city that gave world names like Milton Nascimento and Sepultura. Between the harmony of some and the energy of others, the band started out driven by their idea to bring the Jamaican dancehall to Brazilian pop tradition. The band launched its first album independently – but the underground success caught the attention of all-powerful Sony Music that, together with the band, launched in Brazil the label Chaos. Their second album, in 1994, was a giant step to stardom: over 1 million copies of " Calango " and top-hits like "Jackie Tequila" and "Te Ver". The album paved the way for a whole new generation of Brazilian bands open to whatever is new in the world rock scene and, at the same time, curious about the roots of local traditions.
The following album went even further (both in terms of its mission to promote fusion and commercially): " O Samba Poconé " took the band to France, United States, Chile, Argentina, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Germany presenting own concerts and participating in festivals where it shared the stage with Echo & The Bunnymen, Black Sabbath and Rage Against The Machine. The single "Garota Nacional" was a stunning success in Brazil and ranked first in the hit parade in Spain (in its original version, in Portuguese) for three months straight – this was the only Brazilian song to feature in the selection "Soundtrack for a Century", launched to celebrate the 100 th anniversary of Sony Music. The band's albums won American, Italian, Japanese and French editions among other countries around the world.
While "O Samba Poconé" was reaching the 2 million copies sold in Brazil, Skank was invited to represent its country in the album " Allez! Ola! Olé! ", the official Record of the 1998 Football World Cup. Artistically jittery, the quartet did not get complacent about their success. Their songs now brought together the band's electronic origins and the new psychedelic and acoustic influences – revealed in the albums " Siderado " (more introspective and mature) and " Maquinarama " (more colourful and lysergic).
Success did not wane: a string of radiophonic hits followed, such as "Resposta", "Saideira" and "Balada do Amor Inabalável" – the latter with echoes by Sergio Mendes, in a cyberpunk atmosphere. All this with the same versatility that allows the group to record with people like Andreas Kisser (Sepultura), Manu Chao, Uakti or Jorge Ben Jor and be praised by Stewart Copeland for their version of "Wrapped Around Your Finger", included in the Latin tribute to the Police, "Outlandos D'America". These are the multiple facets of people who are not tied to anything but the perfect pop and to the energy to set the crowd afire – as was in the live recording of the CD and DVD " Ao Vivo Ouro Preto ", which produced another top-one song, "Acima do Sol", and sold over half a million copies.
The beginning of 2003 was dedicated to the detailed preparation of " Cosmotron ", an album that reached the stores already deserving great reviews from the press: 'signs of evolution in Belo Horizonte', concentration without being earnest or nostalgic", "confirming Skank as the most creative pop band of the 90's'. While the first single, the psychedelic ballad "Dois Rios", was winning radio stations all over Brazil (and the prize for the best pop video clip in the Vídeo Music Brasil 2003), the group was setting off on another international tour with tickets to Portugal, England and Belgium, besides a historic concert in the main stage of the Roskilde festival, in Denmark, side by side with bands like Blur and Cardigans. The new tour of the band (stage scenery by Gringo Cardia inspired in the paintings by Beatriz Milhazes and the addition of eight new songs) opened in Canecão, Rio de Janeiro, with three nights sold out. With the new hit "Vou Deixar" (the best pop video clip awarded by Vídeo Music Brasil 2004), Skank is having a totally new experience: it is the ring tone with the largest number of downloads in the country. So far the album has sold 210 thousand copies.
In 2004 time came for the band's first collection of past successes. Radiola, with songs selected from Maquinarama and Cosmotron, is launched in November of that year. Besides eight hits remasterized in New York, there are 4 new songs. "Um Mais Um" and "Onde Estão?" are new songs written especially for Radiola. The album also includes two versions published for the first time. "Vamos Fugir", by Gilberto Gil and Liminha, was recorded for the Summer advertisement campaign of the Rider sandals; "I Want You" was recorded at the end of 1999 as a tribute to Bob Dylan, which has never been released. Behind the twelve songs in Radiola there is the work of the brothers Rob and Christian Clayton, American artists, who write for the magazines Rolling Stone and Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope, and art directors of Oasis's clip "All Around The World". The images of the graphic of Skank's first compilation material, "Happy All The Day" and "Long Journey", are part of "Six Foot Eleven", an exhibition of the work of the Clayton Brothers in a partnership with the art gallery La Luz de Jesus (Los Angeles). Radiola was released in November 2004 and sold 210,000 copies.
In August 2006, the ninth album, Carrossel , is launched.
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