Chico César

Chico César is one of the most in-demand songwriters and performers in Brazil. He became very poular with his debut album in 1995, of which “Mama Africa” became a huge hit and remains a hymn until today. Nowadays, with seven studio albums and three compilations (of which one has been released by Putumayo), Chico César is one of the most established artists of Brazilian Pop Music. He has written many songs for singers such as Daniela Mercury, Gal Gosta, Maria Bethania, which became huge hits. He is also internationally recognized as a songwriter with an uncompromising social conscience and commitment.Chico César is treasured as a guest and partner for recordings and live concerts (e.g. Badi Assad, Lenine, Moska, Pedro Aznar (Argentina), Pedro Guerra (Spain), Zeca Baleiro and many others). In 2004, he developed a live-project with Ray Lema who is one of the most innovative and open minded composers, arrangers, producers and performers in African music today. They already performed successfully in Brazil and on many important festivals in Europe.Chico César is one of the few Brazilian artists who performs even in the remotest regions of his country. In Europe, since 1997, Chico has played far more than 300 concerts both at renowned festivals and small clubs.his new album "Francisco Forró y Frevo" will be released by EMI brasil in June 2008 and Chico will be on tour in Europe with the new album in July. on the album, chico césar is diving deep into the culture of northeastern Brazil featuring its most popular rhythms: forró and frevo.Forró is a dance, as well as a word used to denote the different genres of music which accompanies the dance. Both are much in evidence during the annual Festa Junina (June Festival), a part of Brazilian traditional culture which celebrates some of the saints of the Catholic religion. The most celebrated day of the festival is known as the Saint John's (São João) day.For Chico, forró is "a demonstration of joy. It describes the moment of rest for a man who lives a hard life under a semi-slave regime. He works on other people..s land to feed his family or is crammed into miserable city suburbs facing unemployment. Forró is the moment when this man parties, when he celebrates the fact that he is his own man and has his own culture. It is the moment when he dances and has fun, the moment when he flirts and picks up women, when a love story begins or ends. Forró is about all this."Frevo describes is a wide range of musical styles originating from Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, all of which are traditionally associated with Brazilian Carnival. The word "frevo" is said to come form frever, a working class dialectal way of pronouncing the Portuguese word ferver (to boil).Frevo-de-Rua, the most common meaning of the word "frevo", is an instrumental style, played in a fiery fast tempo with brass instruments, namely trumpets, trombones, saxophones and tuba, frequently perceived as resembling Polka.chico not only features the rhythms but mixes them up with an universal tunes like reggae and ska. he also uses the bahia guitars of the 70ies together with brass sections from pernambuco creating his very own sound.the album was produced by BiD (who also produced albums for Chico Science e Nação Zumbi and Da Weasel, among others), and mixed by Mário Caldato (who produced several albums for the Beastie Boys). special appearances are made on the album by forró master Dominguinhos on Deus me Proteja and Seu Jorge on Dentro.