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The
geniality inside a valve (A genialidade Valvulada)
Rogerio Duprat, in his interview for the documentary
`Popular Bad Boy: Arnaldo Dias Baptista`, by Patricia
Moran, was very emphatic: “The Mutantes were the
most important thing in Tropicalismo. And none has made
that clear. But I know this only too well, and I know
that the brain of it all, the brain of Mutantes was
that of Arnaldo Baptista. I insist and I resume: Arnaldo
is responsible for all that happened from 1976 onwards.”
Kurt Cobain, in his travel to Brazil, sent Arnaldo a
note of praise.
But
which is the bridge between the archaeological opinion
of Rogerio Duprat (the maestro responsible for the Tropicalista’s
albums arrangements) and Kurt Cobain’s note? Is
there a mystification of a mad artist? Or is this another
version of an old history?
Arnaldo,
as well as Rita
Lee and Sergio
Dias had their life and work cut into two phases:
the glories of Tropicalia and Mutantes times and, in
Arnaldo’s case, the further madness. But what
to say about his five solo albums? And how could an
artist be called mad just because he rather plays in
amplifiers run by valves, especially nowadays when a
lot of people praise their supremacy over the disposable
transistors? Could it be called madness Arnaldo’s
choise for Gibson guitars instead of Fenders, preferred
by his brother Sergio? How could Arnaldo write two science
fiction books being mad? And painted hundreds of paintings?
The
true is that the geniality of Arnaldo could only be
called madness by the Brazilian mediocrity. Even a possible
death, announced various times, would not be adequate.
If so, we would have had our Syd Barret, our Arthur
Rimbaud, our Antonin Artaud. But against this stigma,
just listen to Arnaldo’s work.
His
first album solo `Lóki?` is, without doubt, the
master piece of Brazilian pop-rock. `Lóki?` was
launched in 1974 with the participation of The Mutantes
Rita, Liminha and Dinho; arranged by Rogerio Duprat;
and came with a stamp: ‘this album is to be listened
in highest volume’. It brings songs such as ‘Am
I turning into mildew? (Será que eu vou virar
bolor?)’, ‘One only-lonely person’
(`Uma pessoa só`, which implies double meanings
in Portuguese: ‘a lonely person’ and ‘one
person only’ - both songs from the last breathe
of Mutantes. This double meaning exercise is recurrent
in Arnaldo’s lyrics and humour). There is also
‘I don’t care’ (Não estou nem
aí); ‘I will dive into the lingerie’
(Vou me afundar na lingerie); ‘Do you think I
am mad?’ (Cê tá pensando que eu sou
lóki?); ‘Believe me: I love you’
(‘Te amo, podes crer’ being podes crer the
equivalent to ‘believe me’, but actually
sort of a slang and therefore funnier in its meaning).
There are more. After recording `Lóki?`, Arnaldo
moved from São Paulo city to Rio de Janeiro to
shape the band Unzioutros, with Lulu Santos, a successful
Brazilian pop star nowadays.
In
1976 Arnaldo joined Patrulha do Espaço (Space
Patrol) with John Flavin (guitar); Osvaldo Gennari (bass)
and Rolando Castello Junior (Drums). In the next year,
Arnaldo recorded an album in Vice-Versa Studio, which
was not released until 1988, when Osvaldo and Rolando
remasterised the original tape and launched the LP `Lost
Link` (Elo Perdido) with songs such as ‘Sunshine’;
‘Sexy Yours’; ‘Corta Jaca’ (Cut
Jaca – being jaca a Brazilian fruit); ‘Trem’
(train); ‘Emergindo da Ciência’ (Emerging
from the science); ‘Raio de Sol’ (Sumbeams);
‘ Um Pouco Assustador’ (A Bit Frightening)
and ‘ Fique Comigo (Stay with Me).
In
1980, Arnaldo launched the album ‘Singing Alone`.
It was the first record of the independent label Baratos
Afins, owned by Luiz Calanca. Arnaldo played all instruments.
There are songs such as ‘I fell in love one day’;
‘O Sol’ (The Sun); ‘Hoje de Manhã
eu Acordei’ (This Morning I woke up); ‘Sitting
on the Road Side’; ‘Ciborg’ (Cyber);
‘Young Blood’, among others.
In
the beginning of 1982 he is admitted in a psychiatric
clinic and suffers an accident. Arnaldo’s reputation
of madness and suicidal tendency was back to the spot
lights.
In
1987, Rolando Castello launched new songs from Patrulha
do Espaço with a few live tracks from shows they
toured in 1978. The album ‘Faremos uma Noitada
Excelente’ (We will have a great night out) brings,
basically, songs from ‘Elo Perdido’ and
‘Singing Alone’, being Singing a piano solo
by Arnaldo. In the same year, tBaratos Afins’s
label launched a limited edition of Arnaldo’s
home made album `Disco Voador` (UFO). It was originally
recorded in two channels by Arnaldo and masterised in
Vice-Versa studio. The album brings two versions, one
in English and another in French, of the classic Balada
do Louco ‘Balad of the Mad’ totalising eight
songs.
In
1989, Eldorado’s label launched the album-homage
‘Sanguinho Novo – Arnaldo Baptista Revisitado’
(Youth Blood – Arnaldo Baptista Revisited). Produced
by Alex Antunes and Akira S, two independent musicians,
the album featured versions by the most important independent
bands of the Brazilian rock-pop scenario of that time,
such as Sexo Explicito (Explicit Sex); 3 Hombres (3
Man); Vzyadoc Moe (a name by a ballot of letters); the
internationally acclaimed Sepultura; Último Número
(Last Act); Akira S e as Garotas que Erraram (Akira
S and the girls that went wrong); Ratos de Porão
(Rats from the basement); Fellini; Atahualpa Y Us Panquis,
Maria Angélica, Scowa and Paulo Miklos.
From
this day, Arnaldo Baptista’s coin went back to
circulation in various versions by various Brazilians
pop stars and bands, such as Kid Abelha, Lobão,
João Penca & Os Miquinhos Amestrados (João
Penca and the domesticated little monkeys); Paula Morelembaum,
Pato Fu among others. They showed the monumental and
so far unknown work of the Gepetto run by a valve living
in the small city of Juiz de Fora.
Marcello Dolabela.
__________________________________________________________________
ARNALDO
DIAS BAPTISTA
Introductory Note
DJs
have spread the sound in turntables all over America
and Europe. Labels such as Omplatten and Luaka Bop reedited
some works and took compilations to the record shops.
Through this equation, the tropicalistas and Os Mutantes
have risen the temperature of the otherwise lukewarm
musical scene of the end of the 20th century. “We
knew something like that must have existed, but we had
no idea it would be so perfect,” said Ben Ractcliff
in the New York Times in May 17, 1998. Ok, Ben, we knew
that the discovery would have been made someday. We
only didn’t know it would take 30 years.
Os Mutantes, like one would expect, took the rock-pop
world in storm. Kurt Cobain exchanged some notes with
Arnaldo Baptista in 1993 and left Brazil with the whole
discography in his luggage. Beck named Mutations his
1999 album, full of tropicalista influences. Sean Lennon
stopped his car dead when he put Mutantes on his CD
player and ended up contributing with the graphic work
for the album Technicollor, in 2000. And the list continues:
Stereolab, Torloise, High Llamas... Wondermints.
The work of Os Mutantes – and that of Arnaldo
Baptista post-Mutantes – remains as one of the
most representatives of Brazilian rock-pop. And maybe
there resides the difficulty in disassociating Arnaldo
Baptista from Mutantes or to concede him his deserved
place of honour in the group and in the history of Brazilian
music. This historical deviation had already been pointed
out by conductor Rogerio Duprat, arranger for Os Mutantes
and the man who introduced the trio to the Tropicalistas.
Duprat commented when interviewed to Patricia Moran’s
documentary about Arnaldo, Maldito Popular Brasileiro
(1990): “Os Mutantes were the most important thing
in Tropicalismo. And none has made that clear. But I
know this only too well, and I know that the brain of
it all, the brain of Os Mutantes was that of Arnaldo
Baptista. I insist and I resume: Arnaldo is responsible
for all that happened from 1976 onwards.” When
asked why he left the group in 1973, bassist Liminha
explained: “When Arnaldo left, Os Mutantes lost
their charisma. He was brilliant.”(1)
Let
it Bed can alter this state of things. The record was
the most acclaimed in 2004 by Brazilian press and critics.
For all its beauty, it is hoped that at least two of
the other Arnaldo Baptista solo works – Loki and
Singin’ Alone – will come back to the shelves.
But his work post-Mutantes does not restart with Let
It Bed and it does not end with it. It goes much further.
Poet,
musician and Brazilian icon
Arnaldo
Dias Baptista was born in São Paulo in 1948.
His father, Cesar Dias Baptista, was a journalist, poet
and liric singer. His mother Clarissa Leite Dias Baptista
was a classical piano performer and the first woman
in the world to write a concert for piano and orchestra,
according to Arnaldo. In such atmosphere they raised
their three children, Cláudio, Sérgio
and Arnaldo (1).
Arnaldo had classical piano lessons from 1955 to 1959,
having his mother as one of his teachers. He attended
university level courses of harmony, conducting, arranging
and singing. From 1961 he studied dance; from 1962 to
1963, classical bass; from 1963 to 1965, classical guitar
and English, and from 1966 to 1967, German. During most
of his time with Os Mutantes he dedicated himself to
study jazz-rock with the piano and to do modern dance
classes with acclaimed Ballet Stagium in São
Paulo. From 1976 to 1979 he returned to classical piano
classes, studied Esperanto and Russian and went on with
his ballet classes.
All this background was transferred to Os Mutantes,
which was formed in 1967, as a result of several other
line-ups from high-school time bands. According to Manoel
Berenbein – a producer with Phillips by the end
of the 60’s and the guy who introduced Os Mutantes
to the label – they only had their LPs recorded
thanks to the courage and drive of French executive
Alain Troussat, the then president of Philips in Brazil.
Alain would quit his job in 1968 because he was a bibliophile
and could not find enough books to read thanks to the
military regime censorship. One of the truths about
the group is that after their contract expired Os Mutantes
were shown the label’s exit door. They were never
good record sellers but they managed to create a legion
of faithful fans throughout the country: they did many
gigs and participated in TV programs as well as in TV
commercials.
The
military dictatorship had a disastrous influence not
only in the Brazilian society and its cultural manifestations:
it also stimulated savage capitalist practices, with
companies only and exclusively interested in easy and
immediate results. The result of this was that an incalculable
amount of musical (and other cultural) production was
lost in archives that were not to be found later or
else never registered. Independent production, in the
case of music, would only find a significant outlet
in mid-80’s, with the arrival of new technologies.
And even so, in a most timid way. Like many others,
Arnaldo Baptista has suffered dearly the consequences
of this kind of cultural policy.
In 1973, a year after leaving Os Mutantes, Arnaldo stepped
into a studio to produce his first solo album, Loki?,
as a result of a contractual obligation with the label.
He called former Mutantes Dinho (drums) and Liminha
(bass and vocals) and arranger Rogério Duprat
to participate. Rita Lee also did some backing vocals.
But the album barely reached the public and would be
out of the market soon thereafter. Those who had the
chance bought it. Others had to do with copying the
record from those fortunate enough to be passing in
front of a record shop with the album exposed in its
window. Loki? is considered until today by critics one
of the most creative records of Brazilian musical history.
All of Arnaldo Dias Baptista’s solo work (and
including his work with Os Mutantes) is either out of
catalogue or was never recorded in studio. This represents
a gallery of more than 30 songs, fine and powerful musical
gems, a resonant testimony of Arnaldo’s geniality.
That is the case of the acclaimed solo work Loki?, of
1975. Also of Singin’ Alone, recorded in 1980/1981
and released in 1985 by indie label Baratos Afins and
re-released in 1995 by Virgin Records. The work produced
from 1978 to 1979 that resulted from his band Patrulha
do Espaço (Elo Perdido e Faremos uma Noitada
Excelente...) was never released on CD.
There are five songs remaining from Elo Perdido which
were part of the master tape and were not included in
the LP because they simply vanished. All that remained
was a recording on a K-7. On account of that they were
nicknamed by those close to Arnaldo as the “More
Than Lost Link”, a joke with the LP title Elo
Perdido (Lost Link). They are: “Imagino”(
featured in Let it Bed), “Singin’ Again”,
“Cowboy”, “Sanguinho Novo” e
“Sr. Empresário”.
All of Mutantes records are out of catalogue in Brazil
and can only be found in the international market. Technicolor
– recorded by the group in Paris in 1970 and full
of English versions– was released by Universal
only in 2000 and has already become another rarity in
Brazil. And when found it is sold by twice the normal
price.
Giving
enough a chance
Arnaldo
has always had a public eager for his music and poetry.
Even after the serious accident that he suffered in
1982 and the long recovery after that he remained being
a cult for following generations, in bars, music festivals,
college clubs, through new recordings of his works by
dozens of groups and artists from the mainstream to
the underground. One of his most recent fan letters
was written by a girl aged 13. “It’s something
that goes from father to children really – her
father was a fan and she inherited it”, comments
Lucinha Barbosa, Arnaldo’s partner. “There
is this thing of Arnaldo’s message after Loki?”,
she says. “Everyone repeats more or like the same
thing when they come to talk to him. And that thing
is: ‘You’ve changed my life’’”.
Arnaldo did not stop to create, even during his recovery.
Lucinha Barbosa has been with him since the accident
and took him to a beautiful country house in the outskirts
of Juiz de Fora, in Minas Gerais. Surrounded by nature,
he discovered drawing and painting as occupational therapies
– there seemed to be hundreds of paintings scattered
through the house when I first interviewed him, in 1989.
He wrote a total of eight sci-fi books. He became a
vegetarian. In 1987 he released the album Disco Voador,
recorded at home in precarious circumstances.
Those who know Arnaldo are aware of the fact that Lucinha’s
unconditional love was the key element to his recovery
process. They met for the first time during a Brazilian
version of Woodstock, the Festival de São Lourenço.
Lucinha met him again in 1977 and became one of his
girlfriends. “It was a relationship without commitment
or obligations”, she explains.
Arnaldo started going out again in 1989, when twelve
important Brazilian rock bands of the 80’s –
Sepultura included - paid him tribute in the anthology
Sanguinho Novo. He was in the last of the three nights
for the launching of the record, at nightclub Aeroanta,
in São Paulo. In 1990 his paintings and drawings
were shown at an exhibition at the Cultural Center at
Minas Gerais Federal University. In 1992, the same exhibition
went to Pizzaria Cristal’s Gallery in São
Paulo. In 1993 his paintings were shown at the Cultural
Center at São Carlos Federal University. With
his fans now growing to be a legion, he started painting
cards and t-shirts. In the same year he was invited
to a special commemoration of the 11th anniversary of
Circo Voador (one of the most important venues for young
people in Rio), and he did a performance painting during
a gig by musician Celso Blues Boy. In 1995 he recorded
again one of his hits, “Balada do Louco”,
to be included in the reissue of Singin’ Alone
by Virgin.
In the year 2000, Arnaldo started to appear in bigger
stages, like when he played with Sean Lennon at the
Free Jazz Festival. In April 2001, he was invited to
play at April Pro Rock Festival, in Recife city. Along
with famous rock-pop artist Lobão, the guy responsible
for the launching of Let It Bed, he played classics
such as “Sanguinho Novo”, “Sexy Sua”,
“Ando Meio Desligado” and “Senhor
Empresário”. As journalist Débora
Nascimento registered, “the atmosphere of reverence
[to Lobão] could not compare to the public’s
reaction at the arrival of Arnaldo Baptista”.
In December he was again onstage at Copacabana beach
for the launching of Dê uma Chance à Paz
(Give Peace a Chance), a tribute to John Lennon on the
20th anniversary of his death. Arnaldo features singing
in two of its tracks, with two different versions to
Lennon’s classic “Give Peace a Chance”.
One of them was arranged by Charles Gavin, of Titãs
(famous Brazilian rock band), and Andreas Kisser, of
Sepultura. The other track was produced by Yuka Honda
& Cibo Matto. The CD was tied to the Campaign Against
Violence and the royalties were donated to non-governmental
organizations in Rio which are focused on combating
violence, such as Viva Rio and Sou da Paz.
But only in 1995 Arnaldo would be involved with music
again in a more organized manner – that was the
year when Lucinha managed to get the money to build
a studio in their farm in Juiz de Fora. They first bought
two Audio Research amplifiers with valves (“the
best in the world”, according to Arnaldo). At
this time a fan and friend gave him a Gibson SG bass,
the same used by Jack Bruce, of Cream. “And then
we added to all this two drums and a piano”, recalls
Lucinha.
Jack Bruce is part of Arnaldo’s list of the best
of the best. Arnaldo does not hesitate when answering
the classic question “Who would you call to form
a band?”: Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page; former
Elton John’s drummer Nigel Olson and Yes keyboardist
Tony Kaye .
Let it Bed
Several
Brazilian artists had by this time invited Arnaldo to
record with them, but to put him in a studio with all
the time and budget pressures would not be exactly adequate.
“He created by taking notes in a small notebook.
He has several covers for Let it Bed (the title being
14 years old). But he had that inwardness, he just couldn’t
express himself”, recalls Lucinha. “And
to add to that difficulty, he wanted to do everything
by himself. What he needed was a sound engineer.”
The idea of recording Let it Bed started to materialize
itself when John Ulhoa of Pato Fu band (2), went to
Juiz de Fora to install a series of audio softwares
in Arnaldo’s PC. John and Rubinho Trol (3) started
to show Arnaldo the possibilities of these new technologies,
recourses only available years before in very expensive
studios and which were now perfectly off the shelf,
to home use. “This is why this record is the encounter
of Arnaldo with this technology”, explains John.
“That was important for us. We did not want a
CD that would sound as a modern type electronic music
record with samples from Arnaldo. That would be too
easy. We wanted him to record his new songs on his own
way and then we would just bring a finishing touch on
the level of his talent”.
John and Rubinho took to Juiz de Fora equipment enough
to make a good home studio. They soon noticed that Arnaldo
wanted to play everything and that he would go from
one instrument to another very quickly. So they scattered
microphones all over the place with everything set to
record and to keep up the creative momentum.
“Rubinho brought his PC from London. We recorded
using software Cubase and an M-Audio Delta 44 interface,
so we could record four channels at the same time. It
sounds little but it would be enough for this record,
since Arnaldo would play everything, one instrument
at a time”, says John. “AKG lent us microphones
and headphones and I took with me preamps, a mixer,
a guitar and some other things. One curious item was
the Pignose guitar with the loudspeakers on its body,
which Arnaldo experimented and ended up using in some
recordings”.
John gave Rubinho some basic instructions, “enough
to avoid some irreparable technological wrongdoing.”
But it was soon clear that more important were the moment,
the atmosphere, the tranquillity Arnaldo had to have
to record everything he wanted as many times as he wanted
and when he felt like it. And that Rubinho managed pretty
well.”
“After all was recorded we went back to my studio
in Belo Horizonte were we translated all the Cubase
sessions to my studio system, Logic Audio/Mac. We had
nothing else to record. We only added some programs
and virtual instruments,” explains John. All was
edited and mixed piecemeal at John’s studio. “Every
time Arnaldo visited, we would listen to the work and
feel more happy with it.”
“The songs recorded in Belo Horizonte and recorded
at Andar Studios followed more or less the same pattern
as in Juiz de Fora. They have a different atmosphere,
mainly in “Ai Garupa”, which is something
recorded by two boys in awe of their hero. It is quite
touching,” adds John in an interview granted via
ICQ together with Rubinho, which you will read in the
following pages.
“It was glorious for Arnaldo to overcome his composer
block,” says Lucinha. “And the doctors said
he would never create again. But that was the material
proof that the brain takes unusual paths and has a rehabilitation
capacity still unknown to science.”
The
book Rebelde entre os Rebeldes, the Mutantes’
come back, the documentary Loki-Arnaldo Baptista e o
the fine artist Arnaldo Baptista
Let
it Bed received various Brazilian awards, such as the
Claro de Música Independente, 2005, and got great
press coverage – from the mainstream media to
blogs and fans’webs.
In
2006, Barbican, in London, managed what Brazilians were
dreaming for decades: re-unite the Mutantes to mark
the end of the event-exhibition Tropicalia, which lasted
three months. During a year and a half, the Mutantes
went on tour around USA and Europe. Arnaldo Baptista
and Zelia Duncan participated during this period, alongside
a band mostly formed by younger musicians. The show
was directed by Arnaldo’s brother, Sergio Dias
Baptista.
In
2008, Arnaldo launched, by Rocco publishers, Rebelde
entre os Rebeldes (Rebel among Rebels), a science fiction
novel, a mix of psychedelia, cosmos, music, spiritualism,
science, motorcycles, spaceships, telepathy... with
a fantastic appeal to young readers. Rebelde entre os
Rebeldes received various reviews. Respected journalist
Jotabê Medeiros wrote: “this is a retro-futuristic
fiction, which believes in the transgressive and transcendent
character of the music, a cousin-sister of Barbarella.
The narrator is scared of the post Hiroshima-Nagasaki’s
atomic era violence. Arnaldo is an anti-rationalist
warrior since his childhood. From his attachment to
‘everything that flees from the visible universe’,
one can find a strategy for a humanistic re-evaluation,
which is very welcome”.
Just
after and still in 2008, Canal Brasil (Brazil Channel)
launched the documentary Loki-Arnaldo Baptista, directed
by Paulo Henrique Fontenelle and which was being recorded
since 2004. Loki is the first feature film produced
by the channel. The movie participated in various film
festivals, receiving awards in São Paulo, Rio
de Janeiro, Cuiabá, Miami, Toronto and New York,
including the ACIE. In 2009, was launched in DVD. Recently,
Loki-Arnaldo Baptista, was finalist in four categories
at the Grande Prêmio do Cinema Brasileiro 2010
da Academia Brasileira de Cinema (the Brazilian Oscar):
best documentary, best montage documentary, best sound
and best original soundtrack.
One
side of Arnaldo shown in this documentary – and
not so far well known by the public – was Arnaldo
as a painter. He sews the movie painting on a canvas
while important Brazilian artists and opinion makers
– such as Tom Zé, Lobão, Liminha,
his partner and associated producer Lucinha Barbosa
and Sean Lennon – give their testimonials.
In the late 70s, Daniel was born - his
son with Martha Mellinger, whom Arnaldo lived with for
two years. Nowadays, Daniel Mellinger Dias Baptista
today helps to maintain and perpetuate his father's
work. He created the artist's official channel on YouTube
and also plays making clip-montage of his solo work.
Arnaldo
has been living for 30 years with his partner Lucinha
Barbosa, known for her dedication and unconditional
love for Arnold and tireless effort and passion in the
perpetuation of his work.
In
2010, Emma Thomas gallery took 16 drawings by Arnaldo
to the SP Art Fair, the most important in Latin America.
His art mirrors his avant-garde philosophy, poetry and
creativity well known in his musi. As pointed out by
Juliana Freire, from Emma Thomas: “As per artists
of CoBra’s movement, Arnaldo works spontaneous
and experimentally, with emphasis in the fantastic imaginary.
The expressivity through the use of colours permeates
both the psychodelia universe and the contemporary art.”
Since the beginning of his career, Arnaldo has shown
an amazing capacity of self-recycling. He easily allows
new elements to entering his music and art. It seems
that Arnaldo’s mission is to show a future which
does not yet exist, but it can be felt.
By Sônia Maia
Translation by José Eduardo Mendonça and
Sonia Maia (recent updates)
My special thanks to Lucinha Barbosa,
for having invited me to write this text and for her
untiring determination to search and to provide me with
information without which I wouldn’t be able to
complete this honoured task. I also thank Marcelo Lopes
for his invaluable contribution in all moments of this
work.
BIOGRAFIA |
|
Arnaldo Dias Baptista
Data de Nascimento: 06 de julho de 1948
Local de Nascimento: São Paulo - SP
Filiação: César Dias Baptista
e Clarisse Leite Dias Baptista
Signo: Câncer |
