DAORA: UNDERGROUND SOUNDS OF URBAN BRASIL

DAORA: UNDERGROUND SOUNDS OF URBAN BRASIL – HIP-HOP, BEATS, AFRO & DUB 

Dao∙ra (adj.) Brasilian. Slang. 1. Sao Paulo term for something that’s dope. 

Daora is a 32 track collection of the freshest hip-hop, leftfield beats, afrobeat and dub-influenced sounds from Brasil from Mais Um Discos, a UK based label that has become renowned for cherry picking the most exciting and original new sounds from 21st century Brasil. 

Compiled by respected Sao Paulo beat-head Rodrigo Brandao – who has collaborated with members of The Roots, Afro-beat master Tony Allen, producer Prince Paul (De La Soul) and artists from the Ninja Tune and Big Dada stables – Daora features 32 tracks that represent the musicians, MCs and beat-heads making some of the most thrilling urban music in “the alternative lanes of Brasil’s third world megalopoli”.

Rodrigo explains: "Blending both the foundations of boom-bap and Brasilian rhythmic and melodic heritage, Daora is an introduction to the most cutting-edge beat culture + percussive oriented music coming out of Brasil today.” 

While a previous generation mimicked American trends a new breed of Brasilian urbanites that have grown up with native icons like Chico Science, DJ Marky and Sabotage are proudly looking inward and beyond as Rodrigo explains: “Nowadays the latest newly rediscovered Arthur Verocai or Marcos Valle album is as important as the latest Big Boi video and so making music has become more of a blending process: if you look at he scene now you can see that everybody is trying to blur the boundaries”. 

With a mix of samba roots and laidback lyrical flow, Espião’s ‘Cada Um, Cada Um’ starts the journey into Brazilian beats, rhymes and life on disc one with other highlights including a spiritual offering from Brazilian superstar MC Criolo (who received rave reviews for his 2012 album Nó na Orelha) & M Takara 3’s cowbell-driven chaotics. 
Disc two takes a more Afro and dubwise direction kicking off with Rodrigo Campos’s Afro-beat homage to Bahia, the African heart of Brazil, before taking in other highlights such as hyped Brazilian orchestra Bixiga 70’s rattling Afro-Latin banger and the Tom Zé written track ‘Musico’ by Lucas Santtana, who released his sophomore album earlier this year via Mais Um Discos. 

Just as Rio’s baile funk pioneers took influence from the Miami Bass scene to create something original and uniquely Brazilian – the artists featured on Daora are too looking abroad to create a wildly intoxicating and progressive sound rooted in the foundations of the sprawling cities they inhabit.