Calexico e Gisela João
Nas horas perdidas, costumo pesquisar publicações recentes de músicos de que perdi o rasto. Chegou a vez dos Calexico, uma banda do sudoeste americano caracterizada por uma postura de fronteira. Cruzam géneros, culturas, línguas e intérpretes. Num álbum recente, Seasonal Shift (2020), convocam o “fado”, com a participação Gisela João (Barcelos):
- “Tanta Tristeza” (feat. Gisela João)
At the end of every year we tend to look back at what we’ve done or where we’ve gone. There is a lot of reflecting and a lot of celebrating, too. But it’s in that reflecting and remembering that matches beautifully with the winter layers we burrow ourselves in. Musically I had no idea when I mapped out these chords on my piano that instead I would be recording them on my nylon guitar that goes on every tour with me. On my guitar, whose nickname is “Manny,” there is an image of Portuguese Fado singer Amália Rodrigues. She is my patron saint of the minor blues and the path that leads from my musical door to the heart of the world.
I recorded this tune late at night, and while listening upon playback Sergio suggested I sing a few Spanish lines of his that dealt with saying goodbye to a friend who had tragically died. They became the chorus, but still the song had no verses and finally I asked our friend Raúl to help translate some verses into Portuguese and see if Gisela João would be willing to collaborate. When we heard her vocals come back and placed in with the song, I knew this was a full-circle kind of moment. The song came about in the most unusual way, and it showed me to remember to trust the process and not worry about anything else. Keep following the heart of the musical idea that is there in front of you (Joey Burns: https://floodmagazine.com/83244/calexico-seasonal-shift-track-by-track/).
Segue a canção “Tanta tristeza”, dos Calexico, com Gisela João. Acrescento Crystal Frontier (Hot Rail, 2000) na versão original e na versão acústica, por sinal, bastante diferentes.