B Fachada - ╔ Pra Meninos
ARTIST........: B Fachada
TITLE.........: ╔ Pra Meninos
LABEL.........: Mbari
URL...........: http://www.myspace.com/bfachada
GENRE.........: Indie
QUALITY:......: 170 kbps avg/ 44100Hz / Joint Stereo
RIP DATE......: 2011-03-24
RELEASE DATE..: 2010-12-10
Tracklist:
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01. T≤-ZΘ 2:20
02. Dia De Natal 3:01
03. Quest⌡es De Moral 3:09
04. Conselhos De Av⌠ (com DesidΘrio Lßzaro) 2:50
05. Primeiro Dia (com Francisca Cortesπo) 2:57
06. A Casa Do Manel 3:54
07. Mochila De Carteiro 4:12
08. Agosto 4:07
09. Barrigπo (com Lula Pena) 3:46
10. O Futuro 3:42
Total 33:58
Release Notes:
ôRules are about logic. My songs are about an
absence of logic. I use this superimposition to
achieve a comical effect and also as an exercise in
irony. If IÆm feeling moralistic, if that seeps into the
song, itÆs as if that same moral is ridiculous û just
like any otherö
Two years ago no-one knew is name. But itÆs
becoming clear heÆs the greatest Portuguese
songwriter of his generation. Since Joπo Peste or
Variaτ⌡es this freshness and vibration have gone
unheard û something only a voice this genuine seems
able to capture. His strength comes mainly from a
posture of criticism and a diamond-hard lucidity.
Bernardo Fachada tells us that ôthere is a care not to
substitute one conventionalism for another. To take
apart, without becoming a moralist.ö He learned it
from Pop Art. ôAll it takes is to document
conventions and they take care of themselves, as if
this was a world without cure.ö
This incisive vision is only possible for those who
inhabit a myriad of contexts and BernardoÆs
schooling was indeed precocious and uncommon. He
grew up with the music his father brought home and
remembers 1985 as the year an avalanche of brazilian
records made its way into his hands - with it, the
beginning of his musical education. When he was
four his diet was made up of Toquinho, Paralamas do
Sucesso, Tom Waits, Leo Jaime, Gentle Giant, Nina
Simone or the Specials. It was bound to take a healthy
toll. After that process, it was with the CDs of Cohen,
Dylan, SimonÆs ôGracelandö and the Talking Heads
that he made his way to post-puberty. By then it was
with ôOs Entre e os Contraentesö of Alberto Pimenta
- who later became his most cherished professor - that
he began, as he puts it ôto really readö.
The education in the arts was accompanied by a
twelve year program of study in music and several
instruments, beginning with the violin, switching to
the piano and in the final years of adolescence
transitioning to LisbonÆs jazz school, the Hot Club.
He states: ôI began to make objects with musical
shapesö, ôprivate jokes that turned universalö, a
gradual process, sometime after he began to study and
play Bossa Nova. The revelation that he was turning
into a musician, which, by the way, ôis not my dream
profession but rather what landed on my lapö became
clear only when he ôfound soundö, his û the only one
that matters, of course. He managed, unexpectedly, to
mesh ôdestiny and personality, emotional and social
questions, that all came together in a single
enterpriseö.
In contrast with the Portuguese music he grew up
with, from Zeca Afonso to Mler If Dada and Pop
DellÆ Arte, he is conscious that he lives in a time
where the relevancy of national production became
minimal, although ôthere hadnÆt been much that was
special, previouslyö. He thinks ôa lot about
boundariesö and wonders about a possible curse -
letÆs face it both national and secular - on the
existence of ôcertain cultures that appear condemned
to the production of guys whose work we think of as
inaccessibleö. The persistence in striving for a sunny
spot in our little backyard was never a goal but seems
to have fuelled him with an additional need to be
here.
The work of B Fachada lives in these readings and of
a criticism, lacking in national songwriting, that is
still, on the other hand, one of the most vital, natural
and powerful forms of communication. That we have
forgotten this role music plays is just another point to
pertinence of his work. His brilliant lyrics portray in a
humane and contemporary way what itÆs like to live
in the Lisbon and Portugal of today, with seriousness
and heart. After all, B Fachada measures the
ôconsequencesö of his music in terms of ôpersonal
impact. I have done all I can to produce things that
move me.ö