Moreno Veloso together with Bebel Gilberto and Daniel Jobim is part of the new generation Brazilian artists that with the help of electronic devices are giving new shapes to the traditional forms of Brazilian music. As a son of the legendary samba poet and Tropicalia founder, Caetano Veloso, from his earliest age he is participating on his father’s records and concerts as well as Gilberto Gil’s records. His first album “Music Typewriter” took so long to be released only because of he was writing his doctoral theses in physics. The album itself is a mixture of samba, MPB (Música Popular Brasileira), bossa nova and electronic music. This year (Moreno+2) will be touring Europe with his band and he will play in Skopje as part of the Skopje Jazz Festival.
#1 You were signed on the 7th of June by Luaka Bop where your debut release was re– released. Firstly, what does the title mean? What does “Musical typewriter” refer to?
– “Music Typewriter” doesn’t mean much a thing in english in this form but sounds good. In portuguese “Máquina de Escrever Música” means a typewriter to write music, a machine to write music and this was once the way our Maestro Antonio Carlos Jobim called his computer.
One of the things that i noticed when i was doing a research on your past is that you studied physics and that occasionally you work at a lab. How do you balance between your career as an artist, working at a lab as well as having a recording studio?
– First I didn’t have a career as an artist and I could conciliate the studio work with the lab work, and the studies at the university. Actually it was hard to have a time to sleep but I never had too much sleep any way. Now I’ve not seeing my lab mates very much.
How did your interest in electronic music evolve?
– When I was a kid I liked to pay attention to the DJs on partys I occasionly went and what they had to show was changing as fast as the computers from the early 80’s to 90’s. This changing was doing a break in party styles and in our lives. Then I’ve met Kassin who is a good DJ himself and what he showed me of electronic stuff caused a great impact on me as a good experimental, mental, insane and technological way of making music.
Do you remember the first recording that had an impact on you?
– The first hundred perhaps. I grew up in a house people listen and play and whistle music non stop. But the first album I bought in my life was an organ collection of Bach pieces which has the Tocata e Fugue in D minor, then I opened my way through classical music.
How would you describe your kind of music in your own words? It has been described as MPB, Brazilian Pop, brasilectro. Do you think it could be described as that?
– For me it’s simple: we do music, songs, in Brasil and this means that is Brasilian Music and one can say it is MPB, it’s not wrong. Of course we know that the boundaries in theese days are difficult to determinate so every thing is mixed up as do our music. We’re just still calling it Brasilian ’cause of a very particular way of treating songs we use to have here and it is present in our music today yet.
Can you tell me more about the band you work with Moreno+2?
– Domenico is an Artist, a visual artist too, a painter, and came from the middle of Samba. He is also a very skilled composer as is his father and we finished this year his own album Domenico+2 “Sincerely Hot”, filled of his songs. Kassin is a DJ and a Producer, and he has a natural talent for dealing with old electronic things. He has a enormous Vinil and CD collection and a great wisdom about recordings.
Your father, who is an important name in Brazil’s music history, also plays on your debut album. What are the things that he taught you about music and the music business?
– The basic is that he taught me to like music in its universal form. He enjoyed to play guitar for us to sing and I am glad he did it in my album the way he used to at home.
What’s the atmosphere like now in Brazil after Brazil’s national football team won the World Cup?
– People still talking about it around but i’m not a great futebol fan myself. It was happy to see Ronaldo regaining his life back after france and the surgeries.
#2 During October/November you will be touring Europe. What is your approach to playing live and the way you conceive your concerts? Is it important for you to play live and what sort of material will you be playing during this tour?
– We like to play on stage toghether as we have been very close friends for many years. It is simply arranged, just the three of us doing what we can and what we like. In this particular tour Kassin is not coming with us but Bartolo is filling the trio with the same atmosphere, so it is +2 style yet. Friends playing and making some noise with an acoustic guitar, a MPC sampler– drum– machine and a bass. We certainly will be playing songs of the Music Typewriter and some of the Sincerely Hot and others form Brasilian artists we like.
With the “Typewriter” you became one of the artists who through using modern technology is considered to be an innovator in Brazilian music. Where do you see the future of Brazilian music? Are there any names that are attracting your attention?
– I am not an innovator. Just doing music the way I can. The modern technology helped every one who wants to do any kind of music, even here in Brasil. Now people can mix styles easily or keep doing what they used to in a much easier way. The people i like here now is: Diego Medina, Bia Grabois, MIM, Davi Moraes, Duplex, Seu Jorge, Carne de Segunda, Jonas Sá, Rubinho Jacobina, Los Hermanos, Acabou la Tequila, The Dharma Lovers, Stereo Maracanã, Mundo Livre S/A and many others.
What are your plans for the future?
– We are trying to release outside Japan the Domenico+2 album as well as the remixes of the Music Typewriter which are for now only there, not even in Brasil. After that we will try to squeeze Kassin to extract his very juice to put into his album Kassin+2; he will be the next.