Electro von Carimbo

From Belem to Belem (well, Lisbon)

This is a song I wrote around 1995 when living in Copacabana sharing an apartment with the legendary Kassin. I used to play the opening hook to this endlessly at home and for years it stuck in Kassin’s head. Even when I stopped playing guitar for a decade when I came back to it, that was the first melody I played as if no time had passed. It is almost annoyingly catchy.

When I wrote it back in the 90s I was obsessed with Carimbó, the super catchy rhythm from Belem do Para in the North of Brazil, particularly Pinduca. This was my homage to Pinduca at the time.

Later, it nearly got recorded by Para’s legendary guitarist Manoel Cordeiro but sadly got cut from the repertoire.

The base of this track was recorded at home in Highgate, London in 2004. I was trying to get my songs organised into an album but I gave up because I couldn't see how and where I could release it - plus I ran out of money and had to get a real job!

When digging the track out recently something put me in mind of Brazilian TV host Silvio Santos and I started searching for clips on YouTube. Back in the 90s on every Sunday I would watch this segment of his all day show called Em Nome do Amor (In the name of love) in which he crowd a bunch of young people into groups and make them smooch dance to a random song usually Julio Iglesias - and then when the music stopped, get them to pair off and then would ask each couple ‘é namoro ou amizade?’ (Is it love or friendship?).

Silvio Santos is a strange guy with some peculiar mannerisms and I started cutting them and laying them over Electro von Carimbo and for some bizarre reason it really fit the mood.