IVAN PAOLO DE PARIS FONTANARI
1. DJ Marky & São Paulo
Marky is nowadays the most known Brazilian drum & bass (D&B) DJ. In this promotional video for the city of São Paulo, Marky shows how he made the mixes to compose the soundtrack of the promotional film Unimaginable, whose objective is the international promotion of tourism in the city, showing its positive aspects by featuring prestigious people in the areas of cinema, cuisine, design, graffiti and music, who seek inspiration for their creations there.
2. XRS Land (Xerxes), “The Secrets of the Floating Island ’99″
From: XRS Land, Sarau, SambaLoco Records T 001/097-2, 1999, CD.
XRS Land’s “The Secrets of the Floating Island ’99″ was a pioneer combination of themes and instruments that refer to Brazilian and Latin American music above the D&B beats.
3. Drumagick, “Favela Jazz”
From: Patife, Sounds of Drum’n’Bass, SambaLoco Records T 200/148-2, 1999, CD.
Drumagick’s track “Favela Jazz”, in which the producers used as the main theme a characteristic phrase of the horn arrangements of samba-rock of the 1970s, is another pioneer example for the combination of Brazilian music with D&B beats.
4. Jorge Ben & Toquinho, “Carolina Carol Bela”
From: Jorge Ben & Toquinho, “Que Maravilha” / “Carolina Carol Bela”, RGE C.S-70.369, 1969, 45 rpm.
This is the original track from which DJ Marky and XRS obtained the samples.
4a. Jorge Ben & Toquinho, “Carolina Carol Bela”, DJ Marky & XRS (remix)
From: Marky, Audio Architecture II, SambaLoco Records T 004/554-2, 2001, CD.
Until then, Marky and Patife had established an interchange with London DJs who played a dominant role in the worldwide dissemination of D&B. Their main currency of exchange, beyond their recognized talent, was the audience they had formed in São Paulo. “Carolina Carol Bela” remixed by DJ Marky and XRS is a symbol for the beginning of their authoring process as producer of “Brazilian D&B”. The difference in relation to previous tracks combining D&B beats and Brazilian and Latin American music is that the choices of Marky and Patife now had a precise focus: D&B with MPB, a genre with national and international prestige. Based on this combination, they built a multi-faceted identity in Brazil and abroad, as DJs of Brazilian D&B, thus inaugurating a process of aesthetic transformation which was a product and a mechanism for the extension of their international professional careers.
4b. DJ Marky & XRS, Featuring MC Stamina, “LK (Carolina Carol Bela)”
From: DJ Marky & XRS, Featuring MC Stamina “LK – Carolina Carol Bela”, V Recordings V035, 2002, vinyl 12”.
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This new remix of “Carolina Carol Bela”, now renamed as “LK”, increased its radiophonic appeal for the Anglophone audience compared with the previous version, aimed at the dance floor with vocal samples in Portuguese. The presence of a London MC certainly had a similar effect.
5. Fernanda Porto, Sambassim
From: Fernanda Porto, Fernanda Porto, Trama T 004/590-2, 2002, CD.
“Sambassim” expresses another kind of musical exchange, established now between D&B DJs and Brazilian musicians. It was composed and played by Fernanda Porto: white, middle class, with a classical and popular music education and a long history as an interpreter and performer of MPB and composer of soundtracks for movies. Even before Porto’s composition was released on her 2002 CD, it was played by Marky and Patife for D&B audiences. It turned out to be a collaboration between MPB musicians and DJs of great importance in the construction of Brazilian D&B and its dissemination in Brazil.
6. Drumagick, “Easy boom”
From: Drumagick, “Easy Boom” / “Funkiada”, SambaLoco Records SLV 003, 2002, vinyl 12’ record.
The combination model established by Marky, XRS and Patife continued to be used in subsequent years by its pioneers and other local producers, providing a repertoire that set the identity of Brazilian D&B. This is the case of “Easy Boom”, with samples of “Take It Easy My Brother Charles”, by Jorge Ben.
6a. Jorge Ben, “Take It Easy My Brother Charles”
From: Jorge Ben, Jorge Ben, Philips R765.100L, 1969, 33⅓ rpm.
The original track, later remixed by Drumagick.
7. DJ Andy, “Copacabana”
From: Andy, “Copacabana” / ”Get It (Make Me High)” [+ Drumagick], Phuturistic Bluez (US) PB013, 2003, vinyl 12”.
Another example which follows the combination model established by Marky, XRS and Patife, providing a repertoire that set the identity of Brazilian D&B.
8. DJ Marky & XRS, “Highlights”
From: Marky & XRS, In Rotation, Innerground Records (BR) INN 003CD, 2003, CD.
This track contains samples from “Realce”, whose original version can be watched bellow. “Highlights” can be considered part of the repertoire that set the identity of Brazilian D&B.
8a. Gilberto Gil, “Realce”
From: Gilberto Gil, Realce, Elektra BR 32.038, 1979, 33⅓ rpm.
9. DJ Marky & XRS, “Rudebwoy”
From: Marky & XRS, In Rotation, Innerground Records (BR) INN 003CD, 2003, CD.
“Rudebwoy” – which contains samples from “Bebete Vãobora” – is part of the repertoire that set the identity of Brazilian D&B.
9a. Jorge Ben, “Bebete Vãobora”
From: Jorge Ben, Jorge Ben, Philips, R765.100L, 1969, 33⅓ rpm.
10. DJ Marky & XRS, “Dia de Sol”
From: Marky & XRS, In Rotation, Innerground Records (BR) INN 003CD, 2003, CD.
This track contains vocals by Gilberto Gil, at the time Ministry of Culture in Brazil.
11. DJ Patife, “Que pena”
From: Patife, Na Estrada, Trama T8022, 2006, CD.
“Que pena”, composed by Jorge Ben, is part of the repertoire that set the identity of Brazilian D&B. The album Jorge Ben, from which the track is takes, was the most mixed by Brazilian D&B DJs up to now.
11a. Jorge Ben, “Que pena”
From: Jorge Ben, Jorge Ben, Philips R765.100L, 1969, 33⅓ rpm.