Tecnobrega is essentially the most exuberant breed of the brega style and has develop into an emblem of the State of Pará within the Amazonian area of Brazil. In 2024, additionally it is making waves outdoors the borders of Northern Brazil by pop hits like Pabllo Vittar’s “Ai Ai Ai” and getting recognition from the worldwide scene of digital dance music, akin to London-based mission Boiler Room.

There are debates on the style’s origins, however monitoring its historical past inevitably leads us to 1 artist and, extra particularly, one tune: “Lana” by Tonny Brasil. Launched within the late Nineties (the 12 months is unconfirmed), “Lana” is reportedly the primary brega tune recorded one hundred pc electronically. Its launch is taken into account the delivery of the tecnobrega style. The time period “tecnobrega” is an agglutination of the prefix that refers to know-how, and even techno music, and naturally, the music style “brega”.

Brega music made within the North of Brazil was a mixture of a number of genres and influences, together with doo-wop, rockabilly, and Jovem Guarda (Brazil’s response to Beatlemania within the Nineteen Sixties). These influences could be heard within the beat sample and melody of “Lana”. Nonetheless, including keyboards modified every thing. This is able to be considered one of Tonny Brasil’s many contributions to Brazilian music. 

Tonny Brasil died in June 2024 at the age of 57. He left a repertoire of over 2,000 songs, recorded by names like Banda Calypso, Banda Sayonara, Reginaldo Rossi, Marília Mendonça, Wanderley Andrade, and Gaby Amarantos. Sadly, he left little to no data or written archives of his artistic course of. 

The tales of the creation and the repercussions of Tonny Brasil’s songs stay within the streets of Belém (the capital of the State of Pará), and within the recollections and analysis of individuals akin to Tonny Brasil’s son, musician Jimmy Goes; Eduardo Barbosa (musician, music researcher and govt producer of occasions devoted to the promotion of lambada); and Junior Almeida (DJ, music researcher, and director of the museum Sonoro Paraense). PopMatters talked with them about “Lana”.

The Making of “Lana”

Almeida: I keep in mind some years in the past after I participated as a DJ in a mission referred to as “Cafona” along with DJ Igor Alves, Tonny Brasil revealed to us that [the idea to create the track] “Lana” got here from a mission referred to as “Esquema 3”. This mission concerned three musicians who made medleys (referred to as pout-pourris) of “seresta” digital music. It was [purely] digital, made with keyboards, with no acoustic drums. Tonny Brasil listened to this album and created a mission together with his keyboards. That’s when he created “Lana”.

Goes: I used to be little when my dad labored on his music manufacturing at dwelling. [“Lana”] was written earlier than I used to be born, however I keep in mind him producing the tune at dwelling, in his studio, together with his gear. He was making the “demos” to take to the recording studio. I keep in mind him programming on a Solton MS50 keyboard. He used some floppy disks and wrote some notes on them. The monitor was later recorded in an expert studio my dad accessed.

This tune allowed my dad to do considered one of his first TV interviews. If I keep in mind accurately, my mom made the blazer my dad is sporting on the album cowl.

Rock ’n’ Roll’s Affect on “Lana”

Almeida: Rock ’n’ roll has every thing to do with the [brega] motion. Rock is about motion and conduct, not simply distorted guitars. Brega is about that, too: the garments, the angle, the poetry, every thing. That is what I’ve been saying for years. I can evaluate our brega singers with the nice rock singers. If you happen to take a look at Tina Turner’s garments and stage presence, it’s just like a feminine brega singer. The identify [rock’n’roll] is a bit heavier, however the two genres are shut. 

Goes: Many brega songs had been visions of worldwide songs. We regularly say that these [international] songs had been “improved” in these [brega] variations. It has one thing to do with the method of ideological domination. It’s nearly as if these brega variations had been a subversion of the notion that “solely what comes from outdoors [Brazil] is sweet; nearly as if our concept was to make use of the nice [foreign] music and make it even higher, make it sound extra like us. Rock influences the brega from these [early beginnings] instances as a lot as different genres because of the music performed on the radios and TVs on the time. Folks from Pará used the “hype” of that point [to create brega].

Worldwide Digital Music‘s Affect on Tonny Brasil’s Work

Barbosa: Tecnobrega is [the outcome of] the seek for cheapening recording prices: so as a substitute of spending cash on renting a studio, [hiring] guitar gamers, bass gamers, drum gamers, and many others., you’ll solely want a keyboard participant doing every thing on the keyboards or programming an digital drum. It was a market resolution, a response to the monetary scarcity [crisis] that was happening on the time. It’s not [only] an aesthetic matter. However additionally it is about flirting with home, dance, and techno music. I see these three genres because the pillars of the eurodance that tecnobrega musicians wish to assimilate.

Almeida: For my part, digital brega grew together with Brazilian music. Digital music was rising on this planet at the moment. [The trends were] shifting away from acoustic music to digital music. So [the brega movement] needed to be left behind, particularly when it got here to soundstages. Different actions had been rising together with this amplification, proper? This sound compression was occurring in Brazil and around the globe. So brega grew too. I keep in mind very properly the conversations individuals had on the time about digital music. Particularly for these within the sound system motion like us in Pará, [electronic music] contributed loads.

Goes: The opportunity of making the brega rhythm sound electronically democratized and made the musical manufacturing of the individuals of Pará doable. It’s probably not a matter of opinion. 

Barbosa: When Tonny was in [the band] Açaí Machine, he began flitting shamelessly with home music, dance music, and digital music. Açaí Machine was method forward of its time. They predicted quite a lot of issues that had been going to be accomplished [by other artists in the future]. Many issues launched these days sound like what Açaí Machine launched [when they were active]. Their manufacturing influenced brega typically, so I consider [Tonny Brasil’s] legacy is essential for our music. He was an actual turning level.

How “Lana” Began Tecnobrega

Almeida: As a novelty, “Lana” touched everybody. Each “aparelhagem” [sound system parties in the State of Pará] needed to play “Lana”. 

Barbosa: “Lana” was a place to begin for a method of creating brega [music], a method that’s extra financial for individuals who can’t afford [to hire] a band. [It fulfills] a necessity of the artist to launch music in no matter it takes to do it. Artists must compose, produce, and launch music. Artists additionally must pay payments, however making music is a private want by which we [the artists] make a dwelling. So I believe “Lana” exhibits loads about that: the necessity to make and launch music extra cheaply — however not with out high quality.

Goes: Earlier than [“Lana”], recording a tune was very costly and complex. This took away the prospect for a lot of skills to showcase their work. After individuals—particularly individuals who lived within the peripheries—started to afford to purchase gear akin to home computer systems, it grew to become cheaper and simpler to supply music or make different types of artwork. Proficient individuals with out alternatives have at all times been round. The creation of tecnobrega opened horizons for individuals who didn’t have the prospect to showcase their expertise.

Almeida: [“Lana” inspiring Pará musicians to produce brega electronically] enabled everybody to hearken to our music and see how totally different it was. Our brega was a “band” style, but it surely was a novelty when “Lana” was launched, and everybody within the Amazonic area needed to hitch it.

Goes: My father created a brand new rhythm. He managed to democratize the way in which music was made within the state of Pará and went down in historical past for that, and for having composed most of the songs that had been profitable on this rhythm and different rhythms, akin to Calypso, Zouk, and Cumbia. 

“Lana”s Detractors

Barbosa: Tecnobrega went by a stage of [being subject of] prejudice with the remainder of the brega [breeds]. Prejudice has at all times been there, however I can affirm these days it’s not as massive. At present, brega is on TV, in newspapers, in magazines, in music festivals, and even in underground indie festivals. However again within the Nineties, there was a deepening of the discrepancy of locations for “bregueiros” [brega artists] to carry out, particularly after the curiosity in lambada diminished there within the early Nineties (it received swallowed up by axé). Then Brega began to be seen as “brothel music”, one thing individuals didn’t wish to admit they favored to hearken to. The return of brega started round 1996, with the success of Roberto Vilar. Brega made [another] comeback within the early 2000s, by the type of brega pop. 

[When the electronic breed of brega arose], there was a prejudice in opposition to tecnobrega contained in the brega motion. There have been comparisons and judgments relating to what sort of brega was higher. Folks used to say: “Mauro Cotta’s breed of brega is sweet, however this accelerated model of brega will not be good”. There’s a nostalgic component to that, as individuals could consider the previous is healthier than the current.

I nonetheless hear feedback like this, however again at the moment, this sentiment was stronger. However truly, this isn’t a matter of fine music versus unhealthy music. [Old school brega and tecnobrega] are fully totally different processes of musical development and aesthetic development. Brega turning into extra digital doesn’t essentially imply [the production] is simpler; it’s only a totally different method of manufacturing music, however there’s nonetheless a heavy prejudice in opposition to it.

Goes: Traditionally, there has at all times been prejudice in opposition to what is completed by black, poor, and peripheral individuals. Samba was as soon as unlawful. Capoeira was as soon as unlawful. Brega was by no means unlawful, however prejudice in opposition to this musical type was as soon as very latent among the many individuals of Pará. This prejudice nonetheless exists in additional closed-minded individuals who don’t determine the brega rhythm performed in Pará as a part of our cultural identification exactly as a result of it’s one thing the peripheral inhabitants appreciates, firstly. These individuals normally justify it as private style. Nonetheless, it’s a prejudice that’s primarily based on racism, which is among the foundations on which Brazilian society was constructed and in addition a pillar of the capitalist mode of manufacturing.

The ideological domination of individuals is a key issue within the existence of one of these prejudice, making individuals assume that what is sweet comes from abroad, failing to acknowledge the worth of what’s made within the place the place they stay. The unfairness in opposition to the brega rhythm is extra veiled as we speak, as a result of the style has been “gourmetized”, the [artist’s] our bodies have develop into “much less black” and have turned the Tecnobrega rhythm right into a marketable product. It’s offered as one thing nearly unique, just like what occurs with funk carioca.

Tonny Brasil‘s and “Lana”s Legacy

Barbosa: Tonny Brasil was a watershed of the tip of the twentieth century and the start of the twenty first century. He composed for the best artists of Pará, akin to Wanderley Andrade and Banda Calypso (which managed to have nationwide hits because of him).

Goes: I used to be capable of see my father writing the lyrics of songs like “Gererê”, which was recorded by Nelsinho Rodrigues. Joelma and Chimbinha of Banda Calypso used to go tour home to speak to my father, I noticed Chimbinha recording some guitar traces for the tracks he and my father produced collectively. My father has an enormous affect in Pará’s tradition, as a result of by his work he managed to alter the the reason why Pará was recognized nationally. 

Almeida: For musicians of the North of Brazil, Tonny Brasil was every thing. He was [the responsible for] all these modifications occurring within the music of Pará, and even of Brazil. He managed to create one thing that may be very “ours”, a really peripherical [sound], with our manners, our method of talking, our emotions. It is vitally troublesome for an artist to seize issues like these.

Goes: Pará was recognized of the State of the El Dorado bloodbath. At present, it is called the State of Tecnobrega. In fact, there are different issues that Pará is understood for, akin to its delicacies, for instance. However when it comes to music, it’s inconceivable to speak about Pará with out mentioning [Tonny Brasil’s] identify, except it’s to speak about one thing particular that he was not a part of or didn’t have a lot affect on. However in case you stroll by the streets of Belém, sooner or later you’ll inevitably hear considered one of his songs, whether or not it’s sung by him or by one other artist. It is among the issues that makes me essentially the most proud.

Really, his songs are performed everywhere in the world, to a better or lesser extent. With the appearance of the Web, it’s doable to hearken to a tune he produced within the “Beco da facada” (how he referred to as Passagem Maria, the road the place we lived), wherever on this planet. He grew to become immortal within the historical past of the State of Pará because the creator of the tecnobrega rhythm and one of many biggest composers in Brazil, and maybe on this planet, with nearly 3,000 songs composed all through his profession.

All interviews had been performed in Portuguese, freely translated to English by the author, and condensed for readability.