| MG - NOW THAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT IT, TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR OWN LABEL,
THE ONE YOU ARE STARTING IN BRAZIL. WHAT ARE THE GOALS YOU INTEND TO ACHIEVE WITH IT? IT
SEEMS TO ME THAT YOU HAD SOME SIMILAR EXPERIENCE IN THE PAST WITH A LABEL NAMED
‘TERRA DOS PÁSSAROS’… TONINHO – Sure. I did TERRA DOS PÁSSAROS independently, and the Odeon label released it in 1980. Four years later I released the very same album through a label called Terra dos Pássaros that was started specifically for that release. Both Ronaldo Bastos and I had the idea to have our own label. But then I moved to the States, and even met Ronaldo several times there. He returned to Brazil, I got married and moved to Belo Horizonte, in a nutshell, we lost touch and that was the end of it. Later Ronaldo started his Dubas label that released once again the album TERRA DOS PÁSSAROS on CD, and I picked the name Aqui Oh!, as it was already known, easy to pronounce, it was the title of a song by me and Fernando (Fernando Brant), and it was also the name of a bar as well. For a period of five years that bar was the venue for the best instrumental music then happening in Belo Horizonte. We had invited several international groups that had come to Brazil on tour to perform. Groups from France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, the Korean Jack Lee, the Austrian Rudi Berger and so forth. The bar is gone now. But given the opportunity of releasing SERENADE in Brazil, I decided to start Aqui Oh! Records in an attempt to recover my international discography that was never released here. |
MG - THE BIGGEST PROBLEM FACING THE INDEPENDENT ARENA IS DISTRIBUTION. HOW
DO YOU INTEND TO FACE THIS PROBLEM? ARE YOU GOING INTO PARTERNERSHIP OR ARE YOU GOING TO
TARGET DISTRIBUTION AT A MORE DIRECT MARKET? TONINHO - Maybe on the first CD package, which will debut between March and April of 1999, with approximately four to six titles, we will look for a partner, though that’s not definite. Maybe we’ll decide to go on with an independent and alternative form of distribution. I’ve got people who are assisting with that respect, the person who is going to be the label’s director. The label will be headquartered in Belo Horizonte. We are setting up a plan to rely on the support of my fan club throughout Brazil. Among those admirers, we hope to find the right people to work or assist in the alternative distribution network as well as stores. At the same time, we wish to create an interest in the marketing and selling of those CDs. We estimate that in a year and a half to two years’ period of time, we will have acceptable distribution. We intend to release an average of 10 to 12 titles annually, split into groups of 3 or 4 titles. More Demo / Real Audio : |
Água de BeberMG - SO I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU WOULD NOT ONLY RELEASE YOUR OWN WORKS BUT OTHERS AS WELL?
TONINHO - Well, the main idea is to bring Toninho Horta home, right? The other possibility would be to bring Minas out to the world. Then, for example, to release the material recorded at the Ouro Preto workshop mentioned earlier. I would like to release a compilation of it on a double album. Also Sivuca, Raphael Rabello, Altamiro Carrilho, Paulo Moura, Grupo Uakti, Wagner Tiso, Nivaldo Ornelas, Sagrado Coração da Terra, Jacques Morelembaum, and so forth. Then I should release a compilation, something like THE BEST OF TONINHO HORTA. I will release albums on which I had a strong presence or involvement as well as the works that I have produced. For instance, the new CD by Yuri Popoff, which was independently released, but I think we will reissue it, and maybe something done abroad such as the album I recorded with the Japanese flautist Takamasa Segi or the album SAMBÃO by pianist Kenny Barron that was nominated for a Grammy. Summing up, works that are important but are known by few people here in Brazil. By doing so, I will be presenting to my homeland my accomplishments, many of which have never been heard in my own country.
MG - THE NUMBER OF APPEARANCES YOU’VE MADE ON THE RECORDINGS OF OTHERS IS QUITE REMARKABLE…
TONINHO - Yeah, and little by little, we will be releasing all of those here, and if I can’t obtain the licensing agreements I intend to import and sell those recordings through Aqui Oh Records. This entire process will take approximately two years to be in place.
MG - TELL ME ABOUT THE JAPANESE MARKET. IT IS AN EXCELLENT OUTLET FOR BRAZILIAN MUSIC, RIGHT? HOW’S YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE JAPANESE? YOU EVEN HAVE A FAN CLUB THERE…
TONINHO - The relationship is a very good one for me, they know me well, and I have traveled there to perform several times. Through Blue Note I did three or four tours. I went with Joyce, with Ernie Watts, with Astrud Gilberto. I toured Japan with Akiko Yano and with Lisa Ono, and every opportunity I have. There were many people who discovered me there, people connected with jazz, also there are people who like Brazil, who came to know the Clube da Esquina albums. Today I’ve got two types of audiences. There’s even a group of people who adore music from Minas in Japan. There are even requests related to the music produced by mineiro musicians even before anything gets released through my label. That’s the reason why I would like to record stuff like Catopê, , Folia de Reis, Congada, folk events from Minas , very special projects. I do not want to turn my label into a fruit salad, though.
MG - SO YOUR LABEL WILL HAVE A MORE DIRECT RAPPORT WITH THE FOREIGN MARKET?
TONINHO - For sure. We have established several contacts to have that stuff distributed abroad and, for sure, they will be interested. I know many people who will be sending material, they will want to know if the label will be opening up to others. Only time will tell. I do not want to let the whole thing open up too much because I want to take care of each product, each release, otherwise it will turn out to be a huge enterprise, and I am not interested in that happening. Because I want keep on playing guitar, making music (laughs). I could not find a sponsor here, I decided to sponsor myself (laughs).
MG - DO YOU SEE YOURSELF MORE AS AN ACOUSTIC OR AN ELECTRIC GUITARIST?
TONINHO - I do not know… There are people who like me best playing electric guitar. For example, my Mom, someone I would not expect, likes me best playing electric guitar with feeling… There are people who love my playing acoustic guitar, some love my singing. That’s the reason why I do a little bit of everything (laughs). Me, personally, I’ve got no preferences. I love playing electric guitar at times, sometimes acoustic guitar, no preferences at all. From now on I intend to play more electric guitar because it is more cheerful, also to play it along with a band, let the band go wild, and make the whole thing a little happier. I do not want to fit into the rules dictated by the market. I want to have a band that gives me more options. When I play and sing along, for instance, I become split. When I just play, I become more relaxed, see? This is the reason why I got a kick out of playing with Elis, with Gal, with Bethânia, with Milton, with Nana Caymmi, with Simone and many others. The problem is with all my engagements, it’s getting harder and harder to play with other artists. But I feel very well doing that, feel even more relaxed. Who knows, with my next band I may even get a lead female singer to sing for me and I become the second voice? (laughs). In Brazil there are always new groups, people who love all that pop craze and the young people buy many CDs, and this brings about a big media interest. I want my work to be seen as well. I do not want to become a shelf artist. I consider myself young with lots of energy. Yamaha is currently building an electric guitar, and it should be arriving soon. It is a Telecaster model with only one pick-up. It is a guitar that produces a jazzy tone, all blue body with a yellow neck, and I am dying to see it…
| MG - TELL ME ABOUT THIS NEW ALBUM
RELEASED IN JAPAN FROM TON TO TOM? TONINHO - When Tom died it was close to Christmas, and on Christmas Eve I wrote that song for him. I wrote the lyrics, then one of my nieces came in, and suggested about two sentences, and we finished the music. They wanted to sing the music at a show at the end of the year that was to take place at the bar Aqui Oh!. So on that evening we made our debut. Everybody was crying his/her eyes out. It was all very emotional. We encored that song because it was so beautiful. And since that time I felt like making a tribute to Tom. But then an avalanche of people started recording, paying tribute and everything else, and I had no contract. When all that fever was over, I presented that project in Japan, and the label Videoarts agreed to invest in it. It was an expensive project, a long one and I was somewhat overwhelmed with work. I produced, sang, played acoustic and electric guitars, made the arrangements, conducted the orchestra, and it had been quite sometime that I had worked with an orchestra. That was another challenge. The result was good, and it is a very sincere album. Unfortunately, I did not have the solitude I needed to end up with a cool mix. I am paranoid about mixing. There was a time frame for delivering the work and I thought that, even though American recording engineers are very good and very competent, everyone has his own sound quality pattern, and I found that none of them had a Brazilian standard. Here we like the guitar towards the front of the mix. There they like to make it cleaner and clearer, polishing the sound up. Here no, it’s more about feeling. |
MG - THERE IS A SERIES OF VERY
SIGNIFICANT APPEARANCES ON ‘FROM TON TO TOM’… TONINHO - Gal Costa appears on three tracks. She agreed to be part of it and loved it. Tom loved her singing in English. And always asked her to sing in English because she had a perfect diction. Her appearance has a meaning in itself. On that album I also included my brother Paulo with a song of his that had great influence on me during the bossa nova era, and he played two tracks on the record. And my children also were there as well: Luisa sang one segment of "Se todos fossem iguais a você" and Manuel did the segment with "Garota de Ipanema" (The Girl from Ipanema). My six nieces did the vocals as a way to remember the vocalists that sang with Tom. The vocals were given the name "As Sobrinhas" (The Nieces). It is indeed a very honest album, and I want people in Brazil to get to know it.
|
MG - WHAT ABOUT YOU TOURING BRAZIL THIS COMING YEAR?
TONINHO - I intend to go on tour two times – one towards the end of the first quarter with "De Ton Prá Tom" (From Ton to Tom) at theaters throughout Brazil, and after the second half of the year with a band playing new stuff, and leaving the hits to be played at the end of the show.
MG - LET’S TALK NOW ABOUT THE ‘LIVRÃO DA MÚSICA BRASILEIRA’ (THE BIG
SONGBOOK OF BRAZILIAN MUSIC). IT IS AN OLD PROJECT THAT NOW APPEARS TO BE A REALITY.
TONINHO - This project dates back to 1988 when I signed a contract with the Secretaria de Estado de Cultura de Minas Gerais (The Department for Cultural Affairs of the State of Minas Gerais), which allowed me to have a budget for research, selection, transcription of works, copies, revisions and so forth. Today I’ve compiled 430 songs, and now I am working towards 500 songs. There are works by Villa-Lobos, Pixinguinha, works from the time of samba-canção, bossa nova, of the baianos (here meaning the music written by musicians from Bahia), of the mineiros (the music written by musicians from Minas Gerais) and so forth. Songs that are significant from historical and musical points of view, encompassing old to contemporary songs. Then I decided to take the initiative of producing a type of Brazilian Real Book, a reference book. I am looking for a partner to sponsor the printing of the Livrão because the costs do not allow the project to move forward. There are some good contacts and I hope, if God allows me to do it, for it to be published in 1999. It is an endeavor that took and keeps on taking a great deal of time, and I am tending to it with much affection. There are a great number of people helping such as Nelson Faria, Célia Vaz, Antônio Adolfo, Luiz Otávio Braga, lots of folks.
MG - COMING TO AN END: IS THERE ANY PARTICULAR ALBUM OF YOURS FOR WHICH YOU HAVE A SPECIAL AFFECTION?
TONINHO - It would be TERRA DOS PÁSSAROS. It took more time than the others to create, and today it is an album that brings me much joy. At the time lots of people did not believe in it, they said it was not accessible to the public. Nowadays I know many musicians that still look for that work as well as musicians who are complete strangers. It is a reference for many people. There’s much there, a beautiful repertoire, songs with Fernando Brant, with Ronaldo Bastos, it has got an orchestra, percussion, voices. Today, the LP version is sold for US$150.00 in Japan. There is a distributor in Milan that sells those LPs for US$100.00 each to discos in Europe. He sent a guy to Brazil who bought 500 of those LPs. You can add, selling each for US$100.00 that man already pocketed US$50,000. That is the reason why I am going to start my label soon… (laughs)
Interviewed by Maurício Gouvêa - December 1988Translated into English by Eliane Barcellos - July 1999
Revised by Richard W. Zirinsky, Jr. - July 1999
... Return ( I )
