Egberto Gismonti
Dança dos Escravos

Brasil Instrumental n.3

Tonight things are not going too well. It's a Friday evening that I would've liked to dedicate to capoeira. Usually, the roda is on Sundays, and my blessed job gives me no respite on this day. I have the classic symptoms of the flu and little desire to sing and move my body. When I'm like this, I also feel a bit angry, and unable to vent that anger, I become sad. So it's useless to listen to the Melvins; the atmospheres in this album by Gismonti are definitely better.

This Friday, however, is not like all the others; it's the twentieth of November, the date on which it is said that Zumbi dos Palmares was killed, the most important leader of the African slave rebellions in Brazil against the European colonizers, undisputed leader of the quilombo dos palmares.

The twentieth of November is becoming an increasingly important date to remember that racism still exists; that freedom was won by the blacks with their rebellions and was not gifted to them by Princess Isabel; that on April thirteenth, the official date of the abolition of slavery, we will not be celebrating with friends in power, because as Chomsky says: "freedom without opportunity is a devil’s gift," a quote that perfectly explains the social hardships that Brazil lives today.

And so since today I haven't played or performed for Zumbi, I dedicate this masterpiece by Gismonti to the black leader. "Danças dos escravos" (dance of the slaves) is a musically strong name, it recalls the cakewalk of master Debussy, and if the two have the instrument in common, in this album Gismonti takes us into his world with only the acoustic guitar, with no one accompanying him. For someone like him, raised with the piano, a six-string is certainly little and so ten strings, even if they are not enough to reach the piano's range, they are sufficient to give him some tendinitis.

Gismonti is a virtuoso. His art is to shape notes and chords with sublime mastery and precision. But he is not like many musical engravers who skillfully work on glassy materials; those he works on are real precious stones, which one never tires of hearing in the continuous search for some hidden sparkle.

"Danças dos escravos" is wonderful, it has deep expressive power, and is performed with a richness and generosity that leaves one speechless from the first listen. All compositions are his, except 'Treinzinho Caipira" by master Heitor Villa-Lobos.

I dedicate it to all those who love the acoustic guitar, who love refined things, and are curious to listen to instrumental music that is hard to categorize.

I dedicate it to all the outcasts, to those who work themselves to death every day for a starvation wage, to those fighting for a world of equal opportunities.

I dedicate it to Zumbi dos Palmares and all martyrs for freedom.