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David Bowie is part of my musical childhood, one of the first artists to carve out a niche in my mind, never to leave. Particularly the glam period of the English artist: Ziggy Stardust and his Spiders from Mars accompanied many of those naïve days of discovering the world of rock music, far from the childish limbo between the songwriters of the greats and the trash compilations of classmates.
You can imagine the shock for a pale fifteen-year-old: all that decadence and lust, that immense stage as a metaphor for life and fame, and the songs... Each one more beautiful than the last, wavering between rock, soul, and art-pop.
One day (which feels like centuries if you count the periods and genres a young music enthusiast goes through and learns about), I happened to see a film that I dare to recommend: 'The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou'. Among the many beautiful things in this film with its typical independent, surreal, and sweet atmosphere (besides the magnificent performance by Bill Murray, not to mention Willem Dafoe and Jeff Goldblum) is the soundtrack. It's not about famous tracks mixed randomly, nor specially created classical/electronic compositions.
Instead, it is pieces of Bowie from that same glam era reinterpreted by the singer/guitarist/actor Seu Jorge in Portuguese for solo acoustic guitar and voice. You might say, a worthless idea. I respond, having listened to the album, absolutely not. Seu Jorge approaches these classics with a lot of humility, playing them attentively while allowing himself to be carried by emotion. The voice is inspired and captivating, the Portuguese adds a touch of dusty and melancholic poetry to the songs...
Behind the glitz and the guitars, there were unreachable melodies and delightful harmonic ideas. A fascinating and emotional listening experience that this deliberately sparse and unexpected arrangement enhances and highlights. Rediscovering memorable songs, interpreted in a surprising and passionate manner by this talented young Brazilian.
"Had Seu Jorge not recorded my songs acoustically in Portuguese I would never have heard this new level of beauty which he has imbued them with" -D. Bowie-
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