Interview: Chico Dub on the Next Generation of Brazil Producers

Last weekend we hosted our final Bass Camp of the year in São Paulo. We’ll be providing some more coverage of the event in December, but we thought it best to provide some context of what’s actually happening in Brazil at the moment. To do so, we asked festival curator and compilation compiler Chico Dub a few questions to get a sense of the country’s scene – one that he says is more vibrant than ever. As the man who puts on the forward-thinking Novas Frequências festival and puts together the series of compilations called Hy Brazil, we figured he’d be the one to know best.

Can you briefly outline your history in music, and what projects you are involved in right now?

I started to work in music after I quit my job as a copywriter in advertisement agencies. That was around 2004. Then I became deeply involved with my biggest music passion ever: dub (hence the nickname). Be it Jamaican, British or German, that’s my thing. It’s funny because looking back at that time, I was already doing what I do right now: curate, produce and promote events outside the national mainstream. The main focus back on the days was on my DJ sets and parties, but I also put out two art exhibitions inspired by dub music and did a documentary with my friend Bruno Natal about dub’s influence in electronic music and hip hop. Dub Echoes did a pretty good job in documentary festivals, some top advanced music festivals (such as Sónar Barcelona and Berlin’s CTM) and even got exhibited in São Paulo’s Art Biennial. But the biggest prize for sure was the Soul Jazz DVD, since after that it got distributed to the whole world.

After that I decided to learn a little bit more about cultural and events production. So from 2007 until 2011 I worked as an assistant director in a Rio de Janeiro-based audiovisual performance festival called Multiplicidade. I worked with Diplo, DJ Spooky, The Cinematic Orchestra, Daedelus, AntiVJ & Principles of Geometry, D-Fuse, Peter Greenaway, Arto Lindsay and dozens of national talents building this mix of visuals, art, technology and music. In parallel, between 2009 and 2011, I got back in DJ sets and club parties because of Dancing Cheetah, the first global guettotech/ tropical bass oriented night in Brazil. Kuduro, coupe decale, tecnobrega, baile funk, cumbia digital… All that stuff.

I got out from Multiplicidade in 2011 and started to work on Novas Frequências, that’s when I really got the click (unconsciously initiated in 2004) that my job here is to work with experimental, avant-garde and new trends. To always guide myself into doing stuff neglected from the local biggest events. The festival only brings artists that have never came to Brazil before, like Actress, Hype Williams, Pole, Sun Araw, Com Truise and Andy Stott. Festival’s third edition happens from November 30th until December 8th and the line-up features Tim Hecker, Stephen O’Malley, James Ferraro, Demdike Stare, Lee Gamble, Heatsick, David Toop, São Paulo Underground and of course some major new local talents (listen to Fudisterik! OMG!).

Novas Frequências got me the opportunity to work with Sónar in their São Paulo 2012 edition, undoubtedly the most incredible music festival done in Brazil for those in line with new trends/ leftfield music. In the same year I did a festival in Brasilia dedicated to the music of the Pará state – an incredible mix of folklore Amazon roots music that culminated recently in the tecnobrega phenomenon. And finally this year, with the Hy Brazil series of compilations, Novas Frequências third edition and a guest curatorship for Eletronika, the most important new trends festival in Minas Gerais State.

What are the unique challenges of running a festival in Brazil in your mind?

To me, the biggest challenge is competition. There are so many things going on in the country at the moment that you always have to ask yourself: how am I going to catch people’s attention? A couple of years ago we had about eight or ten huge international music festivals. The list dropped to about three in 2013. Tickets here are more expensive than the ones abroad. So people don’t have enough money to go to all of them. They have to make choices.

What was your aim with the Hy Brazil series of compilations?

The aim was to put some light in what’s going on in Brazil right now aside from the mainstream. To get these really nice artists out of their Soundcloud and Bandcamp accounts and show them to the world. That’s why I decided to give exclusivity to places like Spin, Dummy and Resident Advisor. I feel that people abroad, especially now with all the radars pointed to Brazil, need to know that we have other stuff than bossa nova and tropicália. The legends are cool, but hey guys, this is 2013.

You've said that we're seeing a second wave of contemporary electronic music makers in Brazil at the moment. Why do you think that is (aside from their age)? What are the circumstances in Brazil that have made it so vibrant right now?

It’s kind of hard to answer this question and to not talk about (their early) age. Well, actually the age doesn’t matter that much. The question lies in their generational behavior – they are so connected, smart and unafraid to experiment with everything they can. The result is the boldness in their music.

You said that people have their radars pointed at Brazil right now. Why is that?

It’s so rare to host the two biggest sport events in the world in a row – I guess that only happened once before. So with the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016, and all the social and economy transformations that such huge events carry, people are more curious to find out more about Brazil. To find out what really happens in this country besides all the old clichés.