Tiganá Santana
This Brazilian cultural matrix positions Tiganá Santana globally...
Curation
CURATION
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from this page:
by Matrix
The Integrated Global Creative Economy
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Name:
Tiganá Santana
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City/Place:
Salvador, Bahia
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Country:
Brazil
Life & Work
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Bio:
Nascido a 29 de dezembro de 1982, na cidade de Salvador (Bahia), o compositor, cantor, instrumentista, poeta, produtor musical, diretor artístico, curador, pesquisador, professor e tradutor Tiganá Santana iniciou seus estudos musicais de violão aos 14 de anos, na sua terra nativa, com Alberto Batinga. Começou a compor ainda nessa fase, após, desde os 9 anos, ter tido a experiência da escrita poética.
O fato de Tiganá Santana ter sido o primeiro compositor brasileiro, na história fonográfica do país, a apresentar um álbum, como compositor, com a presença de canções em línguas africanas, relaciona-se com grande parte do seu trajeto de formação, como também diz respeito aos seus interesses por adentrar mundos não ocidentais. O álbum aludido apresenta-se por nome “Maçalê” (“você é um com a sua essência”, em yoruba arcaico) e foi disponibilizado para o amplo público, digital e fisicamente, entre o final do ano de 2009 e o início do ano de 2010. Em 2008, tendo sido contemplado pelo Edital de Apoio a Conteúdo Digital de Música, promovido pela Fundação Cultural do Estado da Bahia, pôde lançar o referido primeiro álbum.
Em 2013, lançou o segundo registro fonográfico, “The Invention of Color”, que teve, no seu projeto gráfico, aquarelas e desenhos originais concebidos pelo artista-curador Emanoel Araújo. Tal álbum contou com um prêmio concedido pelo Departamento de Cultura da Suécia, país em que foi gravado, que propiciou a realização de todo o seu projeto artístico-musical. Ainda nesse ano, foi contemplado por uma bolsa da UNESCO-Aschberg (Programa de bolsas para artistas e profissionais de cultura), por meio da qual esteve em Residência Artística no Senegal (precisamente, no Espace Sobo Bade, situado na cidade de Toubab Dialaw).
Após 5 meses, ao final da Residência, tendo sido também contemplado pelo Edital Petrobras Cultural, gravou, em conjunto com músicos da África do Oeste (Senegal, Guiné-Conacri e Mali), o álbum duplo que viria a chamar-se “Tempo & Magma”, lançado em 2015, e que teve uma etapa de sua gravação no Brasil para que se configurassem as participações da cantora CéU e da reconhecida escritora-pensadora e sacerdotisa de religião de matriz africana do Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá, Sra. Maria Stella de Azevedo Santos (conhecida como Mãe Stella de Oxossi), primeira religiosa do Candomblé a fazer parte de uma Academia de Letras (Academia de Letras da Bahia).
Canções desses dois últimos álbuns figuram entre as mais ouvidas pelo público europeu, segundo os dados do World Music Charts. Após o lançamento dos seus três primeiros álbuns, Tiganá Santana foi eleito um dos dez músicos fundamentais da música atual brasileira pela conceituada revista inglesa especializada em música, Songlines.
Dirigiu a produção artístico-musical de outros projetos, como no caso dos dois últimos álbuns da cantora brasileira Virgínia Rodrigues (o penúltimo destes, “Mama Kalunga”, de 2015, rendeu-lhe o prêmio de melhor cantora no Prêmio da Música Brasileira em 2016).
No ano de 2020, lançam-se os álbuns “Vida-Código” — agraciado pelo Edital de Publicação Musical do Departamento de Cultura da Suécia — e “Milagres”, feito sob solicitação de uma gravadora alemã, a Martin Hossbach, para revisitar, hodiernamente, o emblemático álbum “Milagre dos Peixes”, do intérprete e compositor Milton Nascimento, com letras musicais censuradas pelo regime ditatorial militar do Brasil em 1973. Houve a pré-estreia do referido projeto cênico-musical, em julho de 2019, no Festival de Avignon, um dos mais relevantes festivais de teatro (e de artes da cena) da Europa. Lança-se, também, o mais recente álbum da cantora Virgínia Rodrigues, baseado em composições de mulheres de países que tiveram contato com a Língua Portuguesa, o qual Tiganá concebeu e dirigiu, artisticamente, sob o título “Cada voz é uma mulher”. O artista também concebeu e dirigiu, artisticamente, um espetáculo musical — “Dorival Negro Caymmi” — que homenageou parte da obra do compositor e pintor brasileiro Dorival Caymmi focada nas raízes culturais negras.
Ao longo dos últimos 13 anos, Tiganá Santana excursionou, ininterrupta e frequentemente, por países europeus, africanos e asiáticos sempre priorizando, ao lado da construção artística, os encontros interculturais e a recolha de aspectos relevantes das culturas locais, dentro de como as poderia interpretar.
Paralelamente, difundiu os trabalhos artísticos, as reflexões e as pesquisas por meio de diversas apresentações e entrevistas em rádios, jornais, revistas e televisão como a rádio BBC de Londres, o jornal francês Le Monde, a Revista Carta Capital, os jornais Folha e Estado de São Paulo, jornais A Tarde e Correio da Bahia, Rádio Cultura de São Paulo, Rádio Senado, TV4 da Suécia, Radio France Internationale, Polskie Radio (da Polônia), entre outros.
Fez a curadoria da maior exposição registrada sobre a cantora e compositora brasileira D.Ivone Lara, quando ela completou 94 anos de vida, no espaço expográfico do Instituto Itaú Cultural, em 2015, e compôs trilhas sonoras para dois filmes nacionais (“Mocambo Akomabu” e “A última abolição”) e um filme chinês, em parceria com o produtor musical sueco Andreas Unge, ainda por ser lançado. Participou de documentários, como o próprio “Mocambo Akomabu”, do qual foi narrador, o francês “Obá Obá Obá”, sob direção de Benjamin Rassat, em que atuou, e “Aprender a ler pra ensinar meus camaradas”, de João Guerra, do qual participou com falas registradas.
Em 2013, Tiganá publicou o livro de poemas “O oco-transbordo” pela editora Rubra Cartoneira, de Londrina. Posteriormente, em 2016, sob formato interartístico, elaborou, com a colaboração da artista visual Clara Domingas, um experimento audiovisual, “Não se traduzem os feitiços”, cujo projeto havia sido escolhido pela comissão do edital cultural da Natura, que percorreu capitais no Brasil como Salvador, São Paulo e Rio de Janeiro. Tal projeto configurou-se após a imersão em setores culturais do Cabo Verde e numa aldeia tupinambá em Olivença/BA, desenhando, assim, uma conexão reflexivo-criativa afro-ameríndia.
Em 2010, foi convidado por curadores da Bienal de São Paulo, na sua vigésima nona edição, para apresentar uma performance criativa. Na sequência, Tiganá Santana estendeu o convite ao Professor Doutor Maurício Salles de Vasconcelos, vinculado ao quadro docente do Programa de Literatura Comparada da Universidade de São Paulo, para que, juntos, realizassem a performance, unindo poesia do continente africano, música afrodiaspórica e Artes da Cena. Desse modo, foi apresentada a performance “Linguagens Espraiadas: afropoética presente”.
English:
Born on December 29, 1982, in the city of Salvador (Bahia), the composer, singer, instrumentalist, poet, music producer, artistic director, curator, researcher, teacher, and translator Tiganá Santana began his musical studies on the guitar at the age of 14, in his native land, with Alberto Batinga. He started composing during this phase, after experiencing poetic writing since the age of 9.
The fact that Tiganá Santana was the first Brazilian composer, in the phonographic history of the country, to present an album with songs in African languages relates to much of his educational journey, as well as his interests in entering non-Western worlds. The mentioned album is called "Maçalê" ("you are one with your essence", in archaic Yoruba) and was made available to the general public, digitally and physically, between the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010. In 2008, having been awarded the Digital Music Content Support Grant by the Cultural Foundation of the State of Bahia, he was able to release the aforementioned first album.
In 2013, he released the second phonographic recording, "The Invention of Color", which featured watercolors and original drawings in its graphic design, conceived by the artist-curator Emanoel Araújo. This album received an award from the Department of Culture of Sweden, the country in which it was recorded, which facilitated the realization of his entire artistic-musical project. Also in that year, he was awarded a UNESCO-Aschberg grant (Fellowship Program for Artists and Culture Professionals), through which he participated in an Artistic Residency in Senegal (precisely, at the Espace Sobo Bade, located in the city of Toubab Dialaw).
After 5 months, at the end of the Residency, also being awarded the Petrobras Cultural Grant, he recorded, together with musicians from West Africa (Senegal, Guinea-Conakry, and Mali), the double album that would be called "Tempo & Magma", released in 2015, which had a stage of its recording in Brazil to include the participation of the singer CéU and the renowned writer-thinker and priestess of African-derived religion of Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá, Mrs. Maria Stella de Azevedo Santos (known as Mãe Stella de Oxossi), the first priestess of Candomblé to be part of a Literary Academy (Academy of Letters of Bahia).
Songs from these last two albums are among the most listened to by the European public, according to World Music Charts data. After the release of his first three albums, Tiganá Santana was elected one of the ten fundamental musicians of current Brazilian music by the prestigious English music magazine, Songlines.
He directed the artistic-musical production of other projects, such as in the case of the last two albums by the Brazilian singer Virgínia Rodrigues (the penultimate of these, "Mama Kalunga", from 2015, earned her the award for best singer at the Brazilian Music Award in 2016).
In 2020, the albums "Vida-Código" — awarded by the Music Publication Grant from the Department of Culture of Sweden — and "Milagres" were released, made at the request of a German record label, Martin Hossbach, to revisit, today, the emblematic album "Milagre dos Peixes", by the interpreter and composer Milton Nascimento, with musical lyrics censored by the military dictatorship regime in Brazil in 1973. The aforementioned scenic-musical project had its premiere in July 2019, at the Avignon Festival, one of the most relevant theater festivals (and stage arts) in Europe. Also released was the most recent album by singer Virgínia Rodrigues, based on compositions by women from countries that have had contact with the Portuguese language, which Tiganá conceived and artistically directed under the title "Cada voz é uma mulher" (Each Voice is a Woman). The artist also conceived and artistically directed a musical show — "Dorival Negro Caymmi" — which paid tribute to part of the work of the Brazilian composer and painter Dorival Caymmi focused on black cultural roots.
Over the past 13 years, Tiganá Santana has toured continuously and frequently in European, African, and Asian countries, always prioritizing, alongside artistic creation, intercultural encounters, and the collection of relevant aspects of local cultures, in terms of how they could be interpreted.
In parallel, he has disseminated artistic works, reflections, and research through various presentations and interviews on radio, newspapers, magazines, and television, such as BBC Radio in London, the French newspaper Le Monde, Carta Capital magazine, Folha and Estado de São Paulo newspapers, A Tarde and Correio da Bahia newspapers, Cultura de São Paulo Radio, Senado Radio, TV4 Sweden, Radio France Internationale, Polskie Radio (from Poland), among others.
He curated the largest exhibition ever held on the Brazilian singer and composer D.Ivone Lara when she turned 94, at the exhibition space of the Itaú Cultural Institute in 2015, and composed soundtracks for two national films ("Mocambo Akomabu" and "The Last Abolition") and a Chinese film, in partnership with the Swedish music producer Andreas Unge, yet to be released. He participated in documentaries, such as "Mocambo Akomabu" itself, of which he was the narrator, the French "Obá Obá Obá", directed by Benjamin Rassat, in which he acted, and "Learning to Read to Teach My Comrades", by João Guerra, in which he participated with recorded speeches.
In 2013, Tiganá published the book of poems "O oco-transbordo" by the publisher Rubra Cartoneira, from Londrina. Subsequently, in 2016, in an inter-artistic format, he elaborated, with the collaboration of the visual artist Clara Domingas, an audiovisual experiment, "Não se traduzem os feitiços" (Spells are not translated), whose project had been chosen by the commission of the cultural tender of Natura, which toured capitals in Brazil such as Salvador, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro. This project was configured after immersion in cultural sectors of Cape Verde and in a Tupinambá village in Olivença/BA, thus drawing an Afro-Indigenous reflective-creative connection.
In 2010, he was invited by curators of the São Paulo Biennial, in its twenty-ninth edition, to present a creative performance. Subsequently, Tiganá Santana extended the invitation to Professor Doctor Maurício Salles de Vasconcelos, linked to the faculty of the Comparative Literature Program at the University of São Paulo, so that together they could perform, combining poetry from the African continent, Afro-diasporic music, and Performing Arts. Thus, the performance "Linguagens Espraiadas: afropoética presente" (Spread Languages: present afropoetics) was presented.
Contact Information
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Email:
[email protected]
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Management/Booking:
Agente/Booking agent:
Monica Cosas
(Brasil, Portugal e projetos especiais / Brazil, Portugal & special projects)
+55 11 988 556 175
[email protected]
akassaproducoes.com
Hélico
(Europa / Europe)
+33 1 42 00 51 33
[email protected]
helicomusic.com
Clips (more may be added)
There are certain countries, the names of which fire the popular imagination. Brazil is one of them; an amalgam of primitive and sophisticated, jungle and elegance, luscious jazz harmonics — there’s no other place like it in the world. And while Rio de Janeiro, or its fame anyway, tends toward the sophisticated end of the spectrum, Bahia bends toward the atavistic…
It’s like a trick of the mind’s light (I suppose), but standing on beach or escarpment in Salvador and looking out across the Baía de Todos os Santos to the great Recôncavo, and mindful of what happened there (and here; the Bahian Recôncavo was final port-of-call for more enslaved human beings than any other place throughout the entirety of mankind’s existence on this planet, and in the past it extended into what is now urban Salvador), one must be led to the inevitable conclusion that one is in a place unique to history, and to the present:
Brazil absorbed over ten times the number of enslaved Africans taken to the United States of America, and is a repository of African deities (and their music) now largely forgotten in their lands of origin.
Brazil was a refuge (of sorts) for Sephardim fleeing an Inquisition which followed them across the Atlantic (that unofficial symbol of Brazil’s national music — the pandeiro — was almost certainly brought to Brazil by these people).
Across the parched savannas of the interior of Brazil’s culturally fecund nordeste/northeast (where wizard Hermeto Pascoal was born in Lagoa da Canoa — Lagoon of the Canoe — and raised in Olho d’Águia — Eye of the Eagle), much of Brazil’s aboriginal population was absorbed into a caboclo/quilombola culture punctuated by the Star of David.
Three cultures — from three continents — running for their lives, their confluence forming an unprecedented fourth. Pandeirista on the roof.
That's where this Matrix begins:
Wolfram MathWorld
The idea is simple, powerful, and egalitarian: To propagate for them, the Matrix must propagate for all. Most in the world are within six degrees of us. The concept of a "small world" network (see Wolfram above) applies here, placing artists from the Recôncavo and the sertão, from Salvador... from Brooklyn, Berlin and Mombassa... musicians, writers, filmmakers... clicks (recommendations) away from their peers all over the planet.
This Integrated Global Creative Economy (we invented the concept) uncoils from Brazil's sprawling Indigenous, African, Sephardic and then Ashkenazic, Arabic, European, Asian cultural matrix... expanding like the canopy of a rainforest tree rooted in Bahia, branches spreading to embrace the entire world...
Recent Visitors Map
Great culture is great power.
And in a small world great things are possible.
Alicia Svigals
"Thanks, this is a brilliant idea!!"
—Alicia Svigals (NEW YORK CITY): Apotheosis of klezmer violinists
"Dear Sparrow: I am thrilled to receive your email! Thank you for including me in this wonderful matrix."
—Susan Rogers (BOSTON): Director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory ... Former personal recording engineer for Prince; "Purple Rain", "Sign o' the Times", "Around the World in a Day"
"Dear Sparrow, Many thanks for this – I am touched!"
—Julian Lloyd Webber (LONDON): Premier cellist in UK; brother of Andrew (Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Phantom of the Opera...)
"This is super impressive work ! Congratulations ! Thanks for including me :)))"
—Clarice Assad (RIO DE JANEIRO/CHICAGO): Pianist and composer with works performed by Yo Yo Ma and orchestras around the world
"We appreciate you including Kamasi in the matrix, Sparrow."
—Banch Abegaze (LOS ANGELES): manager, Kamasi Washington
"Thanks! It looks great!....I didn't write 'Cantaloupe Island' though...Herbie Hancock did! Great Page though, well done! best, Randy"
"Very nice! Thank you for this. Warmest regards and wishing much success for the project! Matt"
—Son of Jimmy Garrison (bass for John Coltrane, Bill Evans...); plays with Herbie Hancock and other greats...
I opened the shop in Salvador, Bahia in 2005 in order to create an outlet to the wider world for magnificent Brazilian musicians.
David Dye & Kim Junod for NPR found us (above), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (he's a huge jazz fan), David Byrne, Oscar Castro-Neves... Spike Lee walked past the place while I was sitting on the stoop across the street drinking beer and listening to samba from the speaker in the window...
But we weren't exactly easy for the world-at-large to get to. So in order to extend the place's ethos I transformed the site associated with it into a network wherein Brazilian musicians I knew would recommend other Brazilian musicians, who would recommend others...
And as I anticipated, the chalky hand of God-as-mathematician intervened: In human society — per the small-world phenomenon — most of the billions of us on earth are within some 6 or fewer degrees of each other. Likewise, within a network of interlinked artists as I've described above, most of these artists will in the same manner be at most a handful of steps away from each other.
So then, all that's necessary to put the Brazilians within possible purview of the wide wide world is to include them among a wide wide range of artists around that world.
If, for example, Quincy Jones is inside the matrix, then anybody on his page — whether they be accessing from a campus in L.A., a pub in Dublin, a shebeen in Cape Town, a tent in Mongolia — will be close, transitable steps away from Raymundo Sodré, even if they know nothing of Brazil and are unaware that Sodré sings/dances upon this planet. Sodré, having been knocked from the perch of fame and ground into anonymity by Brazil's dictatorship, has now the alternative of access to the world-at-large via recourse to the vast potential of network theory.
...to the degree that other artists et al — writers, researchers, filmmakers, painters, choreographers...everywhere — do also. Artificial intelligence not required. Real intelligence, yes.
Years ago in NYC (I've lived here in Brazil for 32 years now) I "rescued" unpaid royalties (performance & mechanical) for artists/composers including Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Mongo Santamaria, Jim Hall, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd (for his rights in Bob Marley compositions; Clement was Bob's first producer), Led Zeppelin, Ray Barretto, Philip Glass and many others. Aretha called me out of the blue vis-à-vis money owed by Atlantic Records. Allen Klein (managed The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles) called about money due the estate of Sam Cooke. Jerry Ragovoy (Time Is On My Side, Piece of My Heart) called just to see if he had any unpaid money floating around out there (the royalty world was a shark-filled jungle, to mangle metaphors, and I doubt it's changed).
But the pertinent client (and friend) in the present context is Earl "Speedo" Carroll, of The Cadillacs. Earl went from doo-wopping on Harlem streetcorners to chart-topping success to working as a custodian at PS 87 elementary school on the west side of Manhattan. Through all of this he never lost what made him great.
Greatness and fame are too often conflated. The former should be accessible independently of the latter.
Yeah this is Bob's first record contract, made with Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd of Studio One and co-signed by his aunt because he was under 21. I took it to Black Rock to argue with CBS' lawyers about the royalties they didn't want to pay (they paid).
Matrix founding creators are behind "one of 10 of the best (radios) around the world", per The Guardian.
Across the creative universe... For another list, reload page.
This list is random, and incomplete. Reload the page for another list.
For a complete list of everybody inside, tap TOTAL below:
TOTAL
Ex Terra Brasilis
Susan Rogers
Julian Lloyd Webber
Clarice Assad
Kamasi Washington
Randy Brecker
Matt Garrison
RÁDIO MATRIX