The Rough Guide To Brazilian Electronica: Cila Do Coco

(Photo by Lucas Lima)

Time we got this moving. And, typically, it's another where I can find few details about the track or the artists. Taking another well-established singer (like with Claudia Telles), Dona Cila Do Coco, Instituto have remixed this song from it's more traditional routes to the funky, shifting electronica here. Pop Matters agrees with me that this is one of the highlights of the record.

This song is the first real time in the record that it has sounded really tribal, and I have to be careful how I phrase it: I don't want to be getting all colonial on you. But Cila Do Coco is a singer in the more traditional Latin vein, her voice a passionate shriek at times. There are moments (especially at the beginning, before the major remixing work kicks in) that this sounds like something recorded 60 years ago - in fact, when Dona Do Coco was a child. It has a grainy, sepia kind of sound, filtered of course through an almost animal cry. And that continues throughout, from the insistent congas to the chanted backing.

But there's some fascinatingly eclectic remixing here as well. The string sample is a recurring motif, and the vocals are chopped and changed and strung out and mutilated. The result is something that sounds, as I said, in some ways almost ancient, in some ways absolutely cutting edge.

Instituto are a five-man audio-visual unit founded by Rica Amabis, and this is maybe their most famous remix work. It takes the Do Coco track and chops and changes and adds and takes away, and features a notable contribution from Ninja Tune's turntablist Kid Koala. For me, it really sums up what this CD is all about, the fusion of styles matching Brazil's history, politics, culture, you name it, and is a great, funky, and downright cool song.

Cila Do Coco - Juntando Coco (Instituto remix)

Bonus material:
Elza Soares - Mandinguiera (Instituto remix)
This is a more laidback, bossa-y groove, but with the same cool electronica stylings.
Instituto - Cabeça De Nêgo (w/ Sabotage)
Hip-hoppy and hand-clappy
Kid Koala - listen on MySpace

<$>The Rough Guide To Brazilian Electronica/Cila Do Coco/Instituto/Elza Soares/Kid Koala<$>

The Rough Guide To Brazilian Electronica: Suba; Macumbalada; Claudia Telles

Tags: Rough Guide; Brazil; electronica; Cila Do Coco; Instituto; Elza Soares; Kid Koala