Tiganá Santana
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil | Established. Jan 01, 2014 | INDIE
Music
Press
52 THE INVENTION OF COLOUR Tigana Santana
Ajabu! Brazil - wmce
Tiganá Santana, profond et précieux
Des arpèges dissonants, un raclement de percussion, le trouble d’une voix haute et noble, quelques cordes frottées pour faire vibrer par en-dessous cette texture organique, quasi-végétale, pleine de suavité et de saveurs… on entre dans The Invention of Colour comme dans un monde bruissant de mystères où la lumière ne pénétrerait presque pas et où les sons ouatés ne seraient que les échos d’un lointain extérieur. Songwriter brésilien profond et précieux, Tiganá Santana est l’auteur de cette musique autarcique qui ne vit que d’elle-même et élève un peu plus l’âme à chaque nouvelle écoute. - Les Inrocks (23/07/2013) - par Louis-Julien Nicolaou
Not simply a composer, Brazilian guitarist and singer-songwriter
Tiganá Santana is also a poet and philosopher – a formidable force
full of musings and rhetorical questions. “I believe in spirituality,
and I think of things like music as coming from another
dimension, or another place in the world, you know? Where music comes
from...” he pauses, contemplating. “I am within music. It is not within me.”
Santana started learning music when he was 14 years old and continued
playing while studying philosophy at the Universidade Federal da Bahia. “I like
to talk about things, that’s why I studied philosophy. I like to think about life.”
Rather than distract him from music, his philosophical investigations only
enhanced his songwriting. “Music, for me, is an expression of being alive. It’s
an interpretation of life and then also of death.”
“The daily possibility of dying is why we do things – we dream because of
that, we pretend because of that, we fulfil because of that.” His latest album,
The Invention of Colour, was not only a product of this drive to create, but also
honours it. “It is an homage to the creative state... it’s a matter of creating and
recreating, inventing and reinventing life.”
The Invention of Colour is more than just another bossa nova album;
the cool sensitivity of bossa nova is underpinned by a darker stream of
poeticism. Each track is lovely but heavy, lulling you with musical beauty that
somehow serves to leave you slightly on edge. Often compared to the sensitive
songwriter Nick Drake, Santana has a hazy voice, which blends seamlessly
with his many guests on the album. Cape Verdean singer Mayra Andrade
graces ‘La Leyenda de los Eslabones’; Ane Brun’s jazzy voice beautifully
compliments ‘Black Woman’; Brazilian singer Lazzo Matumbi elegantly lifts
over Santana on ‘Lusuki’; and Maher Cissoko’s kora gently weaves around the
African-flavoured title-track. “I gathered people from different parts of the
world, and that’s a point I want to stand out. Shaking hands, artistically, with
people from different origins, different cultural sources.”
Reaching out across the Atlantic, Santana writes and performs some songs in
African languages. As well as Portuguese, Spanish and English, The Invention
of Colour features songs in Kikongo and Kimbundu (from the Democratic
Republic of Congo and Angola respectively). He was born and raised in
Salvador, Bahia, which is the cultural hub of Afro-Brazilian culture. So his use
of African languages seems only natural. “I grew up in that context. I didn’t look
for something thoroughly outside myself or my particular experience.”
Santana’s highly individual music is further distinguished by his custom
five-string ‘drumguitar’. “I was seeking a sound through which I could express
myself. So it’s not only a matter of writing things; the sound itself has its own
speech.” Why call it a drumguitar? “Because of the tone. Like many African
drums, it has a grave sound, a bass sound, a grounded sound. And I think the
ground, the soil, the earth, they have a lot to say to us.”
Ending our conversation as philosophically as it began, Santana points out
“music is an experience of life, of both the collective and individual, and of
endless being.” He pauses, smiles. “I don’t know if I’m helping, but I do like to
think about these things, you know. We are thinking together.”
ALBUM The Invention of Colour is a Top of the World this issue, see p73
WIN For the chance to win one of three copies of The Invention of Colour, simply
answer: In which African languages does Tiganá Santana sing on his new album?
See p7 for competition rules and address. Competition deadline: September 13 2013
www.songlines.co.uk
Songlines 31 - SONGLINES - London - August/Sept. 2013 - p.31
Soberly acustic but richly musical, The Invention of Colour, the second album of the young brazilian musician Tigana Santana, marks with his magic seal the discografic year.
n You were born in Bahia. What do you mean
Has it influenced your music ?
Tiganá Santana : In Salvador , the capital of
Bahia state where I was born , you can meet
many people from
African descendants. Rituals, thinking and
behaviours related to these traditions have
influenced me, first as a person and then
as a musician. I was born in a
family where everyone is aware of this legacy.
My mother, for example, is very active in the
Negro movement.
n You practice Candomblé
[ religion syncretic Afro-
Brazilian ]. How does it rate
your life?
TS : Candomblé is a worldview ,
so I can not separate the rites of my way
of life.
n How would you summarize
this vision?
TS : The world is a village. There is the nature
and the people. We need to
respect the differences to confirm our
own meaning. Trees are trees because it
currently exists the earth. Each element is defined because
there is something different from their
Nature.
n The rhythms used in the
Candomblé, have they influenced your
music?
TS : In the Candomblé, the rhythms
are not exclusive to music. They give
the opportunity to learn a rhythm of life,
to walk, to feel the things, because there are
pulsation linked to life. Music emanates
certainly from this pulsation. In the
Candomblé , this idea is very strong.
"Life and death are my
strongest inspirations "
n How did you understand that
music can help you express
your difference?
TS : There is in music a clear expression
of the need to express something.
When I was about nine years old, I
began writing poems and to fourteenth
years, I started to learn to play
the guitar. The songs then replaced
the pure poetry. The art confirms the need
to express something personal. We
sometimes perceive this need through
other forms of professional expressions
but it is very solid through art. This is
a philosophical point of view.
n In music, you had models?
TS : I don't know because I have listened to many
artists, many sounds. I think
life and death are my most
strong inspirations, with books and simple things.
My music comes from life. My music
also belongs to those who appreciate it , I'm only
an instrument. I receive my life and
by the mean of my sensitivity, I transform it into sounds.
n When you are compared to Nick
Drake, how do you react ?
TS : His music is beautiful, but it
is not present in mine. I
didn't know his work before somebody
told me about him in Europe. I listened
to it and really loved it. It confirms that floats
in the air a legacy and that we must take
this energy, this source of inspiration. - MONDOMIX - July/August 2013 - n° 58 - p15
To reach internal peace, we have now the choice between a silent meditation, and the repeated listening of "The Invention of Colour". Armed with a five-string guitar with four hypnotic bass, the young Brazilian goes in search of his African roots. With a deep and sensual voice, he evokes the Orishas (voodoo gods), celebrates nature or the femininity of the world. A sublime disc. - MONDOMIX - Paris - Nr. 04 of Jan/Feb 2014 - page 16
Tigana Santana - The Invention of Colour - * * * * *
(...) Sure enough, the opening plangent chord on Santana's custom five-string 'drumguitar' tells you that you're in for something good. It gets better and better. There's something so delicate and so tasteful about his music that it conjures up those Japanese prints of the 'floating world', wich captivated artists in the late 19th century. A native of Salvador in Bahia, Santana grew up by the ocean and derived inspiration from the floating world of the sea. A would-be diplomat who fortunately chose music, he sings in an impressive range of tongues: from the African Kikongo language to french and English. His hazy, husky voice has been compared to Nick Drake's. On the tender 'Elizabeth Noon', with his fragile cut-glass strings, you could be listening to Nick Drake's 'Fruit Tree'. But Tigana Santana is no mere copyist. Neither bossa nova nor nova bossa, this album - recorded in Sweden with a discrete handful of such guests as Mayra Andrade, the Cape Verdean songstress - is the work of a singular artist. Take the sublime title-track, with Santana's worldless Nascimento-esque vocals weaving around Maher Cissoko's kora. Or just sit down with a pot of coffee and savour the whole fabulous creation. You don't have to be a fan of Nick Drake, or Brazilian music, to apreciate this album; it's simply exquisite.
TACK TO TRY: Elizabeth Noon
Mark Sampson - SONGLINES - London - August/Sept. 2013 - p.73
Discography
3rd CD "Tempo Magma" in production, release in February 2015.
2nd CD "The Invention of Colour" released in november 2012 by swedish label "Ajabu!".
1st CD "Macale" released in december 2009 by brazilian label "Tratore".
Photos
Bio
Not simply a composer, Brazilian guitarist and singer-songwriter, Tigan Santana is also a poet and philosopher a formidable force full of musings and rhetorical questions.
I believe in spirituality, and I think of things like music as coming from another dimension, or another place in the world, you know? Where music comes from... he pauses, contemplating. I am within music. It is not within me.
Santana started learning music when he was 14 years old and continued playing while studying philosophy at the Universidade Federal da Bahia.
Rather than distract him from music, his philosophical investigations only enhanced his songwriting. Music, for me, is an expression of being alive. Its an interpretation of life and then also of death.
His latest album, The Invention of Colour, was not only a product of this drive to create, but also honours it. It is an homage to the creative state... its a matter of creating and recreating, inventing and reinventing life.
The Invention of Colour is more than just another bossa nova album; the cool sensitivity of bossa nova is underpinned by a darker stream
of poeticism. Each track is lovely but heavy, lulling you with musical
beauty that somehow serves to leave you slightly on edge.
Often compared to the
sensitive songwriter Nick Drake, Santana has a hazy voice, which blends
seamlessly with his many guests on the album. Cape Verdean singer Mayra Andrade graces La Leyenda de los Eslabones; Ane Bruns jazzy voice
beautifully compliments Black Woman; Brazilian singer Lazzo Matumbi
elegantly lifts over Santana on Lusuki; and Maher Cissokos kora gently
weaves around the African-flavoured title-track.
I gathered people from different parts of the world, and thats a point I want to stand out. Shaking hands, artistically, with people from different origins, different cultural sources.
Reaching out across the Atlantic, Santana writes and performs some songs in African languages. As well as Portuguese, Spanish and English, The Invention of Colour features songs in Kikongo and Kimbundu (from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola respectively). He was born and raised in Salvador, Bahia, which is the cultural hub of Afro-Brazilian culture. So his use of African languages seems only natural. I grew up in that context. I didnt look for something thoroughly outside myself or my particular experience.
Santanas highly individual music is further distinguished by his custom five-string drumguitar. I was seeking a sound through which I could express myself. So its not only a matter of writing things; the sound itself has its own speech. Why call it a drumguitar? Because of the tone. Like many African drums, it has a grave sound, a bass sound, a grounded sound.
Santana points out music is an experience of life, of both the collective and individual, and of endless being. He pauses, smiles. I dont know if Im helping, but I do like to think about these things, you know. We are thinking together.
Magazine Lira - the highest in the region of Scandinavia, when it comes to music - where it is stated that, after decades, Bahia presents it's Musical revenge to the world, renewing the expression of its creative quality.
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