It has never been so difficult to produce an album, it has never been so necessary to do it

"Before a pandemic irremediably changed life as we knew it, Latin America was already sick," says Leonardo Vinhas, a Brazilian producer of Unite Everything!, the first record project of the Faro alliance that reaches digital platforms, in its entirety, this May 4.

Leonardo is referring, without a doubt, to the political, social and economic situation of a region in crisis, where coups d'état and ill-advised government policies make their way between fear, inequality and an omnipresent "connectivity" that, more that uniting us, separates us.

“So it was necessary to put everything together,” says Leo. Bringing it all together, that was the genesis of this EP that is released today. But there was more:

“One Saturday night, the musician and producer Rodrigo Stradiotto called me. I had mastered the album We are!, featuring home recordings from artists around the world, inspired by the COVID-19 lockdown. Shocked at discovering a new musical universe, and frustrated at seeing music diluted in the wide digital offer that makes it something banal, he asked me: ʽWhat can we do so that these artists, all this creation, reach more people?' . In the era of exploits, why not collaborate with artists? Rodrigo asked himself.

And Leo Vinhas, guided by Latin American integration through music —which has always been his a leitmotiv as a producer and journalist—, he replied: “we could make an album of author songs in collaboration”. Then, they refined the idea of the project and presented it to Faro, so that it would have more capillarity and impact. The alliance, of course, embraced the project. It was time then to get to work.

“But unlike most other records I've produced, the process of making this one was tortuous. Many artists could not afford to make any recordings: the lack of live performances and other activities had exhausted the resources of many of them. Others could not mentally or emotionally allow themselves to create, as they were mired in depression, anxiety, or panic. Others ignored or made impractical demands to participate.

“What was going to be an eight-track album had to become a five-track EP, for these reasons. Even among those who joined the project, some of these problems were present. Some musicians became ill, physically or mentally; others had to prioritize other work to try and put food on the table.

“To complete the picture, the executive producer—me, I mean—broke down and at one point thought he would never fully recover. It was a terrible few months, which I hope will not come back."

even so, Unite Everything! came into the world. And it came with a lot of integration and a lot of love.

“Although some of these songs can easily be defined as pop, they don't fit into the increasingly watered-down and limited aesthetics we see in music. mainstreamLeo comments.

“The title is also a joke with Break everything (in Brazil, bankrupt tudo), the Netflix documentary that aims to tell the history of rock in Latin America. Quite questionable material, which leaves out entire countries, and makes the ʽofficial story' at a single glance. So if these people are willing to break up, we're here to join them."

Below, Leonardo Vinhas himself breaks down the EP, track by track, and tells some stories that cannot translate the pleasure and beauty of seeing the birth and growth of some of these compositions, but that help to know what we are going for. to find in all the record material.

black mamba / Pahua (Mexico) and The Raulis (Brazil)

Composed by Paulina Sotomayor, Arthur Dossa, Gabriel Izidoro and Rafael Cunha.

Due to its relationship with elements of the Latin American sound, The Raulis had been on my radar for an album for some time. Paulina Sotomayor, for her part, had already participated in Brazil is also Latin with the Sotomayor project. I introduced his solo career to The Raulis and the coincidence was immediate. The band sent me a groove that she had already prepared, and Paulina devised the lyrics and the vocal melody. The theme was reworked by the band and the result is this sexy and addictive pop gem that manages to bring together elements of cumbia, samba, tecnobrega and other styles in an absolutely organic way.

hummingbird / Catalina Ávila (Colombia) and Duo Finland (Argentina/Brazil)

Composed by Catalina Avila

hummingbird was initially intended as part of this project, and would later be included on the album neighbors by Catalina Ávila, also released by the Scream&Yell label. However, with delays in the production of Unite Everything!, this order was reversed. Be that as it may, this song about loss, grief and longing was the first that Catalina wrote. It went into his debut album, Origins (2017), in a different version, and the Colombian revisited it in the company of her band and the Finland Duo, with the lyrics versioned in Portuguese. It is possibly the most “integrating” song on the EP, as it unites artists from Brazil, Argentina and Colombia, with Catalina and her band recording in Bogotá, while Mauricio Candussi and Raphael Evangelista of the Finland Duo recorded their parts in Córdoba and Paris, respectively.

somewhere / Romina Peluffo (Uruguay) and Rodrigo Stradiotto (Brazil)

Composed by Romina Peluffo and Rodrigo Stradiotto

It was the only song written in English, but this came about so naturally that there would be no point in changing it. The musical chemistry between Romina and Rodrigo was instantaneous, one of those rare encounters that deserve to be treated as such. The Uruguayan singer and songwriter talked about the feelings she wanted to bring to the song, and the musician and producer from Curitiba created an instrumental plot based on this report. With this first draft, Romina designed the vocal melody, and the lyrics came almost immediately after. From there, small refinements were made, until the song became this pearl about loneliness and emotional isolation, something that many felt in the harsh months of the pandemic. But even so, there is a lukewarm nod to hope at the end. Let's hope it comes true.

Lido / Andrés Correa (Colombia) and Marcelo Callado (Brazil)

Composed by Andrés Correa and Marcelo Callado

Uniting these two versatile composers, who know how to work the heritage of popular song from their countries of origin with more contemporary themes and aesthetics, was an old project that he found in Unite Everything! the ideal time to come true. During his last visit to Brazil, Andrés had come into contact with the work of Marcelo Callado and returned to Colombia with a copy of his album Budapest Gambit, with Nina Becker. Building on this prior knowledge, collaboration occurred easily and almost spontaneously. From four verses of Callado, Andrés created a base on the guitar, to which was added the participation of the Colombian Camilo Granados on bass and the Brazilian Rodrigo Stradiotto on keyboards. The result is a kind of MPB with a Colombian accent, or a beach rock that unites the waters of the Pacific and the Atlantic.

People are strange / Juan Olmedillo (Venezuela) and Terremotor (Brazil)

Composed by Duda Victor, José Duarte, Paulo Tropa and Juan Olmedillo

Yes in the mainstream integration is slow, and is often driven more by commercial than artistic reasons, in the underground It is produced in a more direct and humanized way. Rockabilly, garage, ska, punk and other genres had scenes with a strong Latin American exchange before the pandemic (and I hope it will be like that again). Juan Olmedillo came to Brazil twice with the group Los Mentas but had never met Terremotor, the most “polyglot” of the Brazilian surf bands (in the sense of speaking the many languages that their instrumental sound allows). This did not prevent them from throwing this wonderful surf party that reminds us that we are more united in our strangeness than in what is normal for us.