The Panorama Lighthouse is a section that is responsible for highlighting the most important releases in Ibero-America and is published simultaneously in all the media that make up the alliance, thus multiplying its reach and visibility. Every delivery updates us on the struggles in each of our countries, currently going through the reality of COVID-19, and on the news of their musical ecosystems. As we always say, there is much to discover out there. If you want to know what the region sounds like today, this is the place and the time.

Lighthouse is composed of IndieToday (Argentina), Scream&Yell (Brazil), shock (Colombia), Magazine AM:PM (Cuba),  POTQ (Chili), Sound World and Construction Area (Spain), Indie Rocks! (Mexico), Rock Achorao' (Peru) and Piiila (Uruguay). It also works to create original and innovative content, as well as various activities that serve to break down borders and build bridges between the different countries of Ibero-America.

Brazil

By Marcelo Costa/ Scream & Yell

Despite the fact that everything conspired against the joy of Brazilians in 2021, the month of November allowed them to dream again. Holding some festivals (such as the NOARCM, in Olinda, and the afropunk bay, in Salvador) and the large concert schedule made many glimpse the proximity of a return to normality in a new post-pandemic world. However, the arrival of Omicron showed that it is still necessary to be careful, but we continue with faith.

Cinema, literature, music and the arts as a whole make us believe in a better future. And November was a month full of news! These are our highlights. 

The Baggios emerged in the early 2000s as a powerhouse blues rock duo hailing from Sergipe, in northeastern Brazil. With each new album, the group broadened their sound, absorbed influences, and grew musically. Now, as a trio, they reach their creative peak with Tupã-Rá, their fifth album, which connects the Brazilian northeast with Africa, embracing samba, sharpening the record, making you dance and think. An album for open minds and hearts!

One of the founders of the Comadre Fulorzinha group in Recife in the 90s, Alessandra Leão, continues to build a brilliant solo career. His new album, the wonderful Acesa, is born from a series of conversations with teachers, musicians and religious leaders from Pernambuco, Paraíba and São Paulo linked to the traditions of coconut, ciranda, maracatu, jurema, umbanda and candomblé, and delves into the territory cleared by the excellent Macumbas and Catimbós (2019), nominated for a Latin Grammy. El albúm and the 15 web series episodes are available on Youtube.

Felipe S is a vocalist for the band Mombojó, one of the main groups that emerged in Recife in the 2000s. In addition to the band and other parallel projects, Felipe is also a solo artist, and in November he released his second album, mirrors, «a portrait of dissatisfaction with the direction the country has taken». It is also "a self-criticism of my addiction to mobile phones", he said in an interview with Scream & Yell. It's an anti-establishment album and very aware of today's world! We recommend it. 

The American indie rock scene hit Brazil hard, and a new name always emerges under its influence. Eliminadorzinho, from São Paulo, is the most recent example. With some guitars that provide the same carelessness as Pavement and a certain melody of I have it, rock jr., the boys' debut album, speaks of the "messy beginning of adulthood" and exudes sincerity. In Scream & Yell, commented on each of the songs on the album.

Still in indie rock territory but leaning more towards British shoegaze, São Paulo-based Wry released his seventh album, revive. With the experience of living in London between 2002 and 2008, the group led by Mario Bross returned to Brazil and in the new album they recreated forgotten songs from all the band's eras, resulting in a multifaceted and inspired album, which also has a version of Jesus and Mary Chain. At track-by-track present in Scream & Yell recommend: "Try listening with your headphones on!"

Formed in Rio de Janeiro in 2008, the Zoe Trio returns with a new job, Schism, a four-song EP released through Selo Curva, whose sound is more rock-oriented, while previous works tended more towards jazz and experimental post-rock. Do not miss his version of Isobel by Björk: «She is one of the geniuses (genius in the true sense of the word) not only of music, but also of the visual arts», they explained in an interview with Scream & Yell. 

One year after posting Olorum, which appeared on several lists of the best of 2020 around the world, Mateus Aleluia (member of the legendary Bahian band Os Tincoãs) presents his new project, the fruit of his musical research in Benin. The work brings together the album (32 songs!) Afrocanto das Nações – Jêje and the virtual museum Nações do Candomblé, which symbolize a deep immersion in the ancestry. To listen calmly and let go. 

Artist from Fortaleza, who has earned a respectable place in the crowded Brazilian rap scene, Don L has released the second part of his reverse trilogy. Route for Aïnouz, Vol. 2 (preceded by Vol. 3, which came out in 2017), the brilliant rapper from Ceará rereads the past to reflect the present while colliding with trap, soul, drill, Brazilian music and R&B. Literally, how could it be otherwise, Don L attacks conservatism, the savage thieves (like Columbus) who usurped our lands and the false Christian morality, so much in vogue in Bolsonaro's Brazil. Great album!

Glass Caco is the name of the intense second studio album by gaucho singer-songwriter Duda Brack, a powerful album by an artist and a woman who has gone through many processes of healing, transformation and maturation from 2015 to now. After a crisis of depression in 2016, considering abandoning her career, love disappointments and abusive relationships, the singer, today, overflows with power and authenticity. Glass Caco It is, according to her, an album of "experimental pop that drinks from the source of Brazilian popular music and my Latin ancestry." You may cut yourself, which is part of life, but open your heart to this record. 

To top off the Brazilian recommendations for November in style, a very sunny album: Sit down do Lance, an album that unites the legends João Donato and Jards Macalé (who conducted one of the best Brazilian albums of all time in London in 1972, Trade, by Caetano Veloso). In a year where being Brazilian was very difficult and sometimes painful, Donato and Macalé release an album to lighten the heavy mood of these dark days. To do this, the two musicians «they pose nude» on the album cover, and Donato opens the album saying «só alegria». It is a light and relaxed album by two artists who lived through the dark times of the Brazilian dictatorship and who now, with all their experience, touch us on the shoulder saying: «All this will pass». It will, my friends, it really will. 

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