The last time we spoke with Carlo Variola of Ocean Waves, he was working on his Ocean Waves Brasil Project. Now, Carlo has released the album Orixas: Forças da Natureza and Mikey Fell caught up with him to find out all about it.
Liverpool Noise: Hey Carlo! How have you been since we last caught up?
Carlo: I have been good thanks, keeping busy with Music too.
Liverpool Noise: Have you been back to Liverpool since the unveiling of the most recent Ocean Waves project?
Carlo: I have not been back to Liverpool yet, it’s something I want to do very soon, see friends and have a look at the music scene too, I miss that.
Liverpool Noise: With your latest release Orixas, do you feel it’s getting your message and ideas across, as well as increasing awareness for the Candomblé music’s history and tradition?
Carlo: Candomble’s music influence is already big in Brazil. You can hear it on Samba for example, one of the most popular Brazilian music genres worldwide but also on other more modern music genres such as Axé or Funky Carioca.
In Brazil everyone knows about Candomble’s existence but not many people got really in touch with that so I expect that almost only the people that belong to Afro-Brazilian communities will have a listen to the album ‘Orixas: Forces of Nature’.
Out of Brazil the vast majority of people are not aware about Candomblé and its culture. So definitely this album will raise awareness about this traditional music and culture between the ones that will listen to it. I think that mainly people that like the most traditional part of the ‘World Music’ would be attracted to Candomble music, so most likely Ed Sheeran fans won’t!
It is not easy-listening music for those who do not belong to the religion, it sounds very rootsy, primitive, tribal and definitely not made to sell.
Liverpool Noise: Tell us a little about the titles of the tracks, which language is this and how do they represent the music?
Carlo: The language is Yoruba. A well known language and culture from West Africa. The titles of the tracks are purely names. The names of the Orixás, forces of nature and deities in the Candomble religion. So ‘Exu’ the name of the first song is also the Orixa that opens or closes the paths to people, ‘Ogun’ is the god of metal and war, ‘Oxossi’ is the Orixá of hunting and the forest and so on.
Liverpool Noise: The newest release has an array of songs ranging from an almost trance like track with Oxaguiam, then hearing the opening track Exu with such positivity to it – at least from a listener’s perspective – do the lyrics change that message at all?
Carlo: I can say that all the songs of Candomble are trance related because they are made to drive followers into a trance state of consciousness during the ceremonies. In this album I wanted to present these traditional songs in a way that people could have a little taste of them, so in a short length way. In their natural form these songs last way longer. A song for an Orixa could last more than half an hour during a ritual and this is also the time that generally takes to have a trance effect on some of the religion’s followers.
There are different moods between the album songs but they are more due to the different personalities and histories of the Orixas rather than the lyrics. The lyrics are simple prayers dedicated to each one of the Orixas included in the Album.
So the song for Oxaguian sounds faster and more energetic than others because this Orixa’ is a young warrior that calls for the battle. The song for Oxum sounds more delicate and soft because this is the Orixa of beauty, love and fertility.
Liverpool Noise: Finally, thank you so much for another wonderful project. Did you link up with any artists to create this and what do you hope to achieve with the release?
Carlo: Thank you for your time. Yes, I linked up with other artists for the second part of this project. After the release of the album ‘Orixas: Forces of Nature’ we will release an album of remixes of the traditional songs. To open this project to a wider and more international public I had the idea to call some other producers to remix some of the traditional songs. So I was lucky enough to involve Moodymanc from Manchester, Germanager from Liverpool and Leames from France. The remix album will be out next.
When I decided to do this project I wanted to explore a completely new kind of music and way to make music. And I can say that I already achieved that. It would take a book to describe what an incredible experience has been. I learnt a lot as a producer and as a human. knowing new cultures always makes us grow and widens our mind.
Thank you so much!
Stream Ocena Waves Brasil Orixas: Forças da Natureza now on all major streaming platforms.
Mikey Fell
