{"id":9153,"date":"2024-07-11T22:16:52","date_gmt":"2024-07-12T03:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=9153"},"modified":"2024-07-12T06:38:20","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T11:38:20","slug":"yy-amaro-freitas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/yy-amaro-freitas\/","title":{"rendered":"Prepared Piano with a Brazilian Identity: Amaro Freitas Previews his 2024 Newport Jazz Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Biologist and naturalist E.O. Wilson once noted, “Destroying rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.” Nature, particularly in a region as biodiverse as a rainforest, provides such enrapturing beauty that man could only hope to recreate. Nevertheless, the destruction of such natural habitats continues unabated. In the case of the Amazon rainforest, by 2022, about twenty percent of it had been deforested for human development. The Amazon has become very close to becoming degraded into a savannah, completely flipping its ecosystem. On his third release, Y’Y <\/em>(Psychic Hotline, 2024), Brazilian pianist Amaro Freitas brings attention to these perilous circumstances by musically sharing some of the magic of the Amazon. Or, in the words of the artist himself, the album is an \u201chomage to the forest, especially the Amazon Forest, and the rivers of Northern Brazil: a call to live, feel, respect, and care for nature, recognizing it as our ancestor.\u201d Freitas will bring these sonic environments to the Newport Jazz Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking its name from the word for “water” in the language of Brazil’s  indigenous people of the Sater\u00e9 Maw\u00e9, Y’Y<\/em> captures the sound of running rivers and trickling streams, particularly on “Uiara (Encantada da \u00c1gua.” On “Mapinguari (Encantado da Mata,” one can sense the sound of rustling leaves while “Viva Nan\u00e1” provides the calls of the forest’s avian inhabitants. Fascinatingly, these seemingly organic sounds were created primarily on Freitas\u2019 eighty-eight keys. Prepared piano – placing objects into the instrument to alter its sound – plays a central role in bringing nature’s sounds to the recording. Although musicians have used prepared piano in contemporary classical contexts since at least John Cage’s works in the 1940s, Freitas adopts and applies these concepts in an inherently unique way. Instead of selecting specific preparations merely to sound different, there is an unquestionable intent behind each of his out-of-the-box choices. Using an electronic bow on the instrument’s strings evokes the call of a dolphin on “Uiara.” Placing clothespins and Amazonian seeds on strings captures the biome’s humidity on “Dan\u00e7a dos Martelos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Y’Y<\/em> transports its listeners to a land that is somehow equally foreign and comfortable. It marries the paramount experimentalism of avant-garde and the gradual developments of minimalism. Space and silence also take on renewed importance to provide a fuller grasp of your surroundings. In emphasizing these aspects of his music, the album provides a more vibrant and vivid picture of the Amazon than photographs ever could. But the record is more than just an exercise in environmental appreciation. By paying homage to the indigenous people of Brazil, Freitas also shows that there is a way in which man can peacefully co-exist with nature, as those civilizations have done for generations. The album leaves much to consider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We corresponded with Freitas via email to discuss the power of his music, the album – primarily a solo outing with visits from Hamid Drake, Shabaka Hutchings, Jeff Parker, Brandee Younger, and Aniel Someillan -and his upcoming performance at Newport. Responses have been edited for clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When did you first become aware of the Newport Jazz Festival? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 I watched a YouTube video of the Joshua Redman Quartet. I was fascinated by the festival and this show. That was in 2015. I dreamed that I could play there one day.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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