WOMAD

O Rappa

From Brazil

Biography by Andy Morgan, July 2002:The shantytowns or favelas of Rio de Janeiro and São Paolo, Brazil, are some of the most violent and deprived places on earth. If you’re Brazilian and human it’s hard to ignore their presence, twenty-four seven. O Rappa is a group of Brazilians hooked on reggae, dub, rap and samba and their music speaks volumes about the realities of favela living. Their videos pull no punches in their portrayals and have won Grammy awards for their inspired confrontational approach. The individual members of O Rappa first came together as an impromptu backing band for the reggae artists Papa Winnie in the early 1990s. Their background was in reggae, Brazilian rock and African music and they created a highly individual sound which fused all these elements seamlessly. Their first CD for Warner Bros was produced by none other than Dennis Bovell, don of UK reggae producers and musical mentor of Linton Kwesi Johnson. Their second album ‘Rappa Mundi’ featured percussionists, DJs, acid lyrics, plenty of swing and sold over 300,000 in Brazil and France. Their third ‘Lado B Lado A’ continued their small ‘p’ political outpouring and the group became involved in a favela based community project called ‘Na Palma Da Mao’ combating youth unemployment, crime, ignorance and poverty. The Rappa world is full of snapshots of life in the underbelly of society with its street hustlers, dingy bars, popular myths, urban beaches and trash poetry. Oh… and a fair amount of cheap thrills and violence too. That’s modern day Brazil, O Rappa style.Short biography 2002:Debut UK performance for one of Brazil’s hottest young rap acts. O Rappa has collaborated with Asian Dub Foundation and they come very highly recommended.