Fafá Humana - 2019

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When DJ Zé Pedro told me about Fafá de Belém's new project, saying that they would both like me to produce it, I immediately imagined an album with a jazz foundation, with arrangements created collectively with a fixed band, with a reduced lineup, opening space for the improvisation. I followed this direction because, on the one hand, I know that Fafá always prefers the spontaneity of the stage to the mathematics of the studio. On the other hand, because I am impressed by the fact that his singing, after a four-decade career, remains versatile and vigorous. 

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I bet that a production and recording process that considered dialogue and improvisation, with as many live performances as possible, would let the feeling and voice flow smoothly and freely. That is what happened. We only had two rehearsals and practically all the tracks were recorded in a maximum of threetakes, with very few editions andoverdubs. In all of them, the song of the Fafá bird soars high, impressing with the freshness and emotion that characterize some of his greatest phonographic records since 1975. 

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During the mixing, I smiled when, in the middle of the tracks, I encountered sighs, laughter, breathing, crying. All too human, his emotion led — sometimes with subtlety, sometimes with robustness — the band formed by Zé Manoel, Allen Alencar, João Deogracias and Richard Ribeiro. I invited them to accompany her not only because they are musicians of technical excellence, but above all because they have a lot of knowledge of what is happening around the world today, and know how to recognize beauty in both harmony and "chaos". 

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Without a doubt, we have a special job on our hands, which represents yet another turn towards the unlikely in the career of a woman as profound and rebellious as the waters of our Amazon rivers. I sail with her.

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Arthur Nogueira 
Music producer of the album "Fafá Humana"

2019