Reggae · August 29, 2009
Surforeggae interviews Alexandre, Natiruts' vocalist, about the VMB 2009 controversy! Check it out!
With a clear and well-formed idea about the current national reggae scene, Alexandre Carlo (vocalist of Natiruts) speaks about the band's wi
With a clear and well-formed idea about the current national reggae scene, Alexandre Carlo (vocalist of Natiruts) speaks about the band's withdrawal from the VMB 2009 award, from the broadcaster MTV. We thank the entire production for the attention given to our team and especially Alexandre for the simple and objective answers that can add a great deal to the long-awaited appreciation of the style in the country.
Rangel: Hello Alexandre. First of all, congratulations for all of Natiruts' participation in the proliferation of the reggae rhythm throughout Brasil and the world, and for carrying the country's name abroad in a positive way. This VMB 2009 controversy has been causing a lot of talk on Twitter, and we noticed that your real intention with the withdrawal was misinterpreted. After all, what does Natiruts disagree with? With the VMB itself or only with the Reggae category of the award, and why?
Alexandre: We already knew they would interpret our statement in various ways. In fact, that first statement was directed at the MTV audience. We tried to be gentle because we also do not want to give an impression of revolt, because that is not it. What we can say is that people are naive. So they would not understand, and we are not the ones who will explain. Few people saw the film Citizen Kane. I did. And I saw other much more real ones as well, in which I participated. Since now I am speaking to a media outlet that was part of building the band's career, I can be more direct.
It is very important for us to make it very clear that we do not want to demand, complain, criticize or anything similar about MTV's award. We simply do not want an opinion to be formed inside the heads of the people who make and follow the band, that a prize created by a channel that almost never publicizes our work, (Coca-Cola Zero with funk was a request from Coca-Cola itself), should be considered the quality standard of our career. Because then you become a hostage. Every year you run around like crazy, record CDs, DVDs, rehearse shows, tours, MTV is not interested in covering any of it, and then at the end of the year it appears as the great reference and supporter of national reggae by creating a category in the VMB. Ohhhhh !!!! Reggae people, now yes, you are important. Ohhhh !!!
And we are far from needing that.
Rangel: The importance of MTV Brasil to the music scene since its birth in the early 90s is undeniable. Even styles unfortunately "marginalized" by society, such as rap, had space on the broadcaster in an exclusive program, "Yo!". Do you think that if MTV gave a little more importance to the Jamaican rhythm, some prejudices would fall away?
Alexandre: Friends, look carefully, forget this need for someone or something that has not spontaneously given you importance until now to one day become responsible for your growth. Unite and give value, credibility, good comments in bars, on the streets, on corners, to those who are already here. That is the most important thing of all. The quality standard of what we do has to be given by those who are with us. Whoever wants to arrive now or later will be well received, but will only be joining a process that already exists and already has its references. The people who should decide the best of reggae are the people who live reggae. Otherwise that hostage talk happens.
Rangel: MTV has supported reggae very few times, at least MTV Brasil. Do you also feel the lack of this support, or for Natiruts is the scene self-sustaining?
Alexandre: The most important thing in the human being is self-confidence, self-esteem. I cannot miss something that has all the tools to contribute and also receive a contribution but does not do so by choice. As I said, it is an option; we only have to respect it and create our own forms as well.
Rangel: Do you think the National Reggae scene sometimes sins through disunity? Do you feel there is some type of competition between the branches?
Alexandre: Yes. But this competition is most often purely the fruit of naivety. Sometimes there is too much prophet for too little prophecy. Sometimes there is too much root for too little stem. But that is the minority. The branches are diverse and interesting. There are the trendy ones who travel to London and only listen to DUB. There are the carefree ones who just want to smoke one and have a luau on the beach. There are the adherents of the rastafari religion. There are those who only know the radio hits. This is normal and will always exist in any culture. What is not normal is that to this day there is no mentality that everything is part of the same origin and that, united, we can be more.
But as my grandfather used to say, talking is easy, I want to see giving a suggestion, and I have one. A meeting about reggae culture, inside a festival. It has to be in sampa because of the ease of structure. At Rototom (Festival in Itália) it is like that. In the afternoon there is a percussion workshop, yoga class, art exhibition, crafts, an alternative stage with some new band playing. In the late afternoon the main stage starts and goes until one o'clock, then comes the dancehall tent with the Sound Systems. We, all from reggae, have the music, the will, and the main thing, the massive support of the people. It is a suggestion, it may be viable or not, but if it is, we are in from now.
Rangel: Do you think reggae needs to invade the major media, or is the rhythm's "track" parallel to the mainstream?
Alexandre: This big media talk is contradictory within reggae itself. At the same time that people complain there is no space, they complain when someone appears. People have to make up their minds. We, from the beginning, never had that problem. We always go where we are respected.
Rangel: We have two clear examples that the large media usually refers to reggae disrespectfully. In 2006, MTV interviewed Bob Marley's mother, Cedella Booker, and in the piece called her "MãeConheira", besides other unfortunate "little jokes" that generated outrage among reggae lovers in Brasil. The other fact involves VEJA magazine, which, when citing Damian Marley's album "Welcome to Jamrock", ended by saying that the belief of thousands and thousands of people in Rastafari culture was "pseudo-religious nonsense". Anyway, what do you think of these references?
Alexandre: I do not think it usually refers disrespectfully. On the contrary. But these examples simply do not form my opinion. There is a lot of arrogance in certain sectors of society. For me and for thousands and thousands of white, black, blue and yellow people, Cedella is a winner, Welcome is a work of art, and Radiohead's show is sensational. And that is what matters and will not change because some guy from the ultra mega magazine said so.
There are things in life that are very subtle. The guys place themselves as "the makers of true opinion" because they have money, a reporter's job, a journalist's job. Then tomorrow he writes a footnote article saying he "even likes" Natiruts and I get all happy. Like "wow, now I made it, I won". We have to learn to value the opinions of those who are with us. And when expressing ourselves, not lose education, elegance, because Brasil is that. Because that is what we think and that's it.
Rangel: Elcio Coronato, reporter for "Notícias MTV", posted on his Twitter a comment about Natiruts' withdrawal, where he says that the letter sent to MTV was written under the influence of a "little peace pipe". The official VMB Twitter forwarded the post, and all its followers had access to yet another "out of time" comment. Did Natiruts expect such a response coming from (or supported by) VMB after leaving the award?
Alexandre: Well, and I do not even smoke anymore. It is that the guy sees you with dreads, singing about peace and love and such, then he thinks "this one is the humble little guy, who plays little reggae and then smokes a little joint, and goes to his little shack" and then sends one like that. Elegance is lacking. That beautiful part of European culture. I think we worry too much about certain comments that are not worth it. Sometimes it is even more due to lack of self-esteem than "fight for equality" as people say. It is like the monkey story. Recently one of those happened on someone's twitter. Then it blew up. It is incredible how they give notoriety to certain kinds of subject. If I were white, every time I was going to release a record I would call someone a monkey. That monkey talk inspired me. My new label will be called Space Monkey.
Rangel: Alexandre, thank you for the answers and for the band always being active in strengthening reggae in Brasil. Leave a message for the portal visitors who admire your work so much.
Alexandre: When the subject is reggae, believe those who work, promote, and are interested in reggae. And never lose respect for others, nor elegance. Because the people nominate, not five or six who do not care about you.
THE INTERVIEW
Rangel: Hello Alexandre. First of all, congratulations for all of Natiruts' participation in the proliferation of the reggae rhythm throughout Brasil and the world, and for carrying the country's name abroad in a positive way. This VMB 2009 controversy has been causing a lot of talk on Twitter, and we noticed that your real intention with the withdrawal was misinterpreted. After all, what does Natiruts disagree with? With the VMB itself or only with the Reggae category of the award, and why?
Alexandre: We already knew they would interpret our statement in various ways. In fact, that first statement was directed at the MTV audience. We tried to be gentle because we also do not want to give an impression of revolt, because that is not it. What we can say is that people are naive. So they would not understand, and we are not the ones who will explain. Few people saw the film Citizen Kane. I did. And I saw other much more real ones as well, in which I participated. Since now I am speaking to a media outlet that was part of building the band's career, I can be more direct.
It is very important for us to make it very clear that we do not want to demand, complain, criticize or anything similar about MTV's award. We simply do not want an opinion to be formed inside the heads of the people who make and follow the band, that a prize created by a channel that almost never publicizes our work, (Coca-Cola Zero with funk was a request from Coca-Cola itself), should be considered the quality standard of our career. Because then you become a hostage. Every year you run around like crazy, record CDs, DVDs, rehearse shows, tours, MTV is not interested in covering any of it, and then at the end of the year it appears as the great reference and supporter of national reggae by creating a category in the VMB. Ohhhhh !!!! Reggae people, now yes, you are important. Ohhhh !!!
And we are far from needing that.
Rangel: The importance of MTV Brasil to the music scene since its birth in the early 90s is undeniable. Even styles unfortunately "marginalized" by society, such as rap, had space on the broadcaster in an exclusive program, "Yo!". Do you think that if MTV gave a little more importance to the Jamaican rhythm, some prejudices would fall away?
Alexandre: Friends, look carefully, forget this need for someone or something that has not spontaneously given you importance until now to one day become responsible for your growth. Unite and give value, credibility, good comments in bars, on the streets, on corners, to those who are already here. That is the most important thing of all. The quality standard of what we do has to be given by those who are with us. Whoever wants to arrive now or later will be well received, but will only be joining a process that already exists and already has its references. The people who should decide the best of reggae are the people who live reggae. Otherwise that hostage talk happens.
Rangel: MTV has supported reggae very few times, at least MTV Brasil. Do you also feel the lack of this support, or for Natiruts is the scene self-sustaining?
Alexandre: The most important thing in the human being is self-confidence, self-esteem. I cannot miss something that has all the tools to contribute and also receive a contribution but does not do so by choice. As I said, it is an option; we only have to respect it and create our own forms as well.
Rangel: Do you think the National Reggae scene sometimes sins through disunity? Do you feel there is some type of competition between the branches?
Alexandre: Yes. But this competition is most often purely the fruit of naivety. Sometimes there is too much prophet for too little prophecy. Sometimes there is too much root for too little stem. But that is the minority. The branches are diverse and interesting. There are the trendy ones who travel to London and only listen to DUB. There are the carefree ones who just want to smoke one and have a luau on the beach. There are the adherents of the rastafari religion. There are those who only know the radio hits. This is normal and will always exist in any culture. What is not normal is that to this day there is no mentality that everything is part of the same origin and that, united, we can be more.
But as my grandfather used to say, talking is easy, I want to see giving a suggestion, and I have one. A meeting about reggae culture, inside a festival. It has to be in sampa because of the ease of structure. At Rototom (Festival in Itália) it is like that. In the afternoon there is a percussion workshop, yoga class, art exhibition, crafts, an alternative stage with some new band playing. In the late afternoon the main stage starts and goes until one o'clock, then comes the dancehall tent with the Sound Systems. We, all from reggae, have the music, the will, and the main thing, the massive support of the people. It is a suggestion, it may be viable or not, but if it is, we are in from now.
Rangel: Do you think reggae needs to invade the major media, or is the rhythm's "track" parallel to the mainstream?
Alexandre: This big media talk is contradictory within reggae itself. At the same time that people complain there is no space, they complain when someone appears. People have to make up their minds. We, from the beginning, never had that problem. We always go where we are respected.
Rangel: We have two clear examples that the large media usually refers to reggae disrespectfully. In 2006, MTV interviewed Bob Marley's mother, Cedella Booker, and in the piece called her "MãeConheira", besides other unfortunate "little jokes" that generated outrage among reggae lovers in Brasil. The other fact involves VEJA magazine, which, when citing Damian Marley's album "Welcome to Jamrock", ended by saying that the belief of thousands and thousands of people in Rastafari culture was "pseudo-religious nonsense". Anyway, what do you think of these references?
Alexandre: I do not think it usually refers disrespectfully. On the contrary. But these examples simply do not form my opinion. There is a lot of arrogance in certain sectors of society. For me and for thousands and thousands of white, black, blue and yellow people, Cedella is a winner, Welcome is a work of art, and Radiohead's show is sensational. And that is what matters and will not change because some guy from the ultra mega magazine said so.
There are things in life that are very subtle. The guys place themselves as "the makers of true opinion" because they have money, a reporter's job, a journalist's job. Then tomorrow he writes a footnote article saying he "even likes" Natiruts and I get all happy. Like "wow, now I made it, I won". We have to learn to value the opinions of those who are with us. And when expressing ourselves, not lose education, elegance, because Brasil is that. Because that is what we think and that's it.
Rangel: Elcio Coronato, reporter for "Notícias MTV", posted on his Twitter a comment about Natiruts' withdrawal, where he says that the letter sent to MTV was written under the influence of a "little peace pipe". The official VMB Twitter forwarded the post, and all its followers had access to yet another "out of time" comment. Did Natiruts expect such a response coming from (or supported by) VMB after leaving the award?
Alexandre: Well, and I do not even smoke anymore. It is that the guy sees you with dreads, singing about peace and love and such, then he thinks "this one is the humble little guy, who plays little reggae and then smokes a little joint, and goes to his little shack" and then sends one like that. Elegance is lacking. That beautiful part of European culture. I think we worry too much about certain comments that are not worth it. Sometimes it is even more due to lack of self-esteem than "fight for equality" as people say. It is like the monkey story. Recently one of those happened on someone's twitter. Then it blew up. It is incredible how they give notoriety to certain kinds of subject. If I were white, every time I was going to release a record I would call someone a monkey. That monkey talk inspired me. My new label will be called Space Monkey.
Rangel: Alexandre, thank you for the answers and for the band always being active in strengthening reggae in Brasil. Leave a message for the portal visitors who admire your work so much.
Alexandre: When the subject is reggae, believe those who work, promote, and are interested in reggae. And never lose respect for others, nor elegance. Because the people nominate, not five or six who do not care about you.Category
#Reggae