Marauak: a Brazilian making reggae in the USA!

Unlike our informative texts in third person, this time we bring a story from a Brazilian living in the United States, and making Reggae in a difficult time that we are all having to go through. We are talking about Marauak, who was the lead singer of the band Semente da Paz. He moved to California and through his art tells a little about his recent experiences and a beautiful story behind the release of his new song - “Coragem”. Check it out below.

O REPORT

Although I am grateful for the blessings of residing in Southern California, the unspoken truth is that it is not so easy to see the seasons passing through the window, and to be living far from our home country, far from our parents, family and childhood friends. Some things kept me as a singing migrant in God's world. One of them is my desire to bring out a different aspect of what we see in terms of Brazilian music abroad, offering a very our facet of reggae/MPB with a Bahian palm oil on these beaches here, without coconut trees but with an abundance of palm trees and sea salt on the eyebrows.

O BEGINNING OF THE PANDEMIA

In March 2020 I completed two years since recording my first solo album here in San Diego. Already in the final stretch of this long, tasty and difficult process, the pandemic. Distressed people, social isolation, records stopped and all shows cancelled. In the midst of so much doubt about absolutely everything, I received a call from Salvador saying that my Aunt and dear godmother, to whom I owe a lot for my spiritual guidance and who lives alone in the mountains of Petrópolis, was admitted to the ICU. Suddenly the penny drops about what the most important things in life are. Amid an enormous feeling of helplessness and asking God what I could do from so far away, I knelt on the ground and prayed for her health.I believe that when we have an art in life, a specific purpose that gets us up every day, it becomes our means of communication, but also our form of prayer. Wanting to invoke my greatest faith, within my search for healing, I did what I know how to do, my form of prayer: Play and sing. I picked up my guitar and the song/prayer came ready from the celestial world to the physical world. And I, just an instrument to conduct this sacred psalm.

COURAGE!

I recorded the song and sent it to my Aunt. I continued chanting for days and days, and I realized that it came to heal me too. Courage... I need, we need courage. I reflected how many people were going through the same struggles and that I should share this song with some dear friends, and I received only love, feelings, emotion and tears as comments in return.Pure light of Jah. The conclusion of this story is that in a few days my Aunt recovered and left the ICU, without any major problems (Glory God!). Next, we released this music video with beloved friends singing parts of this prayer that came for me into the world. Gratitude! In short, the greatest treasure we have in life is our relationships, it is the love we give and receive, it is our physical health, but also mental, emotional and spiritual. And so, offering what was offered to me, I hope this song touches your heart too. Coragem is a single produced in quarantine with collaborations from Bahian musicians spread across Salvador, Chapada Diamantina, Maui, Hawaii, and San Diego, California: Ari Vinicius on flute, Arian on lead guitar, Dmitri de Igatu on bass, Allex Brandão on keyboards and mixing, Bob Lemos on drums and me, Marauak on vocals and rhythm guitar. The music video was produced by Thiago Vaev, from Aracajú, residing in San Diego. Courage!