B e s o u r o M a n g a n g á

O t a c í l i o M e l g a ç o

[duration 35:22] all rights reserved

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The artist Otacílio Melgaço has two official curators in the virtual world. A curator (from Latin: ´curare´, meaning ´to take care´) is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, keeper of a cultural heritage institution (e.g., gallery, museum, library or, as the present case: sound archive) is a content specialist charged with an institution's collections and, highlighting the context in force here, involved with the interpretation of personal (heritage) material. Both, Mr. Paz and Mr. Campbell, are, therefore, reviewers of the Melgacian works. To learn more about their missions, tasks, assignments and responsibilities by means of valuable informations regarding the compositional process, the performative rhizomes and other special features, just click the following link: otaciliomelgaco.wixsite.com/preamblebypsp
(O.M.Team; P r e l u d e)

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"Manoel Henrique Pereira (1895 - 1924), better known as Besouro Mangangá (Mangangá Beetle) was a Bahian that in the early twentieth century became the greatest symbol of Capoeira. His fame reached the national level from 1930 and, with the expansion of that martial art to other continents (martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics and music, and is sometimes referred to as a game), It became international.

Manoel that early learned the secrets of Capoeira with Master Alipio in the lower pier (Salvador), was baptized as Mangangá Beetle because many said that when he was involved in a confrontation and the number of enemies was considerable - making it impossible defeat them -, then he would undergo a metamorphosis into a beetle and so would fly and escape. Several legends emerged to justify his actions, as if he had the ´closed body´ (protected by supernatural forces) and that the bullets and daggers could not hurt him. Because of its supposed powers Manoel Henrique Pereira became a mythological character for Capoeira practitioners, having his identity related to bohemians, outcasts, rogues etc. Especially Mangangá was a man on the sidelines, an outsider. A man who did not tolerate inhumane atrocious heartless ruthless bestial injustices - first citing his revolt against racism. He was an example of the Brazilian black man who not allowed himself to be trounced by a prejudiced and intolerant society. Was a Righteous, idiosyncratically.

The same belief that hovered around this legendary figure, now is metamorphosed into music. However, the sonic Beetle f(l)ight (B.M. by O.M.) is not an unexpected transmorphic escape but metaphor of pure, dense and transmorphic t-r-a-n-s-c-e-n-d-e-n-c-e." (Caio Campbell; Anglo-Brazilian semiologist and musician)

"If there´s an iconic flag of capoeira - is the berimbau. For most of this mysterious work, Otacílio Melgaço, in addition to incisive strings / ritualistic percussion / concrete effects, reinvents (sometimes obscurely, sometimes solarized, sometimes in gradations between them) the instrument from an extraordinary perspective.

´The impossibility of one person completely capturing capoeira, yet its potential to be touched by anyone are part of the balance of power and beauty of this magical art.´ — Mestre Accordeon

Perhaps the Scarab Ebony has captured, achieved it. One way or another, here is also a proper definition of the present discographic album: Balance of Power and Beauty of the Magical Melgacian Art!" (Pablo S. Paz; Argentinean musicologist)

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I - Capoeira was developed in Brazil mainly by African descendants with native Brazilian influences, probably beginning in the 16th century. It is known for quick and complex moves, using mainly power, speed, and leverage for a wide variety of kicks, spins, and highly mobile techniques.

The most widely accepted origin of the word capoeira comes from the Tupi words ka'a ("jungle") e pûer ("it was"), referring to the areas of low vegetation in the Brazilian interior where fugitive slaves would hide.

On 26 November 2014 Capoeira was granted a special protected status as "intangible cultural heritage" by UNESCO;

II - In the 16th century, Portugal had claimed one of the largest territories of the colonial empires, but lacked people to colonize it, especially workers. In the Brazilian colony, the Portuguese, like many European colonists, chose to use slavery to supply this shortage of workers.

In its first century, the main economic activity in the colony was the production and processing of sugar cane. Portuguese colonists created large sugarcane farms called engenhos, which depended on the labor of slaves. Slaves, living in inhumane and humiliating conditions, were forced to work hard and often suffered physical punishment for small misbehaviors. Although slaves often outnumbered colonists, rebellions were rare due to lack of weapons, harsh colonial law, disagreement between slaves coming from different African cultures and lack of knowledge about the new land and its surroundings usually discouraged the idea of a rebellion.

In this environment, capoeira was born as a simple hope of survival. It was a tool with which an escaped slave, completely unequipped, could survive in the hostile, unknown land and face the hunt of the capitães-do-mato, the armed and mounted colonial agents who were charged with finding and capturing escapees;

III - The berimbau is a single-string percussion instrument, a musical bow, from Brazil. Originally from Africa where it receives different names, the berimbau was eventually incorporated into the practice of the Afro-Brazilian martial art capoeira, the berimbau (the soul of capoeira) leads the capoeiristas movement in the roda—the faster the berimbau is playing the faster the capoeirista moves in the game. The instrument is known for being the subject matter of a popular song by Brazilian guitarist Baden Powell, with lyrics by Vinicius de Moraes. The instrument is also a part of Candomblé-de-caboclo tradition.

...for purposes of pragmatism and clear exegesis,
Wikipedia was the main source...

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Between two parentheses...
(Atonalism, Twelve-Tone, Serialism, Musique Concrète... Acousmatic. Eletroacoustic. Magnetic Tape. Expressionism, New Objectivity, Hyperrealism, Abstractionism, Neoclassicism, Neobarbarism, Futurism, Mythic Method. Electronic...Computer Music, Spectral, Polystylism, Neoromanticism, Minimalism and Post-Minimalism...are addressed by Melgaço. Paradoxically New Simplicity and New Complexity also.
Art Rock, Free Jazz, Ethnic Dialects, Street Sounds are occasional syntax elements.
All the possibilities mentioned above and others that were not mentioned are the usual accoutrements of the composer/instrumentalist to establish his ´babelic´ glossary. We can prove this in a short passage of a single composition up along the entirety of a conceptual phonograph album. All distributed over a career and idiosyncratic records. Have we a universe before us and I propose to see it through a telescope, not a microscope.
I propose not handle very specialized topics here. Otherwise would be, with the exception of musicians and scholars, all hostages of a hermetic jargon. Because more important is to present Otacílio Melgaço to the general public and not to a segment of specialists. Faction of experts not need presentations, depart for the enjoyment beforehand. For this reason there is no niche here for intellectual onanism and encrypted musical terminology. The reason for these parentheses is to establish such elucidation. The non-adoption of technicalities leads to more panoramic, amplifier reviews. Are You always welcome. Those who do not dominate contemporary music and are introduced to the world of ubiquitous O.M. [autodidact and independent artist who, being more specific, does not belong to schools or doctrines; artist who makes Music and that´s enough; music devoid of labels or stylistic, chronological, historical paradigms or trends] and Those who belong to the métier and turn to enjoy propositions they know and also delving into advanced Melgacian sound cosmogonies...
I conclude poetically. ´Certeza/Certainty´ by Octavio Paz. ´Si es real la luz blanca De esta lámpara, real La mano que escribe, ¿son reales
Los ojos que miran lo escrito? De una palabra a la otra Lo que digo se desvanece. Yo sé que estoy vivo Entre dos paréntesis.´ If it is real the white light from this lamp, real the writing hand, are they real, the eyes looking at what I write? From one word to the other what I say vanishes. I know that I am alive between two parentheses.
We´re all more and more a-l-i-v-e now.)
- P.S.P.