The Brazilian music scene was saddened this week by the news that Alexandre Magno Abrão, fondly known as Chorão, was found dead in his São Paolo apartment on Monday. He was 42. Chorão (literally "big cry") was an original member of the band Charlie Brown Jr., a Brazilian rock band heavily influenced by alternative rock. They've been compared with Coldplay, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and other punk-influenced bands on independent record labels that had their heyday in the 1990s. The story goes that Chorão originally took to the stage in a São Paolo rock club during another singer's bathroom breaks, attracted the notice of other musicians in the audience, and soon found himself frontlining his own band. When Chorão crashed his car into a coconut stand named Charlie Brown, the band got its name. Their first album, Transpiração Continua Prolongada, was very successful, and won the band a Brazilian MTV music video award.
Charlie Brown Jr. is an example of the way many Brazilian musicians can take foreign influences and make them their own. The lyrics are in Portuguese, but the music is heavily influenced by American styles and culture. Chorão himself loved skateboarding -- he sometimes performed onstage with his skateboard, and his forearms were tatooed with slogans reflecting his obsession with the sport.
His voice sounds to me like a Brazilian Kurt Cobain or Anthony Kiedis, and is perhaps at its best here:
Meanwhile, the distinctively Brazilian qualities of some of Charlie Brown Jr's music can be found here:
The cause of Chorão's death is not yet known, but drugs were suspected. More will likely be known in the next few days.
No comments:
Post a Comment