Suba
Tributo (Six Degrees) Legend has it Suba ran back into the fire that engulfed his studio to save some master tapes. If so, the 37-year-old Yugoslavian producer paid the ultimate price for his spellbinding musical genius. “I’ve been studying music since I was five years old,” wrote Suba in 1999 for what became his posthumous debut, São Paulo Confessions. “I graduated in composition and orchestration … specialized in electro-acoustic music … studied jazz and researched East European ethnic music … lived [in Paris] between ’85 and ’90 … moved to São Paulo, Brazil in 1990 … focused my research on Afro-Brazilian rhythms and native Indian music.” Tributo, a pulsating amalgam of São Paulo remixes, outtakes, and live snippets, is like its predecessor: all those things. As with Paulo, Portuguese-tongued diva Cibelle Cavalli sets a tropical tone with a bit of ooh-mau-ooh-mau, before Suba’s Sundance Kid, Brazilian percussion innovator João Parahyba, makes his entrance with “Nightly Sins.” A series of subtly shifting percussive shuffles, “Nightly Sins” is rhythmic quicksand, the foundation upon which Suba created his root sound; imagine a rain stick filled with gravel. Indigenous and futuristic at the same time. Psychedelic rainforest dance music. Zero db’s electro jungle glam, “Samba do Gringo Paulista,” inspired by a Brazilian slave chant, is an irresistible knee-knocker, while Bigga Bush’s mix of the same tune is a chantless Tangerine Dream. Jobim’s Black Orpheus theme, “Felicidade,” featuring Cibelle, is another hip-driving, body-moving motor groove. “End of Story … so far,” concludes Suba on Tributo‘s intro, originally intended for São Paulo Confessions. No, with Brazilian electronica still waiting to be mined, it’s just beginning.
This article appears in April 19 • 2002.
