Where Secrets Dwell- Arícia Mess

Much has been said about the ‘special groove’ in black music but there has been little mention of the knowledge and wisdom that springs from the culture of the Native Indian and African bloodlines shared by Brazilians. ‘Whoever dances like the sea will fear not’, sings Arícia Mess in ‘Where Secrets Dwell”. For the last 15 years, this black carioca singer and composer, descendant of Brazilian indians, has celebrated life and spirit with her music. She was born with rhythm and tempo. Incorporating pop music influences into her style, she has the gift of effortlessly making people dance. Though don’t think moving onto the dance floor is enough; you have to check out her lyrics. It’s all part of the experience.

Listen more Aricia Mess.

For Arícia, art is an offering, a way to lessen the sufferings of many, even the recently departed. Thus, her work is dedicated to and celebrates feminine divinities; the Indian and African women who inhabited this continental country and gave up their lives during decades of slavery and pain. If the ‘terreiro’ drums make the connection with the divine, then on the dance floor the experience is repeated with joy and abandon. ‘The Queen of Angola commands us to dance’; she sings – and we all obey. You cannot stand still with this calling.

Arícia has paid attention to every detail of this high quality production. It is a technically accurate and pure production that has the energy of live music. For over a year, she tested this repertoire on stage with the powerful Trio of musicians Bruno Silveira (drums), Joao Paulo Deo Gracias (bass) and Mauricio Caruso (guitar); then with a well-rehearsed band she recorded the base lines. The artistic direction of the CD is also hers, as well as all the arrangements which are also shared with the band and with Carlos Trilha and Fernando Morello, her partners since the end of the 90`s.

Aricia gained much success early on in her career; she was a hit in the nightclubs and on the stages of Rio de Janeiro, with a 9-piece band and her blend of pop and Tropicalism that came straight from Bahia. Back then the music scene was lacking originality. Her first album was released in 2000, as an ‘independent production’ -something which was unheard of at the time. She was one of the first artists to fearlessly mix Tropicalism (and particularly Gilberto Gil’s music) with Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. Today, diversity is a must in Brazilian cultural expression and being independent is the strategy many use to survive.

Vinicius de Moraes once said that ‘samba is a way of praying’. This album is all about celebrating life with the wisdom of someone who knows how to follow the highs and lows of the tide and waits for the right time. It is about paying attention and doing the right thing, and on this occasion the right thing to do is to listen to “Onde Mora o Segredo/ Where Secrets Dwell” very loud and let it infect you with the joyful power of the music of Arícia Mess.

Aricia Mess Myspace

Recorded between January 2009 and January 2010 in the studios YB, Orbita and Loop, except voice and percussion track 3, recorded in home studio and Yuri Pinheiro voices of 3:09 tracks, recorded in the home studio of Aricia Mess.

Carlos Trilha uses: mini moog, moog, concert mate, Jupiter-8, Juno 60, fender rhodes (mk1), Clavinet (horner D-6), arp.2600, vk-7, vk-8.
Music Production: Aricia Mess, Carlos Trilha and Fernando Morello
Mixing: Carlos Trilha and Fernando Morello
Mastering: Carlos Trilha, Fernando Morello and Aricia Mess
Arrangements: Aricia, Band, Carlos Trilha and Fernando Morello.