Ana Cañas

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• Ana Cañas (Vocal and Guitar)

• country:
  Brazil
• region or city:
  São Paulo
• style(s):
  Rock
• label:
  Sony Music
• gender:
  female
• instrumentation:
  instrumental, vocal
• artist submitted by:
  Babel Produções Artisticas

If you have ever tried the subversive elixir that a rock album can sometimes taste like, be advised that now you have in your hands something that will certainly interest you. As a matter of fact, brace yourself because depending on how long you've been abstinent, one single dose can be fatal: through your eardrums you will become addicted. Plus, it's been two years already since Ana Canas' album debut, which makes the waiting any longer impossible and the excitement unbearable. And this time around, she's giving it all she's got. The songs that spring forth from this vivacious composer open the doors of the unexpected and the listener embarks on a surprise trip heading towards new horizons created by a woman who writes with the razor's edge. "Hein?" is the name of her latest album and also the question that pervades all 12 tracks, the wild dreams of an Ana who was naturally inseminated by rock and its predecessors, sweet and convulsive when she sings and composes. "Caso eu fique viva, so quero diversao" ("If I survive, all I want is to have fun"), she warns on "Na medida do impossivel" ("As far as impossible"), a song that could very well be a declaration of her work principles. With a voice that she uses as a passport to all the kinds of abuse she can think up, Ana Canas is not interested in merely confirming the good outcome of her first album, "Amor e caos" ("Love and Chaos"), released in 2007. She shrugs her shoulders, takes the plunge and challenges the same old same old.

"Hein?" starts with "Na multidao" ("In the crowd"), a blend of rock humor and irony: "Eu so sei que, agora, eu vou ficar / So pra desestabilizar / Eu cheguei querendo so mamar / Mas me tiraram pra dancar" (which can be loosely translated as "All I know is that now I'm here to stay/ Just to unbalance / I'm here just to get my share / But I've been invited to join in the dance"). Liminha, her producer and co-writer of the song says: "She dives in deep, she doesn't compromise". Liminha is himself a rock n'roll man, a producer of countless Brazilian hits by Tim Maia, Paralamas, Chico Science and O Rappa. He agreed to direct Ana after the singer surprised him at his studio, Nas Nuvens. Ana had surrounded herself with the music of the Mutantes and was sure Liminha would be "a wild guy", therefore ideal for the album, so she went after a guy who had been a member of the mythological formation of the tropicalista band Mutantes. "I didn't even know that he had produced classics for bands other than the Titas", says Ana, who would have been happy enough if Liminha had merely produced the two Sao Paulo bands. When Liminha began telling her about the beginning of his career, he got even more excited "That's when I thought to myself 'this is getting really interesting'", he remembers, as it had been a while since he was last involved in a full-blown production.

"Hein?" began production in the legendary Nas Nuvens Studio in March, when Ana had already moved to Rio. She and Liminha wrote eight songs together. A common friend, Arnaldo Antunes gave a hand on five themes. In two, he's left his digital marks all over the lyrics, as in the photographic "A menina e o cachorro" ("The girl and the dog"), a vibrant song about the relationship between Ana and Bambu, Liminha's mascot dog and the delicate "Aquario" ("Aquarium") (Os seus olhos claros / O por-do-sol / A lua cheia / O aquario / O seu chao macio / O vento / A brisa / O ar / O arrepio") ("The light-coloured eyes / The sunset / The full moon / The aquarium / Your soft floor / The wind / The breeze / The air / The goosebumps"). Ana, in turn, with her black soul and blue heart, kidnaps our senses with her lyrics for "Esconderijo" ("Hideout") ("Procuro a solidao / Como o ar procura o chao") ("I search for solitude/ Like the air looks for the ground"); She also knocks us out in "Nao quero mais" ("I don't want it anymore") ("Aqui se paga o que aqui se fez, como um salario no fim do mes") ("What you do here, you pay for here, like a wage at the end of the month"), written together with Arnaldo and Liminha; and blows our minds away on "Na medida do impossivel" ("As far as impossible") ("Veja tudo como e / Planejando a minha fuga / Vou ficando aqui, a pe") ("See how things are / Planning my escape / I end up stuck here, on foot") which she also wrote alone. When he was invited to take part in the writing sessions, Dadi Carvalho (of the bands Novos Baianos, A Cor do Som and Barao Vermelho) quickly discovered in the singer's little book of songs the lyrics to the melody of the hedonistic hymn "Cocando" ("Scratching"), composed by the two. And to complete the repertoire, Ana got the idea for her version of "Chuck Berry Fields Forever" from her own shows. The seminal track from the Doces Barbaros 1974 album boasts the participation of its creator, Gilberto Gil, on guitar.

When the time came to record, the heart spoke louder. "The band didn't have time to rationalize anything. It would here the song and go straight in to play", says the singer. Almost all of Ana's voices were recorded "live in the studio", with the band formation that almost always accompanies her: Thiago Big Rabello (drums), Fabio Sa (bass and guitar), Faba Jimenez (acoustic guitar and guitar), Adriano Grineberg (piano and organ), now baptized The Four Horsemen of the Post-Calypso. Liminha on several guitars, Dadi (guitar) and Arnaldo (voice) complete the team. Blue note ancestral entities, from Nina Simone to the Rolling Stones, were influences that left their mark on the arrangements. And this is how "Hein?" reached its final format. Having sung jazz standards in the Sao Paulo music night scene and been welcomed with open arms by brilliant Brazilian popular music artists, yes, the singer has chosen the path less walked. "People who discriminate music end up losing", she often says. And this freedom can be felt in her unforgettable songs with three chords and mind rocking lyrics, the kind that she is now releasing to the world, with the help of the guitar she bought on Teodoro Sampaio Street - the Meca of Sao Paulo rock. The journey from elaborate to simple, makes for the combustion of another Ana Canas who until now was unknown. "Hein?" is a larger interrogative, a restless call for dialogue, a brave manifesto on behalf of that which is new every day life.

Rodrigo Pinto, July 2nd 2009.