ivan 'mamão' conti: remixes
Francisco Espregueira
Brazilian legendary drummer Ivan ‘Mamão’ Conti has been experimenting and innovating for the last half a century. As one third of cult Rio jazz-funk trio Azymuth, Mamão was at the root of the group’s ‘samba doido’ (crazy samba) philosophy, which warped the traditional samba compass with jazz influences and space-age electronics.
His first album in over twenty years - Poison Fruit -, will be out in January curated by the London-based label Far Out Recordings. United by a love for the music of Mamão and Azymuth, the album will feature the previously released remixes and dubs from some of today’s most forward-thinking producers with a penchant for percussion.
Now aged seventy, some of Mamão’s songs were reinvented in a series of remixes that are spread across two separate 12”s. The first is a strictly London affair, with a fiery broken-boogie club track from West London pioneer IG Culture, joined by the signature future-funk of 22a Records family - Tenderlonious, Reginald Omas Mamode IV and Jeen Bassa. Mamao’s Brake / Ah Que Legal shows two songs interpreted in completely different ways.
Easing things into Poison Fruit, the heavily percussive, futuristic, jazz-minded, yet club-ready remixes of Azul, are hosted by three producers united by a fundamental appreciation for the work of Ivan ‘Mamão’ Conti and Azymuth - Max Graef, Countours and Glenn Astro honor the drummer’s famously jovial character. The EP spans hip-hop, deep house, jazz-funk and afro-brazilian rhythms.
Both Mamao’s Brake / Ah Que Legal and Azul are available in vinyl, with the option of getting them together with the highly anticipated Poison Fruit for a very small price…