Niterói, Brazil-born, São Paulo-based artist João Rocha co-founded the ROSABEGE artistic collective with a few hometown pals back in 2017. He and his bandmates relocated to São Paulo in 2020. But with the world paralyzed by the pandemic, Rocha looked inward, retreating into his alter ego dadá Joãzinho — dadá being a homage to a special creature and zinho meaning little. This provocative persona allowed Rocha to “be open to possibilities, other ways of singing, other sources of courage.”
Relocating to South America’s biggest city at 23 and during a period of intense, forced isolation and toxic politics, Rocha lost interest in the bossa nova influences that ROSABEGE channelled. He felt that his new work needed to feel much more intense in contrast to the lighter, more playful sounds from his previous work. The “Brazilian Utopia” of 70s Música Popular Brasilia “didn’t make sense anymore.” The project needed to reflect the darkness of the moment, while liberally borrowing from dub, hip-hop, punk and samba — and perhaps inventing a few future styles in the process.
Rocha’s solo debut as dadá Joãzinho, tds bem Global is slated for a September 1, 2023 release through Innovative Leisure. Translated as “all too Global,” the album chronicles its creator’s relocation to São Paulo during one of the weirder and more uncertain moments of human history. Actively attempting to resist the darkness surrounding him, Rocha yearned to feel alive, and for music that stimulated his body to “move differently,” as he says.
“Desire for freedom was the north star of this record,” Rocha says. He goes on to explain that needed to “feel free about artistic decisions – that I didn’t have to play the instruments in a certain way to sound good, I didn’t have to sing in a certain way to sound good, and I didn’t have to write in a certain way to make sense and reach people’s feelings.”
Playing nearly all the album’s instrumentation — including electric and acoustic guitar, organ, drum programming, electronic production and “other things,” tds bem Global is a solo album that’s inspired by and features contributions from a number of music friends and associates, putting the spotlight on Rocha and his artistic community. “I wanted to get people together around the music.” He goes on to say that the album is also meant to encourage others to continue making their art. “This is just for inspiration as I hear my friends are inspired by it, inspired to take their own paths and take risks on their music or art. This is what I wanted.”
tds bem Global‘s third and final single “Pai e Mãe” is a breezy and melodic samba with mischievously quirky and experimental flourishes — including fluttering organ arpeggios. Rocha’s plaintive delivery floats over the undeniably infectious rhythms.
Directed by João Rocha and Rodrigo de Freitas, the accompanying video for “Pai e Mãe” is shot in a gorgeous, cinematic black and white and features the Brazilian artist dancing to the song’s rhythms and preparing a dinner/picnic for himself and his parents.
“For this samba, that carries so much of our music’s tradition, and still sounds fresh, I wanted to strip things down and communicate through the rawness of the body language,” the Brazilian artist explains. “Had my parents join the studio session, that was an emotional moment. I wrote this song about an episode we lived together, so it was a closing cycle to have them. This minimalist work in video expands the meanings of the album for me, that sometimes sounds so massive. Put things in a new perspective.”