Siriá (Analog Africa, 2014)
From Brazil’s Amazon region comes Mestre Cupijó e seu titmo. The compilation Siriá contains material from the band’s six albums.
Siriá’s title was taken from a musical genre called Siriá, a hybrid mix of Afro-Brazilian, indigenous and dance music influences such as cumbia from Colombia and mambo and merengue from the Spanish-speaking Caribbean.
Siriá showcases a fiery brass-fueled tropical form of dance music. Mestre Cupijó was born in 1936, into a family of musicians. Although he initially played waltz, bolero, cha cha cha and other types of dance hall music, he embraced Carimbó and Siriá, the musical genres played by the black communities of Pará. Mestre Cupijó researched the roots of this Amazonian music and later founded the band Jazz Orquestra os Azes do Ritmo. His intention was to reinvent Siriá and modernizing Samba de Cacete, Banguê and other traditional music of the state of Pará.
Mestre Cupijó mixed Amazonian music with sounds coming from Colombia, Cuba and the Dominican Republic. The first two albums were recorded with basic equipment in a dance club in Cametá. The third LP, recorded in a studio in Belém, became a remarkable success. In total, Mestre Cupijó released six LPs.
Siriá is packaged an 8-panel digipak with detailed liner notes.
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Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
