SEALED

Legendary Funk soul album from 1972. A Black Rio masterpiece reissued for the first time on vinyl. Limited to 500 copies, in authentic collectors 70s ' paste-on' packaging.Son of a Guyanese father and a Brazilian mother, at 11 years old Tony ran away from home and ended up in Rio de Janeiro where he became a street kid and made a living selling peanuts and shining shoes.At 18 he served in the Deodoro School of Parachuting along with the futurely TV presenter and entrepreneur Silvio Santos. In 1957, he fought in the Suez Canal.Tony began his artistic career in the 60s with the stage name Tony Checker, lip-synching and dancing on "Hoje dia de Rock" show of Jair Taumaturgo. That time Tony imitated singers Chubby Checker and Little Richard. Even in the 60s, he traveled to the United States where he lived for five years in New York.In New York, Tony served as drug dealer and pimp, to deceive the immigration department, pretending to be an employee of a car wash. At that time, Tony met another Brazilian who also lived in New York, the also singer Tim Maia.Back in Brazil in 1969, he worked in the group of Ed Lincoln and also sang at night with the pseudonym Johnny Bradfort, the owner of the club forced him to pretend to be a foreigner.In 1970, he adopted the name with he came to be known, "Tony Tornado". Influenced by James Brown, Tony was one of the artists who introduced soul music and funk in Brazilian music.That same year, alongside Trio Ternura defended the song BR-3, which got the first place in the festival. His first role on television was in 1972 , in the 1972 telenovela "Jeronimo" on TV Tupi. James Brown released "I'm Black and I'm Proud" during the height of the Black Power Movement in the United States in 1968. Brown's in-your-face approach to racial pride resonated in the U.S. ghettos as well as the slums abroad. Many black people, all around the world, embraced the Black Power soundtrack and consciousness. Working-class black cariocas (residents of Rio) of Zona Norte began using the English phrases "Black Power," "brother" and "black is beautiful." They played African-American soul records at their bailes(dances) and incorporated the lyrics and sounds into their music.Maia, the godfather of musica soul, spent five years in the United States. He came to know the sounds of black America intimately. When he returned to Brazil in 1964, Maia incorporated the soul and funk influences into his songs. By the 1970s, other Brazilian musicians, such as Tony tornado, Banda Black Rio, Cassiano, Gerson King Combo, Jorge Ben Jor and Gilberto Gil, began making soul records. DJs started throwing soul-only parties. This nova (new) music spoke to an experience both universal and unique at the same time. The time period was known as "Black Rio. By the end of the '70s, funk and disco would take over where soul left off, but it was the latter that helped to shape a generation of artists around a universal black identity.

A lot of people been asking where's the rest of the Circuit Shock Productions?? Well here's the next installment selected by Electro Wayne - 5 incredible disco and electro cuts!

The subject of Music From Memory’s latest compilation focuses on Suso Saiz’s output as part of the group Orquesta De Las Nubes, formed by Suso Saiz and percussionist Pedro Estevan when the two met whilst studying a course on ‘Techniques of Contemporary Composition’ in Madrid.Following on from a retrospective compilation of solo work and an album of recent work in 2016, Music From Memory continue to explore the work of Spanish ambient and experimental pioneer Suso Saiz.Sharing a curiosity for American minimalist and Non-Western music, the pair began to share music through many listening sessions, during which the idea slowly evolved to try and make music together. Pedro’s partner at the time, soprano singer María Villa, would later join the two on vocals. With Suso’s sparse use of guitar loops, synthesizers, and drum computers in combination with the hypnotic percussion of Pedro Estevan and the wordless drifting vocals of María Villa, Orquesta De La Nubes would evolve as a group with a truly unique musical language; an ethereal and almost otherworldly musical realm.Developing at first as a live act, through a number of performances in Madrid and beyond, Orquesta De Las Nubes was very much connected with, and inspired by, the avant-garde arts scene in Madrid at the time. Throughout their shows, a close circle of friends, including a number of painters, sculptors and designers, would collaborate with the trio to create unique imagery and elaborate stage sets for the group’s performances.Yet, despite the growing fascination surrounding Orquesta De Las Nubes’ live performances, the trio would however find it extremely difficult to find a label willing to release their music on record. The group’s then manager Silvia Lovosevic therefore decided to set up her own label ‘Linterna Música’ in order to make the work available. The group would release three albums between 1983-1987, two on the Linterna Musica label as well as an album and CD compilation of live tracks on the cult Spanish label ‘Grabacionnes Accidentales’.Between this period the trio would also team up with American percussionist Glen Velez to record as the group ‘Musica Esporadica’; a one-off project in which they recorded a single album of the same name in 1985. ‘Musica Esporadica’ will be released on Music From Memory in 2019.