Wrote a very depressing tweet earlier, but was a coward and deleted it.
So, instead of being depressed AF on main, I'll take one of the things I said in it and will elaborate in a much better, healthier manner, which is... gushing about music, my beloved, my hyperfixation ~
In the tweet I mentioned André Matos, a BR singer, composer, pianist with a literal degree in classical music and conducting.
He became a literal metal legend here in BR specially in the 90s/2000s. Like for real - he was THIS CLOSE to replace Bruce Dickinson when he left Iron Maiden in the early 90s (Andre was in the 3rd place of choice).
Unfortunately, Andre passed away in 2019 at early age of 47 due to a cardiac arrest - it was very sudden and a shock to everybody, it's kind of insane even now looking back and remembering he's gone.
Anyway. That being said, enough with the sad stuff and let's turn this into THE COOLEST THING you guys will ever learn about Brazilian music!!
As a kid, Andre Matos was the vocalist of a band named Viper, and later on as a young adult he joined Angra, a band that still exists to this day with other members and vocalists - BTW!!! SMALL PARENTESIS, the vocalist who replaced Andre in Angra, Edu Falaschi, sang the Brazilian version of "Pegasus Fantasy", Saint Seiya's opening theme back then!! Still a fucking banger, and Edu STILL often sings it to this day; Edu isn't in Angra anymore, I think???
But yeah. As you can see, we're already getting epic and complex and I didnt even get to Andre yet lol
ANYWAY!! This is Angra with the OG formation with Andre as the lead singer/keyboardist - he's the 3rd one, the pretty boi in the middle, hehe
Angra was one of the pivotal points in Brazilian hard rock/metal; Sepultura is right there with them, I think - I don't know a lot about Sepultura (that's my sister's territory lol), but I know that much.
I'll skip straight into Angra's stuff cause there's where the good stuff begins!
First album of theirs is called "Angels Cry" and the title song is SUCH a quintessential Angra / Andre Matos song, i swear to gods. And the album art sdkjfhsdkfjshdf it's very Graphic Passion Is My Design.
Don't be fooled by the dated album art tho:
Here you'll hear the "classic music interludes" that were very common in Andre Matos' songs due to his background and training in classic music. It's SOOOO 80s and their Iron Maiden influence is SCREAMING, quite literally. Worth mentioning I'm not an Iron Maiden fan lol btw #Poser
Another CLASSIQUE-TM from Angels Cry is "Time".
I'll throw the official videoclip in here because it's hilarious, even though the song slaps ksdjfhskdj (André's corny, pretty metal boi look in his early Angra days is kind of a goal to transNB me, ngl. #GenderEnvy)
WELL, do you guys know folk metal? Like, when we say that, it's usually metal + medieval/European instruments (like Eluveitie, for example).
In 96, Angra did what I like to consider "Brazilian folk metal", metal with BR elements and influences, in their album "Holy Land"
The concept of the album was like, the great navigations but it was also kind of a commentary in colonization - Brasil is our "holy land", and a lot of the songs feature this epicness and bittersweetness, joy and sorrow of being BR. The songs are in ENG, which is kind of ironic, but still
The songs being in ENG is due to a lot of factors tbh, all of them involving the fact that Brazil doesn't embrace metal a lot, and they wanted to to sell their songs outside BR bc of that. Which sucks, but i get it.
Here we have CAROLINA IV, an epic describing a ship at sea, and it also references the Portuguese who arrived in BR back in the 1500s.
The song is all in ENG except the intro, which is a chant dedicated to Iemanjá / Janaína / Iemoja, the orisha of the seas and the most well-known orisha around here, if I'm not mistaken
"Hail, hail Yemoja, Hail Janaína
And everything that was made in the waters
They throw flowers at the sea
God save the Queen
And my journey on this sphere
An orishas' caboclo
Soon leaves the Earth
Meeting his fate
Where the sky meets the sea
He will find his safe harbor
And that's how it ends..."
Black culture and religions are strong here in BR, and this chant and the instruments used are a tribute to them <3 If you guys know of or remember Michael Jackson's "They Don't Really Care About Us", that's the same beat/Afro-Brazilian influence - in MJ's song, it was the famous group Olodum who did it, I don't know if they were involved in Angra's Holy Land though.
"Carolina IV" is a very long with a lot of changes in pace and even genres (again, classical music interludeTM). It's very epic, very 80s metal, and very Brazilian as well, it has everything I love, ahhh <3
In the early 2000s, Andre left Angra and he and other, previous Angra members formed the band Shaman.
I think it's good for me to reiterate at this point that while we had bands like Angra and Sepultura, the metal genre WAS NOT and NEVER WAS mainstream here in BR.
So, the fact that Shaman became incredibly popular in the early 2000s because one of their songs "became to mainstream" was kind of an anomaly.
THIS, MY FRIENDS, is where my story with Andre Matos' music starts. Because this was early 2000s, I was around 13 and the reason why I knew about the band, alongside hundreds of other teens at the time, was because a song by Shaman became soundtrack to a BR telenovela.
The telenovela in question was O Beijo do Vampiro ("The Vampire's Kiss") and as the name suggests, it had vampires and 'edgy dark fantasy stuff' cause it was more targeted for a younger audience, as the protagonist was this middle schooler aged boy who was actually the son of a vampire.
The BANGER, THE ETERNAL, EVERLASTING ANTHEM from Shaman they chose as a soundtrack to that freaking telenovela was "Fairy Tale", from their first album "Ritual":
I swear to god, this song is fucking everything to any Brazilian metal fan my age. It was a literal game changer to a lot of us, because this was how we discovered or started really appreciating metal, since we were too young to catch on Viper in the 80s or Angra in the 90's.
Other bands like Evanecscence, Nightwish and Linkin Park were also starting to become popular, so a lot of metal styles were coming around around that period.
Including a Brazilian singer that also leaned more towards a heavier sound, Pitty! That song is from her first album.
ANWYAY, BACK TO ANDRE MATOS - I'll make an exception here, and share two versions of the same song. I've shared the official videoclip with the studio recording, and below, is a very beloved live performance from 2003:
I'm sharing both versions because they are slightly different - studio ver starts with a religious chant in latin, and the live version includes a violin, played by Marcus Viana (another conductor and a famous composer of soundtracks for Brazilian shows and movies).
In the live ver you can also see Andre Matos SLAYING on the piano because dude was a literal master of his craft ksjdfhksjdf
The song starts all calm with the piano, very lullaby-like, and then BAM!, 80s METAL HAIRFLIP AND GUITARS AND EPICNESS. And then it ends how it started. It's such a beautiful track. I love it so much, such a true banger. Makes me nostalgic AF, and I love the "epic tale" nature it has.
Another personal favorite of mine from that time comes from their second album, a track called Born to Be:
I love how it mixes mellow piano lines with heavier metal arrangements, it was kind of their thing and they did it so well!
And by the way, I am aware the name of the band / cover of first album might be considered problematic nowadays?? It was the 2000s, unfortunately those things happened a lot. It's looking back into our teen years and realizing things were not as pristine as we remembered fskjdfhksd oh man.
But yeah. Aside from that, the songs slap so hard, specially if you like the 80s metal feel.
And speaking of the 80s music, Andre covered some pretty badass, daring songs over the years, not only but including...
..."Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" from Journey, which he recorded after he left Shaman and went solo in the late 2000s:
I cannot affirm that for a fact, but I think this cover is sort of a "meme" because it was kind of a recurring joke that Andre Matos sang like Bruce Dickinson but looked like he was Steve Perry's "long lost son". Steve Perry was the most well-known vocalist from Journey. The "Dont Stop Believin" Journey:
(The picture above is Andre when he was like 15yo in Viper btw dfkjjsdf)
And like, this is pretty fucking funny cause if you are here following my art for long enough - like REALLY, REALLY LONG ENOUGH, around 2009 deviantart -, you'll def remember me in my Journey/Steve Perry phase. And my Andre Matos phase too, it was around the same time lol
ANYWAY.
BEST FOR LAST. CAUSE THE LAST IS
"WUTHERING HEIGHTS" COVER.
THE KATE BUSH "WUTHERING HEIGHTS".
YEAH.
THAT ONE.
Madlad decided to make a metal cover of Kate Bush with this falsetto voice and he just. He just did it.
DIDNT CHANGE / ADAPT THE LYRICS, EITHER.
You'll hear 22 year old Andre Matos in 1993 fucking scream at the top of his lungs HEATHCLIFF IT'S ME CATHY, I'VE COME HOME, I'M SO COLD LET ME IN-A-YOUR WINDOW. And he's singing VERY VERY HIGH NOTES, this song is fucking hard to sing y'all, I'll let you know right now lol.
Anyway.
Here was the Andre Matos / Angra / partial Brazilian Metal history for you, and I hope you like the song recs, and if not, I hope you enjoy the trivia at least!
Remembering his music earlier made me nostalgic, but also made me sad, bc a lot has happened ever since 2003 and the "Vampire Telenovela". I've created OCs inspired by him - it was a two-in-one sort of OC, and he's retired for over a decade now; and I didn't do much with him anyway, so no artworks to show.
And I'm seriously considering bringing his music and influence back to a more recent OC (if you read my post about me looking for a new voice to my transitioned OC, that's what I'm talking about). It's a funny way to go back to where some things started.
That (and a lot of other, unrelated stuff) made me super sad earlier.
Andre Matos left us way too soon, and like I said earlier, it's always weird remembering he's dead, because it doesnt feel like that, to me. Maybe the fact I always "forget" he's gone is because his music and influence on me as a person still lives on, which is sort of a comfort~
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Hello
Luz Garrmos here, Welcome!
Illustration is one of my leisures and since a long time ago I received many asks about if I could do it as a job, here it is.
* I am currently making these ones, a caricature of only the head with simple colouring for my time is being short, however, perhaps I may accept something more detailed when having more time, like colors with some gradient and more shades. Please ask me and I will confirm if I may do what you are thinking about!
* My intention is to show the photography you sent me and the work I made together and I am aware not everyone will enjoy having their images being shown and I will respect it, just please remember a good viewing is made of showing what was done fully, it will be nice if you give me permission to show what I made for you, even if only the illustration.
* The illustration will be made following some standard, my signature and the name of the person or what about the illustration may be are part of the illustration, file size 1000 pixels width and 1000 pixels height, white background and if you wish something different like a transparent background, please let me know and I may check if it will match!
* What is written here may be changed if needed, for example, I normally ask for a minimum of time for your illustration to be finished and if something happened it the way that causes this time go longer, I will do my best to let everyone know about it.
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= Time and values =
* $25 as a minimum for each head illustration, PayPal accepted and what may change the values are common life issues, needing something to a better health or because your caricature will have many more details to work with.
* After PayPal confirms payment, I ask for at least 3 days to plan the sketch and to prepare and concentrate on your illustration and if it will take more time than that, I will again do my best to let you know in time, please remember life unforeseen events may happen.
* Contact
[email protected]
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= About these illustrations I made of 'celebrities' =
First of all on the job, my intention is to make illustrations of something that has directly to do with you, a caricature of yours, a character of yours and I know it is not that simple since someone may send me a photography saying it is them, but without my knowing, it is not and the person involved may be bothered if knowing about it.
It includes any other things that are theirs, like an original character, mainly already having patent registration. It is not like it will always be an extreme trouble even involving law, however, my intention is about respect.
So I please ask you to be sure of what you are asking me for, it would not be a trouble when, for example, you ask me to illustrate a friend of yours to give it to them as a surprise gift with the attention of knowing they will enjoy it, that is just fine and so nice!
About celebrities, it is even more complicated obviously because it is not that simple to go to them, ask for permission and simply have an answer, even if it is not a problem since many people may illustrate them and gain with that.
Then, for in my job I prefer not to include images of others without their agreement, these ones will be kept only to show the start of what I work with at the moment.
Thank you for your attention!
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