Constantina

Music | Independent Music Festival LAB announces Constantina as one of the attractions for 2011

Latests - Music - July 26th 2011

by Press Officer

LAB Festival announced the instrumental indie band Constantina as one of the attractions of the 2011 edition. The presentation, scheduled for Aug. 27 in Uzina Warehouse in Maceio, will be part of a serie of shows to release the new album, Haveno. The anticipation surrounding the presentation is great for both the public and to the musicians: this is the first time they will come to the northeast of the country to perform.

Playing in the northeast is an old Constantina's wish. The group from Minas Gerais has had the opportunity to play in dozens houses and festivals dedicated to independent music in Brazil, including the cities of Sao Paulo, Florianopolis, Curitiba and Rio de Janeiro. In March 2011, Constantina was invited to attend the South by Southwest Festival, USA. However, the opportunity to move through the northeast region of the country had never been presented. According to the musician Bruno Nunes, this difficulty is historical in the country. What has allowed greater movement of artists is the effort of individuals and small groups interested in bringing good music to play throughout the country. Therefore, initiatives such as the LAB Festival are very welcome.

LAB was born as an independent music festival in 2009 in the city of Maceio. The LAB Festival has had two editions and brought together on one stage bands like Labirinto (SP), A Banda de Joseph Tourton (PE), Projeto Lise (MG), Julia Says (PE), Neon Night Riders (AL) and Projeto Sonho (AL). Designed as a bridge to promote contemporary music with a focus on experimentation and innovation in Alagoas, the festival has established itself as a place to meet and listen to great and independent music.

Service:
Constantina (MG) at LAB Festival

August 27th - Uzina Warehouse
Sá Albuquerque St., 367 – Jaraguá - Negodito

Music | Independent Music Festival LAB announces Constantina as one of the attractions for 2011

Latests - Music - July 26th 2011

by Press Officer

LAB Festival announced the instrumental indie band Constantina as one of the attractions of the 2011 edition. The presentation, scheduled for Aug. 27 in Uzina Warehouse in Maceio, will be part of a serie of shows to release the new album, Haveno. The anticipation surrounding the presentation is great for both the public and to the musicians: this is the first time they will come to the northeast of the country to perform.

Playing in the northeast is an old Constantina's wish. The group from Minas Gerais has had the opportunity to play in dozens houses and festivals dedicated to independent music in Brazil, including the cities of Sao Paulo, Florianopolis, Curitiba and Rio de Janeiro. In March 2011, Constantina was invited to attend the South by Southwest Festival, USA. However, the opportunity to move through the northeast region of the country had never been presented. According to the musician Bruno Nunes, this difficulty is historical in the country. What has allowed greater movement of artists is the effort of individuals and small groups interested in bringing good music to play throughout the country. Therefore, initiatives such as the LAB Festival are very welcome.

LAB was born as an independent music festival in 2009 in the city of Maceio. The LAB Festival has had two editions and brought together on one stage bands like Labirinto (SP), A Banda de Joseph Tourton (PE), Projeto Lise (MG), Julia Says (PE), Neon Night Riders (AL) and Projeto Sonho (AL). Designed as a bridge to promote contemporary music with a focus on experimentation and innovation in Alagoas, the festival has established itself as a place to meet and listen to great and independent music.

Service:
Constantina (MG) at LAB Festival

August 27th - Uzina Warehouse
Sá Albuquerque St., 367 – Jaraguá - Negodito

September 06, 2011

Album: “Haveno”, Constantina
6/set

Constantina
Brazilian/Post-Rock/Experimental
http://www.myspace.com/bandaconstantina

by: Cleber Facchi

Five years seems a rather long time to separate the release of two diferent albums. This was however the time required for the band Constantina from Minas Gerais to give birth to its latest work, Haveno (2011, Independent), a record that seems to be ready since the first album was released back in 2006, but only now reached its maturity and can be enjoyed in its entirety. Delimited within the same experiences of the old instrumental album - but way better resolved - in its new album the band, from the city Belo Horizonte, jumps with both feet into experimentation, while consistently maintaining their sobriety.

Less extensive than its homonym predecessor (album which easily surpasses the 60-minute duration), the band's current work keeps their exact a 49:36 minute instrumental undeniable beauty, with the band steadily seeking a renewed musicality and that values to modify their own limits and characteristics. Taken by a blue tint that goes from the album cover to the album's seven small and extensive proposed musical treatises, the record seems to move by itself, as if the waves shown on the cover would flood the album's contents, moving smoothly each one of the songs.

If previously the sonority proposed by André Veloso, Bruno and Daniel Nunes, Gustavo Gazzola, Lucas Morais, Thiago Vieira and Tulio Castanheira revealed attentive followers of the instrumental ideas presented by Explosions In the Sky or other major representatives of U.S. post-rock, today Constantina and its members are far, far from sounding like apprentices, but as owners of a completely proper theme. Every second we spend in the maritime fumes that Haveno overflows, we get the image and sound of a group that seems to define their own path, without being at any time indebted to any great representative of this genre.

A good example of what defines the identity of the band - something that has manifested timidly in the debut album - is the expanded use of musical themes and transitions by Brazilian rhythms. Monte Roraima, for example, although starting with the cold composition revealing a quite atmospheric and restricted flow, after exactly 3:25 minutes the band explicitly plays the samba, something that at various times in the album is announced, which produces a cozy feeling while listening to the record with the group holding constant the conceptual aspect of their work, but being able to build a sound essentially flexible.

Even proposing a better outlined record and that seems to opt for a certain amount of logic from beginning to end, in different moments Haveno opens the opportunity for the band to venture into new types of sounds. The best example is Juan, El Marinero and Benjamin Guimarães, two songs that follow with a sound less Brazilianized, but they're able to demonstrate a type of sound completely different from what the group has produced so far. While the former moves through a sound almost childish and completely minimalist, the latter goes beyond than the traditional Constantina's sounds, it flirts capably with electronic music delivering a load of renewal in the band's release.

Constantly accompanied by an instrumental excitement that borders on epic in some compositions, Haveno not only continues securely what the band had been working previously, but it's also presented as a new and better established album in the septet's career. Complex, delicate and dynamic to the same extent, the album plays with the textures and sensations, making its almost 50 minutes long on something that actually sounds much bigger, as if the band constant supply on different genres or browse through different music themes.

Haveno (2011, Independente)

Grade: 8.8
For those who like: Labirinto, Hurtmold and Amnese
Listen to: Benjamin Guimarães - Miojo Indie

Section: Music - 09/02/2011 07:30am

Constantina presents the project Pequenas Sessões in BH and releases the new album Haveno.
The band leads the instrumental music event.

"The idea isn't to do a vibrant nightlife, but to promote a more contemplative event, to create a public." This is how Daniel Nunes, drummer for Constantina, defines "Pequenas Sessões", a project that is in its fifth year and won this year the format of a festival, as is being done with Conexão Vivo. Until Saturday, the band runs series of concerts and lectures at the CentroeQuatro. The shows start early: they promised to 08:40pm.

Constantina, band formed in 2003, created "Pequenas Sessões" three years ago. The three early editions were smaller. From last year, the project expanded. This issue began Monday, with some workshops. The group, a septet, also releases its fifth album, Haveno, since they will also play in the end of the festival, on Saturday.

"The intention is that the artist guests share the stage, making an exchange," says drummer Daniel Nunes. Besides music, there will be audiovisual interventions. Each evening features a guest artist, who will prepare special images for each show. On Friday evening, the attractions are Barulhista and Lise, the solo project of one of the members of Constantina, which invited the Argentine Federico Durand. Already on Saturday, Constantina invited the band Labirinto from Sao Paulo.

The release of the album Haveno is physical, as since August 2010 the group has released on the Internet, the tracks separately. This week they launched the seventh and last song. The title comes from the Esperanto. "Haveno means harbor. Harbor refers to calm and we came of instability moments. The name shows us a new place to explore, a sea in which we can navigate. What we want is to build a different story," says Daniel.

With strong influence of post-rock, Constantina is a instrumental band guided by guitars and electronic interference. The group, which has performed in several independent festivals, participated, in March, South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, one of the largest of its kind in the world.

PEQUENAS SESSÕES
Friday and Saturday, 2 and 3 September, from 08:40pm, at the CentroeQuatro. Square Ruy Barbosa, 104 center. Tickets: $5.
Today, Lise and Barulhista invite Federico (Argentina) and Igor Amin. Tomorrow, Constantina invites Labiranto (SP) and Carou Araujo.
Informations: pequenassessoes.net - Divirta-se

AltNewspaper

The band Constantina sails through Sao Paulo this weekend

by Paulo Marcondes

The independent band Constantina from Minas Gerais will dock again soon an the Sao Paulo's scene. With three presentations scheduled in the capital and Santos, the Constantina's musicians already wait anxiously the return to Brazilian stages for release of their new album, Haveno. For the band, the show in Sao Paulo marks a new step, with new life and lessons brought of the recent U.S. tour.

In March 2011, Constantina brought with them the experience of playing at South by Southwest Festival, USA, and also in New York. In this 25th edition of the SXSW, notorious for being one of the largest independent music festivals in the world, was attended by various names as Strokes, Man Man, Joan of Arc, Cold War Kids, among others. The festival is an opportunity not only to present and listen to great music, but also to think about the indie scene and contemporary music production. "We can meet and talk directly with bands that were previously inaccessible to us. And in the end you can see that we are similar to, but they have a different structure to work with independent music, including improved access to technology and professionals", says Gustavo Gazzola, Constantina's musician. Nevertheless, the group points out that the Brazilian model has its positive particularities. This is network structure case, for example, which is usually done here. So much for disclosure as the collective created around the independent scene, seems to be a more interesting than the American, who still remember much of what we saw in the 90s: only isolated several producers interested in showing their artists. "But the idea of playing in a place where music is welcome, be of any kind and style and the opportunity to talk and exchange experiences with other veteran musicians is always wonderful," adds Bruno Nunes on the overseas experience.

Haveno

Operating since 2003, the independent band Constantina has a solid history in creating music with instrumental post-rock sound. Its music has a minimalist and delicate aesthetic, intelligent arrangements of guitars with subtle electronic interference. In the current lineup - with seven members - Constantina is nearing completion of their fifth album, Haveno. Word from the universal language Esperanto, Haveno means harbor. Refers both to the place of calm after the storms as well as the outlet for new directions, new ways, new possibilities. With a sweet and intimate post rock sonority, the clever use of guitars and electronics, the new album promises moments of calm and also a lot of euphoria and good music.

The concerts in Sao Paulo are part of the nautical chart for launching this new album and it promises to heat up the engines for the official launching show in Belo Horizonte, at the end of August.

Shows:
Farewell of the Casa de Familia II:
Debate (SP) and Constantina (BH)
Friday, July 15th, at 08pm. Admission: $6
Júlio Conceição St, 241 - Santos / SP

Constantina (MG) at Casa do Mancha
Saturday, July 16th, 2011, at 05pm. Admission: $10
Filipe de Alcaçova St – Vila Madalena - Sao Paulo – SP

Constantina (MG), Nova Pasta (SP) and Debate (SP) at Dissenso
Sunday, July 17th, at 08pm. Admission: $10
Pinheiros St, 743/474 - Pinheiros - Sao Paulo - SP - AltNewspaper

The independent Brazilian-based music festival series, Grito Rock, comes to New York tomorrow night for its United States debut show. The festival will debut with the Brazilian group Constantina performing at Piano’s on the Lower East Side. The seven-piece band has explored everything from electronic music, post-rock and Brazilian folk music in its less than a decade-long career and guarantees a lively show.

Since forming nine years ago, Grito Rock has expanded to all 27 Brazilian states, eight Latin American countries and now the US. The festival was formed by Circuito Fora de Eixo, a decentralized collaborative that promotes the sharing of free technology in order to promote social change.

Check out the website for more details on the festival and the collective that founded it. Be warned though—it doesn’t have an English translation option and of course, Google Translate made the page look like a drunk toddler snuck onto his parents’ computer, so things may get a little perplexing. Tweet at CMJ’s resident Brazilian Bruna (@1stkittykat) with any translation questions. - CMJ - Music News

Constantina aren't exactly a household name in the Europe or North America, but they seem to be the perfect band to kick off our interview series of our favourite bands heading over to this year's South By Southwest Festival.

The Brazillian seven-piece who rose from the ashes of four Belo Horizonte bands - Ana, Retórica, Moan and Filit, formed in 2003 to create "instrumental songs with subtle electronic interferences" according to their bio page.

We caught up with them and asked them about their SxSW plans:

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1) How many times have you been to SxSW?

This is our first show abroad actually, and right on SXSW!! We're pretty excited with the idea!

2) What's the best thing about being in Austin? Or if you've not been before.... What are your tourism related plans?

We hope to get to know the city well, since we were told by other Brazilian bands, which played in previous SXSW editions, that it's a beautiful city.

3) Why are you playing SxSW? ('Cos we hear the money isn't too good)

Definitely it's not for the money. Actually, if we had to tell the whole story of how we got into this trip towards SXSW, i'm sure we could be a movie script out of it! To us, this is a unique opportunity: To be able to play in a great festival and to show our music to people from around the world at the same time. This trip has been a investment and we hope it will be an opening to many other opportunities.

4) Who are you showcasing for, and where and when can we expect to see you?

We hope to play for people to enjoy fine music, without labels and restrictions: just good music. We'll play at The Hideout on March 19th at 10:15PM. The Hideout is located on 617 Congress Ave, Austin.

5) Which other bands/artists are you most looking forward to seeing over music week?

There are many! We're making a list so we don't miss anything! Among our list there are: Joan of Arc, Maps & Atlases, Appleseed Cast, Man Man, James Vincent McMorrow, J Mascis, Balmohea, The Black Atlantic.

6) Will you visit the Film or Interactive sections of SxSW this year? Or is time tight?

Sadly, we can't! We'll arrive in Austin at the beginning of the Music Festival.

7) What does the rest of 2011 hold for you?

Who knows!! We expect a lot of good things and many great shows! - Strangeglue

Date/Time: March 7, 2012
Location: WAM Studio
The Brazilian band Constantina will be recording a song at WAM on their way down to SXSW this year. They are an amazing instrumental band that Terri met and saw perform at SXSW last year. We will be webcasting this event! Join us to watch the recording process and ask questions or say hi via chat. - WAM - Woman's Audio Mission

O TEMPO - MAGAZINE - Page 03

Belo Horizonte - Wednesday - 25 of July 25, 2007


Constantina presents instrumental rock at the double

Roberta Borato / Special to O TEMPO

The project "Quarta Sônica" hosts today at the theater Marília the instrumental rock band Constantina, formed by Bruno Nunes, Alex Lima, André Veloso, Glauco Ferreira, Leonardo Nunes and Daniel Nunes. On Saturday, it's time for the group to play in the project "Arte do Baile", in the acoustic shell at "Casa do Baile". In both presentations the sextet shows a proposal for experimentation and mixing of sounds, textures and ideas. The shows also count on the electroacoustic music producers participation Lucas Miranda (guitar, programming) and Tiago de Macedo (effects and programming).

According to Glauco Ferreira, the repertoire will consist of songs from the fourth album, which is still in the recording process. "We will show the influences of Brazilian and Latin music into our sound, and bring to the public visual images and lighting, " he explains.

Belo Horizonte's prefecture promotion, through the Municipal Foundation of Culture and the theater Marília, the project "Quarta Sônica" aims exactly topromote the inclusion of independent bands in the music scene. Hence the inclusion of Constantina, says Luiz Carlos Garrocho, theater director of FMC. "We look for bands with their own speech, that features diverse approaches mixing art and attitude. "

AGENDA - Band Constantina's gigs today at 20.30 at the theater Marília (av. Alfredo Balena, 586, Santa Efigênia) and Saturday, at 19h, at "Casa do Baile" (av. Otacílio Negrão de Lima, 751, Pampulha). Free admission. - O TEMPO (Newspaper)

O TEMPO - MAGAZINE - Page 03

Belo Horizonte - Wednesday - 25 of July 25, 2007


Constantina presents instrumental rock at the double

Roberta Borato / Special to O TEMPO

The project "Quarta Sônica" hosts today at the theater Marília the instrumental rock band Constantina, formed by Bruno Nunes, Alex Lima, André Veloso, Glauco Ferreira, Leonardo Nunes and Daniel Nunes. On Saturday, it's time for the group to play in the project "Arte do Baile", in the acoustic shell at "Casa do Baile". In both presentations the sextet shows a proposal for experimentation and mixing of sounds, textures and ideas. The shows also count on the electroacoustic music producers participation Lucas Miranda (guitar, programming) and Tiago de Macedo (effects and programming).

According to Glauco Ferreira, the repertoire will consist of songs from the fourth album, which is still in the recording process. "We will show the influences of Brazilian and Latin music into our sound, and bring to the public visual images and lighting, " he explains.

Belo Horizonte's prefecture promotion, through the Municipal Foundation of Culture and the theater Marília, the project "Quarta Sônica" aims exactly topromote the inclusion of independent bands in the music scene. Hence the inclusion of Constantina, says Luiz Carlos Garrocho, theater director of FMC. "We look for bands with their own speech, that features diverse approaches mixing art and attitude. "

AGENDA - Band Constantina's gigs today at 20.30 at the theater Marília (av. Alfredo Balena, 586, Santa Efigênia) and Saturday, at 19h, at "Casa do Baile" (av. Otacílio Negrão de Lima, 751, Pampulha). Free admission. - O TEMPO (Newspaper)

TEXTS
Emergent: Constantina (Br)
By: Rodrigo Maceira
February 04, 2008

The emerging music scene is updated every day with new bands that appear on the horizon.

Many already have their recognition and yet they bet more. This is the case of Los Alamos, Bicicletas, Doris, Fantasmagoria, Holy Piby, Lisandro Aristimuño, Gepe, Astroboy, No Lo Soporto, Rosal o The Tormentos, to name but a few. Others have long been playing, but have not yet achieved the support of the media in the dissemination of their music. Others, though only recently started and are growing vigorously and fast pace.

Therefore, waiting for the refill, we get a credit in the future and invest in these artists.

From the first time I heard it, I felt that the name "Constantina" had something of onomatopoeia, exchanging "tan-tin" perhaps, or its child melody, sort of a "xylophone." Besides, it was also the ending "ina", very sweet and delicate. Finally it came time to submit the name "harmonic" to a first test, and the experience came with the first full length album, also named "Constantina". Bingo!: What was heard, amid the soft layers of drums and percussion, plucked strings and keyboards, were themes brilliantly "Constantina". Now, in this interview, I find that the name that brings together these four musicians from Belo Horizonte (MG - Brazil) is also a neighborhood in Cape Town, a small town in southern Brazil, a people of Seville, post- rock and a sea of other things.

- Band Name:
Constantina

- Have you curious about the group's name?
The truth is we were looking for a name that sounded different. Leo, one of the members took a trip to Cape Town in Africa. A friend of ours who lives there took him on a tour of the city were in a neighborhood that fit him pretty well. The name of the neighborhood? Exactly. When we proposed the idea to others, no doubt: Constantina.

- Members (name, instrument, place of origin and current residence):
Daniel Nunes - drums and marimba.
Bruno Nunes - guitar and percussion.
Leonardo Nunes - bass and percussion.
André Veloso - guitar and keyboard.

We are all of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais.

- Are you still with the original?
No, at first were a sextet. But, those who remain are in the group since its formation.

- How and when they started playing together?
I (Daniel) and Bruno were in a band called Ana. When the band ended, we talked about forming a new group intentionally instrumental. We had been also in a band with Leo, which just ended in that time. We began to form what would be Constantina. In the beginning, Felipe, who played with us in the formation of Ana, also was part of Constantina. Bruno played in a third band, "Moan" with Alex and Andre. Well, the whole story seems a bit confusing, but what matters is that we were all very close to each other. Before the "formalization" of Constantina, we used to talk about music and we felt we had a great affinity for the way in which we saw. So, after the dissolution of all the other projects, we gathered in a small room in the house where Bruno and I live.

- Often compared to Constantina with groups like Explosions In The Sky and Do Make Say Think. Are they really a reference to the music you make?
Yes, Do Make Say Think is a great musical reference, but there are many other things that influence me in what I am or when i feel, appreciate and surely play. A band of Belo Horizonte which is very involved in my musical career: Uakti . It is an experimental and instrumental group that builds its instruments. They are a great example of Brazilian music sound without limitation. "

- How do you define the music you make?
It is not easy to do. We are continually looking for something that is new to us. Some time ago, when we released our first record, people rated us in what is often called "post-rock." Now, with the third work, shared with a duo from Florianópolis, I think we got into the "free music". The structures of our current themes come from the improvisations we do during rehearsals. We start with a topic presented by one of us and develop without limit of time or cause - then discuss what we like in it. Many times we try to describe images in order to make us understand, and that sheds some light on the intention that we have with this music.

- Records edited:
Constantina (2005)
We publish by our own label, La Petite Chambre. We recorded it live in our little rehearsal room, the resources we had were very bad. We had two collaborations: Fabio Fonseca (BH band Digitaria) and Aaron Xim (you can download sounds of the world from your web www.quietamerican.org).

Jaburu (2006)
Published on December 2006 by the label from Sao Paulo callled Open Field (www.openfield.org), with distribution of Peligro Discos (www.peligro.com.br). The album contains songs recorded during the making of the first album (improvisations of the production phase). They are casual records and versions of two songs from first a - Global - Art

Published online by the Portuguese website bodyspace.net at September 11, 2007 - 08:00

Constantina Jaburu

Partnership Open Field / Peligro shows one more safe value from Brazil in album with postrock face.

Postrock seems to have fit well to Brazilian underground bands. It seems to be one of the most desirable paths for those who want to be on the periphery of music made in Brazil. Hurtmold will be head in this territory (thanks to "Mestro", 2004), but there are other bands that more or less distinctively, holds the banner of postrock, making of it different utilizations. The Constantina is one of those bands, a group of Belo Horizonte which met in 2003 with the aim of, believing on myspace as a source, "create, experiment, play, ride, show", in a logic of collective introspection.

What can be heard in the first moments of Jaburu, "De Encontro ao Acaso" (Against Chance) are guitars that intersect and intertwine to create a very sensible basis where it joins minimal but later clarified percussion. The final theme works as a magnet for guitar effects and in some noise. The sense of improvisation continues right away with "S/T02" which avails the scenic ride to take shape only for a few moments. "Treinando para ser chuva (versão 2)" (Training to be rain (version 2)) breaks into the album with some electronic keyboards, guitars and (apparently) a melody, creating a whorty melodic line. Near the end, details gain strength in a fade out to illustrate the ability of Constantina.

Towards the album's end, there are stored the longest two themes: the first with more than 17 minutes, the second with almost 24s. "Jaburu" is more tropical and free than any of the previous songs and whose main character is the percussion, element that here opens clearly the way to guitars and other interveners. Here, more than ever, it is clear that Constantina works without a safety net. "5 de 25" (5 of 25), despite momentary invasions something noisy, is guided more by the subtle elements of exploration, exploitation by the cosmos sound and various environmentalism. The long and fruitful tenure (a march to heaven) closes a album where Constantina exploit all the postrock possibilities and one of the biggest musical doors opening of our time.

André Gomes
andregomes@bodyspace.net - Bodyspace.net

Published online by the Portuguese website bodyspace.net at September 11, 2007 - 08:00

Constantina Jaburu

Partnership Open Field / Peligro shows one more safe value from Brazil in album with postrock face.

Postrock seems to have fit well to Brazilian underground bands. It seems to be one of the most desirable paths for those who want to be on the periphery of music made in Brazil. Hurtmold will be head in this territory (thanks to "Mestro", 2004), but there are other bands that more or less distinctively, holds the banner of postrock, making of it different utilizations. The Constantina is one of those bands, a group of Belo Horizonte which met in 2003 with the aim of, believing on myspace as a source, "create, experiment, play, ride, show", in a logic of collective introspection.

What can be heard in the first moments of Jaburu, "De Encontro ao Acaso" (Against Chance) are guitars that intersect and intertwine to create a very sensible basis where it joins minimal but later clarified percussion. The final theme works as a magnet for guitar effects and in some noise. The sense of improvisation continues right away with "S/T02" which avails the scenic ride to take shape only for a few moments. "Treinando para ser chuva (versão 2)" (Training to be rain (version 2)) breaks into the album with some electronic keyboards, guitars and (apparently) a melody, creating a whorty melodic line. Near the end, details gain strength in a fade out to illustrate the ability of Constantina.

Towards the album's end, there are stored the longest two themes: the first with more than 17 minutes, the second with almost 24s. "Jaburu" is more tropical and free than any of the previous songs and whose main character is the percussion, element that here opens clearly the way to guitars and other interveners. Here, more than ever, it is clear that Constantina works without a safety net. "5 de 25" (5 of 25), despite momentary invasions something noisy, is guided more by the subtle elements of exploration, exploitation by the cosmos sound and various environmentalism. The long and fruitful tenure (a march to heaven) closes a album where Constantina exploit all the postrock possibilities and one of the biggest musical doors opening of our time.

André Gomes
andregomes@bodyspace.net - Bodyspace.net

COLUMN FLORIPA GUIDE
20/03/07

Sound and Sense, according to Colorir and Constantina

The instrumental bands Constantina and Colorir showed, on the stage of TAC, almost all the existing sound possibilities and made a memorable concert.

It is an exaggeration to say that the show "Música Livre" (Free Music): Colorir & Constantina, produced by Polifönica, was the best musical show held in Florianopolis in the last two hundred years, but who has the craft to describe it, the hyperbole is perhaps the only resource possible . The two bands transformed the environment of the Álvaro de Carvalho Theater in a mosaic of sound collages and visual experimentalism, subverted harmonic logic, suggested a new way of perceiving the sounds that goes beyond just listening. They seemed to search, all the time, a perceptual imaginary, a communication link between the material and unconscious manifestations. The term "Musica Livre" (Free Music) here has its most literal sense.

The duo Colorir, from Florianópolis, is formed by Pedro Paiva and Peter Gossweiler and was the first to go on stage. With just a guitar, some effects and half of a battery, the two musicians surprised from the start radicalizing the idea of trying different sounds. Pedro Paiva, on guitar, had the most dissonant chords possible, full of tritone (tension-filled musical intervals) that were unresolved in irregular sound frequencies, while Peter Gossweiler's drums pulsed in unusual tempos, in complex time signatures.

A few minutes later, still in progress with the music, the band from Minas Gerais, Constantina, consisting of six members, joined with Colorir, as if to restore the natural ordering of music, with melodies more mild and less inharmonies. But this process stops and then all of a sudden noises and discords merged with beautiful and clear soundscapes, creating a unique sound structure, contradictory, provocative. In the first part of the show, only one song of 45 minutes duration, with many variations in climate, in an ongoing conflict between order and chaos, weight and lightness.

A projection on a screen installed in the back of the stage showed surreal, grotesque and beautiful scenes that did not maintain a logical relationship with the sounds, which allowed any kind of interpretation. Another film was projected all around, inside of the theater, from the ceiling to the wall. The images were moving at all times, which reaffirmed the proposal of the show, awakening perceptions of various types, without limit, and give meanings to all sorts of nonsense, sound or visual. Often, the music sense isn't in the parts that form the whole (melody, rhythm and harmony), but throughout the unspeakable perceptible structure, the sounds, reverberations, echoes, silence.

The miscellany of sounds, silence and noise awakened a boiling sensation in the audience, feelings transiting among disgust and delight. Still early in the presentation some people were leaving the theater, others looked scared and one other girl in front of me came up to nap. An hour and a half show, with only one interval separating a theme of the other, actually it is something with which we are not used to. But while my rational portion still trying to understand the meaning of it all, my subconscious raved wildly and seemed to understand perfectly each particle of the sound.

More informations and musics:
Colorir at www.myspace.com/colorir.
Constantina at www.tramavirtual.uol.com.br
Polifönica - Brazilian Music Producer and Magazine at www.polifonica.com.br

Daniel Mendonça
eventos@guiafloripa.com.br
Photos: Juliana Diehl - Guia Floripa

Wed 05 14 08

+Soma 5: Constantina Interview

Soundtrack For Kids Books! Chat with the group Constantina.
by Arthur Dantas

Full interview with the group Constantina. In issue 5 was publised some parts of this interview.

+Soma: But what caught your attention on the aesthetics of the groups of Constellation?
I really like the idea of bands like Do Make Say Think, which has a strong sound and at the same time contemplative. I always thought that the place where we are, we live, influences my music, my drawings. BH has lots of mountains and in five minutes you can drive out of town and get completely isolated and mountainous places. I think Canada has some of that.

+Soma: And this predilection for instrumental bands? Curiously, the last five years there has been a boom of instrumental bands in Brazil ...
True, but I'll tell you how it began: the Ana [first band of Bruno] was to be a band with singing. We did some tests with a friend of ours and it was not getting very good. He decided to leave and we continued to try to find someone else to sing. Out of those tests, few songs came out and no one appeared to sing them. Some said they sounded very good and actually did not need voice so we decided to go on...

Ana sounded more like indie rock, no?
Yes, more like American Football. I used to enjoy a lot this band at the time.

The fact that Hurtmold has been going on at that time influenced in some way this option?
Kind of. I always enjoyed Hurtmold since the time of audio casettes. I know Fred from "Submarino" (Submarine) and we always talked about instrumental music. What happens is that when we decided to be an instrumental band, Hurtmold still had enough singing in their music, but we always followed their albums and concerts!

+SOMA: But they already had a strong instrumental verve within a framework post-rock, sort of, and at least for me, always have that thing of "hell, the guys do someting that I have wanted/want/could do". It serves as a tangible horizon, you know?
I know what you mean. This still works for me (laughs). Not only in music but also in the drawings. I like to search for nice works and be left wondering how they got to that result. But searching for a language that is your own..

+SOMA: There is a whole universe of good illustrators of children's books that are kind of unknown to the adult world, right?
It's true. The coolest thing is to see children's publications of Garcia Marquez's stories. I think that helps break down a little the prejudice which is to think that children's literature is just for kids.

+SOMA: There is even a song named after a character of his in your latest album, right?
Yes, Florentino Ariza! Great character, one of the 10 best characters created in the literature!

+SOMA: Curious, because I always see reviews talking about groups like Labirinto, Fossil (both post rock bands) as film soundtrack. You are more into the literature, no?
Great bands! I think literature, movies... everything influences and becomes a reference. Even traveling turns into a reference, just notice that the name Constantina came from a trip Leo did to Cape Town in Africa and saw a neighborhood there with that name!

+SOMA: How does improvisation come into your particular method? Are you into composing in the studio, collectively?
Yes, always collectively. Sometimes it's even by accident, someone starts playing a riff that sounds good and then everyone follows and slowly ideas start emerging. I think it has to be like this, at least for us. It's more fun and in the end we are not musicians - besides Dani who is now even studying music. Our songs are the result of many ideas not music... more than an intention, I think this is where comes in the literature, movies, pictures...

+SOMA: And this recording together with Colirir? How did it happen? Is it something you want to do again, to improvise with other groups?
Yes, whenever there is a band willing to (laughs). The guys from Colorir contact us by email, and told they were traveling up Brazil and playing in several places. They asked for concerts here in BH and if we did want to arrange something together. And it was a party! They are great friends and great people. It was one of the coolest moments we had as a band!

+SOMA: Really? What was so great for you as a band?
It was cool because it involves an exchange of culture, it was a very cool, beautiful and well preserved theater in a historic city in Minas Gerais, Mariana.

+SOMA: If one day Constantina wrote lyrics, what would they be about, how would they be?
Boy... I do not know quite what to say about it! I love songwriters like Elliot Smith and also some things from Yo La Tengo for example. I do not know... Maybe a mixture of them. Maybe the lyrics would speak of simple things, day-to-day, without pretense, or tell stories, like the Beatles!

+SOMA: What Constantina wants to be when it grows up?
(laughs) Very good this one. Sometimes I think - + Soma

Wed 05 14 08

+Soma 5: Constantina Interview

Soundtrack For Kids Books! Chat with the group Constantina.
by Arthur Dantas

Full interview with the group Constantina. In issue 5 was publised some parts of this interview.

+Soma: But what caught your attention on the aesthetics of the groups of Constellation?
I really like the idea of bands like Do Make Say Think, which has a strong sound and at the same time contemplative. I always thought that the place where we are, we live, influences my music, my drawings. BH has lots of mountains and in five minutes you can drive out of town and get completely isolated and mountainous places. I think Canada has some of that.

+Soma: And this predilection for instrumental bands? Curiously, the last five years there has been a boom of instrumental bands in Brazil ...
True, but I'll tell you how it began: the Ana [first band of Bruno] was to be a band with singing. We did some tests with a friend of ours and it was not getting very good. He decided to leave and we continued to try to find someone else to sing. Out of those tests, few songs came out and no one appeared to sing them. Some said they sounded very good and actually did not need voice so we decided to go on...

Ana sounded more like indie rock, no?
Yes, more like American Football. I used to enjoy a lot this band at the time.

The fact that Hurtmold has been going on at that time influenced in some way this option?
Kind of. I always enjoyed Hurtmold since the time of audio casettes. I know Fred from "Submarino" (Submarine) and we always talked about instrumental music. What happens is that when we decided to be an instrumental band, Hurtmold still had enough singing in their music, but we always followed their albums and concerts!

+SOMA: But they already had a strong instrumental verve within a framework post-rock, sort of, and at least for me, always have that thing of "hell, the guys do someting that I have wanted/want/could do". It serves as a tangible horizon, you know?
I know what you mean. This still works for me (laughs). Not only in music but also in the drawings. I like to search for nice works and be left wondering how they got to that result. But searching for a language that is your own..

+SOMA: There is a whole universe of good illustrators of children's books that are kind of unknown to the adult world, right?
It's true. The coolest thing is to see children's publications of Garcia Marquez's stories. I think that helps break down a little the prejudice which is to think that children's literature is just for kids.

+SOMA: There is even a song named after a character of his in your latest album, right?
Yes, Florentino Ariza! Great character, one of the 10 best characters created in the literature!

+SOMA: Curious, because I always see reviews talking about groups like Labirinto, Fossil (both post rock bands) as film soundtrack. You are more into the literature, no?
Great bands! I think literature, movies... everything influences and becomes a reference. Even traveling turns into a reference, just notice that the name Constantina came from a trip Leo did to Cape Town in Africa and saw a neighborhood there with that name!

+SOMA: How does improvisation come into your particular method? Are you into composing in the studio, collectively?
Yes, always collectively. Sometimes it's even by accident, someone starts playing a riff that sounds good and then everyone follows and slowly ideas start emerging. I think it has to be like this, at least for us. It's more fun and in the end we are not musicians - besides Dani who is now even studying music. Our songs are the result of many ideas not music... more than an intention, I think this is where comes in the literature, movies, pictures...

+SOMA: And this recording together with Colirir? How did it happen? Is it something you want to do again, to improvise with other groups?
Yes, whenever there is a band willing to (laughs). The guys from Colorir contact us by email, and told they were traveling up Brazil and playing in several places. They asked for concerts here in BH and if we did want to arrange something together. And it was a party! They are great friends and great people. It was one of the coolest moments we had as a band!

+SOMA: Really? What was so great for you as a band?
It was cool because it involves an exchange of culture, it was a very cool, beautiful and well preserved theater in a historic city in Minas Gerais, Mariana.

+SOMA: If one day Constantina wrote lyrics, what would they be about, how would they be?
Boy... I do not know quite what to say about it! I love songwriters like Elliot Smith and also some things from Yo La Tengo for example. I do not know... Maybe a mixture of them. Maybe the lyrics would speak of simple things, day-to-day, without pretense, or tell stories, like the Beatles!

+SOMA: What Constantina wants to be when it grows up?
(laughs) Very good this one. Sometimes I think - + Soma

Constantina - Hola Amigos...

Written by Valdir Antonelli
Friday, 18 April 2008 18:56

So this is the work of Constantina, from Minas Gerais, a band that some journalists define as post-rock, but they just make good music - yes, I know, I repeated here, but this is the truth. The difference between the work of the group from Minas Gerais and others who follow a similar line is that Constantina decided not to sound experimental, even if it is, like his fellow Colorir from Santa Catarina, or Hurtmold from Sao Paulo. You can say that sextet's sound gets pop if compared to other bands, but a different pop, full of repetitions, take Lamparina as an example, which appear to create several pieces within a single song, and do not be alarmed when, around the sixth minute of music, the guitar "scream" louder.

Hard to categorize - and we always like to find references to other groups in works like this - the new EP Constantina conquest by the simplicity and beauty of its arrangements, the use of children's voices in Florentino Oriza, with more than 11 minutes duration, overcomes a delicacy to the arrangement which seems to transport us to kindergarten's days. As the "MPB-soundlike" Cubo Mágico makes you sure that singing lyrics or not is just a detail which in the case of Constantina, there is no sense of lack of it.

Too bad there are only four songs ...

Find out what we think of the Constantina's album debut here... (http://www.dropmusic.com.br/index.php/lancamentos/novas-bandas/974-constantina)

Album: Constantina - Hola Amigos...
Label: Le Petit Chambre
Year: 2008
Constantina is:
Alex Lee
Andre Veloso
Bruno Nunes
Daniel Nunes
Glauco Ferreira
Leonardo Nunes

www.constantina.art.br - Drop Music

Constantina

Written by Valdir Antonelli
Saturday, 10 December 2005 18:55

With a climate fully sad, recalling the work of bands connected to the traditional British label 4AD, the Constantina can differentiate themselves from their peers, as Valve and Hurtmold by basically betting on what we call instrumental pop, eschewing experimentation - though it may also be present in the sextet's sound. Their arrangements, repetitive sometimes dialogue directly to the Wolfgang Press, Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil, of course keeping their differences, and could even be called ethereal or a soundtrack for a Wim Wenders' trip. But do not think they make a dated music or they're really influenced by 80 years. In fact they are not.

With eight tracks, three having more than ten minutes, this debut can be considered one of the best of 2005, demonstrating that there are people interested about just making good music, without worrying whether or not going to play on radio.

Listen to Tudo Possui Um Lugar and Ela Já Atravessou Todos os Oceanos do Mundo.

Album: Constantina
Label: Le Petit Chambre
Year: 2005

Constantina is:
a.fernandino - Guitar / Piano / Programming / Keyboard
a.veloso - Accordion / Drums / Other Percussion
b.nunes - Bass / Guitar / Other / Percussion / Piano / Programming / Keyboard / Trumpet / Guitar
d.nunes - Drums / Glockenspiel / Other / Percussion / Programming / Keyboard
f.carvalho - Guitar / Other / Percussion / Piano / Programming / Keyboard / Guitar
l.nunes - Bass / Other / Percussion / Schedules

www.constantina.art.br - Drop Music

Review of the "Pequenas Sessões" festival which Constantina played in Belo Horizonte and in the historic city of Sabara. (text in portuguese) - Estado de Minas Newspaper

Review of the show: Constantina + Superquem{} (in Sao Paulo, Brasil) (text in portuguese) - Jornal da Cidade de Bauru

Desde 2003, y con la intención de tocar la fibras de quienes los escuchan, nace el colectivo Constantina, en Belo Horizonte, Brasil. Música íntima basada en la electrónica, bossa-nova, jazz, pop, rock, y mucha improvisación.

Constantina es una agrupación musical onírica que no necesita las palabras para expresar su sentir. Esta banda comparte su sonido con el mundo entero a través de cuatro producciones discográficas: Constantina, Jaburu, ¡Hola Amigos…! y Haveno. ¡Déjense conquistar por su excelente propuesta!

constantina.art.br

Foto original de portada por Flora Rajao.

Subtítulos Disponibles en español, con traducción a cualquier idioma, gracias a YouTube.
Manejar la opción de Captions CC de la ventana. - El Parlante Amarillo

En 2013, la banda brasileña Constantina completa sus diez años de trayectoria en el circuito de la música instrumental independiente de Brasil.
Para conmemorar la fecha, Constantina lanza su single “Colorir”, música grabada en el estudio americano Womens Audio Mission (WAM)

Ficha Tecnica:

Autoria de André Veloso, Bruno Nunes, Daniel Nunes, Gustavo Gazzola, Lucas Morais, Thiago Vieira, Túlio Castanheira.
Engenheiras de Gravação: Terri Winston, Laura Dean and Jenny Thornburg.
Grabado no Women’s Audio Mission en dia 07 de marco de 2012.
Mixado por André Veloso
Arte: Henrique Marotta e Gabriela Marotta

Constantina . “Colorir” .
Composed and played by:
André Veloso, Bruno Nunes, Daniel Nunes, Gustavo Gazzola,
Lucas Morais, Thiago Vieira, Túlio Castanheira.
Recording Engineers:
Terri Winston, Laura Dean and Jenny Thornburg. - El Parlante Amarillo

Aquí les traemos la segunda parte de la experiencia musical que nosotros vivimos en el festival South By Southwest. Agrupaciones musicales independientes de todo el mundo que siguiendo sus principios, van, tocan, se dan a conocer y hacen contactos efectivos para crecer en el negocio musical y vivir de lo que más les gusta: la música.

Con ustedes: Guadalupe Plata, Plants and Animals, Palenke Soultribe, The Drums, Constantina, Baloji, Astro, The Magnetic Fields, Andrea Balency, The Temper Trap, Torreblanca, The Wedding Present, VHS or Beta. - El Parlante Amarillo