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(Listen along on Spotify as you read).
It has been almost two months since the last edition. I was on vacation for a few weeks, and then life happened. I'm so happy to be back.
In music curation, a delay can be a gift. The more I listened to these 13 new tracks, the more I could feel their powers. Slow listening, as I'd call it, is the act of showing respect for the songs by simply giving them time to show themselves.
Simply having more time to spend with the songs is to do justice to music as a form of art. I fervently recommend it. It's been endlessly rewarding.
This new collection of 13 tracks reflects the impact and energy of this period, and I sincerely hope you enjoy it.
// THE 004 PLAYLIST
On 6 October, one of my favourite artists, Iogi, released his new album We Can Be Friends. I enthusiastically listened to it while selecting his happy pop track, Regular Visitor, for this playlist. The next day, Israel, his home country, was attacked by the Hamas-led Palestinian militants.
That week, I started researching Palestinian music and bumped into MC Abdul, a brilliant hip-hop artist who was only 15 years old. His song Can I Live is also in the playlist. Writing from the US, where he moved just a few months ago, he posted on social media an alarming statement:
Right now, I am living my dream in the USA. But right now, my family back in Gaza are living a nightmare. I can't help but feel guilty here and not being able to hug and protect my siblings. I have clean water, electricity to charge my phone and safety. They don't. As crazy as it sounds, I wish I could be back home in Gaza to be with them, but I can't. My friend was killed yesterday. We used to play basketball together. He was just a kid. Like Me".
Besides that, as usual, you'll have the chance to expand your musical horizons with tracks from different parts of the world: Ethiopia, Argentina, Uruguay, Brasil, Antilles, Kenya, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
And if you have time, please tell me what you’re listening to. I may feature it in an upcoming newsletter. You can email me at eduardolemos.music@gmail.com. I respond to every letter sent.
Time to listen to Distante 004:
// ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eduardo Lemos is a music journalist, playlist curator for businesses and co-founder of the record label Pequeno Imprevisto. Having worked in many different roles across the industry in the last ten years, Eduardo had the opportunity to collaborate with artists such as Milton Nascimento, Paralamas, Da Lata, and many contemporary names from Latin America, Europe and the UK. He is the artistic director of the show Lua Rosa, in which Brazilian musicians perform their interpretations of Nick Drake's songs. As a music journalist, he has interviewed music legends such as Gilberto Gil, Arnaldo Baptista and Beto Guedes, and indie artists like Kings of Convenience, Tim Bernardes, Perotá Chingó, and many more. He writes monthly articles for the Brazilian Union of Composers (UBC) website and magazine. Eduardo is also the creator of the newsletter Distante, wherein he writes about music and immigration. He was born in Brazil and currently lives in London, UK.
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