14 Nov Interview: Bluecomotive Talks with… «Things I didn’t know became new in my heart»
Planting a new idea about the Northeast in others — adding new interpretations to this immense and diverse Brazilian cultural territory — was one of the premises that gave rise to “Nordeste Ficção”, Juliana Linhares’ debut album. Actress, singer, and songwriter, this multifaceted artist captivates the gaze and breath of those who see her on stage. We leave transformed—as was her ambition—in a process in which she also reinvented herself, discarding some truths and enveloping new ones.
You had long expressed a desire to release an album under your own name. How has the experience been of giving yourself completely—without concessions or creative limits—to this very personal project that seems to have no expiration date?
A project this personal, where we speak so much on our own behalf, encourages us to dive deep into ourselves. This album, this project, allowed me to learn more about my anxieties, my strengths and weaknesses, the things I knew and didn’t know, what I wanted to learn from this experience, what I was able to share. So, after more than four years, it has been very rewarding for me to still be working on this album, which for me is becoming increasingly alive and transformative. Both in terms of its power to transform the whole world that lives, participates, and knows, and in terms of my own transformation. I think my voice has changed, my discourse has changed, what I want to sing has changed. Some truths I had also fell apart, and other things I didn’t know became new in my heart.
How would you describe the essence of “Nordeste Ficção”? What narratives or feelings did you seek to convey through these songs?
Essentially, what I really wanted was to contribute, to add another page to the book, to the various books we have about the Northeast, to the various stories. Another artistic contribution to a vision, to another possible vision, of the Northeast. We know that people often have limited views, and “Nordeste Ficção” comes with the desire to broaden that view, along with other artists and works being done in the Northeast. The desire of the project, what lies between the lines, is to broaden the Northeast, in the understanding that it is multiple, powerful. It has many themes, because the Northeast is diverse: we talk about love, sexuality, migration from the Northeast. It talks about many things between the lines of this theme, which is “Nordeste Ficção”.
The album includes two notable collaborations with Chico César and Zeca Baleiro. How did these collaborations come about and what do they mean to you?
For me, the partnerships with Chico César and Zeca Baleiro are very important because they are two artists from a generation slightly before mine who made this very interesting journey, in the minds of Brazilians, of showing the Northeast in other places. They are two composers and singers, two multi-artists from the Northeast who made a journey to the Southeast and planted a different Northeast in people’s minds through their compositions. For me, this was a great inspiration for the album. And being able to have them both as songwriting partners was a surprise and a gift that, even today, I sometimes still can’t believe. Writing songs with them taught me about songwriting and about this work that is the whole journey we make all the time in people’s minds, in our thoughts about others.
In the summer, you returned to Portugal for two concerts, at FESTA OVAR and MIMO Amarante. How was that experience?
Returning to Portugal is always a joy for me. I really enjoy taking music abroad, especially to a country that shares a common language with us, where we can also deconstruct many ideals and images of our Brazil-Portugal relationship within this real experience: when we go, when we see, when we sing, when we really put music into dialogue, a lot happens inside us. That is very powerful.