Tecno brega / eletro melody is back on my radar for 2 reasons —

1) Ronaldo Lemos, the Rio-based law prof who’s been hailing the genre’s open business model for years now, has just published a new book about tecno brega and its creative approach to the music biz, Tecnobrega: o Pará Reinventando o Evento da Música. It’s in Portuguese but it’s also CC-licensed, so I’m hoping someone will soon translate it to English so that I can read it too. It will be available for download from here.

2) & perhaps presciently, I just got a trackback&comment from Rio-based blogger Soundgoods who has put together a mixtape collecting some of the tecnobrega / eletro melody that tends less toward the cheesy (brega) end of the spectrum and more toward the “interesting.” It’s a nice mix, though as with lots of genre-specific outings, it can get a bit repetitive. Still, gotta love those wheezy synths and throwback claps.

      >> Soundgoods, “Força Do Pará Mixtape”

… which reminds me, back when I originally posted about eletro melody, the post received a comment from none other than the “CRIADOR do ELETRO MELODY” (as he put it), Joe! He affirms the going narrative on the inspiration for the genre (yes, Benny Benassi), offers some ideas about the genre’s appeal (a la global gobbledigook), and invites people to get in touch. I’ve been meaning to bring his comment into full view here, so since it’s all topical and whatnot, here goes (w/ a snappy translation from our own Gregzinho) —

olá, me chamo eder joe ou joe sou produtor musical, CRIADOR do ELETRO MELODY,que pra vcs seria “ELECTRO MALADY” hoje decidi pesquisar no google esse nome para saber a até que ponto esse ritimo abrange atualmente, fico feliz por ser um ritimo sociavel musicalmente falando.Realmente a minha fonte de inspiração foi o album de benni benassi, adimiro o estilo dele, satisfaction éssa foi o ponto de partida para a criação do eletro melody, benni benassi com seu electro house e eu com o melody, juntei as duas coisas e criei o electro melody ou eletro melody. atualmente, o eletro melody esta tocando nas radios e aparelhagens em todo o norte e nordeste do brasil. o ritimo inciou com um jeito de cantar similar ao regaeton hoje ele se encontra mais melodico harmonizado com letras que falam de amor, e não porem não deixando girias de baladas de lado, tipo: “agitar, detonar, arrazar, bombar, gatinha, rapeize(galera jovem), etc..).

pelomenos no brasil, a letra do eletro melody não é muito rica devido fazer apologia a equipes de som automotivo, equipes de aparelhagens, etc.. porem para os extrangeiros, a musica pode ser um ritimop promissor, creio devido os extrangeiros não entenderem o portugues brasileiro. assim como a musica de suzanne vega (my name is luka) fez sucesso no brasil, como uma musica totalmente romantica, quanto que na verdade ela contava um historia de uma criança maltratada, violencia infantil. quem diria uma melodia tão bonita com uma letra tão deprimente, pois é.
meu email para que quiser saber mais é: joe_production19@hotmail.com

vc encontra mais eletro melody ou electro malady na pagina http://joeproducoes.4shared.com

um abraço!

here’s Greg’s translation for the non-Lusophones reading this —

Hi, my name is Eder Joe or [just] Joe I’m a music producer, CREATOR of the ELETRO MELODY, which for you all would be “ELECTRO MALADY” Today I decided to search on Google for this phrase to find out to what extent this rhythm is currently circulating, I’m happy it’s become popular [sociavel = socialable? I think he means popular in this context] musically speaking. Truthfully my inspiration was Benni Benassi’s album, I admire his style, Satisfaction was the point of departure for the creation of eletro melody, Benni Benassi with his electro house and me with melody, I combined the two things to create electro melody or eletro melody. Currently, eletro melody is being played on the radio and by all the sound systems in the north and northeast of Brazil. The rhythm began with a singing style similar to reggaeton. Today it’s more melodic and harmonized with lyrics about love and not however not leaving party slang aside, like: “agitate, detonate, arrazar [dunno this one], bomb, little cat [slang for cute girl], the boys (the crew), etc.

At least in Brazil, electro melody lyrics aren’t very deep, they mostly talk about car stereo systems, sound systems, etc. However for foreigners, the music can be a promising rhythm, I believe due to the fact that foreigners don’t understand Brazilian Portuguese. It’s just like the Suzanne Vega song “My Name is Luka,” which was a success in Brazil, with a very romantic sound, while in fact she was singing about an abused child, juvenile violence. Who would’ve thought such a pretty melody had such depressing lyrics, of course.

My e-mail for whoever wants to know more is: joe_production19@hotmail.com

You can find more eltro melody or electro malady on this page: http://joeproducoes.4shared.com

A hug!

Abraços, y’all — now someone get on that translation of Ronaldo’s book!