Aparelhagem

DJ Dolores burst onto the global club scene with his explosive and highly original mixture of traditional sounds from the Brazilian Northeast with dancefloor-friendly electronics and elements of rock & dub.

Drawing his inspiration from urban and rural musical styles traditionally shunned by the establishment but favoured by the working classes (dance rhythms such as maracatú, song forms such as emboladas), DJ Dolores blends them with loops, breakbeats, street sounds & live instrumentation to create a unique musical cocktail which is culturally & politically meaningful, yet first and foremost irresistibly festive !...

DJ Dolores (aka Helder Aragão) won a BBC World Music Award (in the ‘club global’ category) and made a noted appearance (alongside David Byrne, Gilberto Gil and the Beastie Boys) on the famous “Rip, Mash, Sample, Share” CD (in US magazine Wired) which championed the Creative Commons licenses. He has been active in the ebullient musical scene of his hometown Recife since his collaboration with Mangue Beat originators Chico Science and Nação Zumbi in the late ‘80s. He is definitely at the forefront of a new movement which reappropriates some of the country’s neglected traditions and brings them to a wider audience (both in Brazil and abroad), thus bridging the gaps between poor & rich, young & old, and showing that there’s an amazingly rich musical world beyond samba and bossa nova.

Not since the Clash has there been so successful an integration of Jamaican ska and dub into another musical form, to create something fresh and exciting (The Independent on Sunday)

An infectious, festive cocktail (Metro)

Boils the cauldron of Nordestine traditions on a hotplate of electronic music… futuristic (Les Inrockuptibles)