Album info
Album-Release:
2026
HRA-Release:
24.04.2026
Album including Album cover
- 1 Pé no Chão 05:10
- 2 Mestre Novo da Guiné 04:24
- 3 Bumbo Meu Boi 04:36
- 4 Voo da Tarde 07:13
- 5 Maracanós 03:48
- 6 Submersivos 04:09
- 7 3 Minutos de Paz 03:27
- 8 Pau Rolou 03:36
Info for Maracanós
Maracanós is a collaborative album by Brazilian percussion pioneer Airto Moreira and pianist, composer, and producer Ricardo Bacelar, featuring a special guest appearance by vocalist Flora Purim.
The project presents a cross-generational encounter rooted in improvisation, studio experimentation, and Brazilian musical heritage, released globally on April 24 via Jasmin Music. The visual identity of the album is created by Brazilian artist Fernando França.
Maracanós emerged from a multi-layered creative process taking place between Fortaleza and Rio de Janeiro, where recording sessions evolved into an open studio dialogue between two generations of Brazilian music. Rather than being conceived as a conventional album, the project developed as a living system of composition, improvisation, and sound design shaped directly inside the studio environment.
The work expands beyond audio into an audiovisual universe connected to a feature-length documentary directed by Jom Tob Azulay, currently in post-production. This parallel film documents the creative process in real time, reinforcing the idea of the album as an evolving artistic ecosystem rather than a fixed product.
At its core, Maracanós explores what becomes possible when complete artistic freedom is supported by full production infrastructure, allowing improvisation, composition, and experimentation to coexist without commercial constraint.
The conceptual foundation of Maracanós lies in the tension and continuity between improvisation and structure, tradition and experimentation, acoustic performance and electronic transformation. The music unfolds without rigid song architecture, instead evolving as a continuous dialogue where ideas are shaped through interaction rather than predetermined form.
The sonic identity moves fluidly between Brazilian rhythmic languages, jazz improvisation, orchestral writing, and contemporary studio manipulation. Acoustic instruments are not separated from electronic textures but absorbed into a single evolving sound field where timbre, space, and dynamics carry equal structural importance.
The result is a deeply immersive listening experience that reflects both the immediacy of live performance and the precision of modern studio composition.
Stenio Gonçalves, acoustic guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, electric guitar
Airto Moreira, drums, percussion, vocals, berimbau
Ricardo Bacelar, piano, electric piano, keyboards, guitar, vocals, organ, dulcimer
Marcio Resende, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute
Flora Purim, vocals
Kalimera String Quartet
Ricardo Bacelar
is a Brazilian pianist, composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist based in Fortaleza, in the northeast of Brazil. His artistic practice extends beyond performance into the construction of an independent production ecosystem through Jasmin Music and Jasmin Studio, which operate as both label and creative laboratory.
Rather than following Brazil’s traditional Rio–São Paulo industry axis, Bacelar has developed an autonomous production model centred on artistic continuity, technical precision, and long-form collaboration. Within this system, the studio becomes a compositional instrument, and production is treated as an extension of musical thought rather than post-production support.
His work consistently brings together established figures of Brazilian music and new creative environments, allowing intergenerational exchange to shape contemporary output. Collaborations include Gilberto Gil, Roberto Menescal, Toninho Horta, Leila Pinheiro, and Flávio Venturini, positioning him as both curator and architect of a contemporary Brazilian production language.
In Maracanós, Bacelar acts simultaneously as performer and sonic director, shaping the album’s structural identity while guiding its aesthetic and conceptual framework.
Airto Moreira
is one of the most influential percussionists in modern jazz history and a central figure in the globalisation of Brazilian rhythmic language. After relocating to the United States in the late 1960s, he became part of a transformative period in jazz history, contributing to the emergence of jazz fusion alongside artists such as Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Keith Jarrett, and Stan Getz.
His approach expanded percussion beyond timekeeping into a multidimensional expressive system incorporating voice, texture, and improvisation. This redefinition of rhythmic function helped reshape contemporary jazz performance practice across multiple generations.
Airto is a recipient of the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship, the highest honour awarded in American jazz, recognising his lasting contribution to the development of the genre.
Within Maracanós, Airto continues his lifelong exploration of rhythm as a living, intuitive system—one that exists in constant dialogue with sound, space, and collective improvisation.
Flora Purim
is one of the most significant Brazilian vocalists in international jazz history. Emerging during the late 1960s, she became a defining voice in the global expansion of Brazilian music through jazz fusion and experimental forms.
Her international recognition grew during the 1970s in the United States, where she was repeatedly named Best Female Jazz Vocalist by critics over multiple years. Her vocal style, characterised by rhythmic elasticity and improvisational phrasing, helped redefine the role of the human voice in jazz contexts.
Closely associated with Airto Moreira both musically and personally, Purim has been a central figure in some of the most important cross-cultural jazz recordings of the fusion era.
In Maracanós, she appears on “Voo da Tarde,” where her voice introduces a lyrical and human counterpoint within the album’s broader abstract and textural sound world.
This album contains no booklet.