Urias

The Sāo Paulo-based artist Urias releases CARRANCA, a new album where revolutionary reflections on Brazilian notions of identity and the dimming horizons of freedom are cast against radical revisions of the most traditional Brazilian musics, as sampled and reinvented by the country's most innovative hip-hop and pop producers.

Packed with generous invocations of religious iconography inspired by Candomblé (a traditional Afro-Brazilian religion) and Afro-surrealist depictions of spiritual resistance, CARRANCA is a kinetic and immediate work that challenges Eurocentric narratives around nationality, culture, and racial identity. Alongside the album release, Urias shares a new video for “Voz do Brasil,” featuring Major RD. Atop its gyrating rhythms and rattling bass — as well as a sample of “O Guarani,” the beloved Carlos Gomes opera — “Voz do Brasil" functions as a critique of how Brazil is marketed abroad, and how its culture is perceived both internally and by outsiders.

As with the rest of the album, it’s a reclamation of what it means to be Brazilian, and a soundtrack to the search for freedom in a system that has failed to deliver upon its promises — both a celebration of the Brazil of Carnival, soccer, and caipirinha, as well as a sobering contemplation on the illusion of representation in a deeply unequal society. With CARRANCA, Urias — a rising star in Brazil and beyond whose music has amassed over 400k monthly Spotify listeners and more than 50 million YouTube views — introduces a pointed artistic vision. Named for the carranca, a grotesque wood carved figure that indigenous Brazilians traditionally affix to river boats to ward off evil spirits, the album reckons with the modern world's elusive, exclusionary concept of freedom — and the spiritual revolt necessary to challenge those staid notions.

Across its 14 tracks — including three interludes narrated by Marcinha do Corintho — CARRANCA reckons with an array of heady topics: the erasure of indigenous religious identity in the wake of colonization ("Deus," featuring the acclaimed Brazilian rapper Criolo), the marginalization of Black Brazilians ("Quando e Fonte Secar"), and the complicated desire for revenge against the perpetrators of imperial violence ("Herança"). All the while, Urias weaves in snippets and interpolations from diverse chapters of Brazilian musical history, grounding her expressions in the art of her revolutionary forebears.