In Grand Canal Dock, a concert rooted in Brazilian, Congolese, and Nigerian culture

Backstage on a red sofa, Henrique Nunes strums a few chords on his guitar and Sara Yamit warms up her vocals. 

It’s a few minutes before gig time, at the Windmill Lane Recording Studios on Ringsend Road. 

ÓNinaÓ, their group, is a neo-tropicalia project that blends classic Brazilian sounds with a contemporary twist influenced by the 1960s and 1970s Brazilian tropicalia movement. 

The group formed recently but has already had airtime. Last year, they premiered their debut single "Flor de Fevereiro" live on RTÉ Radio 1’s Arena. They’re working on their first album.

At about 7:50pm, the band members step barefoot onto the stage. 

“Goddess!” calls out someone in the crowd to Yamit, in Portuguese. 

"We are opening tonight for Ellen's album release later, but we have been living here for a few years already, and we are called ÓNinaÓ," Yamit says, speaking with a northeastern Brazilian accent. 

ÓNinaÓ is a tribute to Nina Simone, says Nunes later. 

In northeastern Brazil, "ÓNina" is a way of saying "look" — as in "Look, Nina, look," Yamit says. 

Most of the seats are filled at the sold-out event.

The main attraction in the show, which is part of the The Five Lamps Arts Festival, is still to come – the unveiling of the debut album by Ellen Eloyse Corrêa Pereira, also known as Ellen Be, which like the supporting act, is rooted in the Black beats and percussion of much Brazilian music.

Libertai

The album, “Libertai”, produced by Sean Montgomery Dietz. 

On the tracks, Ellen Be, the solo singer, is backed up by Cozinha Preta, a fusion band that includes musicians from Elikya, with jazz vibes, and Yankari, known as an Afrobeat powerhouse. 

The album took about six years, says Ellen Be. It was recorded between Ireland and Brazil, conveying themes of cultural awakening and ancestral power across its 12 songs. 

"There's a bit of logistics to work through, but it's coming very soon. All the information will be released on her Instagram page," said Dietz, the producer. 

They have decided to launch one song at a time, says Ellen Be. Each track is involved – with complex production, lyrics and visuals, she says.

"Madalena", the first song, will be officially released in May, she says.

An acoustic version was first released at the Five Lamp Arts Festival in 2021. But this reworked piece has an entire band and production, she says. "Each piece of music comes together like an orchestra.”

"Madalena is about female ancestry and awakening," says Ellen Be.

The name reflects the "archetype of Madalena", she says, which originates from a village where all the women had Madalena in their names. 

Some legends suggest that Madalena was a woman who traveled through villages, offering readings about love. 

Although she wasn’t noble, she moved among nobility because of her position as a fortune-teller who could predict future marriages, says Ellen Be.

Once "Madalena" is out, other songs will follow one by one, she says: "O Começo de Tudo", "Like a Leaf", "Cozinhando", and "Libertai".

African roots

On stage, ÓNinaÓ sang and played through Brazilian classics –  "Preta Pretinha", "Asa Branca", "Samba Da Minha Terra". 

Then, an original song, "Flor de Fevereiro" – and a 15-minute break before Cozinha Preta and Ellen Be take the stage. 

"I like the way they blend the songs and the mix of instruments," said Aglalpe da Silva, watching on from the audience.

Kelli Monteiro says she loves Brazilian music and percussion. "It's what I have most on my Spotify – samba and Brazilian music."

Brazilian music is deeply rooted in percussion, says Yamit, the vocalist in ÓNinaÓ, later. 

That traces back to the African people who were enslaved and brought to Brazil, as well as the indigenous peoples who lived there, says Yamit. 

It's a mix of indigenous culture and African influences, all intertwined with spirituality, says Yamit. "Music was a way to communicate with the gods.” 

Their original song “Flor de Fevereiro” is also rooted in spirituality, and the annual celebration of Iemanjá, the goddess of the waters in Brazil.

On 2 February each year, people honor her by sending little boats out onto the water, giving thanks and making requests. "It's all mixed up with the sense of  saudade – everything we miss about Brazil," says Yamit. 

Says Nunes, the acoustic guitar player: "When you have percussion, you are invoking something spiritual.” 

Francisco Feitosa, who plays percussion in the band, is grateful he was born in Bahia, he says, where a large share of the population has African heritage, and there are also lots of people from Angola, Congo, Nigeria and elsewhere on the continent. “I have a lot of African influence.” 

That all feeds his music, he says. “We have a religion called candomblé that was brought over by enslaved people. Capoeira and the rhythms we play also have African origins.”

For Gaudiê Martins Otero, who plays electric guitar and mandolin in the band, it is important to perform music that his father loved. "I just lost my father, and his last research focused on African music."

His father was a musicologist, he says. "My father would be proud to see me playing music with African influences." 

One of the styles, Bossa Nova, is a thread of Black music that gained legitimacy over time as white artists began to play it, he says. 

As he sees it, Bossa Nova was also essential in drawing attention to Brazilian music. "If it weren't for Bossa Nova, we wouldn't have had the spotlight on other styles," he says. 

Bossa Nova also enhanced the complexity of Brazilian music, says Otero.

Cozinha Preta

At around 9:15pm, the backing band Cozinha Preta takes the stage, kicking off their performance by inviting Ellen Be up. 

“This concert is in honour of Patrick Blake, and I'll begin with a song called “Cozinhando,'” says Ellen Be.

“It’s  in the kitchen where fire is born, it's in the kitchen that we feed the knowledge," she sings in Portuguese. 

“Cozinha Preta is an international kitchen,” says Segun Akano, who grew up in Nigeria and is the drummer and singer for Yankari. 

They chose the name “Cozinha Preta”, which translates to “Black Kitchen”, because “everything gets done in the kitchen”, said Ellen Be, after the concert. 

“Black” as the music of the world started in African percussion and the project was created around the African beats, she says. 

Although, it is a name they have been reconsidering, she says. “I was told by someone that the name upset a few people in the Brazilian-African community.”

That’s because the kitchen was historically a subservient space where enslaved people stayed, she says.  

But she asked African members of the band, she says, and they didn’t mind the name. To them, and Ellen Be, it reflects the tailored fusion of their music. “We cook rhythms,” she says.

Kalombo Kings, one of the members of Cozinha Preta, grew up in Congo. 

Dietz, who hails from Los Angeles, moved to Ireland 20 years ago to study music. After college, he began working with a Nigerian record label. 

One day, Kalombo Kings came in to produce for the label. “We clicked,” says Dietz. “He shared with me his culture and music". 

The band Elikya plays music based on rumba, generally, says Kalombo Kings, who plays percussion and sings in that band. But “we can do any style. We mostly sing in Lingala.”

For Stumi Latino, who is from Congo, and plays bass and drums in both bands that make up Cozinha Preta – Elikya and Yankari, the connection through culture, chemistry, and the interactions with people from different backgrounds are what he enjoys most about making music together.

Dietz, the producer, says that Ellen Be’s music reminds him of nature. “The nature of Earth. One of the first peoples of the world were the people from Congo and Nigeria, the peoples of Africa.”

“So much of what I love about America comes from Black culture,” he says. “It has always been my dream that we all could work together.” 

“I look up to them,” says Dietz, who plays guitar in both bands, Elikya and Yankari.

The debut 

After a couple of songs – “No One Really Knows” and “ Lovebele” – Ellen Be invited Akano to the stage to sing in Hausa.

"We are going to do a song from the house of a tribe in Nigeria, and it's about a little girl," he says. 

"No matter where you are going in the world, your home will always be in my heart," he says – and begins. 

Moments later, Kings of Kongo performs “Mambu Ma Miondo”, this track in Lingala.

At 9:56pm, Ellen Be calls Felipe Menezes to the stage, and in Portuguese and English, they reminisce about their time in a band called Meraki, back when she ran a cultural hub on Dorset Street.

At 10:30pm, Ellen Be leans into the mic and begins to sing her title song, “Libertai”.