Kalibe

Kalibe is as an imaginary musical society where elements of different cultures come together in harmony. The heart and voice of this album is Mae da Lua, a poet, singer, and activist from Brazil. With her deep and intense voice she sings about the need to preserve the environment, the meaning of existence, and the importance of universal love. All the songs have a strong message of tolerance and peace, with the belief that music can unite people. "I first met Mae da Lua in 2004, when we were both street musicians in the south of Spain. She had just arrived in Europe and was travelling with so many instruments that she couldn't carry them by herself and always had some friend around helping her. I remember I was really impressed by her approach to music: she used to arrive in a square, lay down a carpet and put several percussion instruments, flutes, guitars and weird instruments on the ground, as if it was a ritual. Then she started playing and singing, inviting people to grab an instrument and play along with her. For her, music was first of all a matter of sharing, she really believed in the power of unification that music has. Her voice was so strong and charismatic and her message so clear that it transcended language barriers. She lived with me and Ermanno Panta for a few months and we were playing music all the time. Then she went back to Brazil. In the following decade we kept in touch but met only a couple of times. At the end of 2015 I called her and asked if she ever recorded the songs we were playing together. She answered no, telling me that for some time she'd been praying to the sky for somebody to help her record and arrange those songs. That was the beginning of this album!" Matteo Crugnola