Radio Chévere
Talking about "UNITY", collaboration and social cohesion, Welsh singer, songwriter, composer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist and producer Carwyn Ellis recently returned to present the latest project of his Rio 18 brainchild, bringing a breath of fresh tropical air to the global airwaves and simultaneously celebrating the seemingly invincible radio format. "Radio Chévere" is more like an actual 45-minute radio show, with none other than the voice of celebrated DJ Coco Maria on interlude duties, guiding listeners through the decidedly stimulating und no doubt infectious broadcast. Featuring a highly diverse host of guests, this is not your everyday mixtape of latin grooves, but a self-proclaimed "internationalist love letter, an offering to the goddess of Tropical Music and all that it encompasses."
"Radio Chévere" takes listeners on "a journey through myriad musical styles and stories. Stopping off at Uruguay, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, California, New York and countless other sonic destinations via Samba, Salsa, Funk, Cumbia, Joropo, Disco, Psychedelic and Electronic stylings, “Radio Chévere” is also a musical metaphor for migration - a journey from one continent, one life to another," the release notes detail. Guest artists on this dynamic (ad)venture include the likes of Venezuela's Luzmira Zerpa, Brazilian legends the +2's (Moreno Veloso, Kassin and Domenico Lancellotti), transatlantic yacht rock deities Young Gun Silver Fox (i.e. the UK's Andy Platts and American multi-instrumentalist Shawn Lee), "São Paulo's finest" Sylvia Machete, Anglo-Brazilian vocalist/songwriter Nina Miranda and English rock group Little Barrie as well as Cardiff producer and beatmaker Don Leisure. Considering the wide array of influences on this admittedly ambitious undertaking, it is hard to fathom, how to have it all make sense from a sonic standpoint. But it does when consumed as a virtual radio show and we're sure having Carwyn Ellis masterminding the arrangement was more than just a side note.
So how else to praise this offering? Eclectic? Sure, why not. Polyglot? Most definitely, with tracks sung in Spanish, Portuguese, Welsh and English. Life-affirming? That too seems to be the case, considering the predominantly upbeat productions. It might help to take the previous album of Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18 into account, when reflecting on how "Radio Chévere" came about. Ellis shared the following insights: “We’d made a concept album with an orchestra. How do you follow that?” he says. “So I retreated to my laboratory, learned as much new music as I could, started learning Spanish too, and ended up writing tunes in a bunch of languages and styles, all of which reflected things I’ve learned or experienced over the last couple of years.” The result is this absolute delight of an album, a carnival of styles and undeniably colourful experience, very welcome as we enter the dreary fall season here in the city of Berlin. Would be nice to tune into this station more frequently, but for now, this will certainly do.
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