ARNALDO DIAS BAPTISTA

TO BURN OR NOT TO BURN – REMIXED BY THE PETRIFIED BeTOOLS

2011-2022 

Launch video release > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU31QOCpDqE

Since the song “Navegar de Novo” from the album Loki? (1974), Arnaldo Baptista has advocated for clean energy and practices — for instance, when he calls out in that excerpt: “Why not set up smaller residential clusters / to allow for greater decentralization / to make room for greenery / to create space…”.

The phrase “To Burn or Not to Burn” first appeared between 1993 and 1995 in Arnaldo’s visual art, in the form of poèmes dessinés (poems expressed through visual art). Over the following decade, his manifesto calling for the “end of the age of fire” emerged.

The compilation of remixes for “To Burn or Not to Burn”— a track originally released on Arnaldo’s solo album Let It Bed (2004) — showcases the lustiness of Brazilian underground electronic music artists who have emerged in recent years within a diverse and expanding musical landscape.

The omnipresent minimalist poem — “To burn or not to burn. What is the question? What? What?”— is uniquely incorporated into each remix, reflects decades of electronic dance music history from the 1960s to the present, and suggests an echo of Arnaldo Baptista’s manifesto through these artists’ work.

“I had a distinct experience regarding these works: space-age synthesizers falling into a dance rhythm and poetic drive. I was impressed by how my music was developed,” Arnaldo commented after listening to the remixes.

The remixers include names such as Zopelar, L_cio, Magal, and Tata Ogan, among many others — a group Arnaldo dubbed “The Petrified BeTools.”

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A transcript of the album launch video and full info about this compilation is available at this link. > https://arnaldodiasbaptista.com.br/english/2022/02/21/electronic-music-joins-arnaldo-baptistas-manifest-for-clean-energy/