He hates journalists, freely admits to financing recordings through the years by pimping, and may be the Brazilian musical equivalent to Little Howlin' Wolf, or even Jandek. It's the Damião Experiença, whose albums (often featuring "Planet Lamma" somehow in the title) date back to 1974. It's a stumbling, weird and amazing hybrid of acoustic Brazilian sounds, African tribal drumming, warped electric delta-via-Pluto blues, often with the tracks overdubbed so heavily it can sound like five out-of-synch Fela records going at the same time (I think one song has three or four harmonica solos going on simultaneously). Best of all there's a ton of downloads here, one of the most bizarre being "Cheirando Alho No Planeta Lamma" (MP3) from album Chupando Cana Verde e Cheirando Alho no Planeta Lamma (translated: "Sucking Green Sugar Cane on the Planet Lamma"). Review included on the site: Here the third phase incredible. You can hear five damiões singing simultaneously overlapped, some harmonicas, guitars and marimbas. Here, Damião mixed records of the first phase, and then to each new added voice, we also have a new string on the guitar. Brilliant. Pre-Requisite to have the developed mind. Polyphonic. Quadraphonic? No, Daimophonic. Two friends so far think it's a hoax, but the site sure is convincing, not to mention the music. Be sure to look around the whole site and don't deprive yourself of one of the most severe bio/FAQ pages out there (tip of the hat to Doug Schulkind):
Is Damião a beggar ?
Not, but frequent people confuse him for the skill deloused of his dressing.
- How did Damião afford recording his LPS ?
With Pimpering money.
- So, you are saying he was a pimp ?
According to him, he is a pimp nowadays.
- Does the navy pay's him a wage?
Yes, he receives a wage for having been retired by the navy.
- How did have Damião left the navy?
Please read the self biography in the section Book.
- Does Damião like women to beat him?
Yes. I am masochistic (still today).
- Does Damião like lesbian women ?
Yes, if you marry a lesbian woman, you arrive home and find only women, a lot, but if you marry regular women, you arrive home and find a man.
Did the censorship boycott Damião records ?
Daminhão said that the cuts in the songs, in the tracks in his LPs had been for the censorship to approve, in others he said that the censorship did not leave him to appear in the TV, in the 70s.
- How many LPs have Damião recorded ?
34, of which the Discography has listed 28.
- Does he give interviews ?
No, Damião believes that the TV and part of the press would treat him as an aberration, not as an artist and they would not have respect nor for the person, neither for his work. Some periodicals, TV shows and famous talk-shows already had tried and they had not obtained success. He doesn't want to be treated as a jerk, or a freak.
- Does Damião make shows ?
Few and rare. The last one was in 2002. They are acoustic because Daminhão is without band currently.
- How many years since the last recording ?
The last record was in 92, therefore 12 years without recording.
- Is it truth that he has participated in records of other artists ?
Yes, but he does not like to comment the subject, does not speak of this, gives to understand that they had used his name to promote themselves and they had not helped him. Still, there is a resistance on the Daminhão side, (his way of being) in signing papers of any nature. - My work belongs to the world.
-Is Damião still a communist ?
No longer, he followed the ascension of the dictatorships on the proletariat and ascension of the social democracy in the world.
- Does he take this seriously ?
Damião takes his work very seriously, knows atomically what he recorded in each track, how it was recorded and the lyrics, everything is intentional, even what seems to be fortuitous. You should take this seriously too, this is art.
- What is the dialect of the Lamma Planet ?
It is a language taught him by the people of the infinite of 1999, but you can believe that Damiao has created it, because the language has nexus, he talks in this language and sings any song that he has made in the dialect exactly like it was recorded in the LPs. He translates any phrase for - the dialect -, as he likes to call, and repeats later if asked.
Actually, the name of the album should translate to "Sucking Green Sugar Cane and Smelling Garlic on the Planet Lamma"
Posted by: Jorge Vaz Nande | December 13, 2006 at 06:24 AM
And, reading closely, you realize that his name "Experiença" is a mix of the words "experiência" (experiment) and "esperança" (hope).
Posted by: Jorge Vaz Nande | December 13, 2006 at 10:40 AM
A lot fo Brazilian music sites reference him, so your friends' supposition that it's a hoax seem well off-base.
Posted by: Joe | December 17, 2006 at 11:08 AM
As one of the webmasters i tell you guys , he is true !! it´s not a hoax. Damião, now 73 years old got plenty of weird music in head. He is recording new tracks and someone in Brazil is finishing a documentary on his life.
We will upload some more records (8) next month. Damião has 27 records so far.
Cheers
Posted by: Rob Ranches | September 18, 2007 at 05:49 PM