Dear Tropicalistas worldwide!

We continue our journey that got started in an industrial estate in the northeast of Berlin, where we took our newest LP to the Tropical Diaspora® Records’ office, then opened one box and could finally feel the smooth surface of it: there was Renato Gama and Nhocuné Soul on vinyl. We took a deep breath and enjoyed.

After a short pause the trip continues in São Paulo. There we complete the last step in this great story of Renato Gama’s “Olhos Negros Vivo” LP and the bonus 7-inch single “Ogunhê” of Nhocuné Soul. The mission is crystal clear: to bring the record back to its origins, the periphery of the concrete jungle of São Paulo’s city east side known as Vila Nhocuné.

After the release of the record in Berlin the expectation by the artists and the people involved was higher than ever. Besides that, I was making pictures and promoting the record all the way from Berlin through St. Louis MO, Chicago IL to São Paulo. Together with all the pictures there were many stories and situations that have contributed to the “personality” and history of this great LP, and many DJs, DJanes, record stores and producers got the record first hand from me and the feedback was always the same, “What an amazing piece of Music and Vinyl Art”. In the days before my trip to São Paulo I was literally keeping the records with me, so that the artists in Sampa would get their copies too.

Starting the trip in Berlin TXL Tegel Airport in Germany, the next stop was Newark Liberty International Airport EWR to take the connection flight to St. Louis Lambert International Airport STL and finally to Chicago O’Hare International Airport ORD. Few weeks later the last flight to São Paulo GRU International Airport. The records travelled about 26,778.62 km between Europe, North and South America.

The head of Tropical Diaspora® Records in São Paulo and good friend Gerson came to pick me up at the GRU Airport and took me to the headquarters of Tropical Diaspora® Records in São Paulo, the place of other great friend and supporter Claudio. At the time Renato Gama knew already that I was in the city and we quickly meet so he could take one box with records. I gave him a ride to the metro to speed up his trip to the next meeting and in the crazy and infamous traffic of Sampa Renato opened in that car the first record in Brazil. We got to the metro station, a big hug and I saw that man going to the metro entrance like a kid carrying my DJ trolley full of records.

After thousand of kilometers at least only the last 29 km were between me and the people have created this master piece of music. The drive was a very nice one from the TDR headquarters in the south-side of the city to the end of the east-side to the Oficina Cultural Alfredo Volpi. A drive through the whole east-side along the red line of the metro until the last station.

They were anxious and in the next day the live concert of Olhos Negros Vivo was planned. For me it was the first time ever since I decided to put out the record and brought a second crate of records to the team. The drive throughout the east-side of São Paulo and a pocket

Enjoy it and check it out!

Dj GArRinchA & Dr.Sócrates