Vestido de Amor, the tenth studio album by Brazilian singer-songwriter Chico César, digs deeper into the subject of Pan-Africanism, this time from the point of view of the diaspora. In 1996, the singer-songwriter born in Catolé  do Rocha, in the desert area of Paraíba State, composed Mama África, an ode to the Black woman, a single mother with dirty hands and a big heart. In 2022, in this global society where the question of cultural appropriation is so acute, it seems obvious that Africa has fed all the cultural trends, but in turn has been nourished by them. Thus, Chico César invited two great personalities of African music to contribute to Vestido de Amor: Salif Keita and Ray Lema.

As a result, Chico César delivers an album with multiple colors, from the northern forró to the Jamaican reggae, from the Zairean rumba to the calypso‘s languor, from the coastal fishermen‘s coco to the urban rock‘s electrics. Vestido de Amor is nonetheless totally Brazilian.

Here at Ballhaus Naunynstraße, at the only Berlin concert on the occasion of Vestido de Amor’s world tour, Chico César acts on stage with bassist Ana Karina Sebastião, guitarist Rodrigo Viana, with Julien Agazar on keys and Simone Sou on drums.