The Ephemera Remix
The year is 2020. His debut album, Ephemera, completed ten years since its launch. To celebrate, Tulipa Ruiz decides to “give this album to 11 producers” to recreate the work, also consisting of 11 songs.
The result? A set of musical “upcyclings”, which the artist received as “gifts from each guest”. Among those who sign the remixes are artists such as Thalma de Freitas, Tássia Reis, Marcio Arantes and Baiana System. A movie it was also born from the interpretations of the new tracks. despite being the first of 5 projects of the singer or “singer” born in São Paulo, Ephemera It has already become a repertoire for many people and received critical acclaim.
Tulipa Ruiz is a Brazilian singer, songwriter and illustrator. In 2010, 'Efêmera' was rated as the best album of the year by Rolling Stone magazine and as one of the 10 best by the newspaper O Globo. Folha de S. Paulo classified it as one of the best of the decade. The track 'Efêmera' was included in the FIFA 11 Game, and in 2015, Tulipa won the Latin Grammy for Best Contemporary Pop Album for 'Dancê'.
First visual album
A sequence plan of the songs sung was recorded to compose the new project. Casa Modernista, in São Paulo, was chosen to house the “visual delirium”. Tulipa says that this is her first “diving” experience in this format. The costumes for the recordings were designed by Tulipa, with cyanotype work, who also has a long history in graphic work. The artist “held back” the release of the commemorative album, which should have taken place in 2020, the year in which the pandemic broke out. In 2022, years later, We talked to her about the maturation of the new project, sustainability, current music consumption and other ephemera.
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What was the creation process like?
“I gave each guest complete freedom to work in their own way. We delivered the sessions [of the songs] all open, and then each guest did it differently: they added instruments, removed instruments, removed my voice, modified my voice. I think the thing about remixing is modifying or improving something. I could have been there, helping, but the idea was to deliver the file open so that each guest could relate to the music in their own way.
I have a production company called Brocal, which is my studio, my brand. We teamed up with a film producer called Umana, who filmed the project in November 2020. The audiovisual took place very much within all the protocols, and we were walking on eggshells. So, this recording saved us, because we weren't working and getting together with so many people to celebrate the longevity of an art project was very special.”
Ephemeral that doesn't pass
“My idea was to celebrate the album's anniversary, because it has this “ephemeral” name and I thought the industry was already changing and transforming, going digital. And the ephemera shows me, to this day, how it crossed time. The objective of investigating my album was the poetic durability of ephemera, and this album has a poetic durability that surprises me more and more.”
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Rhythm, ritual and pandemic
- Why do you prefer albums with 11 tracks?
“The ephemeral has 11 songs, and then I stopped at that number because of this first album. I think 11 is a good number. I kept noticing the records that I like and they are not long records. I think the 11 songs fit into this concept, of being able to immerse yourself in the album without it sounding tiring. And I really like this format, both as a “singer” and as a graphic artist, because I like to think about album covers or vinyl. If you spend more than 40 minutes on vinyl, it starts to lose sound quality. “
- How important is ritual in your routine?
“I struggle a lot with dispersion. I am a dispersed person and the contemporary disperses me. So, if I don't ritualize things, I become scattered when I wake up, when I have coffee, when I'm watching television, I'm doing 40 thousand things at the same time. The feeling is that now, with so much information, it is a challenge to be present in things.”
- Will Efêmera Remix have vinyl?
“Nowadays making vinyl in Brazil has become very expensive. I make all my records on vinyl. Even in 2020, we made a vinyl message from Ephemera. I was very unsure whether to do it or not because we were in the middle of the pandemic. I didn't know what this would be like, with this world at a standstill.
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But the pressing of vinyl Ephemera It surprised us, because it ended in less than 24 hours. Precisely because people were at home, and listening to vinyl became a ritual. Vinyl sales ended up increasing during the pandemic. Even in 2020, we made a vinyl message from Ephemera, so, if people ask for a lot, I will unfold it in this format.
I think that, even at this moment when we listen to music on digital, sometimes it disperses and sometimes we are too consuming what the algorithm determines. That's good too, but sometimes not. I often say that vinyl is not algorithmic, it is something rhythmic, because when you choose a vinyl, you are the one who chooses. So, more and more I have come to understand listening to music on vinyl as a ritual, you know? To exercise other speeds.
For this project I still don't know. It's a remix album, right? DJs really like vinyl. I haven’t thought about the logistics yet, but if people ask for a lot, I’ll do it.”
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The public and the work
"It's very impressive how I receive reports about this album, because 10 years have passed. So, those who listened when they were very young have already matured, right? 10 years is a lot. What I hear, about how this record impacted, is part of a story, how it still plays on these people's record players... I have records, you know, that are part of my education. For example, records by Clube da Esquina, Joyce, João Donato, Caetano, Gal, Luiz Melodia, are records that do not expire. I listened to it when I was little and I still listen to it today on my record player. And I understand that this is being timeless.
And until then, I had not heard such strong and powerful reports about this trajectory of Ephemera. And I understood, only on the album's anniversary, that it is part of the formation of my audience. So: from a large part of my audience, and I am very honored by this return and the trajectory of this job."
What is sustainability for you? What is most unsustainable in Brazil today?
“For me, in my life, it’s longevity. It's believing in the durability of things in this dispersed and disposable contemporary world. In the midst of this pandemic, in which there is a virus aimed directly at humans, we have to questionour relationship with everything: with consumption, with our relationships. And I think what really remains is durability, as far as we can go. Things are becoming chronically unviable in the way we are consuming and producing.
What is not sustainable and has no idea of sustainability at all is the current government, which deals with everything – art, land, culture, education, health – in a way that is not long-lasting, not durable. “
Curto Curatorship
- Videographer: Efêmera Remix launch chat (Youtube/Tulipa Ruiz)
Top photo: Reproduction/Instagram @tuliparuiz
