The ability to provoke, capture attention, and transform in under two minutes reveals talents essential in a time of constant explosion. Cavala, Maria Beraldo’s debut album, dies and is reborn several times throughout its ten songs. All condensed into 24 minutes. Its instant, sudden transformations reflect both the urgency of Maria Beraldo’s message and her determination to affirm herself fearlessly as a lesbian woman within today’s Brazilian songbook — and for posterity.
Cavala tears through everything, even Maria Beraldo’s own past. She once played clarinet and bass clarinet in Arrigo Barnabé’s band, was part of Quartabê and Bolerinho, and collaborated with the likes of Elza Soares, Negro Leo, Iara Rennó, and Rodrigo Campos. These details only serve to illustrate the new life she finds in Cavala — charged with the ambition of presenting herself as a composer and architect of pop fables that serve as weapons, sweetening ears while transforming minds.
Maria Beraldo asserts this transformative quality. Every one of her songs — even her interpretation of Chico Buarque’s Eu Te Amo, the only track on Cavala not written by her — carries identity and the pressing need to tell a story that confronts society’s heteronormativity. Cavala speaks of her, of a composer who channels years of study and knowledge into powerful instrumentals and rich narratives where fear, tenderness, and emancipation coexist.
She is joined by fellow musicians and friends from São Paulo, such as Tim Bernardes, Tó Brandileone, and Mariá Portugal. Their contributions embellish the minimalist skeleton of Beraldo’s compositions, most of which are built with only three elements. Throughout Cavala — from the explosive opener Tenso, to the false lullaby Maria, or the schizophrenic onomatopoeia of Sussussussu — lies the desire to reduce the form of the message to its essence: raw, fast, urgent. Miraculous pop constructions with an identity-driven message and a refined talent for turning complexity into a direct, concise, tangible discourse. Who said screams couldn’t be sweet?
