Amaro Freitas

(BR)

Ever since he started his artistic path, aged just 12, in a church on the outskirts of Recife, this Afro-Brazilian pianist has accumulated achievements. As early as 2016, when he edited the debut record black blood with partners Jean Elton (bass) and Hugo Medeiros (drums), with whom he remains until today, that the critical acclaim was unanimous, opening the doors to an international career through the London label Far Out Recordings, through which released, just two years later, the second album Rasif. Since then he has performed at some of the main international jazz festivals and clubs and collaborated with names as diverse as Lenine, Milton Nascimento or Criolo. A new work entitled sankofa, arrived in 2021, marking the beginning of a new career phase, more inspired by the history of “black Brazil” and its “inspirational figures”, most of them forgotten by official historiography. According to himself, the purpose of this “conceptual album” is to help “understand the history” of his ancestors, translating into music “the heritage and memory of black peoples who made the history of Brazil and whose cultural and philosophical heritage has historically been invisible”. Once again, praise from specialized critics was abundant, with UNCUT deeming it an “impressive, new and vibrant” album, Downbeat placing its author in the lineage of names such as Abdullah Ibrahim, Thelonius Monk and Chick Corea and Jazzwise calling it a "magnificent album".