"The Blues and its few elements are capable of translating what all of us feel - without distinction of culture, time, and beliefs - which is pain."

Oly Jr.: Milonga Soul, Blues Feeling

Oly Jr. is one Brazilian composer from Porto Alegre-RS, that plays guitar, harmonic and is vocalist yourself songs. With 14 years of musician, with nine albums, he receives influence for blues, rock, American and Brazilian southern folk music. His last two albums it one mixture for "milonga" and "blues", trying to demonstrate that the music don't have frontier. With the "Milonga Blues" album won three trophies Prêmio Açorianos de Música 2009/2010 (Açorianos Music Award 2009/2010), Best Composer, Performer and Best Album in the genre Blues/Jazz. He joined the lonelymen from south of Brazil with the bluesmen, playing the "riff" by southern milonga and the slide blues. Oly Jr. play solo or with band.

Discography: 2001 MENDIGOS DA NOITE - MENDIGOS DA NOITE (Beggars Night), 2003 OLY JR. - TÔ NA MIRA - (I'm In The Crosshairs), 2005 OLY JR. - INEDITISMO BARATO - (Cheap Novelty), 2005 GASPO "HARMÔNICA" & OLY JR. - NA CAPA DA GAITA - (On The Cover Of The Bagpipe) local slang means "very tired", 2007 GASPO "HARMÔNICA" & OLY JR. - ONDE ESTÁ O MEU DINHEIRO - (Where Is My Money), 2007 OLY JR. - ALGUMAS CANÇÕES - (Some Songs), 2008 OLY JR. - PIRATARIA AUTORIZADA - (Authorized Piracy), 2011 OLY JR. - MILONGA BLUES - (Milonga Blues), 2012 OLY JR. - MILONGA EM BLUE (NOTAS DO DELTA) - (Milonga In Blue - Delta Notes), 2013 OLY JR. & GONZALO ARAYA - DO DELTA DO JACUÍ AO DESERTO DO ATACAMA

Interview by Michael Limnios

What do you learn about yourself from the blues and what does the blues mean to you?

The Blues and its few elements are capable of translating what all of us feel - without distinction of culture, time, and beliefs - which is pain. And because of this pain we feel, we face it with resistance, faith, tears, hope, pacts, laughter, and even sex, and somehow we overcome it. That is the greatest legacy Blues has given me.

How do you describe Oly Jr. sound and songbook? What characterize your music philosophy?

My music is intrinsically connected to my life experience. The Blues was my starting point. After that I added elements of rock, American folk, Brazilian folk in general, and Milonga, which is a South American and south Brazilian musical genre. I live in Porto Alegre, the capital city of Rio Grande do Sul, a state in southern Brazil. Being Brazil so extensive geographically speaking, its northern portion is a lot different than its southern in terms of culture and habits. We Brazilians speak the same language but we have several distinct accents that end up influencing a lot. That is cultural diversity! And because my state is on the border of Argentina and Uruguay, also Latin-American countries, there is a melting pot of cultural aspects that added to contemporary technologies and information boils inside my head. All that I use in my music having the Blues as a driving force.

"The Blues as any other artistic expression is related to what we experience and feel. Do not try to be what you are not just for the sole purpose of copying someone."

Why did you think that the Blues music continues to generate such a devoted following?

I believe it is because its simplicity and esthetics added to its historic and folkloric content. People identify with the thematic of the Bluesmen's songs from the early 20th century, which talked about oppression, sex, discrimination, racism, faith, loss of faith, heartbreaks and so on. Those themes are so commonly experienced, aren't they? But it's wise not to be fooled by the Blues musical simplicity. Mastering the simplicity is the last stage of wisdom.

Which meetings have been the most important experiences for you? What is the best advice ever given you?

The meetings with the artists influenced by the Blues has always been something remarkable to me. The talks with local artists that I grew up participating have also contribuited a great deal to my musical formation. But the most significant teaching I got was from the words of the very Bluesmen that once came to play and I was lucky enough to talk to, they were Eddie C. Campbell and Phil Guy. In my opinion what is worthwhile to be passed on is: The Blues as any other artistic expression is related to what we experience and feel. Do not try to be what you are not just for the sole purpose of copying someone. There is and will be just one B.B.King. Most people will always choose to listen to the original. Then, it's important to acquire more and more information, practise and try to create something from regional and contemporary elements you have contact with. The originality is not in inventiveness but in creativity.

Are there any memories from gigs, jams and recording time which you’d like to share with us?

A very vivid remembrance that I so dearly keep is the time I started playing guitar and consequently when I started my musical carrier. In any musical event anywhere like at the universities, parks, and collective shows, the Blues always made people shake their bones or reflect about life issues.

"I'd like to see some Bluesmen playing in some juke joints in the Mississippi in the 1930’s or in Chicago in the 1940’s."

What do you miss most nowadays from the blues of past? What are your hopes and fears for the future of?

I think, as any fond of Blues would, the thing I miss the most that is a bit scary too is to know that the great bluesmen of the planet are passing away. Though this is the natural order of things and we must accept it. The Blues is like a citizenship: we always hope there will be someone willing to pass on to the next generations the artistic, social human spiritual and philosophical values instead of simply passing on the price of things.

If you could change one thing in the musical world and it would become a reality, what would that be?

I wished the music world were fairer. Wished that the artistic development overcame the entertainment industry.

Make an account of the case of the blues in Brazil. Which is the most interesting period in local blues scene?

The Blues in Brazil develop in the 80s with artists such as Celso Blues boy, Blues Etílicos, and André Christóvam. Before that time, in the early 20th century, Jazz bands speeded in several Brazilian cities used Blues and Jazz as a scattered reference mixed with boleros and ball dance songs. In the late 20th century, though, Rock took over much of the western world. From that on, all sounds kind of got interwoven. And it was in the late 80s that bands as well as artists exclusively playing Blues appeared here in Brazil, never stopping  ever since. Nowadays, there are numerous bands, artists, and festivals speeded throughout the country, which promote a kind of music scene alongside of the mainstream.

"My music is intrinsically connected to my life experience. The Blues was my starting point. After that I added elements of rock, American folk, Brazilian folk in general, and Milonga, which is a South American and south Brazilian musical genre." (Photo: Oly Jr. & Gonzalo Araya)

What are the lines that connect the legacy of Blues from States to Brazil?

The so-called "Chicago Blues" style is the main connection between Brazilian and American Blues. In general, the tendency of the bands is to comprise guitars, bass, drums, and a harmonica, mirroring the bluesmen with the same musical esthetic. In my case, I started my musical learning playing the acoustic guitar and harmonica influenced by Robert Johnson, Son House, Charlie Patton, Mississippi Fred McDowell, the early phases of Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. Of course, the "Chicago" style has somehow influenced me. But likewise, there are other artists that are more influenced by "Delta Blues". That got me thinking of possible analogies between the Blues from the Mississippi Delta and the Jacuí Delta, river basin surrounding my hometown. Brazil also has a strong African influence due to the slavery times present in our past history as well. This influence has generated a musical genre called Samba that is responsible for many interesting musical expressions.

What has made you laugh lately and what touched (emotionally) you from the local music circuits?

What moves me greatly is the fact that it doesn't matter the ethnic background, young musicians have the Blues as a starting point to express themselves. And it shows a lot of sensibility on their part, because this choice doesn't come from just a commercial interest. The Blues isn't attached to a commercial appeal to massive sales and enriching formulas. It has to do with the search for dignity.

"People identify with the thematic of the Bluesmen's songs from the early 20th century, which talked about oppression, sex, discrimination, racism, faith, loss of faith, heartbreaks and so on." (Photo by Gabriela di Bella) 

Do you know why the sound of slide and resonator guitar is connected to the blues? What are the secrets of?

What I know is that one of the first reports characterizing a Bluesman got famous with W.C. Handy, who in 1914 recorded the first phonogram of music with a melodic structure that we today understand as Blues. He saw a sloppy thin black man with sorrow eyes at a train station, sliding a knife on an acoustic guitar producing a clanging sound going in cyclic compasses. Yet, the resonator acoustic guitars were only found in the market in the 20s when they were used to amplify the acoustic guitars. Many bluesmen at that time adopted the resonators, and some of them broadly using the slide technique with open tunings sliding bottleneck glasses, bones, and glass or metal tubes on the acoustic guitar chords. Then taking this historical fact into the account, the slide played on a resonator acoustic guitar is extremely linked to the Blues. I myself use the slidding technique a lot. For some years now, I've been developing a technique to play the slide in a typical Brazilian instrument called "viola de 10 cordas", a 10-string Brazilian guitar, which is formed by 5 pairs of double chords. I mostly use the tuning called "Rio Abaixo", roughly translated as "Down the River", which is as an "open G" tuning. My next record is going to be on that concept and will be called "Dedo de Vidro" (Glass Finger).

Let’s take a trip with a time machine, so where and why would you really wanna go for a whole day..?

If that was possible, I'd like to see some Bluesmen playing in some juke joints in the Mississippi in the 1930’s or in Chicago in the 1940’s.

Oly Jr. - Milonga Blues -- Home

Photo: Oly Jr. & Os Paisanos Blues