Rocky Marsiano

At the start of 2020 a fellow DJ/vinyl collector, Tom B, invited me to come and spin at the March edition of legendary Avenida Brasil, one of the longest running BR-themed parties in Paris. He also challenged me to perform a live set on my MPC, specifically made for that night. Unfortunately a few weeks later everything was cancelled. But I kept on making beats, while sampling my Brazilian records. Weeks later this album was born… It is the most personal album yet, it is an homage to my family’s Brazilian heritage and a dedication to my mother.
When I was still a small child, some of my very first music memories were the many faces of MPB artists “smiling” at me from the covers of my mother’s vinyl collection. I was born in Zagreb to a Portuguese mother (who was raised in Rio de Janeiro) and a Croatian father and grew up listening to Chico Buarque, Elis Regina, Caetano Veloso, Milton Nascimento but also to other, less worldly known but very important artists whose brilliant music my mother collected in the early 70s. This collection of 10” records called “História da Música Popular Brasileira – MPB” was at the time released by Edições Abril and was distributed and sold at many newspaper stands all over Brazil. My mom, being a true music lover, bought the whole collection. Not long after, when her family was moving back from Brazil to Portugal, all the records travelled by ship with her. The same year after marrying my dad, she moved to Zagreb taking again the collection with her. Another journey the records made was when our family moved to Lisbon in 1992, with a one year stop in Rome. Now, I am very happy to have the collection with me here in Amsterdam. They are part of my family’s multi- cultural heritage and a living proof that great music can stand the test of time.