Candura

Here at Cosmopolite we find it extra exciting with the rare bands that become almost legendary before they even get around to releasing music. Candura is such a band. Before they had released a single track, or made much of themselves on Instagram, the rumors had already begun to spread. And before they had really presented themselves to the world, they were already booked for Spot Festival and Copenhagen Jazz in Denmark, in addition to the Øya Festival. And then of course comes the slightly annoying question: Are they actually as good as people say? The answer, as far as we can judge, is: yes, and then some! At the center is Gabriela Garrubo, born in Brazil, with Portuguese as her musical language and the Brazilian musical heritage as a natural part of her expression. Around her we find Sigmund Vestrheim on drums, Leo Geller on bass, Ole Petter Ålgård on keys and Erlend Mokkelbost as musical director - all with backgrounds from quite different parts of the Norwegian music scene. It is precisely in this meeting that it becomes interesting: between the Brazilian and the Norwegian, between different musical traditions and personalities who might not immediately end up in the same band. Mokkelbost has said that he went to Rio about thirteen years ago and fell «completely in love with the music scene there». Since then he has dug ever deeper into Brazilian music, not least the psychedelic Tropicalia movement, a musical «rabbit hole» he still discovers new sides of. Candura is in many ways the result of this rabbit hole. The music has its roots in samba, bossa nova and MPB, but takes a detour through disco, funk, indie, soul and club music - and comes out on the other side as something both warm and distinctive, and, quite simply, hard to sit still to. The debut single «Por Aí» is out on Jansen Records if you want a taste, and the debut album arrives in 2027. We are quite pleased that Cosmopolite gets to host Candura while they are still new enough that we can pretend we discovered them ourselves!