“Niska: A Message for Emergency Times” is the new release disco of Castello Branco, a Brazilian pop singer. The new album hit digital platforms in November 2021 after a two-year hiatus from “Sermão”, the last released disco before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Over nine-song tracks, Branco brings the solarpunk art movement focused on the redesigned future pictured by a peaceful, sustainable, prosperous world as an achievable goal. “Solarpunk is optimism about a sustainable future possible for everyone,” explains the Brazilian singer.
The manifesto of this new art movement envisions a non-dystopian world, solving the problems of worrying climate change. Solarpunk emerges as a reaction to the pessimism of science fiction today, bringing nature and technology as a balanced aesthetic form for the future.
Niska: an act of hope
“Everyone and everything is well connected. Being optimistic about the future is a way for us together to find a way out of the global social and climate crisis”, says Castello Branco.
He explains that the discussions around the solarpunk issues are already happening, mainly by the new generations. Branco is optimistic that the solution to finding a better future is joint actions, not just individual actions. Calmly, he resumes utopias without detaching himself from reality.
Monastery and its influence
Castello was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he spent his childhood and a few years of his adolescence before moving to São Paulo to make music. Raised by four activist mothers in a monastery, the singer has this experience intrinsically linked in how he writes lyrics and compositions.
“[At the monastery] when I was younger, the other kids used to play with my nasal tone voice. My voice was a little high-pitched, and when my moms created a chorus, I sang there, but not much. What I liked the most was playing with my guitar and experimenting with new ways to create and feel the music,” says the singer.
Return to the stage
Castello Branco is finally returning to the stage on Saturday 19 March in Casa Natura Musical in São Paulo, Brazil. After the Covid-19 pandemic, the singer returns to do what he considers “therapy”.
“Coming back to do gigs after the lockdown is a different return for those who were more alternatives like me. It is more complicated. It is not a quick return”, he added. In April, he leaves for a three-month tour of Europe.
