‘I’m a family man’

When he takes the stage at Circo Voador this Friday night, it will be inevitable for Marcelo D2 not to remember Dona Paulete’s resounding laugh and the disposition she had for life. From the memories of home, in Andaraí, in the North Zone of Rio, from the chats, from the repertoire, from the lap of the mother, who died in February 2021. In a breath, at age 76, of a massive heart attack. When looking at the aisle, however, the future holds so many other stories to be told through Maria Isabel, Bebel, the youngest daughter, who arrived in the world shortly before her grandmother left.

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Marcelo D2 takes his daughter Isabel to his show for the first time

“Bebel’s arrival at the time of my mother’s departure was something so symbolic, so remarkable… (pause) It made me see other angles… Wow, I’m saying this and it makes me want to cry. I understand where it was my place when I was at my mother’s funeral, and I realized that everyone there depended on her to stay united and I felt that this was my mission from then on”, says the singer, who is releasing a new album, this time from samba, in a great tribute to his ancestry.

At the age of 55, D2 debuts the project “Marcelo D2 and a Handful of Bamba” in a place where he has sung more than a hundred times and which has become an extension of his own home. He also releases the single “Povo. In. Fé”, in which he revisits and pays homage to everyday life in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, where he was born but doesn’t remember much. All this exactly 20 years after releasing “Looking for the perfect beat”. “I discovered that the search for that beat is bigger and more important than finding it. The fun is in the process,” he says.

The singer, originally from rap with Planet Hemp, surrounded himself with experienced sambistas, the so-called both, a historian, partner Luiz Antonio Simas, a lot of research and a wall of sound that are a fever in Pará. All this is mixed in the new work. “There are references to Jovelina Pérola negra, for example, this giant woman who resisted with samba, even the pagode that plays everywhere in Rio de Janeiro, with this mixture of a strong beat”, he explains.

Marcelo D2 will also share the stage with his son Stephan, now Sain, with a solid career in national rap, repeating the 2003 double, when the then boy started singing “I develop and evolve with my father”, in ” Loding”. “It’s going to be amazing to see my son there opening my show, on a stage of his own, but I’m going to invade, of course, and he’s also mine”, he gets excited. Stephan says he is in awe of his father’s new job: “I feel very happy to take his work as my legacy as well. I can’t get the dimension of these 20 years of career now, because they passed so quickly, and in a very natural way. music, art have always been my life”

It is when talking about children and grandchildren (he has two, Giovana, 9 years old, and Kaiki, just over 1 year old) that D2’s intonation changes and, like any doting father/grandfather, he talks about the youngest daughter’s jokes, of the eldest granddaughter’s questions, of the grandson’s adventures. “Being a father after 50 was something incredible, because it’s a chance to start over. I’ve always been present for my children, but maturity has brought me things that I didn’t have before”, he describes.

On the new record, a D2 appears who also made peace with faith after his mother’s death. “Luiza (his wife, producer, singer and partner) has a lot of faith. My wife changed my life a lot, my concepts, my look. . This was also decisive for this work of rescuing ancestry, which I’ve been looking for some time now”, says he, who lost count of how many he’s already rebutted offenses for his political position or for his attitude towards drugs: “These guys think I offend calling me a pothead. I’m very proud of that and I’m still a family man.”