Musical connections across the Internet
Tuesday, 30 June 2009 13:56
BATH — Bath resident Barbara vanBok has collaborated with distinguished Brazilian musician Lulu Camargo on two singles, and a third is in the works. But vanBok didn’t have to leave Bath to make the long-distance project happen, nor did Camargo have to leave Sao Paulo.
The genesis of the musical and technological accomplishment was rooted in a chance friendship that began more than two decades ago. Now, by passing instrumental and vocal tracks back and forth via the Internet, the duo has generated at least two truly international songs.
“I went to Berklee College of Music and he went to Berklee College of Music,” recalled vanBok of when she first met Camargo in the mid-1980s. “We didn’t do anything musically together, but we heard each other’s stuff.”
Camargo returned to Brazil, wrote scores for films and played in several well-known pop bands in his native land, most recently Pato Fu. In contrast, vanBok moved to New York to work in the recording industry for a while.
“He would call me every few years and we would keep loosely in touch,” she said.
They’d chatted about an international collaboration over the years, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that Camargo sent vanBok what she described as a “sketch” — “a little musical doodle” — and asked the Bath woman if she could “do something with it.”
Barbara vanBok and her husband, Eric, operate DrumConnection Maine from their residence on High Street in Bath. As such, the vanBoks are a local portal for traditional West African drumming, taught in some cases by West African drummers themselves.
With the vanBok’s 16-track recorder, the couple began adding layers of sound — 13 tracks of vocal harmonies and nine tracks of drums — to Camargo’s “doodle.” With the additional drumming, the song’s musical connections reached a third continent.
“We recorded (Camargo’s initial track) in there and Barbara started laying down drum tracks and vocals,” said Eric.
The collaboration continued with the vanBoks and Camargo passing slightly altered files back and forth until they arrived at a final mix, which was titled: “(Eaten by) The Bird.” Brazilian pop singer Fernanda Takai offered the song guest vocals and an additional injection of star power.
“(Camargo) really loves ambient music, so he wanted to make it ambient, and I was all for it,” said Barbara vanBok.
Camargo and vanBok’s second single was initiated by vanBok, and is a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “The Hissing of Summer Lawns.”
For the first version of the song, vanBok recorded several layers of vocals to imbue the song with a certain “thickness,” but she said Camargo “hated it and he convinced me not to do that.”
On the flip side, Camargo added piano, removed some of the keyboard tracks he’d previously added, and made the vocal tracks higher.
“It made the song sound light and airy and bright, and I had wanted dark and moody and haunting,” vanBok admitted.
While Camargo won her over on the subject of the vocal layering, vanBok was able to sell Camargo on her case for a more shadowy take on the Joni Mitchell tune.
Now, the duo is at it again, working at another original song for what they’re calling a “virtual album,” titled “The Distance: Awake.”
To hear the songs, visit Barbara's Projects.