Onde estão os desaparecidos brasileiros?

One of the stalwarts of Adrian Sherwood’s On-U Sounds Dub revival, Prince Far I, a man to grace any style with wisdom, a chanter to quake the walls of the city, a preacher to strike fear in the weak of heart, humble in the garden & proud in the city, was shot dead in Jamaica, September 15, 1983, one year short of his 40th birthday.

It was a massive, tragic loss.

Far I was close to completing a new album on the day of his murder. It was posthumously released under its working title Umkhonto We Sizewe (Spear of the Nation). Prince Far I’s last session included the recording of a track called "Special Request" which "felt like he was saying goodbye" states Roy Cousins, lead singer of The Royals & producer of Far I’s final recordings, who had been with Prince Far I that day in the studio. Cousins continues: "The next day I went to meet Prince at the studio but Jim Brown stopped me at Randy's Record Shop and told me that Far-I had been shot last night and passed away. I was shocked and could not believe it, so I went to his home in Edgewater and found a large crowd, everyone filled with grief."

After Prince Far I was murdered, producer Adrian Sherwood became fearful of the violence in Jamaica (followed October 14, 1983 with the murder of Hugh Mundell) & lessened his focus on roots & dub. Sherwood became more interested in digital sounds. The Missing Brazilians are a one-off from yet another collective of musicians he assembled in the wake of The New Age Steppers & Singers and Players, heavily featuring the input of On-U-Sound co-founder/in-house artist Kishi Yakamoto. She provided most of the keyboards & some of the bass lines.

This inorganic release straddles the line between warped dancehall & mutant dub brimming with wild phaser effects, booming wave crunches, washes of noise, highly synthesized poly-rhythms & occasional Oriental keyboard motifs.

There are two vocal tracks: "Gentle Killers" featuring Annie Anxiety (ex-Asexuals, Crass, & countless others) & "Savanna Prance" (featuring wordless singing from On-U regular Shara Nelson, who would later provide the vocals for Massive Attack's "Unfinished Sympathy"). This album, like Voice of Authority's Very Big in America Right Now was originally slated to be released on Cherry Red, but unlike the VoA effort it was deemed too weird for them. The production also had to be scaled back a bit because the music wouldn't fit in the grooves, but the remaster restored much of the original sound of the album.

The Missing Brazilians are: Kishi Yamamoto – keyboards & bass; Adrian 'Crocodile' Sherwood – bass & effects & Adrian 'The Prisoner' Sherwood – drums with Burnell 'Bonjo I(yabinghi Noah)' Anderson – percussion; Nick Plytas – keyboards; Anthony 'Bembo' Creary – drums; Evar Wellington – bass; Charles 'Eskimo Fox' Kelly – percussion & drums plus as noted above, Annie Anxiety & Shara Nelson – vocals.

The Missing Brazilians – Warzone, On-U Sound LP34, 1984.
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Side One –

Crocodiles’s Court

Gentle Killers

Frequency Feast

Quicksand Beach Party

Side Two –

Savanna Prance

Meander

Igloo Inn

Missing Brazilians

Enjoy,

NØ