I wasn't in Panama for him, but to investigate for World Sound on the country's hey days and present day's musical hopes...But I ended up obsessed by the man. Looking for Panamean "musica tipica" legend and acordion master Papi Brandao is not an easy task, rather one that takes you on a trip through side roads, dodgy cantinas and sucks you back in the game when you had just thrown the towel!
First, you have to spend a lot of time with his wife on the phone: “he's at the beach with some friends / he's at a party / he's doing some business/ he's...wait a second” (but he never catches the phone)...The other day Quantic told me that he even came to the peninsula of Azueros where PB lives only to go back to PTY without having met the man ! We tried something last sunday but by the phone conversations i was having i sensed it wouldn't work...
So I decided to focus on those artists I knew I could meet somehow, sometime, somewhere. Bush and Ernie King aka Kabir where among them. Former Fabulosos Festivals singer Kabir (he took a muslim name after becoming a cheikh in the 80s) is one piece of a character: imagine a cheikh who used to be a combo nacional soul hero in the 70s, has is wife wearing the controversial (looking west-east) tchador like many muslim women, while assuming the role of manager, a man who knows his Coran by heart, yet gently and loudly honors the feminine presence in his block, and sings “Georgia on my mind” like you would swear he's a genuine southern state afro american.
His barber shop stands behind Chocho supermarket in San Miguel. Such a lovely street with big wooden housing project buildings, if it wasn't for the gunshots that started right in front of us as I was recording the interview, and forced us to an emergency retreat in the shop. Lots of anecdotes and lots of laughter...the man was born in Colon, left at age 4 to Brooklyn with his dad and mother in law, then escaped at age 18 as he had discovered his father wanted him to force him to join the army, and arrived in Colon with a Nation of Islam background, with a strong desire to sing soul!
This interview lasted like 3 hours! Between clients getting shaved and where was Is ? We finally went to a chinese restaurant where he explained me all about the faith and such things that are definitely interesting, but let's leave the subject here ahaha.
The week went on between interviews, taking pictures, more interviews, phonecalls, lots of writing and finally the week end came along. And still the ghost of PB, as we listened to the 2 tracks beto put in next Panama2 compilation for Sound Way. As we anted to take a flight to San Blas, we were supposed to wake up at 5 am on saturday but when Bush invites you for a concert of his son's cuban style combo, you just can't refuse. Man what a singer and what a performer on stage that night ! The man moves like a dismantled washing machine, while shooting eficient sonero rhymes, his face a mix of actors Gilbert Melki and Benicio del Toro. During the pause, as if still on stage, he'll explain you 10 things per minute, nodding at a girls ass passing by, asking a question to the bass player, coming back to you and lighting a match before you even stuck the cigarette to your lips, asking if you ever went to cuba but too late he's back on stage before you got a chance to answer !
After a short night we headed to the airport, destination San Blas. Alas! San Blas up your ass, without passport you no pass! It's 6.30 in the morning in Albrooke airport and the plane left without us. In a matter of seconds though, we were outside looking for the next bus to Las Tablas, thinking this was a sign that time had come for us to meet Papi Brandao at last ! Estelle being a great fan of Tipico and the Herrera province in general, planB looked pretty nice actually, so I avoided a well deserved lecture on trip logistics !
The Peninsula is dry as hell these days, and crowded too. Finding a hotel was not easy, but we made it. The spot was strange, just the way we like it!
After a little nap on Uveritos beach, surrounded by dancing birds, we watched the sun go down (can you hear the voice of Cassandra Wilson?), had a few beers at the local shack, and left as we had an apointment with Papi that same night. He was to play tipico acordion alongside other musicians. We walked the Tronosa barrio several times back and forth, but no acordion notes resounding in the distance. We hit a cantina where a guy was about to puke on us as he was trying to utter some words, I guess that's how good Seco is for your brain...The tenant of the cantina advised us to go to Guarare where the big feria was going on, because if PB was to play somewhere that night, it had to be at the crowded feria. The bus that took us there had tuned in on Radical 97.5 fm and some heavy jamaican dancehall music was being played by hysteric djs yelling all the time and gunshots and horse farts and whatever. What a trip, worth 3 liters of red bull. Good news was that Ullpiano, another great tipico hero, was playing there, between john deere tractors and Balboa beer dancehall arenas for vips only. A guy started talking french to us - his bodyguard helping us a great deal with the herds of borrachos coming to harass Estelle - happened to be the minister of work in the panamanian government, a man worth knowing in person for her...how funny was it to go from the borracho to a minister in the same place...But still, no Papi Brandao.
After another short night's sleep, we headed towards Pedasi for a nice morning at the beach. There we found a seat watching the ocean, getting licked by the waves, next to a little stool where a fine glass and a bottle of red wine were standing...some objects on the beach are stories per se, like those you see in Fellini movies...In the middle of nowhere, we met some french dudes who happened to live in a shack not far from the spot, 6 months on their own with their instruments and equipment, recording music...they were the ones who had put this Bobby Ewing kind of chair and offered us to take a shower after the sun burns and the salted water...What a blessing!
As we came arrived in Las Tablas, it looked like the gods were definitely on our side: we found the Club Tronosa crowded with people some of them celebrating the end of a baseball game with liters of beers, some others taking their turn to sing tamborito and tipica, the 2 most important genres of the region.
Women singing great polyphonies, doing salomas, men barking like dogs, alternating Mandingue (¾) and “normal” Bantou (4/4 if i'm not wrong) rhythm patterns. What an afternoon ! We left at 7 pm, quite drunk, having forgotten that the last bus to Panama was at 5.30 , with our flights out of Panama on the next morning. Oh Lawd ! We actually managed to reach la Divisa where we could find some transportation, and slept all the way back. Outside a bus was saying, on its backwindow: GRUPO PAPITO- Chitre Panama
musique: Papi Brandao - Viva Panama - from Panama! (soundway rec)
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