DJ Dolores (aka Helder Aragão) has been active in the ebullient musical scene of his hometown Recife, Brazil since his collaboration with Mangue Beat originators Chico Science and Nação Zumbi in the late ‘80s. He then worked as a graphic designer, TV documentary producer, soundtrack composer for films and theatre before adopting the turntables and sampler as a means of expression. He has remixed tracks for Gilberto Gil, Tribalistas, Fernanda Porto and Taraf de Haïdouks, was invited to take part (alongside David Byrne and the Beastie Boys) in Wired Magazine’s Rip, Mash, Sample, Share project in support of the Creative Commons licenses, wrote and recorded soundtrack music for Brazilian films A Máquina and Narradores de Javé, and has won several awards in Brazil and abroad (including the 2004 BBC World Music Award, in the ‘club global’ category). He’s released 3 albums (the latest two on Crammed’s Ziriguiboom imprint): “Contraditório” (2002), “Aparelhagem” (2005) and “1 Real” (2008), from which these tracks are excerpted.

DJ Dolores took some of the inspiration for “1 Real” from the popular urban music which is continuousy blasting from street vendors’ carts in Brasilia Teimosa, ,a community of poor fishermen based on his hometown’s Recife seashore. Using once again elements of popular music from his native Brazilian Northeast, blended with dancefloor-friendly electronics, horns, and rock & dub influences, he’s created these exhilarating songs which are contagiously joyful, yet based on the observation of political and social subtext.