Rão Kyao returns to record editions with the album “Gandhi – Um Português Homenageia Gandhi“, with the edition scheduled for May.
Humanist, environmentalist, a man of spirituality, looking at the local, but also at the global. If there is a time when we need these values, it is today. Attention to human beings and nature. Knowing how to look inside and what surrounds us. The Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), that was it. “He was ahead of time. He remains a futurist. His philosophy is what we need for this time”, says Rão Kyao.
The music of the Portuguese composer and flutist has also been that. Music that breathes both universality and Portugal, an invitation to immerse ourselves in ourselves to be more attentive to others and to those around us. It is from this synthesis that “Respeito pela Natureza” is born, the first single from the new album, which pays homage to the figure and thought of Gandhi at the time of the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of his birth.
The album is called “Gandhi – Um Português Homenageia Gandhi“, emphasizing the idea that it is an interpretation of Portuguese tones of Gandhi, and will come out in May. But there is a story to tell first. The project started as a challenge. Official entities in India launched an invitation to 124 countries for each of them to choose a musician to recreate Vaishnav Jan to Tene Kahiye, the theme that Gandhi listened to the most and that has become a kind of unofficial hymn of the Indian nation.
“It was then that the Indian Embassy contacted me to conceive a version of this theme, based on the fact that I studied there for ten years and my music had Indian influences”, says Rão Kyao, who after completing the recreation, got an immediate reaction that is unexpected. Rão Kyao’s interpretation of this theme had a surprising impact, with the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, referencing and publishing it on all his social networks.
