Former guitarist of the band Nação Zumbi, Lúcio Maia is living a moment where he continues in music with a solo career while diving into the world offilm soundtracks. A guest on this Friday (26) episode of the podcastSabe Som?, presented by Thiago França, the artist talks about his departure from the band, his second solo album released in April, and how he became passionate about audiovisuals.
The career transition, according to Maia, began when he realized a disconnect with the rest of the group. The decision was made in 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic.
I no longer felt part of that. Any band that passes 25 and reaches 30, 30 and many years old, becomes an institution. It stops being that wonderful meeting. Of friendship, jokes, finally, playfulness. The surroundings, sometimes, are cooler than a sound itself. One day you start playing, touring, you end up repeating the repertoire, it becomes more of an automatic thing. The lack of creativity in the band, in terms of producing new material, wasn't happening anymore, which is why our last self-produced album was in 2014, recorded in 2011. That means it's been 15 years since the band produced original material, so I felt very underutilized, so to speak. Because I had to keep playing 'A Praeira'. Nothing against, because they are our songs.
In this process, Lúcio Maia said he felt it could be the time to fulfill an old desire: to reconnect with cinema. And it was through his brother-in-law, producer Rodrigo Teixeira, who was part of the team behind the acclaimed Brazilian feature filmStill Here"He reached out and said, 'Man, why don't you get back into scoring?'. He then mentioned he had a film for me to do the score for, it was 'Buried', byGloboplaySo I got back into it," he recalls. "There's no separating cinema and music.
Maia's only critique of this field is its undervaluation in the Brazilian market. He explains that in the United States, budgets for film scores typically reach around 30% of the total production budget. In Brazil, resources allocated to this aspect of production are approximately 1%.
It's a lack of vision because abroad, I read George Lucas' biography about Star Wars, and it was a total disaster trying to make that first one. All the actors were unknown. It was his sole planning and investment. Fox didn't want to spend money at the time, but he called John Williams. And John Williams, just so you know, after the film came out, it became the best-selling soundtrack in history. The Star Wars score. So he proved that a soundtrack is as important as hiring a top actor.
Maia also discusses the evolution of instrumental music, the challenges of life on the road, and the importance of maintaining creative enthusiasm. Finally, artists reflect on professional ethics and collaborative partnerships that define their maturity in the Brazilian scene.
The podcastDo you know Som?It airs every Friday at 3 p.m. and is available on major audio platforms such as Spotify and YouTube Music.