Tribalistas (2002 album)

Tribalistas (pronounced, lit.'Tribalists') is the debut studio album by the Brazilian musical supergroup Tribalistas, released on 4 November 2002, on the independent record label Phonomotor, distributed by EMI. Brazilian musicians Arnaldo Antunes, Carlinhos Brown, and Marisa Monte were personal friends and had regularly attended one another's performances. In 2001, Monte was invited to contribute vocals to one of the tracks on Antunes' fifth studio album, Paradeiro, which Brown was producing in Salvador, Bahia. The visit, which was scheduled to last just two days, ended up lasting a week. During this time, they composed 13 songs at once and, after discussing what to do with the songs, they decided to record them together. The project was recorded between 8–24 April 2002, in the studio designed in Monte's house in Rio de Janeiro, under the musical production of the singer herself, with the help of Antunes, Brown, and musician Alê Siqueira.

During the development of Tribalistas, the trio decided to incorporate different musical genres into their composition, such as pop, samba, bossa nova, and 1970s tropicália. The trio's use of tropicália was suggested by the media as an attempt to emulate the sound of Novos Baianos, just as the concept of a supergroup was compared to the formation of Doces Bárbaros. Lyrically, it explores disparate themes, such as love relationships, and the Brazilian Carnival. As well as composing all the songs, the performers provided a variety of instruments for the work, with Dadi Carvalho and Cézar Mendes being the only two other musicians credited on its instrumentation. Singer Margareth Menezes, for her part, contributes vocals and guitar to one track, to which she was invited to contribute after visiting the Tribalistas in the studio.

After its release, Tribalistas was met with generally positive reviews from critics, with the majority praising the cohesive union between the disparate styles of the three performers and their vocals. Many singled out Monte's vocals for praise, though others said that her excessive participation made it sound like one of her solo works. The album received five nominations at the 4th Annual Latin Grammy Awards, winning Best Contemporary Pop Album in Portuguese. It was also well received commercially; in Brazil, it topped the album sales charts published by IstoÉ Gente magazine for several weeks, 23 of which were consecutive. Internationally, it was also well received, reaching number one in Portugal, number two in Italy, and the top 100 in France, Spain and Switzerland. The album received a diamond certification issued by Pro-Música Brasil (PMB) and a platinum certification awarded by from the Portuguese Phonographic Association (AFP), among other associations. Worldwide, it has sold more than 3 million units.

Two singles were released by Tribalistas. The first, "Já Sei Namorar", entered the charts in several countries, such as Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal, and received a gold certificate from the Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI) for sales of 100,000 units in Italy. "Velha Infância", the second track on the album, also achieved commercial success and became the most played song of the 2000s. The trio undertook minimal promotion for the album, giving only a few interviews with media outlets and performances at the Latin Grammy ceremony in Miami and at the Verona Arena amphitheater in Verona, Italy. A video version of the work, containing behind-the-scenes footage of its production and recording, was shown by TV Globo.