Amazonon proposes a dialogue between Brazilian music and Eastern Mediterranean traditions, in particular from Greece and Turkey. The album reaches the digital platforms on September 18 through the label Pequeno Imprevisto (BR).

For six year, Juliano has been researching the music from the Eastern Mediterranean and possible ways to connect it with the vast repertoire of Brazilian music (a journey that led him to play not only classical guitar, but also oud and fretless guitar – an instrument created by Turkish musician Erkan Ogur in the 70s). This album presents some of the outcomes of this exploration. The track that gives the album its name, “Amazonon”, composed by Juliano, is an example of how these two traditions, so distant from each other, can converge harmoniously.

"As a Brazilian, the first image that comes to my mind when I think about the word "Amazon" is, of course, the Amazon forest. In Greece, on the other hand, the first connection with this word comes from Greek mythology, with the tribe of women warriors called Amazon. These geographically and culturally distant places use the same name because a Spanish invader was attacked by a tribe of female warriors in Brazil during the 16th century; the fact that the warriors where women reminded him the Greek mythology, and the South American river (and forest) were named after this event. To seek imaginary bridges like this one is something that interests me as a musician: ", says Juliano, who now lives in the Netherlands, where he teaches at Codarts - Rotterdam Conservatory.

Other pieces from the album, “Karcigar Pesrev”, “Ussak Saz Semai” and “Aparani Par”, are traditional compositions from Turkey and Armenia that were re-arranged by the group. “These songs use a tuning system that is not the same as the Western, and irregular rhythms that are uncommon here in Brazil, such as 9/8, 10/8 and 7/8. One of the challenges of the project was to present the rhythm to Ricardo Zoyo (double bass) and João Fideles (drums) who did an incredible job of creating from these systems ”.

In addition to the Brazilian musicians, the Greek musician Chrysanthi Gkika joined the group with her lyra (or kemenche), a bowed instrument that is played with the fingernail, adding a unique coloring to the album. “I was curious to see what the connection between these musicians would be like, since the music of the Mediterranean has a very rich and different musical tradition from the Brazilian. The process was more fluid than I imagined; we rehearsed for a bit and recorded everything in one day ", recalls Juliano.

Finally, with the intention of including elements from Brazilian music, Juliano selected soft and engaging melodies such as “Anzol”, of his authorship, and “Modinha”, from Gabriel Levy, to complement the work. The album was recorded at Estúdio Canoa, São Paulo, in September 2019.