Ali Z is the artistic name of the multi-instrumentalist, producer and DJ Tiago Torres, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He started in music at age 15, playing guitar and drums. One of his first bands was called Zabumbayê Muhammeds, with musician Gabriel Muzak. Attracted by the world, he traveled through Germany, France and Morocco. “I played with street musicians there, it was magical”, he recalls about the times in Marrakesh. Back in Brazil, he formed the Dubon project, with bass player Fábio Kalunga (RIP), Marcelinho Da Lua and Muzak himself. Once again, the nomadic style spoke louder and Torres hit the road, spending six months in the USA. Then he went to Italy and France, where he ended up staying for approximately two years. “I played on several projects, including a reggae band formed by African immigrants. I was also a DJ, with a repertoire of reggae, drum and bass, afrobeat, funk, soul and, of course, Brazilian music, ”he recalls.
Upon returning to Brazil, he used the experience and versatility acquired in his favor. As a drummer, he played with BossaCucaNova, Marcelinho DaLua, Maurício Negão, Gabriel Muzak, Colorama, Carlos Posada, George Israel and Paula Morelembaum. On the trombone, he accompanied Go East Orkestar, Zé Bigode Orquestra, Getúlio Côrtes and Gerson King Combo. He also performed with Arnaldo Brandão, Totonho & Os Cabra, Negril, Rodrigo Sha and Fausto Fawcett. As a DJ, he played at several parties in the always fertile night of Rio de Janeiro, such as Febre, at Casa da Matriz, and also was a resident DJ at the club Melt. "I thought DJing drum and bass was like playing drums," he reveals.
After another season abroad, in Berlin, Germany, he decided to invest, upon landing in Brazil, in a personal project. Thus, the Ali-Z Sound System was born, with the single “Garden Rise” as its first fruit. “I sampled a drum loop from a LP. Then, I recorded parts of the guitar, wrote an outline of the lyrics and recorded the voice, all on a Tascam 4 track recorder, on cassette tape. I was working on the track from those initial bases. I remade the drums sampler in Pro Tools. I recorded hi-hat, cymbals and edited everything, which made it very different from the original instrumental. I recorded guitar, bass, percussions, main voice and chorus. I wrote the brass arrangement, recorded the trombone and Victor Lemos recorded the tenor sax. I produced and recorded everything in my own home-studio, except for the bass, which was recorded at Marcito Vianna's studio, the DubMonster Studio. He helped me with that and also in the recording process of the horns. The cover art, I painted and finished it in Photoshop myself, which reconnected me with a facet of artist which was asleep ”, he says.
According to Tiago / Ali-Z, the lyrics for “Garden Rise” talks about encounters and mismatches and also about a relationship: “I wanted to start this project with this song because it has great meaning to me and 'freezes' a moment in my life. I wrote it in English because it was the language that we communicated the best ”.
                                                                                      By Carlos Albuquerque