Vetor Interviews: Irmãs de Pau

vetormagazine
4 days ago
6 min read

From underground to mainstream, Irmãs de Pau's aura is undeniable: After releasing, earlier this year, their latest record “Gambiarra Chic, Pt. 2", the duo, formed by Vita Pereira and Isma Almeida, goes from brazilian funk to dancehall in a manifesto to outskirts culture

Text and interview by Pedro Paulo Furlan

Photography by Wallace Domingues

São Paulo, 13h. Irmãs de Pau's influence on the underground scene - and even on the mainstream - is 100% undeniable. The duo, formed by the trans artists Isma Almeida and Vita Pereira, is a phenomenon, meshing their unbeatable brazilian funk roots with the diverse soundscape that serves as the soundtrack to São Paulo's outskirts, where they were born and raised.

Even in the middle of the week, without the huge spectacle of one of their concerts, both women's aura is completely unique. As I sat down with them to talk about their newest record together, "Gambiarra Chic, Pt. 2", their roots in the scene, and mainly the cultural importance of their research and work, Isma and Vita open up with full pride of what they're doing and about to do.

“Our main research is about the aesthetics of brazilian putaria [a version of brazilian funk that is known for it's sexually explicit lyrics] - it's about cumming, about masculinity, about gender. But, we're also talking about love, about the type of attention that we want for ourselves, and, besides that, about buying power, cultural power, cultural and financial capital”, Pereira explains.

Photography by Wallace Domingues

Singing about the experiences of trans women in the outskirts all over Brazil, the two artists have conquered the world - performing in Europe, in big festivals, and besides music stars like Ludmilla and Pabllo Vittar. And everything started with two friends from western São Paulo.

“We were the ones that really lived those lyrics”ras”

My first curiosity in relation to their bond was when did music earn a space in their friendship - and that, the Irmãs de Pau explain to me as soon as we start talking. “I think music, since the beginning, has always been a part of it, even when we weren't producing it”, Isma tells me about their first encounters: “We used to get together to smoke weed and music was what glued everything together, there was always a speaker booming in the background”

Saying that they've always been together when it was time to “go out and party, dance and enjoy from sunset to sundown”, Isma says that the fire that would soon become Irmãs de Pau was lit up years before they started to make music. “We've always been huge fans”, she says, giving credit to other trans women in music that inspired them and were their personal soundtrack.

“We realised that me and Vita were the ones that really understood and connected to the work of Linn da Quebrada, Jup do Bairro, Ventura Profana. We were the ones that really lived what those lyrics were talking about", says Isma.

Photography by Wallace Domingues

Little by little, both of them decided to embrace music in their own way. Both Isma and Vita created DJ projects and started taking over the underground scene in that moment, getting into other forms of art too - for example, Vita opened up Travada, in 2018, in Araraquara, a group of artists that work together in multiple art formats to this day, while Isma created Baile da Cuceta, in Uberlândia, a party that joined brazilian funk and dancehall - a genre also present in the new record.

As it happens in life, destiny united them again, with Vita directing Isma's first solo video. And, during the pandemic, after both graduated, Irmãs de Pau were finally born, with a musical need inspired by Alice Guel, Delacroix, besides all the names previously quoted.

“Our transness was a huge meeting point, and underground music was what united us”, says Vita Pereira, adding: “The underground scene, the parties that we used to go to, that moment in history, all of it gave us power”.

Photography by Wallace Domingues

“Where trans women are really valuable”

Besides brazilian funk, dancehall, pop and electronic music, the Irmãs de Pau project also presents the world of brazilian ballroom to the mainstream. “We’re very connected to how to connect vogue and brazilian funk”, says Vita, saying that balls occupy a representation space inside their music, with Isma pointing out two of their hit songs, “Shambaralai” and “Derretidas”, their remix with Pabllo Vittar, as songs rooted in vogue.

“I love ballroom, because it’s a place where trans women are very valuable, very precious. We’re put in a place in the spotlight, it gives us power”, Vita points out.

The first time I saw the Irmãs de Pau live was in a ball in Campinas, in 2022, where they entered the House of Odara - and, since then, the presence of ballroom elements in their music was always something that interested me. “We’re really proud to contribute with music, even if I’m not that femme queen that gets into the circle and kills it”, says Isma: “In every record, we really dedicate ourselves to insert elements of ballroom culture”.

Photography by Wallace Domingues

And in “Gambiarra Chic, Pt. 2” is not different, pointing out “Três Espiãs Demais”, with Tasha Kaiala’s, Irmãs choreographer, feature. House of Dengo’s mother, Tasha is part of their newest album, bringing all her experience with vogue to the duo’s project.

“It makes a lot of sense that we work with someone as dedicated and someone that we really see ourselves in, like Tasha”, Vita tells me.

Besides the presence in ballroom, the new album is a signal of how much the Irmãs de Pau have polished their research, bringing the aesthetics of putaria to their max potential, besides a huge variety of genres and sounds. Respecting their outskirts roots, the record looks forward, reproducing their art in a limitless potential - that builds up every release.

“It’s on the floor that we find freshness”

“Those are the people that supported us and believed in us since the start”, Vita says, when I ask about how important it is to work with underground producers even when achieving mainstream status. With names like DJ Dayeh, Brunoso, Cyberkills and FUSO!, the new Irmãs de Pau record is also a showing of how they never forgets their roots.

“It doesn’t make sense for us, now that we’ve gotten a little bigger, to avert our eyes, only walk with big names and forget who’s been with us since the start”, Pereira points out: “These people are what’s newest. It’s on the dance floor that we find freshness - and many drink from this fountain”.

Photography by Wallace Domingues

Their connection to the underground goes beyond the sound, it’s politics, besides it being “a question of responsibility, fight, it’s our life”, Isma says. In the first semester, they performed besides Katy da Voz e as Abusadas, a trio also made up of trans artists, at Mamba Negra - and since then, the five of them have done features, and performed in multiple concerts, like Club Vittar, Pabllo Vittar’s parties.

The presence of 100% trans art, with full authenticity, and whose space is independent from pseudo representation, is one Irmãs de Pau pillars. Both of their creativity is what shines the most, being able to play a main part in their storytelling about outskirts culture, and to create a sound that’s undeniably their own - with a wide research behind it.

“We want to be very real with what we really are, we wanna look back and remember all our phases, watch the music videos and remember our dreams”, points out Isma Almeida, with Vita Pereira finishing it: “That’s what is enchanting to us, being able to continue our research on the aesthetics of putaria, masculinity, solitude, love and attention, defying the place pushed onto us”.