Photo by Susan AlznerWith so many folks (re)discovering our Ani DiFranco office performance from this past December, it seemed fitting to offer up this archival piece from the fall of 2006…

As people, we’re always on the lookout for someone with whom we connect on multiple levels – intellectual, spiritual, physical, etc. – the proverbial soul mate. For those of us who play music, that potential is twofold: For musicians, there exists the potential to find a second soul-linking connection – the chance to communicate almost telepathically with another player, or even more than one. Brazilian pop star Lenine and indie icon Ani DiFranco have formed such a bond – one made extra special due to the fact that they’ve done so despite a Lenine and DiFranco share a language barrier (Lenine speaks Portuguese, Ani English). Since sharing the stage in Italy a few years ago, Lenine and DiFranco have found each other to be a kindred spirit.

Both percussive guitarists and passionate vocalists, they again performed together in Brazil and appeared on each others’ albums. Late this past summer, they connected with Relix via translator and cell phone to express their affection for each other’s work. The pregnant DiFranco dialed into what she called “the party line” from her car outside of a sewing machine shop in New Orleans (her new home), and Lenine had just left a rehearsal in San Paulo, Brazil.

Relix: Can you tell me about the first time you discovered each others’ music, and describe what it was about it that struck you the most?

Lenine: The first time I saw Ani was at a show in Italy, we shared the stage. It really impressed me because I recognized something of myself in her. I thought, “It’s me.” There was an immediate connection between us, as if we knew each other for many years. Her body communicated everything I needed to know – it went beyond my inability to understand English.

Ani: It was so mutual… I remember the second you started playing, it was like my ears perked up, like a mother hearing her own baby. [Laughter] The sound of your guitar was like family: instant recognition.

Lenine: You just say that because you’re pregnant – it’s on your mind [Laughter]

Ani: It’s beyond rhyming. I can hear the rhythm of his lyric, and just the music of it. I heard myself in him and vice-versa. Somehow, it was like finding a cousin from halfway around the world. Lenine plays so rhythmically and so percussively that there was just an instant kinder-ness… The musicality of his writing I really relate to, even though the meaning is lost on me.

Relix: I think for guitarists in America, or anywhere, for that matter, there comes a time when you get enamored with Brazilian rhythms. Ani, do you remember the first time you learned one; did you figure it out on your own, or did someone teach you?

Ani: For better or worse, I mostly just figure stuff out, or make stuff up. But like most artists, I’m a sponge, and influences are just coming in from everywhere. I don’t think I would even know where from. Being in Brazil was so striking. I felt like I was in music school. Everyday when I woke up I would hear kids playing on the street, or a band in a bar on the beach that were some of the most amazing musicians I’d ever seen, and the rhythms… Really, my one and only visit there, I didn’t want to leave. I really just felt like it was such an enriching place, musically.

Lenine: The guitar is probably the instrument of Brazil. You can stand on any street corner and see three or fou guys sitting around and passing a guitar around, and playing off each other. That’s just typical.

Relix: Tell me about the show in Brazil when you performed together.

Ani: There was just incredible energy. It was wonderful being in front of much too brief, and I was very struck by both… And I still hold a dream of Lenine’s audience, and feeling that love, and someday touring together, someday soon. that connection and support. It had nothing to Eithe in his country or mine. do with the pop star thing. It’s the real kind of Lenine: I really feel like Ani is a soul sister. I’m familial love that I feel with my audience. It felt the kind o person who, the experiences I very much like being home.

Lenine: That night confirmed a chemistry into myself. And they come out in my work. that existed in both of our souls. And I’ll tell And Ani is a very special piece of those you, Ani DiFranco’s right hand is the shit [Ani experiences, which will clearly be reflected in laughs]. It’s crazy. With just a guitar, she has my work. You know, Ani, we really have an an incredible authority, and it got over on the obligation to get together and do a project now. audience that, granted, understood very little – if anything – of what she was singing about. They fell in love with her.

Relix: Ani, can you describe Lenine as a person for me?

Ani: Warm and open, and very worldly. He’s a person who’s obviously been here, there, and beyond. I remember we were talking about music as a passport – we have this passport and we can travel on it…It’s that kind of openness that allows you to communicate with or without language.

Relix: Has playing with one another influenced you, even subtly?

Ani: I’m sure it did. My visit to Brazil and my encounter with Lenine were much too breif, and I was very struck by both…And I still hold a dream of someday touring together, someday soon. Either in his country or mine.

Lenine: I really feel like Ani is a soul sister. I’m the kind of person who, the experiences the experiences I have, I very seiously and deeply take them into myself. And they come out in my work. And Ani is a very special piece of those experiences, which will clearly be reflected in my work. You know Ani, we really have an obligation to get together and do a project now.

Ani: Okay! [Laughs]

Lenine: Let’s try, Ani. [Laughs]

Ani: Yeah! [Laughs]