Chico César, one of Brazil’s most distinctive singer-songwriters, has released “BREU” (Darkness), a four-language protest song created with seven musicians of Jewish heritage and the Gaza-based composer, vocalist and beatboxer Rivo. It is a rare collaboration that threads Arabic, Portuguese, English and Hebrew into one composition, shaped in direct response to the genocide in Gaza and to the collective refusal to remain silent.
The artists behind the recording also include vocalist Luísa Maita, singer and songwriter Noga Ritter, pianist Benjamim Taubkin, guitarist and percussionist Fábio Pinczowski, accordionist Gabriel Levy, clarinettist and bass-clarinettist Oran Etkin and bassist Paulo Rapoport.
Rivo opens with an Arabic verse recorded while moving between bombardments, sending audio through WhatsApp to Etkin, with whom he has collaborated for over a year. Etkin now works from New York; the others recorded in São Paulo. Their parts meet Rivo’s recordings from Gaza inside the same piece, connecting three places that would not otherwise be able to share a studio.
Built on Chico César’s voice and guitar, the arrangement places Taubkin’s piano against Etkin’s clarinet and bass clarinet, while Pinczowski adds percussion and guitar textures, Levy brings accordion lines, and Rapoport anchors everything on bass. Maita, Ritter, Etkin and Rivo layer their voices throughout, each singing in their chosen language, creating a conversation across linguistic and geographic divides.
That conversation begins with Rivo’s Arabic: “Peace is not weakness, peace is strength. When you forgive, that is higher than any enmity. Amidst their conflict, I chose to be human, living in peace, with a spirit full of compassion.” César responds in Portuguese, citing NASA satellite images of Gaza’s destruction — survivors without light living in “breu” (pitch darkness), buildings fallen “together with the moral structure of those who gave the order to rain fire.” He names Netanyahu, Zionists, imperialists, European parliament members before the refrain hammers home: “why did we stay silent for so long?”
The Hebrew section, sung by Ritter, continues the interrogation: “How can one stay silent in the face of the horrors in Gaza? Open your eyes. Come out of the darkness. There is no explanation for so much blood and bereavement. We must save our humanity. Plant seeds of life for everyone.” After cycling through all four languages, the track closes with a single line in Arabic: “Freedom to Palestine.”
The music video ends with a QR code linked to a crowdfunding campaign supporting Rivo and his family, currently his only means of accessing money under Gaza’s conditions. The musicians involved have said they intend to continue developing this model with other Gaza-based artists, using collaboration and visibility to provide direct support during an ongoing humanitarian disaster.
You can support Rivo and his family through the ongoing crowdfunding campaign available HERE