With already one album in Esperanto, Samideano (VKKD101), Eterne Rima comes back strong with this new CD, resolutely rooted in Hip Hop and R&B, and with a wider scope of themes than the preceeding one.

As the title Taglibro de brutulo (Journal of a Brute) indicates, the album mainly describes the aggressive gangsta way of life, the somber reality of the underworld and the rules of gangsters, with such evocative titles as “Estro” (The Boss), “Movu la pakaĵon” (Move Your Package), “En mia apoteko” (In My Pharmacy), and “Pulvormuziko” (Powder Music).

The global message is not however an apology for social barbarity, but there is now also a more optimistic approach to life, with such examples as “Kio gravas” (What’s Important), and a surprising version of “Planedo Esperanto” (Planet Esperanto) by Lunatik (which appeared in the Elektronika Kompilo, VKKD053), presented here under the title “Planedo Paradizo” (Planet Paradise).

Even though Eterna Rima originally comes from Poland, he now lives in Japan, and he was particulary touched by the nuclear catastrophe following the great earthquake that shook the country. And he expresses this concern through his songs with words that are both serious and poetic, such as “Trankvila estu Tero” (Be Still, Earth) and “Por pli bona mondo” (For a Better World) with Jonny M as guest ; but without forgetting “Tokio” (Tokyo), that describes the charms of the Japanese metropolis, intact despite those sad events.

This album is long and dense, and is also a collaboration with Platano (Ni reprezentas), Tone (Vivo sen rimo), and Jonny M (Por pli bona mondo), whose names have now become inseparable from Hip Hop produced in Esperanto.

Note that the albums’s 17 titles are also proposed in instrumental versions for karaoke.

Eterna Rima is:
Igor Wasilewski: author of the texts (excepts the guests’), composer, synthesizer, drum, sampler, programing, voice, and coruses.
Recorded and mixed from January 2011 to February 2012 at Studio Espo-Lunatiko (Tokyo, Japan).
Sound Engineer: Igor Wasilewski.
Mastering: Triboulet, Studio de la Trappe/Vinilkosmo (Donneville, France) in March 2012.
Booklet and jacket graphics: Cyrille Poullet.
Photos: Sachiko Hirata.