Bruno Berle
Interview and text: Wilhelm Østergaard
Brazilian musician Bruno Berle stopped by HENRI while touring Europe. He had just played at Roskilde Festival (his biggest show to date) and was still in Copenhagen when we invited him to our BBQ & BOSSA event on July 10 at HENRI on Gammel Kongevej.
He agreed, adding that we could also celebrate the release of his new album, Sem Fronteiras, which was coming out that very same day.
When Bruno sat down with his guitar in front of the microphone, it quickly became clear that he has a special ability to attract attention in the room. With his voice and presence, he filled the space with a gentle intimacy that at the same time carried a surprising power.
The day after the concert, I met Bruno in Nørrebroparken. It's Saturday, late afternoon. We walk along the path that crosses the park. Bruno is curious and humbly asks about life in Copenhagen. Just ahead of us, a couple are walking with a stroller. The thought that they are involuntarily an audience to our conversation makes me embarrassingly self-conscious, because it's always funny to hear how other Copenhageners portray the city to outsiders. I signal to Bruno that we should pass the couple so I can answer his questions, although I'm far more interested in hearing about his life. He tells me about São Paulo, where he has lived with his sister for the past few years. His days are spent making music in a studio he shares with childhood friends from his hometown, Batata Boy, Nyron Higor and Phylipe Nunes.
He lights up when he talks about the studio and the sense of community between them. And he tells me the rapper Tyler, the Creator stopped by the studio a few months ago to say hello. As we turn off Rantzausgade and onto Griffenfeldsgade, a message comes through on Bruno's phone. He looks intently at the screen, then looks up and smiles. The first review of the album is in, and I can tell from his expression that it must be positive. A Brazilian music journalist whom Bruno deeply admires has praised the album to the skies. I congratulate him. We step into HENRI on H.C. Ørsteds Vej and sit down in the grey barber chairs. It's early evening, the shop is closed, and outside, a golden light falls on the people passing by.
Wilhelm Østergaard: Can you tell me about your new album? What is it about?
Bruno Berle: Well, my new album is called Sem Fronteiras, which means "No Borders". It's my third album, and it's mainly about love, but also about what borders really are – in love, politics, territories and music.
WØ: How does that relate to the music?
BB: For example, the album isn't confined to one particular genre. It contains different types of music, different styles, and the recordings were made across national borders.
I wouldn't want to record all the songs in the same studio. I'd rather do sessions with lots of different people. For example, the first song on the album begins with a voice recording made in London, on top of something Nyron had produced in our studio in São Paulo. So I'm constantly experimenting with blurring boundaries when I make music. Yeah, breaking rules and boundaries.
WØ: I have read in several places that you've been compared to musicians such as
Djavan, João Gilberto and Frank Ocean. But if you had to put it into your own words: What has shaped you in terms of music?
BB: I've been shaped by lots of different music from the radio, from all over Brazil. I come from a poor family, and in my childhood home, we didn't have a CD player, cassette player or record player – just a radio.
He pauses.
BB: But also the music from the streets and parties in Maceió, the city I'm from. There were many different types of music being played – especially forró, which, in my opinion, is some of the most important music in Brazil. That music has shaped me just as much as everything else I heard on the radio.
WØ: What is your earliest memory of music?
BB: Recently, one of my aunts told me that when I was three years old, I used to sing for guests at home. I sang Zezé Di Camargo & Luciano – a Brazilian sertanejo duo who were hugely popular when I was born. That was the kind of music being played all over Brazil. But when I was seven, my father taught me to play guitar. I would always sit in front of the radio and learn the songs by listening and playing them by ear. Mostly the ones about love. That's probably what made me the romantic songwriter I am today.
As a teenager, Bruno begins writing and recording his own music alongside school. He becomes absorbed in challenging his creativity and constantly trying to reinvent himself, he says. He burns the songs onto CDs, selling them and giving them away at parties and concerts around Maceió.
BB: I was studying mathematics at university when, in 2021, I got an offer from my record label in London – Far Out. And that's when I decided that if I really wanted to give music a chance, I had to move to São Paulo. Because that's where things happen. When I came to São Paulo, I felt a sense of freedom. I got a studio, met a lot of people, got the opportunity to create on my own terms. The following year, I released my first album. It changed my life.
The release of No Reino Dos Afetos in 2022 became a turning point for Bruno. British record label Far Out Recordings signed him and released the album internationally, and suddenly his music began reaching far beyond Brazil. The song O Nome de Meu Amor was highlighted by international music media, and the following year, Bruno left Brazil for the first time.
Since then, things have moved quickly. He has toured Europe, the UK and Asia, playing small concerts and major festivals. In Brazil, he has shared the stage with artists such as Ana Frango Elétrico and Bala Desejo, and in Denmark, he has played at ALICE and, most recently, Roskilde Festival.
WØ: What has that transition meant to you, both personally and as an artist – finding success in this way?
BB: Being able to make a living from my music is the whole dream. The full dream. I love it. I just hope I get to keep doing it for the rest of my life.
Bruno looks thoughtfully out of the window before continuing.
BB: It also means something to me that I'm able to help the people around me. I meet so many talented people. I try to help them – not with empty promises. No, I record with them, book them and try to create opportunities for them. A lot of them deserve much more support, but that's not how reality works. I do it out of love for my friends and my people. I love seeing them succeed. I love making things happen.
Experience Sem Fronterias here: