Cartago

Cartago was born in São Paulo, inside the University of São Paulo (USP), where five women from very different fields found each other through a shared pull toward the unusual, the deep, and the hard to name. Before any rehearsal or song, there were conversations in hallways and study groups that kept going longer than they should — about death, language, body, memory, ruin, identity. The music came after, almost inevitably. Helena Navarro Garcia, vocalist and guitarist, holds a master's degree in astronomy. Beatriz Abe, drummer from São Paulo and of Japanese descent, studies medicine. Natália Neri Rossi, bassist from Rio Grande do Sul and of Italian descent, studies history. Sofia Varela Tavares, guitarist from Recife, studies and teaches literature. Layla Saad Fairuz, on synths and keys, from Manaus and of Lebanese descent, studies visual arts. Their sound moves between punk, post-punk, indie rock, and Brazilian rock, but what sets Cartago apart is the writing — lyrics in Portuguese built on paradox, contradiction, synesthesia, and existential anguish, with a sophistication and delicacy rarely seen in the language. From songs that portray the female body as a besieged territory to the Kafkaesque nightmare of 'O Castelo Não Tem Portas', Cartago moves through disturbing layers of existence. Named after the ancient city destroyed and rebuilt, then destroyed again, Cartago is a vertiginous dive into a cycle of creation and collapse.