"Sonífera Ilha" (Sleepy Island) is the debut single by Brazilian rock band Titãs, released in 1984. The song, as well as its b-side "Toda Cor", was co-composed by Ciro Pessoa, one of the lead singers and founding members of the group, who would leave the band before the release of their first, self-titled album, in which the single and the b-side were included. "Sonífera Ilha" is among a few of Ciro's contributions to Titãs.
Although coming from an album that sold poorly, the song was a great hit in Brazil. According to website "A Vitrine do Rádio" and the Rolling Stone Brasil magazine, it was the song with most airplay in the country in 1984.[1][2]
Then vocalist Paulo Miklos (main singer of the song[3]) described the track in 2012 as follows: "A ska with a kinda dodecaphonic thing, a kinda weird phrase, telling a cock-and-bull story. I never knew what the song is about."[2]
In a 2020 video, then former vocalist and bassist Nando Reis commented that "Sonífera Ilha" was the only song that the audience knew at the time of its release and their other songs sounded too different from the track, and that because of it they would sometimes perform the song three times in a single show.[4]
In 2020, the band, then reduced to a trio (Branco Mello on vocals, acoustic guitar and bass; Sérgio Britto on vocal, keyboards and bass; and Tony Bellotto on vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, re-recorded the track as part of their Titãs Trio Acústico project.[6][7]
The video was directed by Otávio Juliano, who said: "'Sonífera Ilha' is a song that left a deep mark in generations. When I listened to the new acoustic version, I felt it was more than a song, it was a state of mind. It came from there the idea of inviting artists and friends that were part of Titãs' history, bringing their personalities and embarking on this state of mind with the band".[10]
The guest appearances were recorded by the artists themselves in their houses; such aesthetics would end up coinciding with the quarantine to which several people subjected themselves due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. By then, Bellotto said in an interview to O Globo newspaper:[7]
Different social groups, groups of doctors, everyone was finding a sense in that video. Lots of people saying that the video and the song served as some kind of relief in this distress moment of ours, which made me very happy. The extreme and essential purpose of art is exactly that.
