Tuesday, April 29, 2008
A Good Neighbor visit that was good
Walt & El Grupo evokes the magic and strife of a lost era.
The Walt Disney team arrives in Rio de Janeiro. Frank Thomas is on the
extreme right. (courtesy of Theodore Thomas Productions)
In August 1941, Walt Disney embarked on a ten-week Good Neighbor visit to South America. The trip was financed by the U.S. State Department and came at a time when the Disney studios were mired in debt, their European markets decimated by World War II, and a crippling five-week strike having raised tensions and lowered morale at the company.
Walt took along a group of artists, animators, writers, and musicians to gather material for a possible series of 12 Latin-themed shorts that would be underwritten by the U.S. government. The ultimate products that emerged were the full-length Saludos Amigos (1942) and The Three Caballeros (1944), plus the segment “Blame It on the Samba” in Melody Time.
A detailed account of this trip with its antecedents and aftermaths is the subject of an upcoming book by Disney historian J.B. Kaufman. Kaufman also appears as commentator in the new feature-length documentary Walt & El Grupo, which is receiving its world première at the San Francisco International Film Festival this week.
Both the book and the film are coming out under the auspices of the Walt Disney Family Foundation, whose museum in San Francisco’s Presidio is due to open next year.
Walt & El Grupo’s director, Ted Thomas, is the son of legendary Disney animator Frank Thomas (1912–2004). The idea for the film emerged after Ted and his producer wife, Kuniko Okubo, found a box of photographs that had belonged to his father, documenting the South American trip.
The photographs, some of which are artfully animated, form the basis of the documentary along with unreleased 16-mm footage that Walt and his group shot during the trip, original documents (including letters sent home), sketches made by the group’s artists of local figures and scenes, animated characters, and live interviews with spouses and descendants of the protagonists and people met in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile. The filmmakers also found rare survivors who had taken part in those long-ago events, still so fresh in their minds.
Ronaldo do Bandolim and composer Jim Stemple
(courtesy of Theodore Thomas Productions)
The group’s first and longest stop was in Rio de Janeiro, and everyone interested in Disney or in Brazilian music already knows that this visit was responsible for the emergence of “Aquarela do Brasil” as a worldwide hit and for the development of the papagaio character known as Zé Carioca. Naturally, music plays an important part in Walt & El Grupo. We hear Carmen Miranda singing “Disseram Que Voltei Americanizada” (Vicente Paiva/Luiz Peixoto, 1940) while the Gringo group picnics in Paquetá and “Aquarela do Brasil,” sung by Aloysio de Oliveira, over the gorgeously animated sequence from Saludos Amigos.
Most of the score, however, is the creation of composer Jim Stemple, who demonstrates an uncanny ability to synthesize (without electronics, natch) authentic-sounding music, be it period Big Band, samba, tango, or Andean melodies. He composed a choro for one Rio sequence and a jazz samba for another—the former featuring Ronaldo do Bandolim and Rogério Souza, the latter a vocalese by Luciana Souza (listen to clips). The closing titles are set to an earthy rendition of “Aquarela” by Mart’nália.
Mart’nália recording “Aquarela do Brasil”
(courtesy of Theodore Thomas Productions)
Lovers of Rio antigo will be rewarded with shots of the Hotel Glória and the Cassino da Urca in their glory days. While the Glória is still operating, the casino is a ruin awaiting restoration. It is an apt metaphor for the film’s central theme, a gentle reflection pitting the transitory aspects of life against the more enduring ones. The conclusions are not as obvious as one might expect.
Musicians (Rio de Janeiro)
Luiz Flavio Alcofra, 6-string guitar
Rogério Souza, 7-string guitar
Jayme Vignoli, cavaquinho
Ronaldo do Bandolim, bandolim
Sérgio Brandão, electric bass
Scott Feiner, percussion
Pretinho, percussion
Vocalists
Luciana Souza, track 4: “Watercolors”
Mart’nália, track 21: “Aquarela do Brasil”
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15:38
 
Friday, April 04, 2008
How I didn’t win a Brazilian Press Award
Still, being categorized as an institution is a reward in itself.
This is the time of year in when my attention is focused solely on architectural history. That means that Brazilian music gets short shrift until after the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Spring House Tour and Preservation Awards.
Speaking of awards, I was recently nominated for a 2008 Brazilian International Press Award. This was communicated to me in early January by the nominator, a Brazilian composer living in the U.S.
Checking the list of nominees, I found myself in exalted company, the only individual in the Institution category:
20 - Instituição que apóia a Cultura Brasileira nos EUA
Berklee School of Music
Broward Center for the Performing Arts
Broward County Library
Broward County School Board
Cambridge Health Alliance
Columbia University
Daniella Thompson – http://daniellathompson.com
Florida International University
Harvard Medical School
UCLA
Universidade do Texas – Centro de Estudos do Brasil
Thanking my nominator, I wrote: “I’d say the chances are nil, given that the competition includes the Berklee College of Music and the University of Texas. Still, it’s fun to be listed as the only individual in a slate of institutions.”
He replied: “unless ... there is a posting announcing the nomination in the blog, plus a little email campaign. I’m sure that everyone who knows your blog would vote immediately. Still maybe the chances of you doing it are even ... niller — yet I hope it happens, I’d send a mail to my personal list!”
I responded: “You’re absolutely right. The chances are not only niller but nillest. :-)”
His answer: “i knew it ... and am overnilled.”
And that’s how I didn’t win a Brazilian International Press Award in the Institution category. The prize for Outstanding Institution support for Brazilian Culture in the U.S. goes to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, which the award announcement lists as Berklee School of Music (NJ). Let’s hope the invitation finds its way to the correct address before the awards ceremony.
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11:52
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
And now he sings.
Brazil’s most unclassifiable musician expands his horizons.
Writing about the music of Antonio Saraiva is not easy. This multi-instrumentalist (guitar, piano, saxophones and more), composer, and arranger defies classification. In creating his music, Saraiva dips into disparate and far-flung sources, from música nordestina to Indonesian gamelan, from rock to minimalism à la Steve Reich. What he creates from this mélange is something else altogther.
Antonio Saraiva is a thoroughly modern musician.
I first met Saraiva in 1999, after he had produced Marcos Sacramento’s most modern album, Caracane (read my interview with him in “Magic Marcos”). At the time, he was composing ballet music for the Paula Nestorov dance company of Rio de Janeiro. Some of this music has been released on the CDs Chegança (1998) and Orquestra (2000).
In 1999, Saraiva released a duo CD with Marcos Cunha that most popular-music aficionados would characterize as experimental. So now it comes as somewhat of a surprise to find Saraiva on a new solo disc full of real songs, which he sings.
Saraiva wouldn’t be true to himself if he abandoned modernity, but in the eponymous album Antonio Saraiva, the musician demonstrates that it’s possible to be modern, accessible, evocative, and even emotional all at once, not to mention tongue-in-cheek.
frio
noite na boca
teu céu
o frio de pé no chão
lembra a guerra
cais e amor
lampejo no olhar
e o luar sem sertão
He also shows how a single person can do it all. All the songs (music and lyrics) are his compositions. He arranged them all and plays piano, acoustic and electric guitars (including a 12-string guitar), saxophones, flute, and drums. And he sings.
On Saraiva’s beautifully designed website you can watch various videos and listen to his music. Perhaps you might even be able to classify it. If you do, drop me a line.
Antonio Saraiva
(Independent AS05; 2007) 36:36 min.
All compositions by Antonio Saraiva
01. Prólogo/Sem História
02. Quimera
03. Graça
04. Só
05. Sem História
04. Lua de Londres 1:03
05. Frio
06. A Saudade
07. Luminoso
08. O Segredo
09. Trilhos
10. Ir
11. Conto
12. Pé
13. Epílogo/O Elefante
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17:19
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Jovino Santos Neto & Harvey Wainapel Duo
 
Friday, 11 April 2008
7:30 pm–9:30 pm
Chimes Chapel
4499 Piedmont Avenue
Oakland, CA 94611
Two of the top Brazilian music instrumentalists on the West Coast or anywhere team up for a lecture and concert entitled Brazilian Music from Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.
Pianist, flutist, and Hermeto Pascoal sidekick Jovino Santos Neto will join saxophonist-clarinetist Harvey Wainapel to play choro, Hermeto Pascoal, Guinga, and some of their own compositions.
If you’re interested in the history and development of music in Brazil, you wouldn’t want to miss Jovino and Harvey’s pre-concert lecture.
Tickets: $15 general; $10 seniors & students. On sale at the door starting at 6:30 pm. Cash only. Doors open at 7 pm. Info: (510) 228-3218.
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19:50
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Nelson Tangerini has a grievance
Battles alone to rescue father’s reputation from oblivion.
 Nestor Tangerini (courtesy of Nelson Tangerini)
For the past two days I’ve been bombarded with none fewer than 21 different e-mails sent by Nelson Tangerini, son of the Brazilian writer Nestor Tangerini (1895–1966).
Mr. Tangerini is battling the entire Brazilian establishment, which he claims has conspired to make the scripts of his father’s theatrical works disappear from the National Archive and the archive of the Brazilian Society of Theatrical Authors (SBAT).
His father, who died when Nelson was 9 years old, was for a time artistic director of the Companhia Teatral Jardel Jércolis, which in 1936 and ’37 mounted five musical revues authored by him: No Tabuleiro da Baiana, Estupenda!, Magnífica!, Na Dura!, and Gol!.
Mr. Tangerini believes that the scripts’ disappearance was a ruse through which the work of his father could be attributed to others, such as the producer Jardel Jércolis or the lyricist Luiz Iglésias, who coauthored a number of songs with Ary Barroso, notably “Boneca de Pixe,” a 1938 hit for Carmen Miranda with Almirante.
For a number of years now, Mr. Tangerini has been contacting various entities on behalf of his cause, and the results of his efforts may be seen in the increased Web presence of his father’s name. The respected Dicionário Cravo Albin da MPB devotes substantial space to the work of Nestor Tangerini.
But this is not enough for Nelson Tangerini. He writes:
At the moment, I’m preoccupied with two books that came out recently in Brazil:
1. Oscarito: O Riso e o Siso by Flávio Marinho
2. Grande Otelo: Uma Biografia by Sérgio Cabral
Flávio forgot to mention the revue Gol!; Sérgio says that this revue was written by Luiz Iglésias. They couldn’t have erred, since I gave them my book [Nestor Tangerini’s biography in a Word document] before they wrote their books. I’m trying to correct them through the press. Our press is not interested in correcting anything. Flávio and Sérgio are “sacred cows” and can’t be disputed.
Being thousands of miles away from the major research resources, I can offer no opinion whatever on this subject. Let those who know something voice their own.
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12:38
Monday, January 28, 2008
A killer version of “Na Baixa do Sapateiro”
If you’re an interpreter, how do you deal with a warhorse without falling prey to the ordinary?
One solution is to take a very leisurely approach. This has worked extremely well for Tom Jobim when recording two lengthy versions of Ary Barroso’s “Aquarela do Brasil” in Stone Flower (1970). The same feat was accomplished 15 years later by João Gilberto at the Montreux Jazz Festival, where his version lasted almost nine minutes.
Nothing comparable was ever done with Ary’s other blockbuster, “Na Baixa do Sapateiro.” At least not until Susan Pereira and Sabor Brasil tackled it in their album Tudo Azul.
An American vocalist married to a Brazilian drummer, Susan Pereira transformed this 70-year old samba-jongo into a yearning, 12-minute tropical jazz rumination that takes its rightful place among the more memorable Barroso interpretations.
Pereira, who also arranged and plays percussion, is accompanied by Dario Eskenazi (piano), Hendrik Meurkens (harmonica), Romero Lubambo (violão), Kip Reed (bass), and Vanderlei Pereira (drums).
Listen to “Na Baixa do Sapateiro” and all the other tracks of Tudo Azul at CD Baby, where liner notes and digital purchase are also available. Read a review by Egídio Leitão.
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18:51
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Full moon
Lua Music’s fistful of delectable new releases.
Traditional syncopated samba, new samba, and a bit of Jobim attired in romantic arrangements are some of the treats dished out by Lua Music in late 2007. The DVD and pair of CDs reviewed here are the work of two septuagenarians and a fresh-faced thirty-year-old, demonstrating that good music still comes from all sources imaginable.
Germano Mathias’ Ginga no Asfalto DVD
Sporting his eternal porkpie hat, owl glasses, and tropical shirts, the paulistano sambista Germano Mathias, born in 1934, gives not a hint of his youthful good looks. But don’t let that fool you into thinking he’s past his prime. He may not be able to rise to the amazing dancing feats of his twenties, but he can still hoof it with the best of them. And when it comes to singing syncopated samba, playing mouth cuíca or trombone, and drumming on a metal can lid, Germano can’t be beat.
His new DVD, Ginga no Asfalto (not to be confused with his 1962 LP of the same title, reissued several years ago in the CD series Odeon 100 Anos), offers a good dose of all the above. Germano sings 16 of his best-known songs, talks about his life in music, revisits his childhood street, shows old photos, and gives us a glimpse of the astonishing dancing prowess of his youth in clips from two 1950s movies.
The musical numbers were shot on stage (without an audience), where Germano is accompanied by the likes of Guilherme Vergueiro (piano & musical direction), Raul de Souza (trombone), Osvaldinho da Cuíca and his conjunto, Luizinho 7 cordas, Bocato, Alex Buck, and Quinteto em Branco e Preto.
There are no substitles, but the music, dancing, and humor more than make up for their absence.
Germano Mathias: Ginga no Asfalto DVD
(Lua Music LUA 224) 2007; 54 min.
01. Ironia da Pastora (Jorge Costa)
02. A Ingratidão (Eron Viana/Germano Mathias/Roberto Valentin)
03. A Situação do Escurinho (Aldacir Louro/Paderinho da Mangueira)
04. Falso Rebolado (Venâncio/Jorge Costa)
05. Guarde a Sandalia Dela (Sereno/Germano Mathias)
06. A História de um Valente (Nelson Cavaquinho/José Ribeiro)
07. Apague a Tua Vela (Jorge Costa/Gastão Miranda)
08. Samba da Periferia (Elzo Augusto)
09. Nega Dina (Zé Ketti)
10. São Paulo Mãe Madrinha (Elzo Augusto)
11. Acordei de Madrugada (Geraldo Medeiros/Sereno/Antoninho Lopes)
12. Chegou o Carnaval (Antonio de Almeida)
13. Doutor no Samba (Paderinho da Mangueira)
14. Zé da Pinga (Paderinho da Mangueira)
15. Que Baixo..! (Caco Velho/Lupicínio Rodriques)
16. A Palhaçada (Habib/José Henrique/Heitor Carillo)
Claudette Soares’ Foi a Noite—Canções de Tom Jobim CD
Claudette Soares is not quite as old as Germano Mathias, but she comes close, having been born in 1937. Having begun to sing in public at the age of ten, her career was already in full swing when Tom Jobim came upon the scene.
She took part in one of the defining concerts of the nascent bossa nova wave—the famous A Noite do Sorriso, do Amor e da Flor at the University Rio de Janeiro’s architecture school on 20 May 1960.
In 1993, Claudette starred in the show Claudette Soares Interpreta Vinicius, and her output since 2000 has included a number of bossa nova albums and shows. A tribute to Jobim is therefore a natural extension of what the singer has been doing for a long time.
She first met Tom in the ’50s, at a time when he was playing piano in Zona Sul nightclubs. “The piano was always a fixture in my work,” says the vocalist, “and when I met Tom, I immediately identified with the way he played and with his compositions.” Two of her early recordings, released on 78-rpm discs, were Jobim songs: “Foi a Noite” (Repertório 9.074-A) and “Só Saudade” (Mocambo 15.424-A, recorded in 1962).
The two songs, both in the samba-canção genre, are reprised on the new CD, along with lesser-known Jobim tunes such as “Sucedeu Assim” (1957), “Cala, Meu Amor” (1958), “Samba Torto” (1960), and “Andam Dizendo” (1962).
Under Giba Estebez’s musical direction, the songs are delivered in nightclub style, with intimate arrangement for piano (Giba Estebez), saxophones and flute (Ubaldo Versolato), and cello (Regina Vasconcellos).
Claudette Soares: Foi a Noite—Canções de Tom Jobim
(Lua Music LUA 221) 2007; 36:20 min.
01. Foi a Noite (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Newton Mendonça)
02. Cala, Meu Amor (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Vinicius de Moraes)
03. Derradeira Primavera (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Vinicius de Moraes)
04. Inútil Paisagem (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Aloysio de Oliveira)
Estrada do Sol (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Dolores Duran)
05. Sucedeu Assim (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Marino Pinto)
06. Andam Dizendo (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Vinicius de Moraes)
07. Homenagem a Sylvia Telles:
Discussão (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Newton Mendonça)
Samba Torto (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Aloysio de Oliveira)
Eu Preciso de Você (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Aloysio de Oliveira)
08. Sabiá (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Chico Buarqye) with Alaíde Costa
09. Esquecendo Você (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Vinicius de Moraes)
10. Retrato em Branco e Preto (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Chico Buarqye)
11. Só Saudade (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Newton Mendonça)
12. Solidão (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Alcides Fernandes) with Dick Farney
Juliana Amaral’s Juliana Samba CD
It’s always a special pleasure to encounter a younger artist doing something fresh and interesting with samba. For her second CD, vocalist Juliana Amaral and her producer, the acclaimed composer/sambista Moacyr Luz, selected a little-visited repertoire, to which the singer’s clear and gentle voice lends a personal and lyrical dimension.
In contrast with the voice, the arrangements by Paulão Sete Cordas are pure roda de samba, with the cream of carioca samba instrumentalists lending a hand: Mauro Diniz (cavaquinho), Rui Alvim (clarinet), Marcílio Marques (bandolim), Marcus Esguleba and Trambique (percussion).
Juliana Amaral: Juliana Samba
(Lua Music LUA 117) 2007; 41:06 min.
01. Meu Amor Já Foi Embora (Cartola/José Gonçalves “Zé com Fome”)
02. Resistência (Zé Luiz do Império/Nei Lopes)
03. Nos Embalos da Vida (Martinho da Vila)
04. Amargura (Padeirinho/Quincas do Cavaco)
05. Canta (Wilson Baptista)
06. Visa (Paulinho da Viola/Elton Medeiros)
07. Da Vida Tudo Se Leva (Moacyr Luz/Hermínio Bello de Carvalho)
08. São Mateus (Marcos Paiva/Rodrigo Campos)
09. Tudo Acabado (Heitor dos Prazeres)
10. Então, Leva (Bira da Vila/Luiz Carlos da Vila)
11. Vestida de Azul (Wanderley Monteiro/Luiz Carlos Máximo)
12. Samba a Dois (Marcelo Camelo)
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16:14
Monday, January 14, 2008
Caymmi refined
Mateus Sartori reveals the lyrical Dorival in Dois de Fevereiro.
Dorival Caymmi is one of the giants of Brazilian song, both as a songwriter and as a performer. At his prime, Caymmy’s rich baritone infused his music with masculine vigor. Yet the songs possess a gentle lyrical quality that reveals new shades of meaning through a tenor’s voice.
The singer Mateus Sartori of São Paulo is such a tenor. He possesses the refined perception and the vocal skills required to draw out the embedded lyrical content in Caymmi’s songs.
In producing Dois de Fevereiro, an album dedicated to the songs of Caymmi, Sartori had the best of help. The producer and co-musical director is Rodolfo Stroeter, best known as an ace bassist (he’s played with Joyce for many years) and the founder of the Pau Brasil record label (alas, no longer with us).
The two fashioned a voice-and-guitar album in which the accompanist changes with each song. And the seven guitarists are no slouches—one couldn’t ask for better: Paulo Bellinati (“Dora,” “Quem Vem pra Beira do Mar”); Guinga (“Só Louco”); Chico Saraiva (“Beijos pela Noite,” “A Jangada Voltou Só”); Webster Santos (“Acaçá,” “O Samba da Minha Terra” & “Você Já Foi à Bahia?”); Jardel Caetano (“Promessa de Pescador,” “Valerá a Pena”); Edmilson Capelupi (“Doralice”); Diego Figueiredo (“Rosa Morena,” “Dois de Fevereiro”); and Mário Gil (“Sargaço Mar”).
Webster Santos’ accompaniment in “O Samba da Minha Terra”— bouncy and full of notes—is followed by Guinga’s minimalist execution in “Só Louco.” But Santos, too, is capable of the lesser-said approach, as in the ruminative “Acaçá.” Diego Figueiredo’s guitar turns the normally rollicking “Dois de Fevereiro” into a gentle fantasia.
With such diversity in the accompaniment, the album gains fresh perspectives and variety of execution while maintaining unification of theme and sound by way of the material and Sartori’s beautifully expressive voice.
In Brazil, Dois de Fevereiro was released in a special CD+DVD edition. The version available in the U.S. appears to include only the CD.
Listen to Dois de Fevereiro on Mateus Sartori’s website.
Mateus Sartori at MySpace.
Digital purchase at Audio Lunchbox.
Mateus Sartori: Dois de Fevereiro
(Mateus Sartori MSCC 022) 2007; 45:42 min.
Songs by Dorival Caymmi
Produced by Rodolfo Stroeter
Mixed and mastered by Mario Gil
01. Acaçá
02. Rosa Morena
03. Promessa de Pescador
04. Dora
05. Beijos pela Noite (Dorival Caymmi/Jorge Amado/Carlos Lacerda)
06. Doralice
07. Quem Vem pra Beira do Mar
08. A Jangada Voltou Só
09. Sargaço Mar
10. O Samba da Minha Terra
11. Só Louco
12. Dois de Fevereiro
13. Valerá a Pena
14. Você Já Foi à Bahia?
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12:22
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