Sunday, November 28, 2004
Annual migration
Gone to gaze at other horizons.
Photo: Gazelle Bulletin
The magazine is on vacation for the next three weeks.
Be well and come back to visit us after 18 December.
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13:05
 
Monday, November 22, 2004
Estrela da Vida
Marlene at eighty.
Mortal rivals: Marlene hides Emilinha Borba’s face on César de Alencar’s show,
Rádio Nacional
Vitória Bonaiutti de Martino was born in São Paulo 80 years ago today. In 1940, she made her professional debut on Rádio Tupi and adopted the stage name Marlene in honor of Marlene Dietrich. She moved to Rio de Janeiro and began appearing in a string of radio stations and casinos, becoming the star of the Golden Room at the Copacabana Palace Hotel.
In 1948 Marlene started singing in César de Alencar’s program, at that time the most popular variety radio show in Brazil. It was César who appended to her the slogan “Ela que canta e samba diferente.” Although her main rival, Emilinha Borba, was César’s established star, Marlene won the Rainha do Rádio competition in 1949, propelled by the promotion machine of Companhia Antarctica Paulista, which used Marlene in the launch of its guaraná Caçula. Following this manufactured triumph, Marlene got her own Rádio Nacional program and a regular slot in the popular Manuel Barcelos show, where she was the star until Rádio Nacional was closed.
Marlene has been professionally active over six decades and continues to make appearances to this day. Her fan club is likewise active. The singer’s most recent CD, Estrela da Vida, was launched in 1998.
Estrela da Vida
Vou, não sei como porque nunca sei como vou
ainda tenho de abrir meus caminhos
encontrar exatamente aonde ir
descobrir minha estrada
Arrependimentos, eu? Nenhum,
faria tudo igualzinho.
Erros e acertos, tudo outra vez
Para ir em frente, outra vez.
Voltar à barriga da minha mãe
Deixar os diabinhos saírem.
Artista no sangue, na veia no palco,
Santa e profana em qualquer papel
Estar no palco é tão gostoso,
É como fazer amor...
Vou não sei como, porque nunca sei como vou
Ninguém percebe esta angústia
Estou todos os dias começando, buscando, buscando...
Estrela da vida, da noite, do palco,
Cantar a alegria, a dor e a esperança
Na boca do povo, dias de folia
Na boca do palco, ser só uma cantora,
Ser só uma pessoa,
Cumprir meu destino,
Que o artista é muito só...
Marlene’s words, compiled by José Carlos Asbeg and set to music by Paulo Baiano.
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20:30
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Half & half plus Guinga
Mixed doubles offer assorted delights.
 
Nóis 4 (formerly As Meninas)
England-based paulista singer Mônica Vasconcelos and German alto-soprano saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock have been collaborating for the past ten years. In the beginning, it was just the two of them, and they went by the name of As Meninas. When they were joined by guitarist Ife Tolentino and percussionist Chris Wells, the group kept its feminine name. Eventually, the band grew to include nine members under the name Nóis (the phonetic form of Nós). When the original four “Meninas” recorded a new disc in December 2003, they became Nóis 4.
The new disc’s title is, appropriately, Gente, being a collaborative effort involving not only the four of Nóis 4 but five Brazilian musicians, inlcuding stars Guinga, Swami Jr., and Toninho Ferragutti. The albums is divided almost symmetrically in two. The first half consists of famous songs; the second, with one exception, of compositions by Nóis 4.
Opening the CD is the rapid baião “Influência do Jackson,” a genre memorably used by Guinga and Aldir Blanc. In this case, the song is an homage to Jackson do Pandeiro, and the lyrics are a concatenation of citations from Jackson’s songs and references to places where he has lived. Many of you are probably familiar with Leila Pinheiro’s two definitive recordings of this song. What sets Nóis 4’s version apart is Ingrid Laubrock’s sax, which introduces jazz improvisation and klezmer elements into the nordestino mix.
“Relampiano” has been recorded separately by both its co-authors, as well as by Elba Ramalho. In those renditions it was both markedly rhythmic and northeastern in flavor. The Nóis 4 recording is more lyrically introspective, which renders this story of a slum-dwelling boy selling drops at the traffic light all the more heartbreaking.
Tudo é tão normal, tal e qual
Neném não tem hora para ir se deitar
Mãe passando roupa do pai de agora
De um outro caçula que ainda vai chegar
É mais uma boca dentro do barraco
Mais um quilo de farinha do mesmo saco
Para alimentar um novo João Ninguém
E a cidade cresce junto com neném
Complementing Mônica’s restrained singing are Ingrid’s muted sax and the Basquiat Strings in an arrangement by Ben Davis, behind which Chris Wells has added distant percussion that builds up the feeling of alienation.
The diametrical opposite of alienation is the gorgeous “Choro Bandido” from the musical O Corsário do Rei by Edu Lobo and Chico Buarque. The great accordionist Toninho Ferragutti helps turn this track into a magical interlude, and Ingrid’s sax does the rest.
Gonzaguinha’s samba “Com a Perna no Mundo” is one of the more celebrated soccer songs Brazil has ever produced. It’s also the triumphal tale of a boy very much like the one who sells drops at the traffic light. Guinga, who is no slouch when it comes to playing futebol, sings the opening lines in his reedy voice until Mônica and chorus take over in one of the strongest performances on the album. Ingrid gives us a bit of Pixinguinha-like counterplay as a wrap-up.
Mônica shines again in Tom and Vinicius’ “Canção em Modo Menor,” where she shares the spotlight with Ingrid’s extended sax solo in a beautiful arrangement of guitar and strings. On a different note altogether is the tongue-twisting “Chá de Panela,” a tribute to Hermeto Pascoal:
Nesse chá de panela que eu senti a vocação:
Vi que música é tudo que avoa e rasga o chão.
Foi Hermeto Pascoal que magistral me deu o dom
De entender que do lixo ao avião em tudo há tom
E que até pinico dá bom som se a criação é mais
Se o músico for bom
Rendering homage are several heavyweights, including the composer (Guinga) on guitar, Swami Jr on bass, and Toninho Ferragutti, standing in for the homeageado. The accordionist returns in “Sobre o Papel,” which is above all a vehicle for Ingrid Laubrock’s soprano sax. While the Nóis 4 compositions are attractive and well-produced, they’re not up to the stature of the songs in the first half. “A Flor e o Espinho” is therefore a welcome presence among them. Still, there’s much to enjoy in the latter part, and Ingrid Laubrock in particular deserves further attention.
Listen to audio samples.
Nóis 4: Gente
(Candid Records CCD 79784; 2004) 50:43 min.
Produced by Chris Wells
01. Influência do Jackson (Guinga/Aldir Blanc)
02. Relampiano (Lenine/Paulo Moska)
03. Choro Bandido (Edu Lobo/Chico Buarque)
04. Com a Perna no Mundo (Luiz Gonzaga Jr.)
05. Canção em Modo Menor (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Vinicius de Moraes)
06. Chá de Panela (Guinga/Aldir Blanc)
07. Sobre o Papel (Chris Wells/Pedro Casadalma)
08. Leve (Ingrid Laubrock/Mônica Vasconcelos)
09. A Flor e o Espinho (Nelson Cavaquinho/Guilherme de Brito/Alcides Caminha)
10. Canto pra Cira (Chris Wells/Mônica Vasconcelos)
11. Why (Ife Tolentino)
Guests
Guinga: guitar (1, 6, 7); solo intro (7); voice (4)
Swami Jr.: bass (1, 6, 7, 9, 10); 7-string guitar (4)
Toninho Ferragutti: accordion (3, 6, 7, 10)
Basquiat Strings (2, 5)
Guilherme Kastrup: percussion (1, 4, 10)
Webster Santos: cavaquinho (4)
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18:14
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Vote for Sovaco de Cobra
It’s an outstanding weblog and deserves to win.
The presidential elections took more out of me than I had thought possible. Brazilian music has been far from my mind lately. A four-disc review I had begun a couple of weeks ago has only today been completed (see below). But Bush or no Bush, the rest of the world moves on (please excuse the pun), and eventually the shock wears off.
A few weeks ago I voted for Zé Carlos Cipriano’s beautiful and informative Brazilian music weblog Sovaco de Cobra in the Best of the Blogs international weblog awards promoted by Deutsche Welle.
Today I revisited the BoBs (not to be confused with the famous a cappella group) site in order to check on Sovaco de Cobra’s standing. The good news is that it’s climbed to third place (out of ten) in the Best Topic category. The bad news is that it faces tough competition.
As of today, there are eighteen days left until decision time. There’s still time to tip the scales.
Do it now. Vote for Sovaco de Cobra.
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15:31
Sunday, November 14, 2004
Um abraço no João
So Bush won. Who cares?
Obrigada, João, pelas suas palavras carinhosas.
You made my day, my week, my month, my year, my decade...
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15:47
Thursday, November 04, 2004
From “Insensatez” to boTECOeletro
Potpourri for a troubled age.
Quarteto Maogani (photo: Beti Niemeyer)
The general elections just concluded bring sharply to mind the plurality and variety of human experience and opinion, in art as in politics, religion, or sports. In the artistic arena, there is hardly an endeavor about which opinions are more divided than they are about music. Par for the course.
Why don’t we, then, seek to find the common denominators between “high” and “low,” the arty and the popular?
We’ll give it a try. I confess to being too downcast to embark on this investigation with a light and eager heart. This is more in the way of the show must go on, or else we’ll have admitted defeat. Onwards and upwards.
Antonio Carlos Jobim is the universal gold standard of Brazilian music. This is so even outside Brazil, where Tom (although nobody ever calls him Tom on U.S. radio) is just one of many talented popular composers, associated first and foremost with bossa nova. In his native country, though, Tomzinho is a transcendent God, firmly seated on the highest echelon of spirituality, somewhere in the Elysium of clowd nine, which he undoubtedly shares with his maître, Maurice Ravel.
Classic Jobim
 Quarteto Maogani’s third album, Água de Beber (Biscoito Fino BF 576), is an exploration of that Elysian Tom, his precursors and inspirations.
In their customarily limpid arrangements and meticulous interpretations, the four guitarists evoke the sound of a harp in “Canto do Sertão” from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 4 (Heitor Villa-Lobos). Augmented by Jessé Sadoc’s muted trumpet, the track expresses all the longing of which a human heart is capable. Their “Imagina” (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Chico Buarque) palpably reincarnates Erik Satie. “Derradeira Primavera” (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Vinicius de Moraes) is an exquisite lullaby that tiptoes daintily onto a 19th-century pastoral scene. “Mulher” (Custódio Mesquita/Sady Cabral) gains new subtlety and complexity. “Insensatez” (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Vinicius de Moraes) drifts into a dreamy dimension in waltz time. Everything about this disc is highly refined, including the sambas.
A little Jobim, a lot of Aquino
 Two Jobim tunes can be also heard on Luiz de Aquino’s new disc, Esquina do Tempo (Next Music CDS 9157). Aquino, a guitarist-songwriter who lives in France, is an eclectic musician who incorporates disparate world-music elements into his arrangments. Jobim’s “Este Seu Olhar” is given a flavor that is now new-age, now jazz, with programmed effects supplementing guitar, saxophone, contabass, and percussion. His “Samba de uma Nota Só” (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Newton Mendonça) employs programmed sequences and a seductive speaking style that turns this warhorse into something altogether different, reminiscent of the work of another Brazilian expatriate, Chico Mello.
Alongside Jobim, Luiz de Aquino presents his own compositions, which manage to sound popular and intelligent at the same time. His opening song, “Na Mata,” features a refrain that is calculated to echo mindlessly in listeners’ heads for days: Digui digui digui eh. Leva!/ Digui digui digui eh. Yet the lyrics make perfect sense: toda cidade grande torna pequeno o homem. All this is overlayed with background whispering, a bass voice repeating the maddening refrain, a bit of Moroccan vocalizing, and an infectious rhythm conducive to spontaneous dancing.
In “Caminhos de Cuba,” the whispering recitative interjects the single line Caminhos de Cuba estradas de terra tristeza nos olhos poeira de história over a staccato of 7-string guitar, accordion, percussion, and sequencing. “Pode Ser Agora” is a meditation on what time brings and takes away, including everything one has and everything one knows. The memorable “Esquina do Tempo” is short on lyrics but long on beauty, and a showcase for Aquino’s guitar acumen. “Vamo Nesse Passo” is a nordestino tune complete with accordion, violin, and zabumba-like percussion. At times soaring, at others descending down to earth, this album is above all a pleasure for the ears.
Eclecticism, Brazilian style
Aleh, whose self-produced debut disc is called MPGSOULSAMBAGROOVE (Nikita Music 24.05.920-2), delivers all of the above. He doesn’t record Jobim but instead builds Zé Ketti’s “Opinião” into his own “A Voz do Samba,” an intro that segues into the funky soul-rap “Opinião (Rapaziada Atacar).” Aleh is a rocker who pays attention to his precedents, both within and without Brazil. His songs are catchy (listen to “Sou do Bem” and “Mister Mistério,”) and arranged for maximum impact. For the dancers, there’s nothing like his “Dona da Banca,” offered here in two different mixes.
From the same label comes producer Ricardo Imperatore’s boTECOeletro (Nikita Music 24.05.1243-2), an electronic-acoustic collage in which small vignettes by Jackson do Pandeiro, As Baianas Mensageiras de Santa Luzia, and Radamés Gnattali are mixed with loops and samples such as the batucadas of Pedro Luís e A Parede’s Monobloco. The interesting result, as the producer explains, is “neither strictly popular nor strictly erudite; brasilidade is the disc’s basic concept.”
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17:33
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