More Brazilian Music: August Edition

With some recent music recommendations from other bloggers, an intriguing list of 30 nominees for the best Brazilian music of all time posted by "Estadão," and some artists that I've stumbled across on my own, it's time to add another post about Brazilian music.

Alex, author of "Bossa Breezes," mentioned Jorge Ben in a comment on my post about Carmen Miranda and her unusual pronunciation of the "r" sound, not because their music sounds anything alike, but because of Jorge's pronunciation of "r". Specifically, Alex mentioned the track "O Telefone Tocou Novamente," which appears on the album "Força Bruta." I found it on the compilation CD "Pure Brazil: Caipirinha" and have been enjoying ever since.

Not long after this, Tom, author of "Eat Rio," wrote a post about João Gilberto, specifically about his brilliant album "Chega de Saudade." In that post, Tom included a link to an older post he had written about Jorge Ben's album "A Tábua de Esmeralda." While I highly recommend that you click on the link and read the post, be prepared to see way more of Rod Stewart than you may want to. In fairness, Rod is there for a legitimate reason and not as some form of misbegotten eye candy. Still, if you find the photo to be too traumatic, just scroll past it quickly and you'll get to the good part. 

Tom was pretty enthusiastic about the album, and he was right: these songs go beyond being accessible and are almost immediately infectious. I also learned from Tom's post that Jorge Ben changed his official name to Jorge Ben Jor, to avoid confusion with George Benson, but since my blog isn't official, I'm sticking with Jorge Ben, which is the name that appears on his classic albums.  

While some of Tom's faithful readers gave him a hard time for his post about João Lucas & Marcelo's hit "Eu Quero Tchu, Eu Quero Thca," he has more than redeemed himself with his recent music posts. And he did warn people not to listen to the song if they didn't want to get the tune stuck in their heads. I've already admitted in an earlier post that I like some sertanejo universitario songs because of their high energy and repetitive lyrics, and this one certain fits the bill on both counts. It's on my playlist for the gym.

Vanessa da Mata's CD "Bicicletas, Bolos e Outras Alegrias" was recommended as one of the top 10 Lusophone albums of 2010 by the author of "Caipirinha Lounge," a fantastic blog that focuses on music sung in Portuguese, Brazilian and otherwise. I listened to the tracks that he has on his site, but ended up buying her earlier album "Sim."  She reminds me of a slightly softer version of Marisa Monte, which I realize may not be a very helpful description, but if you hear her, you'll probably know what I mean….or maybe you'll be even more confused by my comparison.  In any case, listen to her if you haven't already.  

Meanwhile, my Amazon recommendations kept suggesting that I'd like "Wave" by Antonio Carlos Jobim, probably due to the amount of Brazilian music I've been buying lately.  So I finally gave in and ordered the CD, a 1967 classic bossa nova instrumental album with orchestral backing. It's perfect for lazy afternoons or late night listening when you just want music, with no lyrics to distract you. OK, a few tracks might sound almost like elevator music, but I guess that just shows that sometimes even the people who choose elevator music do the right thing. 

I've written about the film "Cidade de Deus" in an earlier post. Several of the songs in that film caught my attention right away, but I only bought Hyldon's 'Na Rua, Na Chuva, Na Fazenda" at the time.  Since then, my musical tastes have expanded, and in sampling the disc, I realized that I liked most of the songs.  Tracks deserving special mention are Raul Seixas' "Metamorfose Ambulante",  Cartola's "Preciso Me Encontrar," Tim Maia's "No Caminho do Bem," and Wilson Simonal's "Nem Vem Que Não Tem." 

"Estadão's" recent poll asking "Qual o melhor disco brasileiro de todos os tempos?" includes 30 albums from 1959 up through 2003.  In the Facebook post announcing the poll, many of the people who wrote comments chose Milton Nascimento and Lô Borges' "Clube Da Esquina" as their favorite. It gets very positive reviews on Amazon, too, with people describing it as a "masterpiece," "important," and "life changing."  Well, that was enough to get me interested in this album which I had never heard of before, let alone heard.  After listening to it a couple of times, I can see why so many people love it.  Released in 1972, it has a definite Beatles influence, but it's totally Brazilian and totally addictive.

And now Tom from "Eat Rio" has a new music post up, this time about another album that is also on "Estadão's" list:  "Acabou Chorare" by Novos Baianos.  There always seems to be something new to discover when it comes to Brazilian music!