O que Voçê Quer Saber de Verdade ("What You Really Want to Know")

A correct answer to a trivia question on Brazil Club USA's Facebook page led to a free copy of the new CD by international star Marisa Monte this week.  I eventually would have gotten around to giving this album a listen -- it's her first in six years -- but a hearty obrigado to Brazil Club for making it happen sooner.  This is a lush development of a sound she began cultivating with collaborators Arnaldo Antunes and Carlinhos Brown on their 2002 Tribalistas CD, though it's evolved quite a bit in the interim, and includes material that's much more diverse musically.  There's the exuberance of the title track, echoes of Lennon-McCartney in "Depois", covers of tunes by MPB artists such as Andre Carvalho and Jorge Ben Jor, and a large number of originals created with Antunes and Brown that evoke that dreamy, texturally rich sound and the quiet -- almost restrained -- joy that I associate with Marisa Monte.

Released at the same time as "What You Really Want to Know" was a video for "Ainda Bem", an original tune from the album written with Antunes.  In a cool stroke of genius, Marisa Monte chose Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champion Anderson Silva as her dance partner for the video.  So when we see it, we're watching a warrior display sensitivity, tenderness, and direction.  I have not seen a more beautiful rendition of the interplay between masculine and feminine in a very long time.



A few years ago, in an interview, Marisa Monte, in response to complaints that she disliked answering questions about her personal life, said something like, "There's not much to know -- I'm just a regular person."  Perhaps the album title's lyrics are a kind of sideways answer to curious fans -- an exhortation to pay attention to our own lives, and find freedom there -- or perhaps not.  Either way, I found the Portuguese beautiful.  My on-the-fly translation, even if it loses something, might come close:

Go with no direction

Go to be free

Sadness can't resist

Let your hair loose to the wind

Don't look back

Listen to the little noise that time makes

in your chest

Make your pain dance.

Be sure to listen

to this movement that brings peace

every leaf that falls

every cloud that passes

Hear the earth breathe

through the windows and doors of the houses

Be sure to listen

What you really want to know.

Mauricio Pessoa

A commitment to honoring the classic traditions of Brazilian music is what inspires the work of Mauricio Pessoa.  His original tunes aim for a fresh voice and a global direction for the Brazilian repertoire, and combine elements of bossa, choro, samba, and MPB. His music can be found here:
http://www.myspace.com/mauriciopessoamusic/music

and here:

http://soundcloud.com/mauriciopessoa

If his intention is to create new music that has the swing and feel of music that's haunted you all your life - even if you've never been to Brazil - he's pretty much succeeded.  His new CD Habitat gets the old styles exactly right. Last night he played selections from it atop the Standard Hotel to a full house, and most would agree it was a magical evening. With the Manhattan skyline in the background, a rooftop bar, a voice like Chico Barque's, and solid backing from sidemen Alexandre Prol (guitar) and Alex Hernandez (bass), it was, as probably intended, a little trip to Rio via the East Village.

Here's the album, available for download on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_13/182-7884856-0465139?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=mauricio+pessoa&sprefix=Mauricio+Pess%2Caps%2C178

Beco Dranoff

While I love Brazil, and had a great time late last year experiencing the people and music of Rio de Janeiro, the place to be this week for Brazilian music is New York.  I've been hustling all week to get in all my intended writing about Summerfest without neglecting my day job and other responsibilities before today's show actually occurs, and it's been a challenge.  Beco Dranoff is last but definintely not least on my list.  He's the DJ today at Summerstage, but he is in fact, along with Nublu Records, co-curating the entire Summerfest series this year, and he's a primary influence behind many of the artists I've already written about.  He's produced artists such as Zuco 103, Bossacucanova, Bebel Gilberto, and lots of other electronic music coming out of Brazil; he's also collaborated with the elder Gilberto.  His online radio show, Sonoridade, this month focused entirely on musicians appearing in New York this week, and many of his selections just happen to be some of my favorite tracks from these artists.  If you're still on the fence about whether to come to Central Park today, check out his online radio show!

Criolo

Kleber Cavalcante Gomes, known to the world as Criolo, will be performing tomorrow in Central Park as part of Brasil Summerfest.  He's part of a stellar lineup of musicians that I can't stop writing about.  According to the wikipedia entry about him, he's from a São Paolo favela, the child of parents who originally arrived from a Northeast Brazilian state.  They say São Paolo is the Brazilian city most like New York, and of all the Brazilian rappers I've heard, Criolo would probably be the most urban and familiar to a New York audience.  That might be because he's been at this a long time:  he's been doing rap since 1989, and as Woody Allen once said, 80% of success is just showing up -- doing shows, recording, and generally putting yourself out there.  But Criolo was relatively unknown until around the year 2000, when his Brazilian show "Rinha dos MCs" (a kind of "battle of the bands" for Brazilian rap singers) became a big hit.  Hopefully this New York appearance will put him on the map internationally.

Now at age 36, although he fuses different styles, he's long since found his voice and his own sound that runs through everything he does.  His songs are all a bit different but have his own unique stamp, as is the case with many mature artists.  Bogotá is frenetic and funky, conjuring images of inner-city life, while Freguês da Meia Noite has echoes of Portuguese fado and Brazilian brega. 

Like most Brazilian musicians, Criolo has a strong sense of the place he's from which grounds his music and makes him trustable as a voice, even if you don't completely get the Portuguese.  His song Não Existe Amor Em SP ("There is no love in São Paolo"), compares his city to a bouquet of dead flowers, mixing anger, sadness, and a deep love for what he wants for his hometown:

Bebel Gilberto Comes to Summerstage

Bebel Gilberto, daughter of the great João Gilberto and a figure who played a major part in bringing bossa nova before a new audience, will be taking the Central Park stage Saturday, as a headliner of the Brasil Summerfest shows.  Gilberto has been recording and performing since 1986, but she really hit her stride in 2000, with the release of her CD Tanto Tempo.  That album used electronics to help bring a new sound to an old form, and together with the music of artists like Marcos Valle, Bossacucanova, and Paula Morelenbaum, led to the creation of the style that many call "Brazilian lounge".  Gilberto has since returned to a more organic sound, but her work did a lot to expose younger listeners to bossa and prevent it from turning into "vintage" music.  Since "Tanto Tempo", she's been performing often, and recording a new CD about every two years.

Because she's an international star and tours often, not everyone realizes that Bebel Gilberto will be coming home on Saturday.  She was born right here in New York City, and continues to divide her time between New York and Brazil.  I'm excited to be seeing her live for the first time.  If you're in town, come by.  The weather is supposed to be fabulous, and the show is free.

Tribute to Luiz Gonzaga

Lincoln Center's Midsummer Night Swing closes this weekend, and the second-to-last show featured a lineup of forró musicians.  Forró is both country music from Northeast Brazil, and the particular form of partner dance that goes along with it.  It's been popular in that part of the country, in one form or another, since the Portuguese settled there, but it remained relatively obscure outside the Northeast states until Luiz Gonzaga came along.  Gonzaga brought the music, first to Rio de Janeiro, and later the rest of the country via popular MPB artists who covered many of his tunes.  Last night was a tribute to this man and his music, at a time when forró is being spread in a much bigger way, throughout North America and the world.  Quarteto Olinda and Maciel Melo, Biliu de Campina, and Walmir Silva played four short sets and, if you didn't know what forró is by the start of the dance lesson, you definitely knew by the end of the night. 

Quarteto Olinda at Midsummer Night Swing

A popular story is that forró got its name from the English phrase "for all".  In the early part of the last century, when the British were building roads throughout Northeast Brazil, the workers held weekend parties to which people of all races and classes were invited.  This was considered highly unusual at the time, and the phrase "it's for all" got repeated by Africans, native people, and Portuguese speakers, until "for all" somehow became forró.  The story, whether it's true or not, shows the true democratic spirit of this dance, and last night was a perfect example.  It was old and young, single, married, Brazilian and American, black, white, Asian, short, tall, those who can dance and those (like me) who cannot.  Two bands played two sets each, and I must say that, even though this music never enthralled me the way other forms of Brazilian music have, it was beautiful to experience the musicians' dedication to this style, and to see so many New Yorkers get their first taste of Northeast Brazil.  I also saw a very cool sight, a scene which I'm told is becoming a bit more frequent at Midsummer Night Swing:  a woman in a wheelchair being twirled around by a young man.  I snapped a picture, but they were gone before I could ask for permission to publish it.

In addition to Quarteto Olinda, one member of last night's lineup about whom I'm very curious is Maciel Melo.  His website is in Portuguese and so it's going to take me awhile to absorb all the info, but he is another fabulous player from the Northeast who may be about to hit the international circuit in a big way.  One of his videos really pulls on my heartstrings and fires my imagination:

You'll be reading more in the near future about this music in general, and these musicians in particular, as well as Walmir Silva and Biliu de Campina.  Stay tuned.

Happy Birthday, João Bosco

Singer-songwriter João Bosco, an icon of Brazilian Popular Music (MPB) who has enthralled fans in Brazil and around the world for many decades now, turns 65 today.  He's best known for a flamboyant singing style and unique right-hand patterns on the guitar, but these things don't begin to encompass his whole range of feeling. He can be joyful and expansive, meditative & thoughtful, or brooding. These videos will give you an idea of Joao's strengths as a composer, singer, and guitarist. Happy birthday, Joao! . 

Here There And Everywhere (Lennon-McCartney)

My own music project took me away from this blog for a couple of days.  I'm not a pro guitarist, but I've studied with a couple of them, and love to play; but since I have a day job, even small projects have a pretty lengthy turnaround time.  This is a guitar arrangement I've been working on for months, and finally got around to recording and putting down in written form.  I was inspired by a Brazilian-Japanese singer named Lisa Ono, who sings a version of "Here, There, and Everywhere" that I just love.  My chord melody is very simple and doesn't require a lot of virtuosity, but I was going for a fresh take on an old tune without getting too ambitious.  I played it last week at the monthly members' meeting of the New York City Classical Guitar Society, where it was pretty well received.  Here it is:

Here There Everywhere (Lennon-McCartney)

If you haven't heard of Lisa Ono, here she is.  I could not find her rendition of "Here, There, and Everywhere" on YouTube, so had to settle for her rendition of another Beatles' classic.

Flávio Renegado

Rap and hip-hop, funk, samba, reggae, and sometimes even Cuban music come together in the music of Flávio Renegado.  I hadn't heard of him prior to the announcement of the Brasil Summerfest lineup, but he is an amazing, multi-faceted musician and community organizer whose career is accelerating rapidly.  According to his press release, he got his start putting together a rap group that later morphed into a non-governmental organization (NGO) of which he is still director.  I hope someday to hear the whole story of this organization's evolution.  Meanwhile, Flávio is making an original blend of exotic, urban, soul-stirring music that defies categorization, and that New Yorkers will totally appreciate.  Sometimes it's rap, sometimes soul or funk, sometimes there are hints of samba or even choro, but his style is always unmistakably his own.  He raps a lot and uses funky beats, but his music is not to be confused with carioca funk.  Production values are high, he sings as much as he raps, and anyway he's from Belo Horizonte.  It's OK if you don't understand the rapping in Portuguese -- think of his voice as another instrument, stirring your feelings just like a trumpet or a clarinet.

His Facebook page has links to news, free downloads, and SoundCloud files, but doesn't come up in a cold search -- visit it here or via his main site.  You can also stream his new album, "My Tribe is the World" on the main site.

Flávio Renegado will be coming to Central Park on July 21.  Here he is peforming the title track from "Do Oiapoque a Nova York" (from Oiapoque to New York).  This was his first album released under the name "Renegado". 

Quarteto Olinda

The Brasil Summerfest schedule is up.  All items are in the Google calendar (see the links at right) and, just in case there's any doubt, there's way too much to see and hear, even if you could be in two places at once. 

I am curious about Quarteto Olinda.  Forró, or country music from Northeast Brazil, has captured the imaginations of a small but growing group of New Yorkers.  I must confess it has not, until now, held a strong fascination for me.  But when I heard this band features a rabeca -- a Brazilian fiddle -- I was immediately curious.  It's intriguing to me not only because this is another instrument and tradition I'd never heard of, but because the rabeca is connected, both linguistically and instrumentally, with the rebec, a medieval bowed, stringed instrument that was used in popular dances of the Middle Ages, which in my old music textbooks was condesendingly described as an "ancestor" of the violin.  Too bad they failed to mention the many living traditions containing various permutations of this instrument that still exist, -- not just in Brazil, but really anywhere in the world where European folk traditions were spread.  So when you hear this fiddler play, you'll be experiencing a tradition that goes back hundreds of years, probably before written music even existed. 

     

I'll be Calling for Maria

With all its broken promises, heartache, and failing economy, the United States is still a great country.  It's become fashionable these days for Americans to bash their own homeland, but I won't do that.  It's not only disrespectful to ourselves, it's incongruent with the fact that many people from other parts of the world still want to live here.  Say what you will, the U.S. is the easiest and safest place to reinvent yourself, period.

Anyway.  This post is not about immigration, but about one particular immigrant, a wonderful musician from Belo Horizonte, Brazil who was named a "Chicagoan of the year" by the Chicago Tribune and "Person of the Year" by Brazil Club in 2010.  Paulinho Garcia started out in life on a path to becoming an electrical engineer, but he is a fantastic player and singer who has very quietly gained a devoted following over the years -- first in the Chicago area, and now everywhere.  I first heard his music a couple of years ago on DJ Cube's bossa nova station on Sky.fm, and just loved his mature, mellow voice and the beauty and simplicity of his original compositions.  His album of original songs, My Very Life, got a favorable review here.  Here he is doing "I'll be Calling for Maria", an ode to the U.S. and I think a very fitting way to celebrate July 4th.  Happy Independence Day!