For years, the folks at Rough Guides have excelled at publishing travel guides – even providing bookings and travel assistance near and far, so it’s no surprise that when their editors turned to the music of Brazil, the results would be well, noteworthy.
This album packs as many of these as is possible into an hour’s worth of surprises. And while the world is quite comfortable with Bossa Nova, Brazilian jazz and Samba, there are a multitude of rhythms and styles which are equally compelling no less distinctive.
Brazil’s musical territory is as vast as the country itself – and this isn’t lip service: if the various musical styles were charted as points on a map, the image would not look that much different than the country does in showing the cities were the music is created.
There’s the dance floor, techno buzz of São Paulo from Mylene’s ‘48 Horas’, legendary reedman Paulo Moura playing the People’s Samba from the hills above old Rio and a traditional northeastern Tombo to shake the red clay dust off your boots. Jazz? How about a tropical timeout with Orquestra Popular de Câmara, fresh off their first US concert tour? Forro? For sure, with O Karaiva’s accordion action.
Here, rising vocal stars like Marcos Sacramento and Jussara Silveira share track time with some of Brazil’s great stars of MPB – Chico Buarque, João Bosco and next-gen giants Chico Cesar and Carlinhos Brown – each with a representative style to add to the richness of Brazilian song. And with a typically Brazilian nod, American-born Bebel Gilberto teams up with the New York-based group Forro In The Dark for a classic reinvention of the sound that’ll have you pushing the replay button again and again.
The joy of discovery is built on moments like these. The excitement of exploring music that’s perhaps a bit outside your comfort zone brings the reward of curiosity fulfilled.
Who was it who wrote, “To enjoy life, take big bites?” It’s true for music, too.
