Black Brazil Soundz

In 1976 Banda Black Rio emerged as the main movers and shakers on the Brazilian soul-funk scene and a great inspiration behind the Black Power movement. The group recorded three now legendary albums, Maria Fumaça (1977), Gafiera Universal (1978), and Saci Pererê (1980), and led black cariocas to proudly grow afros and funk it up at bailes, outdoor dance parties held in the suburbios of Rio that regularly drew up to 10,000 people. Drawing inspiration from the likes of James Brown and Earth, Wind & Fire, BBR cultivated a warm, humid fusion with samba, focusing heavily on the instrumental side, fine-tuning the suingue or balanço, with vocals playing second fiddle. The death of band leader Oberdan Magalhães in 1984 effectively terminated the band, and Brazil suffered a temporary case of amnesia over the Black RIo movement.

Suddenly, out of the blue, around 1996, some DJs in London discovered BBR, and tracks like “Maria Fumaça” went into high rotation. BBR’s jazzy, earthy sound--bright but not overstated--became a hot topic among the retro sounds invading the dance scene. The overseas attention was a wake-up call back home, and finally in 2001 William Magalhaes, keyboard player and son of Oberdan, got BBR back together... in a sense. The new BBR has only Lucio Trombone of the original members, but the addition of the great Cassiano on vocals and arrangements takes the group deep into exciting new territory. The album Movimento was released in Brazil in 2001 only to overwhelmingly positive reviews.

William and co. meticulously studied the original BBR sound, (which was difficult, with no written scores), and once they could emulate it, they allowed themselves to refashion it. An appropriately updated sound materialized, with pop sensibility and all the trappings of technology. Now for 2003, Mr. Bongo Records cements its partnership with the innovative Brazilian label Regata to offer Rebirth. For the most part the same formula and tracks as Movimento, but boasting a couple of choice remixes. “Mistérios da Raça” a great track written by Luiz Melodia, just gets even more danceable in the reworking by Toni Economides. Other funky monsters include “Sexta Feira Carioca,” the samba “Magia do Prazer,” and loads more great groovers--brass-heavy jazz meets solid soul vocals and bouncing bassline funk, hard drums, heavy riffing, and beyond -- all tied up together for a sound that never lets up!

Mr. Bongo has also just come out with Diva Paulista, the celebrated debut album from Brazilian soul singer Paula Lima (with a new name--in Brazil it was called É Isso Aí), which should be good news for those readers who emailed us after our review of that album, unable to get a hold of it.

Since everything he does brings choruses of ooooh and aaahs, Caetano Veloso packed a double whammy, releasing a very special album, Live in Bahia (Nonesuch) alongside his autobiography Tropical Truth. The album, was recorded at Salvador’s outdoor Concha Acustica theater, with banda extrordinaire (special emphasis on strings and Afro-Brazilian percussion) presided over by friend and longtime colleague Jaques Morelenbaum, who has been a part of most everything Caetano has done in the past decade. The 2-disc set is a colorful panorama of Caetano’s obra, from northeastern xaxado to bossa-nova to experimental rock and spoken word. With the starting point in (his slightly patronizing view of) Brazil’s racial legacy, exemplified in the tracks “13 de Maio,” “Zumbi,” and “Haiti,” Caetano moves through romanticism, psychedelia and some of his most loved songs like “Nosso Estranho Amor” and “Cobra Coral.” Disc 2 has more classic favorites including faithful interpretations of “Trem das Cores,” “Menino do Rio,” and of course “Tropicalia.” The live element is beautiful; it is easy to hear how in touch he is with the crowd, and the tracks like “Araçá Azul” where he picks up the guitar sparkle with intimacy.

With Rio as his home for decades, Caetano plays a role for underpriveleged youth through his participation in the Grupo Cultural Afro-Reggae. The nonprofit organization teaches favela kids music, dance and capoeira, runs a production company, tours the world, and is an everpresent (and loud!) political voice for the disadvantaged of Rio. If you haven’t already, buy a copy of Nova Cara (Universal-2001); the royalties are definitely going to a great cause. The cd showcases the heavy grooves and streetwise lyrics of the kids who have lived through everything, and the list of celebrity participants is long and meaningful. One of the best loved projects of last year, in which Caetano prominently featured, is Conexoes Urbanas, a series of free shows bringing famous artists to poor communities. In the last installment of 2002, an adoring crowd in Jardim America, just like the one in Salvador or the one in California or the one in France... connected with that warm, visceral voice and magnanimous personality of Caetano.

The Premio Hutus is an awards ceremony devoted to Brazilian hip-hop. The event which has been going for three years, gets bigger and better every year. The paulistas dominated again, with Racionais MCs and their dj/producer KL Jay taking five awards. Afro-Reggae collaborator MV Bill won best video for the striking cinematography on “So Deus Pode Me Julgar.”

The nordeste has always been a fount of creativity. The most recent exciting installment in northeastern musical concoction is DJ Dolores and band Santa Massa. Dolores (also known as Helder Aragão) manages to kick down the big beats, but keep an incredibly rootsy, folkloric sound on debut album Contraditório (Sterns). Obviously inspired by house, breaks and drum ‘n bass, they do not, however, take the easy road of slapping a few cultural references onto a standard chunky bassline. The hardest basslines here are straight up coco and maracatu (which 2-step aficionados worldwide have yet to discover), real drums, thanks to some of the members of Naçao Zumbi and gobs of healthy experimentation. Half of the record sounds like it was recorded in a backyard somewhere, with ambient animal, human and nature sounds drifting in and out of the listener’s consciousness. The title track is the meanest, an unrelenting bruiser, suspended by interludes of her voice and the sound of an answering machine; we haven’t been able to get it off the platter for weeks!

With the slightly dodgy name of Nouvelle Cuisine, a group of extremely talented Brazilian jazz musicians recorded and gigged standards of the 1930s-’50s, for a healthy following of upper-middle class paulistas. Toward the end of the ‘90s they began doing more Brazilian material, finally in 2000 dropping the culinary reference and recording the eclectic Free Bossa under the name Nouvelle. Just re-released by Sterns, the album contains many compositions of their own, among the (mostly) impeccably selected covers. “Samba Primitivo” opens the album, an intriguing, funky original number with some great hooks. Singer Estela Cassilatti makes her smooth, languid voice felt right away in the second number, the well known public domain classic “Sereia.” Dorival Caymmi’s “Quem vem pra beira do mar” is bouncy and absolutely fabulous here (thanks once again to Estela), and Zé do Norte’s classic “Mulher Rendeira” is a fitting adeus. If steps into Gershwin territory and an unremarkable “Dock of the Bay” can be ignored, we have an absolutely delightful pocketful of bossa that listens as easy as one of those bossa-lounge compilations, but with a serious underpinning musical quality.

Speaking of which, a few interesting compilations have come down the pipes of late, the best of which goes under the name Brazil All Stars, a collection of young and old jazz players. Rio Strut (Milestone) is a jazzy bossa-nova comp featuring some little know jewels like “Macumba Chant” by Tiago de Mello alongside standards like Joao Donato’s “A Ra.” Magic! For a nondemanding but totally pleasurable listening experience, try Chill Brazil (WEA Intl), which features new remixes and original versions of great Brazilian songs on and off the beaten path. And for those complex, cerebral moments, the Colors of Latin Jazz--Samba comp from Concord Jazz puts every possible mood together into 11 tracks. Standouts include “Samba do Cantor” from Flora and Airto and Tania Maria’s “Dear Dee Vee.”