Plumbing the Depths of Black Rio

It's been a month and a half since I've arrived in San Francisco and it's slow going getting all of my ducks in order. I've moved into a great apartment and even unpacked all of my vinyl (not that I can find anything as its mostly unsorted and disorganized), but AT&T is giving us the royal run-around so I'm still not connected to internet at home. This means if I am to post to SS I have to do this on the sly from work, which is what I am doing now. This might explain the infrequent posts. Hopefully, next week I'll be back up to speed.

I was hoping to do a Azymuth post in honor of their first show in over 20 years that they will be doing in LA this weekend (yes, I'm going). However, this post will likely only appear after the show.

What we do have today is a little grab-bag of lesser known Black Rio stuff. The photo up top is a rare piece I got courtesy of DJ Sean Marquand who got it from members of Banda Uniao Black. Before they renamed themselves, they gigged around Rio and other Black hot spots in Brazil as "Banda de Soul Music Africa Brazil."

The songs we have today are courtesy of DJ Ezinho, a SF friend of mine whom I met while trying to make some extra cash by selling records on eBay while I was down in Brazil. He's one of the few cats I know whose knowledge of and appetite for Brazilian music continues to amaze me. So, he came by the new place the other night with some new treats and I managed to rip these two singles from his collection over beers and beats.

Estrela d'Alva - Socrates
If I hadn't included the artist's name I doubt any of you would have thought this was by anyone other than the late, great Tim Maia (at least that was my first guess upon hearing this). Sure enough, Socrates looks like Tim, sounds like Tim and recorded in a nearly identical style as Tim. This is actually the b-side and while the a-side is a bit more up-tempo, the hook on this one and the female back-up vocals gave it a little extra sumfin' to get it posted here. Even though there is no date on this one, Ezinho and I agree it must have come out around 1973 as the sound is a dead ringer for a knock-off of Tim Maia's sound (lazy, acoustic samba soul) from his 4th solo album from the same year.

Súplica Cearense - Tony Bizarro
Disclaimer: the photo to the left is NOT the actual picture sleeve for this single, but I like having an image accompanying the songs and this is the best one I could find. Also, without a date, Ezinho pegs this one as late 70s and I'm gonna agree. Check out the killer rhythm track on this one and that great intro.

The following video is from an early Brazilian Hip-Hop hit that has a sort-of "back in the day" vibe about the Black Rio scene with a lot of references to DJs, artists and the scene back in the late 70s and early 80s. I found this while looking for info on Tony Bizarro who's referenced in the lyrics.

Thaide & DJ Hum - Que Tempo Bom