Digging in Brazil, Part 3: MPB Unplugged

This is one of the more interesting records I picked up on this last trip. I've never seen it before and never heard of it either. It's the kind of record that only someone really geeky like me could enjoy as it includes some rare performances by some of my favorite artists arguably from one of the greatest years for Musica Popular Brasileiro (MPB) . . . 1972. This is one of those annual recap records documenting the biggest news stories in short segments, including a small bit on Caetano and Gil returning from exile, but musically that's the only good part on disc 1. Thankfully disc 2 is chock full of interviews with famous musicians with something like 20 different artists ranging from bossa nova legends Tom Jobim, Johnny Alf and Carlo Lyra to MPB stars Milton Nascimento, Gal Costa and Edu Lobo.


Not only are there interviews, but in many cases the interviewer asks the artist to perform something live in the studio, sometimes accompanied by guitar or maybe just a matchbox for percussion. I've picked my favorites from these interviews for my nerdiest readers.



Erasmo Carlos - Quem Mandou Levar (Samba da Preguiça)
This one is the real treasure in my opinion. It doesn't get much better than Erasmo accompanying himself on guitar in the prime of his career. I don't think he ever recorded this song elsewhere. Anyone know if anyone else ever recorded this songs and if so, what's the actual title?

Paulinho da Costa - Gaurdei Minha Viola
Here we have a Paulinho da Viola classic with his sweet as honey voice and accompanied only by some matchbox percussion. This is the pure essence of Paulinho da Viola.

Gal Costa - Untitled Song
Gal sound drunk and/or high in the interview section, but this little song is sweet.








Caetano Veloso - Tropicália (Live)
This is the one interesting musical section from the news of 1972 from Disc 1. I like his 1972 reinterpretation of Tropicalia.

Luiz Gonzaga - Accordeon Solo
Man, can Luiz wail on accordeon. I wish somebody who makes beats would cut this up and make something cool out of it. Holler if you want a wav file and I'll hook you up.







Rosinha da Valença - De Conversa Em Conversa
Maybe Rosinha recorded this lovely number on one of her albums, but I recognize this tune from João Gilberto's 1969 album recorded in Mexico. Nice stuff.











Milton Nascimento - Untitled Song
I was marginally dissappointed with this one just because I would think that Milton in 1972 would be 24/7 mind-blowing. I think this is a version of another song he does, but can't place it. Little help people?








Edu Lobo - Candeias
Wow. Really digging this one. I guess Edu wrote it, but I know it from the lovely Gal & Caetano album "Domingo".

Funny Ha Ha or Funny La La?

Humor is one of the most difficult things to master in a foreign language. Barring physical humor (dad getting hit in the nuts with a nerf baseball bat) which is pretty universal, figuring out the nuances of a foreign sense of humor is the sign of true mastery of a language and its culture. I think we also have a bias for our native culture's humor as we learn it so early, so getting under the skin of another kind of humor can be extremely difficult. Everyone can remember telling (or parents reminding us) of our first attempts at humor. My first joke that I continuously repeated was:

Q: What's the difference between a piano and a fish?
A: You can tune a piano, but you can't tunafish!

Musical comedy is also a fairly universal medium from Bill Cosby to Weird Al Jankovic and Brazil, with its vast catalog of recorded music, is no exception. Sure, I was a Weird Al fan as an adolescent, but most musical comedy is not so durable, because frankly the music is just not that great and after awhile you get to know all of the jokes by heart and then what is there to enjoy? That's why Baiano & Os Novos Caetanos are so great, because 1) I barely understand any of the jokes, and 2) the music is great, so I can listen to these albums for the musical enjoyment alone.

What I've managed to glean from friends and websites is that Baiano & Os Novos Caetanos are a parody band based on several popular Brazilian acts. Clearly the Tropicalists (namely Caetano Veloso) and their second-generation offspring Os Novos Baianos are the primary targets. I also happen to think that the extremely popular duo of Toquinho & Vinicius are prime targets too as one of the characters silently strums a guitar, while the other pontificates with an assumed gravitas and baritone voice.

Evidently they were very funny in their day. As I try to make out the lyrics I can detect some jabs at Brazilian hippydom in the forms of parodies on bleeding heart ecological sermons and white Brazilians faking the Soul Brasiliero Funk.

The two comedians that came up with the musical skit (think about how the Blues Brothes emerged from Saturday Night Live skits based on the characters played by Dan Akroyd and John Belushi) are Arnaud Rodrigues and Chico Anisio and the skit originated from Chico's popular comedy program "Chico City". This skit was one of many skits (again like Blues Brothers on SNL), but as far as I know it was the only one to spin-off into a popular musical entity. Both actors/comedians/musicians have a long history and each of them have their own side projects on record and I presume television. From what I've heard these guys were pretty well known when their first album came out and they must have done pretty well as there are no fewer than five Baiano & Os Novos Caetanos albums. I've only really listened to these first two which both came out on Durval Ferreira's CID label in 1974 and 1975. As usual with CID releases, the musicians are top-tier including Jose Roberto Bertrami (Azymuth), Orlandivo (who co-wrote some songs) and of course Mr. Ferreira himself. Like I said earlier, what makes these records great are the songs. They're catchy and also really diverse in style. As you can hear from the selections these guys take on Funk, Forró and even Salsa between these four exemplary cuts.

Baiano & Os Novos Caetanos - Nega
This will one day be the start off track for a killer Brazilian mix that currently resides in my head.
Baiano & Os Novos Caetanos - Vo Bate Pa Tu
This is by far their biggest hit and if I get the slang right is translated as "I'm gonna beat you" . . . but please correct me if I'm wrong (I'm horrible with prepositions). UPDATE: a real, live Brazilian tuned in to comment and give a more accurate translation, which sure enough required some specific slang. Evidently, these lyrics refer to cocaine and the title basically says "I'm gonna cut a line (of cocaine) for you" - see Ulysses' comment for details.

Baiano & Os Novos Caetanos - Forró
A nice forro tune.

Baiano & Os Novos Caetanos - Yo No Quiero Saber
An interesting Salsa-inspired track. This sounds really familiar . . . does anyone out there know if this is a cover of something else?

Wha' Happened? The WFMU Record Fair and the Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Money

If you are reading this blog entry then undoubtedly you personally know a "record nerd." Sometimes I try to distance myself from this demographic by turning a blind-eye to a flea market or I might even buy a CD or cassette tape (for the car), but who am I trying to kid, I'm a card-carrying "record nerd" myself. This past weekend I was not alone.
What used to be a biannual event now just happens once a year in early November when dozens, if not hundreds, of record dealers descend upon a large room in Chelsea to hawk their wares. Dudes (and I do mean dudes - the male:female ratio is approximately the inverse of any given lingerie store) prowl the aisles with a fierceness in their eyes and bulging wallets in their pockets all hoping to snag that record they've been looking for FOREVER before some other chump does. But to be a girl here would be dangerous, as every record nerd is looking for a record nerd-ette and your mere presence at the fair implies that you tolerate record nerds and might even be one yourself.

I nearly had to elbow this kid in the tie, because he was standing between me and a mono pressing of Moacir Santos' "Coisas":
What was exciting for this record nerd is that WFMU is just about the only place in the US (aside from Joel's great record store in the East Village, Tropicalia in Furs) where you can find some great Brazilian records for sale. Joel was there of course, but so was Wolmar and Danilo and his friend Sergio from Sao Paulo. Wolmar's been coming for a few years now, but Danilo & Sergio came up for the first time this year. I managed to spend all of my money in my wallet and then go out to the ATM to pull out the max just to bring home a handful of Brazilian platters. I went in telling myself that I was limited to the 50 bones in the wallet, but as soon as I saw some of these records that I had been drooling over on the internet and in my vivid vinyl imagination, I turned into a mad man. This condition can be referred to as recordnerditis.

The only way to treat this illness is to: (a) not buy anymore records for awhile (until recordnerditis re-emerges), and (b) to share your finds with friends and loved ones, or in this case, I'll make an exception and post some highlights here. Here is a song apiece from each of the albums I picked up:

I've just switched from divshare to hipcast for hosting my songs, so let me know what you think in the comments section.

Dominguinhos - "Oi, La Vou Eu" 1977
Here's a funky little forro tune with a killer bass line.


Download: Não Tem Jeito Que Dê Jeito

Banda Black Rio - "Gafiera Universal" 1978
Here's one of my favorite songs from this legendary band of the Black Rio scene. This one is more Disco than Samba, but I don't mind.


Download: Expresso Madureira - Banda Black Rio

Gilberto Gil - "Gilberto Gil" 1971
This is the only classic Gil album I didn't have and it's a great one, very spare, funky in Gil's special acoustic way and lots of the songs are in English too. He recorded this one while in exile in London. This song is an early collaboration between Gil and another favorite of mine, Jorge Mautner.


Download: Crazy Pop-Rock

Marku Ribas - "Mente & Coracao" 1980
This was the final Marku album I needed to finish my collection and it features some contributions from the man, Joao Donato. Here's a nice samba mixed with forro:



Download: Olha Brecha

Joao Bosco - "Galos de Briga" 1976
This one is for a friend, John Bosco aka "Bosco" and shows how his Brazilian name sake can get down with some psychedlic samba action . . .


Download: O Ronco da Cuica

Various Artists - "Abertura" 1975
Burnier & Cartier have to be my favorite Brazilian Law Firm ever! Hah, sounds like a couple of lawyers, huh? These guys have the most incredible harmonies and that suingue! That's "swing" in portuguese. This is an exclusive track of theirs from this excellent compilation.


Download: Ficaram Nus

Os Mutantes - "Jardim Electrico" 1971
This is possibly my favorite Mutantes song and it sadly was not featured on the Luaka Bop compilation of a couple of years ago. They played this at the show I saw over the summer. Check out the interview I did with Sergio Dias.


Download: Top Top - Os Mutantes