Customer Reviews

Brazil - Roots - Samba

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been enjoying 'a musica Brasileira' since 1971. This CD is one of the best I have ever heard and is one of my favorites of the >100 Brazilian CDs in my collection. A problem with much popular vocal music in the United States is that the industry has selected for a very narrow range of what it considers to be commercially viable. Someone with a voice like Chico Buarque or Tom Ze would not be considered viable here. And what a pity to get so much stuff like Brittany Spears. Anyway, the songs on this CD are great. This is one of those CDs that I have never tired of. I believe all these songs and more are also found on the Monarch import called A Velha Guarda da Portela. For me, this is a comfort CD. One of those you put on just because it makes you feel good.

Contrary to the review by "Music Fan" of North America, this IS real samba, authentic as the life of Brazilian black people and habitants of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Moreira and Sargento are two of the greatest masters of samba. They are not professional singers, but influential composers and artists. If you want to get experienced in this kind of art, don't hesitate to buy it. If you want an easier introduction, try the David Byrne compilation. It's the "best" through his eyes, or ears, but Brazilian music is much more than that.

I agree with the majority of reviews here. This is a super samba CD, it's the real stuff. But the reason "A music fan from North America" didn't like it is because the guys on the record maybe don't have the most gorgeous voices in the world--they just have perfect voices for what they do. This is real, authentic street-side samba. Their voices are a bit rough sometimes, but they are fantastic nonetheless.

Hard to stop playing this CD. Gorgeous, intricate melodies, world class but unassuming musicianship, humor and passion.

This compilation presents another side of Samba that isn't presented on David Byrne's compilation "O Samba." It's acoustic and very underproduced, almost ad hoc. This is very thing for those seeking the real, gritty, uncorrupted samba of the favelas.

Ironic that the North American music fan mentions Beth Carvalho as THE person to listen to in samba - if he'd paid more attention, he'd notice she sings on this album, and even contributes a lead on the final song!

As she sings, "Samba suffers, but it doesn't die" - suffers at the hands of ignorant reviewers, for one thing! Carvalho's respect for the true legends and masters of her chosen musical form is well-known. I am sure she would disapprove in the strongest terms of being used as an example of why one should "avoid" the great singers and songs on this timeless compilation.

After reading everybody's reviews, I will have to also chime in and say that the reviewer from "somewhere in North America" was absolutely wrong. The other reviewers were definitely right on point. This is one of the best (and most authentic) samba CD's you will ever listen to. You can really feel the heart and soul that was put into it and the raw, non-commercial, natural power that each artist exhibited. This is definitely worth checking out because it is very difficult to find good, authentic samba that is not over stereotyped by Carnaval and catered toward American tourists.

I was on vacation in Rio, in August of the same year this disc was released. Between nights of going to see Toninho Horta celebrate the release of his Diamond Land CD, at Mistura Fina in Copacabana, I spent a day at the flea market in downtown Rio (this was the flea market of the favella dwellers, not the tourist Hippie Fair of Ipanema) . At the flea market, I spent a wonderful day, with the very people, who appear on the cd cover. We had a ball as they explained to me that the maestro, the cavaquinho player at the center of the front cover picture was showing them there songs for Carnaval, for the coming year. Between all of them, save for the cavaquinho player, only one could come up with an address, that copies of the pictures I had taken of them, could be sent too. I was truly astonished to find them all on the cover of this cd at the local CD store when I returned home.

I know for a fact that the songs by them and I assume the others, could not be more Real and representative of the authentic samba of the streets.

Trust me it does not get more real. The music is as lovely as the spirit of these people. To be poor in Rio in 1989 was not a pretty thing, yet they carried on with dignity and bright spirits intact. I shall never forget them. Thanks to Rounder for recording their ernest efforts.

This is one of the best samba cd's I have ever heard, and is my current favorite. If you love samba you will not be disappointed.

The title says it all...

Samba's Ur-text.

Take a gut string guitar in hand, put this album on, and it will teach you everything you need to learn about playing the guitar and how to unlock its poetry.

Pair it with Joao Gilberto's Voz e Violao, and you'll have all you need to become a guitar poet-laureate. A complete gut-string guitar education on two CDs.

That is, if you can stop yourself from laying the guitar down and leaping up to dance!