Customer Reviews

Djavan Ao Vivo

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

I can't believe that you can record a concert with such great sound quality. This is as good as listening to a CD. In this entire DVD, there is no fading or break up of the sound.

I've played this for people who've never heard of Djavan, and they all love this DVD. They can't believe that just because this guy sings in Portuguese, that we Americans would miss out on his music.

You can play the DVD with the captions of the Portuguese lyrics so that you can sing along.

There are a couple of MTV/VH1 style videos. The Acelerou video is very sexy. A beautiful scene with some very interesting light.

Djavan is perhaps the most underrated of all the great Brazilian musicians to emerge in the past thirty years. He has been making superb albums for over twenty years, with a mix of samba, jazz and rock that no other Brazilian musician has been able to emulate. He is hard to categorize and that may have had something to do with limiting his North American success.

This CD is a live performance of some of his best songs (though he is in this respect a little like the Beatles--he doesn't have very many clunkers). Though I could have done without the audience participation in a couple of cuts, this is a good introduction to his music. As a composer, he is a master of melody and rhythm and his touches of electric guitar, though used sparingly, are the best in Brazilian music. His songs reveal their intricacies slowly and reward careful listening. As a singer, he possesses one of the most distinctive voices in pop music anywhere, jazzy and pliant, equally at home with ballads and uptempo numbers.

If you like the music of Milton Nascimento, Gilberto Gil and/or Bebel Gilberto, or you just like Brazilian music in general, you owe it to yourself to give Djavan a listen.

I had the opportunity to see Djavan in the North Sea Jazz festival a couple of years ago and his performance was excellent.

This DVD captures another great performance by one of the greatest Brazilian musicians of his time. The sound quality of this DVD is great and the added bonus videos are a great feature. I recommend this DVD to any one who appreciates great music.

Beautiful work by Djavan. Many people have no idea who he is (outside Brazil), but let me introduce him to you: he's one of the best pop/samba musicians in Brazil, he has been with many famous american Jazz stars (who by the way love brazilian samba) and now he's got this wonderful album going on. The entire album (it's a double) is pretty much in the good 'ol unplugged style, but it's all plugged though (we all know it's impossible to do it entirely unplugged) which is one of the things that are really surprising about this album. He grabbed his Sadowsky half acoustic half eletric guitar, gathered his band up and just played his songs (and I'm talking about the old and good ones). If you're not brazilian but always heard about our culture and our tradition in music, this is the right album for you.

A nostaglic purchase a few years ago--the CD version of the great Getz/Gilberto bossa nova collaboration--has subsequently led me deeper and deeper into the rich world of Brazilian pop music. Last fall, while raptly watching the Latin Emmys show on TV, I heard this artist singing a haunting ballad ("Faltando um Pedaco") which eventually I was able to identify by listening to samples on the Amazon.com website. And that in turn led me to "Ao Vivo."

There are times when I wish I knew more Portuguese (it would have helped had English translations been included in the insert), but little matter: Djavan's got a great pop voice and his highly melodic compositions--whether "unplugged" ballads, jazzy/funky uptempo numbers, or straightahead rock--contain some of the best "hooks" in the business. Add to this a really cookin' band and a clearly worshipful audience that occasionally, and appropriately, sings along (listen, for instance, to the anthem-like "Se") and you've got a really terrific concert album.

Buried in the paper a few weeks ago was a small notice that Djavan would be performing in the Washington, D.C. area. Predictably, the audience seemed to be drawn almost entirely from the local Brazilian community. Too bad, because a lot of local pop and world music afficianados missed an absolutely scintillating concert--a virtual recreation of this album. With any luck, Djavan's American tour will bring him the larger exposure he clearly deserves. Meanwhile, "Ao Vivo" is a good start for those adventuresome individuals who've already "discovered" Bebel Gilberto and who wish to explore more of the best of contemporary Brazilian music.

One word to describe this CD: fabulous! This CD is a must for any fan of world music. Even if you aren't a world music fan, but like multiple genres of music (for example, you don't listen to rap and rap only, or country and country only), then you will also like this CD very much. The CD contains live versions of Djavan's best songs. If you are worried because many live recordings aren't as good as their studio counterparts, don't. The CD contains an excellent performance with an excellent recording. It is hard for me to classify Djavan's music as it is completely unique and like nothing I have heard before, but some describe it as a mixture of popular jazz and samba. Whatever it is, happy listening!

Djavan is the greatest singer/sonwriter on the planet. This live album encapsulates his work is a glorious live performance from the beachfront in Rio de Janeiro. What is most amazing is that is this era of awful pop music that more americans have not found this treasure.

As a musician I must say this is absolutely SUPERB!
The camera angles & cinematography.... will blow you away!
The sound though.... "IS AWESOME", especially if you have a great sound system.

I've been a long time fan of Djavan for over 20 years, this is a KILLER CONCERT DVD. He's been often referred to as the
"Stevie Wonder of Brasil"...... perhaps so as far as popularity and being dearly loved by masses not just in Brasil, but around the world..... however Djavan IS UNIQUE unto himself.

Djavan is simply great. Is THE modern composer from Brazil (at least from the ones I know, which are not few)and one of the most capables in the world! And when I say capable I mean that he is one of those that can create songs in any rithm or meter (even in the most strange ones) and they will still be pop songs, that you can't stop listening inside your mind after having heard them. If you listen songs in this CD, you will sing them all day long (if you can, because they are not as easy to sing as to listen to) and you will recomend this LP (and every CD recorded by him)to the people you apreciate.
Well, to end I'll tell you that really feel sorry for not being able to talk about the populariy and the value that the crowds give to Djavan. His personal search and view of music can be copared to artists like Sting, Peter Gabriel (even though I think his music has a greater development than the one from the guys I mentioned) and Luis Alberto Spinetta (a great composer from my country that is the only one I can compare in good taste, deepness and musical development to Djavan; adding to this that he is a poet too, have a listen to him, I strongly recomend it!)
Well, buy it, you won't be dissapointed!

A while ago trying to deeper my knowledge into the music field I started listening to Bossanova (one of Brazil's most famous and rich music styles), which helped a lot since I play guitar and it's very hard to play the chords used in that style. After dominating a bit of Bossanova I tried to give an even farther step towards my musical knowledge, that's when I found this guy named Djavan. I bought this cd and since then I just can't stop listening and playing his songs. This guy is a treasure that I wish everyone could find and listen to. His music is pure poetry and makes you simply fly away. I would recommend anyone to buy this cd or any other cd that have his name on. It's really worth it!!!!