Orfeu

Caetano Veloso | Format: MP3 Download

Product Details

• Original Release Date: November 1, 2005
• Label: Nonesuch
• Copyright: 2005 Rhino Entertainment
• Total Length: 44:36
• Genres:
• ASIN: B00122KYVU
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Caetano shines again, uma estrela brilhante!, August 28, 2000

By 

Karenatasha "karenatasha" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Orfeu (1999 Film) (Audio CD)

This is an absolutely fantastic soundtrack, the perfect mixture of classics from Vinicius de Moraes' original play and the 1950's film, accompanied by great new material that captures the Brazil of today. In particular, Orfeu's "samba enredo"--the type of "story samba" that the carnival groups present each year in their parade--is a true work of genius. Shifting smoothly from the traditional rhythms of samba to rap and back again, Caetano and Gabriel O Pensador achieve a thoroughly modern, engaging, and DANCEABLE masterpiece. To me, this is no unnecessary remake. In general, Brazilians, though in love with the music from the first screen version, have never thought highly of the film itself, because of its fairy-tale misrepresentation of their reality. And for those who think that the rap is something "imported" just for the sake of appealing to an international audience, it's not so. That is the music listened to by many Brazilian youths, especially those in the favelas or shantytowns where Orfeu takes place. Just as in Carlos Diegues' TIETA, for which Veloso also composed the soundtrack, the music is an integral and deeply appealing part of the film...and enchanting on its own.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History re-written, June 14, 2000

By 

"jeffinho_branco" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Orfeu (1999 Film) (Audio CD)

Who else but Caetano Veloso--the national treasure of Brazil--to record the soundtrack to the re-make of the film that introduced bossa nova to the world in 1959? Caetano's sense of phrasing, arrangement and placement is, as always, genius. Buy the new movie if you can, buy the original, buy this soundtrack, and buy the original soundtrack and own pieces of musical--and cinematic--history.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic, September 29, 2009

By 

Bill Your 'Free Form FM Handi Cyber Print DJ ... (Mahwah, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Orfeu (1999 Film) (Audio CD)

Lately I have not been able to stop reviewing Veloso albums, becuase I have not been able to stop listening to them. Orfeu was my first Veloso album, and this has led to many more. Brazilian music fan or not, hear Veloso and you know you are hearing a master. If I am gushing, straying from my tightly edited, no nonsense review style, you will have to forgive me; this happens when I know I am witness to someone special.

The miricle of Veloso is not even that he made wonderful music in the face of political repression in 1960s Brazil, although that is miraculous. The miricle is that this was not his best work, and forty years on, he just keeps getting better and better. He is like a wine that improves with consistancy. Even my beloved Sir Paul McCarteny can't boast that.

For firm evidence, look no further than 1999s Orfeu. Like most of the masters mature work, this soundtrack sticks to the diverse latin forms that Veloso has spun his career on. But the more he works, the more textured and layerd and sad and bouyent the music gets. The guitar work here is pristine, from master fingers, not digital production. The percussion booms--you could make a dance album from the rhythm tracks. The chords and melodies express emotion more clearly than Veloso's early work. He is not afraid, even, to use avant guarde effects during a death sequence, and yes; he can invoke fear as powerfully as he can love, grace or sadness.

Abstractions aside, this is a rich musical experiance for both a casual listener and a surgical critic.

I would say buy this CD but that would understate it. Don't deny yourself this experiance, these feelings. That is more like it.