Customer Reviews

Samba Pra Burro

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The first time that you hear this Album, you will probably found it strange, because it is a unusual mix of eletronic music and the folk brazilian music, and it has some of the vocals in french...but then you will see how brilliant is this work. It has some musics like MPB, and others eletronics.A similar artist that do it is Chico sciense and nação zumbi.

Otto's first CD is great and definitely in the mangue beat tradition. If you don't speak portuguese but like drum 'n' bass type music, you'll like it because of the mixing in of rhythms from the state of Pernambuco in the Northeast of Brazil, which, is the cultural heart of Brazil. If you understand Portuguese, well then you perceive how poetic his songs are, especially in songs like TV a Cabo and Cafe Preto. Both musically and lyrically, he stays true to the mangue beat conception of always keeping one foot in Pernambuco and the other in the world. If you like originality, this is definite must have.

During a business trip to Sao Paulo I wandered into a music store off Consolocao. A native speaker of red-neck English and a limited speaker of Spanish, I tried to explain to the Portuguese-only students running the shop that I wanted to listen to something very new but very Brazilian. After a few misfires, a very excited young lady brought me Samba Pra Burro. Jackpot!!! Samba has a techno-pop construction reminiscent of Beck's Odelay, but its emotional textures are more engaging. If this is the future of Brazilian music, the rest of the world had best take notice.

After many hours of listening, flipping through the dictionary, and pestering Brazilian friends, I've managed to unravel most of the lyrics. They are silly, sarcastic, nonsensical, and in the context of the music, smart. The songs stand alone and are of appropriate length for comercial airplay, but I enjoy the album best in its entirety. The several tempo and mood changes flow well, and there are some recurring musical devices that make Samba a great way to spend your hour.

Despite the title, Samba Pra Burro is not a dance disc. Far enough on the pop side of avant garde to remain accessible, Otto has obviously made a lasting impression on me. If you enjoy Beck, Laurie Anderson, Peter Gabriel, Bowie and Seal, overcome your fear of foreign languages and buy this disk. Though it is usually out of stock, it will be worth the wait and your hard-earned Reais.

takes a while to get into, but worth it. buy!

This is a great CD. The songs, the beats... really amazing!!! Buy it!

Otto was one of the founders, alongside Chico Science and Fred 04, of the Mangue Beat, participating as percussionist in both Nação Zumbi and mundo livre s/a. In 1998 he released this his first album, "Samba Pra Burro". Produced by Apollo 9. Support from DJ Soul Slinger. It mixes drum'n'bass with regional music from the Brazilian northeast - maracatu, forró.... Bebel Gilberto makes an appearance on "Bob". The album was followed up by "Changez Tout - Samba pra burro dissecado," a double CD of remixes by Brazilian producers and DJs - Camilo Rocha, Patife, Ramilson Maia, Marky Mark, André Abujamra, Apollo 9, etc

This is FLU. I'm an Otto's friend and I record a remix song for him of Cafe Preto. This album is excellent. The mix of brazilan ritims and eletronic is the future. We are recording a lot of this kind of stuff here in Brazil. He was the first and there will be a lot of artists this year. Listen him!

Listening to Otto can be a mind trip. Just close your eyes, put on your head-phones and let the mixture of rhythms take full command. The artist shows that can go a lot further than the regional musical scenario known as mangue-beat. Techno-Trance-Samba-Bossa-Mangue...There isn't an easy way to describe the music performed by Otto, Apollo 9 and all their guests (Bebel Gilberto with a great performance on 'Bob'). It is really worth each cent that you spend on it.

Otto is one of the most important artists brazilian music has released to the world!. Samba pra Burro is an excellent album, very smart, very creative, completely worth-listening. If you like it, you should try to get also his new release, "Condom Black", which is even more brazilian in its sound textures and as ground-breaking as "Samba.." was whe it was released. Bebel Gilberto and Max de Castro are also great choices if you want to hear what the new MPB has to say :)

It's not a easy album, but after a few minutes we start to understand the music, and the rythm. It's very important, specially for a music research, to understand the mix between the guy born a Recife, with very important music roots, based on the slaves music, and the iberic music, and all the influence from the modernity, felt when he uses the drum 'n' bass. I could tell, in my point of view, it's something different that worths be in your collection if you are like the electronic rythms or if you are open mind. Otherwise, careful, but it should be evaluated.