Customer Reviews

Os Afro Sambas / Vontade

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I got this CD as part of the Baden Powell Box with 13 Baden Powell's classic CDs released a few years ago in Brazil (and sadly unavailable since then). But you can find all of them separately, I believe...

Here we have two discs in one. The first is Os Afro-Sambas de Baden E Vinicius and A Vontade

But as I say on the title, the first (tracks 1-8) is one of the most important ever released in Brazil. And it brings eight major songs sung by Vinicius and featuring the female ensemble of voices Quarteto em Cy (who later came to enjoy their own share of success in many other artists' recording as well as their own).

All the songs here are composed by Powell and Vinicius and all of them are known as Brazilian standards today - and here you get THEIR original versions.

The lyrics (in Portuguese) are stunning and unparalleled anywhere. They reflect Afro-Brazilian stories of love and sadness and constant relationship with the gods. Here are some of my favorite verses...

From TRISTEZA E SOLIDÃO (track 7)
Ela não sabe (She does not know)
Quanta tristeza cabe numa solidão (How much sadness fits into a solitude)
Eu sei que ela não pensa (I know she does not think)
Quanto a indiferença (How much such indifference)
Dói num coração (Hurts in a heart)

From TEMPO DE AMOR (track 5)
Ah, que não seja meu (Oh, let not be mine)
Um mundo onde o amor morreu (A world where love has died)

Isn't it beautiful???

Also, here you have a fabulous little ensemble of 12 top musicians with Brazilian instruments... all arranged and conducted by Guerra Peixe who, back in the 60's worked with several top Brazilian performers. The sound is rich, deep, sharp, colorful and trend-setting in may ways.

Both the Bossa Nova and Samba sounds we all know and hear today can be traced back to this album.

CANTO DE OSSANHA (track 1) is a major standard already covered by many artists like Elis Regina (many times), Toots Thielemans, Maysa, Tamba Trio, Toquinho and Chico Buarque. It's lyrics are among the finest ever written in Portuguese language. And the music will be echoing in your mind forever.

The other set of recordings, A Vontade (tracks 9-18) is a great blend of songs with a few gems on their own coupled with some standards. Recorded in 1967 and produced by legendary Brazilian producer Aloysio de Oliveira, we have beautiful versions of THE GIRL FROM IPANEMA, SAMBA DO AVIÃO and SAMBA TRISTE. Again we hear Baden in peak form.

This is one of the best CDs of Brazilian music you'll ever find.
Close your eyes and get this album. You're in for a big, unique ride.

The quality of recording and mastering of the Os-Afro Sambas tracks is sub-par. The volume keeps shifting and the stereo image is unstable - it all creates a distraction from the otherwise fine music. This album really needs a re-mastered treatment.
This, of course, is not a problem for the Vontade tracks which feature solo guitar - no mixing problems here. Those are great tracks to listen to.

Os Afro Sambas is, in my opinion, the finest Brazilian album ever recorded. It sounds like nothing else that came before it or since.

I'm a fan of Tropicalia, Brazilian Nordeste and Forro. Os Afro Sambas doesn't fit neatly into any category. Vinicius and Baden both had roots in Bossa Nova, but this album was their intentional attempt to move beyond it. It's experimental with wonderful hooks, spontaneous lead vocals, haunting Gregorian female vocals, spare songs and loose, but perfect, production. It's not as hi-fi as the albums that would follow it, but it doesn't need to be.

Vontade is also included with Os Afro Sambas on this CD, but, as fine as it is, I find it distracting and out of place.