Customer Reviews

Tribalistas

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

A lovely, subtle and profoundly life-affirming album... one of my favorites of the year! The band's name and all-star cast are an apparent tribute to the Veloso-Gil-Bethania-Costa mid-1970s supergroup, Doce Barbaros (The Sweet Barbarians), but in this case the musicians, neo-tropicalistas Arnaldo Antunes, Carlinhos Brown and Marisa Monte, go for tender restraint, rather than wild excess. It's a remarkably gentle, dreamy set, with an alluring blend of voices and styles. Each of these musicians has been instrumental in deepening the stylistic vocabulary of modern Brazilian pop, and the three have worked together on various projects and albums over the years. This album, however, is a marvel of collaborative creativity, with label owner Monte the album's guiding force and charismatic center, poet Antunes offering cerebral and ironic counterpoint, and soul-samba percussionist Brown mediating between the two, bringing his pure musicality in to balance them both. The songs feature all three artists flowing effortlessly in overlapping parts, with an intuitive connection that is quite marvelous to hear. (You can see it, too: if you can track down the DVD that accompanies this album, their creative process will astound you...) Old-school "axe" star Margareth Menezes also guest on one song, the catchy and irresistible "Passe Em Casa," one of many beautiful tunes that will echo in your mind for days on end. All in all, this is a very beautiful, inventive and multi-textured record... HIGHLY recommended.

As an American living in Sao Paulo, Brazil for the past 6 years, I have had a bit of experience finding the select grains of wheat among the vast chaff of current Brazilian music. Capital Inicials Accoustic Set, Titas accoustic, some Rappa, Gabriel O Pensador etc. This Tribablistas CD is an interesting CD, in that it combines a Paulista (Antunes) with a Carioca (Monte) with a Baiano (Brown) to come up with a really special thirteen tracks. My favorites are "Carnavalia", "Vehla Infancia", "Passe em Casa" and even the slightly poppy "Ja Sei Namorar". Antunes voice will take a bit of getting used to for most, and it's a pity a lot of provincial Americans miss out on a lot of good Brazilian music cause they "can't understand the lyrics". Don't worry about it! Slip it in the player and relax to the gentle beat of this CD, you won't be upset. Too bad CD's are so expensive in the States, I paid the equivalent of US$6.00 here in Brazil....

With over three million copies sold in Brazil alone, in addition to a Grammy, Tribalistas are now conquering Europe (namely Italy, Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands) with this essential album and its various singles storming up national charts in those countries making them the biggest selling Brazilian act in Europe for well over 10 years! This is Brazilian music of the highest quality with band members Marisa Monte and Carlinhos Brown on production duties. The album includes two Brazilian Number 1 hit singles, the massive "Ja Sei Namorar" and its follow-up "Velha Infancia". A third Brazilian Top 40 chart hit comes in the shape of the very brilliant "Passe em Casa", co-written and performed with Bahian superstar Margareth Menezes. Incredibly, a year on from the album release, "É Você" also found its way into the Top 10. For once an album that actually lives up to the hype and more than deserves the sales it's achieving. A classic that will be played for years to come.

I am enjoying this album so much it is hard to listen to anything else at the moment. I bought it because I am a long time Marisa Monte devotee - but I was a little worried that combining her talents with 2 other artists might water down her intoxicating effect on me. But I needn't have worried ... this album is superb. Her soulful voice reaches the depths of your being as always, and there are marvellous Brazilian rhythms and other delights to surprise you. A must have if you love Marisa and/or contemporary Brazilian music. Just wonderful.

Brasil's answer to a super group. Excellent vocals, music, percussions, etc. If you want contemporary Brasilian music from 3 of Brasil's hottest superstars this is it. If you've never listened to their music, this should be your first CD.

Marisa Monte, Arnaldo Antunes and Carlinhos Brown are each great musicians in their own right, but the result when they collaborate together on this CD is nothing short of mindblowing. This is by far one of the best CDs of 2003. I haven't gone through the CD booklet in detail yet to get a rough translation of the lyrics, but you really don't need to understand what they're saying; the music is that infectious. While the bossa beat emerges from time to time, this is above all an intelligent pop record along the lines of Gil & Caetano's "Tropicalia 2"...It's heavily influenced by mid period Beatles(Revolver/Rubber Soul) yet very contemporary. Stone cold classic.

Here is our foreign language album recommendation of the current season. All 3 artists are familiar and important names in Brazilian music and their collaboration here is a treat. A mix of Brazilian styles and rhythms, most of it of a sensuously soothing nature. Marisa Monte's voice resembles the honeyed texture of Tracy Thorn (Everything But the Girl) or Julia Fordham. Arnaldo Artunes sounds like a Brazilian Serge Gainsbourg (who in turn sounds like a French Leonard Cohen). And Carlinhos Brown, in addition to providing lovely vocals, plays a Scrabble game bonanza of delightful sounding instruments (mostly percussive, we surmise) from the 'afuxe' to the 'zarbre'. Their voices blend together to create music as pretty and colorful as the psychedelic collage of guitar picks 'depickeded' on the inside jacket of the cd.

As a connisseur of Brazilian music, I set my standards very high. Simply put, this album is a landmark achievement, lyrically and rhythmically. Marisa Monte, already recognized for her solo work, justifiably cleaned up at the Latin Grammys with this album. So infectious was the track "Ja Sei Namorar" that I heard the song played on public radio in California- the first time I've ever heard a Portuguese song played on public radio in my two decades as a Californian. I recommend the track "Passe em Casa", though the entire disc is a soothing journey through some modern sounds of Brazilian pop-fusion.

When I first heard Tribalistsas' cut "Carnavalia" on the radio, I wanted to hear more. So I bought the CD and now listen to it frequently. Another favorite is the catchy "Passe Em Casa," from guest artist Margareth Menezes. This CD does supposedly represent the best of Brazilian pop, and features three of Brazil's hottest stars: Arnaldo Antunes' vocals, Marisa Monte's guitar, and Carlinhos Brown on the piano, bass, and vocals. The trio does create an unbelievable rich, gentle, and subtle melange of vocals and instrumentation; the percussion is wonderful.

Tribalistas combined efforts bring the terrific contemporary music of Brazil to life. This is mellow sound that encourages you to chill-out, and dream.

I just happened to be in Brazil, for carnaval 2003, in Bahia, when this album was released. Anyone who's been to Salvador during Carnaval knows Axe is king. This album just captived the whole Carnaval, outshining Chiclete com Banana and Ivete Sangalo that year. It is an interesting album beacause of the collection of talent, Marisa Monte, a mainstream pop music superstar, Carlinhos Brown, Timbalda (a Bahian Carnaval supergroup), Arnaldo Antunes of Titas, an avant-guard Paulistan group.

I love this album. Interestingly, others seem to reveiw as upbeat and uplifting, when in fact most of the songs are about failed and lost love. The two most popular songs from the album are "uplifing", Velha Infancia and Ja Sei Namorar. Knowing very little Portugese, I feel the strength of the album are the vocals in spite of my limitations. Antunes haunting voice combined with Monte's harmonies, and Brown's arrangement and slick production make a beautiful and powerful ensemble.