Aug 2, 2016

RhoDeo 1631 Roots

Hello, well the Olympics are upon us and surprise I really haven't seen the last of Brazil's music, it's really surprising how much Brazil dominates the South American music industry


The music of Brazil encompasses various regional music styles influenced by African, European and Amerindian forms. After 500 years of history, Brazilian music developed some unique and original styles such as samba, bossa nova, MPB, sertanejo, pagode, tropicalia, choro, maracatu, embolada (coco de repente), mangue bit, funk carioca (in Brazil simply known as Funk), frevo, forró, axé, brega, lambada, and Brazilian versions of foreign musical genres, such as Brazilian rock and rap.


Today, A true heavyweight, a pop musician/poet/filmmaker/political activist whose stature in the pantheon of international pop musicians is on par with that of Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, and Lennon/McCartney. And even the most cursory listen to his recorded output since the 1960s proves that this is no exaggeration.......N'Joy

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Born in 1942 in Santo Amaro da Purificacao in Brazil's Bahia region, Veloso absorbed the rich Bahian musical heritage that was influenced by Caribbean, African, and North American pop music, but it was the cool, seductive bossa nova sound of João Gilberto (a Brazilian superstar in the '50s) that formed the foundation of Veloso's intensely eclectic pop. Following his sister Maria Bethânia (a very successful singer in her own right) to Rio in the early '60s, the 23-year-old Veloso won a lyric-writing contest with his song "Um Dia" and was quickly signed to the Philips label. It wasn't long before Veloso (along with other Brazilian stars such as Gal Costa and Gilberto Gil) represented the new wave of MPB (musica popular brasileira), the all-purpose term used by Brazilians to describe their pop music.

Bright, ambitious, creative, and given to an unapologetically leftist political outlook, Veloso would soon become a controversial figure in Brazilian pop. By 1967, he had become aligned with Brazil's burgeoning hippie movement and, along with Gilberto Gil, created a new form of pop music dubbed Tropicalia. Arty and eclectic, Tropicalia retained a bossa nova influence, adding bits and pieces of folk-rock and art rock to a stew of loud electric guitars, poetic spoken word sections, and jazz-like dissonance. Although not initially well received by traditional pop-loving Brazilians (both Veloso and Gil faced the wrath of former fans similar to the ire provoked by Dylan upon going electric), Tropicalia was a breathtaking stylistic synthesis that signaled a new generation of daring, provocative, and politically outspoken musicians who would remake the face of MPB.

This was a cultural shift not without considerable dangers. Since 1964, Brazil had been ruled by a military dictatorship (a government that would rule for 20 years) that did not look kindly upon such radical music made by such radical musicians. Almost immediately there were government-sanctioned attempts to circumscribe the recordings and live performances of many Tropicalistas. Censorship of song lyrics as well as radio and television playlists (Veloso was a regular TV performer on Brazilian variety shows) was common. Just as common was the persecution of performers openly critical of the government, and Veloso and Gil were at the top of the hit list. Both men spent two months in prison for "anti-government activity" and another four months under house arrest. After a defiant 1968 performance together, Veloso and Gil were forced into exile in London. Veloso continued to record abroad and write songs for other Tropicalia stars, but he would not be allowed to return to Brazil permanently until 1972.

Although his commitment to politicized art never wavered, Veloso went from being a very popular Brazilian singer/songwriter to becoming the center of Brazilian pop over the next 20 years. For decades he kept up a grueling pace of recording, producing, and performing and, in the mid-'70s, added writing to his résumé, publishing a book of articles, poems, and song lyrics covering a period from 1965 to 1976. In the '80s, Veloso became increasingly better known outside of Brazil, touring in Africa, Paris, and Israel, interviewing Mick Jagger for Brazilian TV, and in 1983, playing America for the first time. (He sold out three nights at the Public Theater in New York with shows that were rapturously reviewed by then-New York Times pop critic Robert Palmer.)

This steady increase in popularity occurred despite the fact that Veloso's records were extremely hard to find in American record stores, and when one could locate them, they were expensive Brazilian imports. Still, the buzz on Veloso grew, thanks in part to Palmer, Robert Christgau, and other critics writing about pop music outside of the contiguous 48 states. But Veloso never seemed bothered by his low profile outside of Brazil, and his work over the years, even after he became a more well-known international pop figure, remained challenging and intriguing without being modified for American (or anyone else's) tastes -- that is, Veloso sang in English (most of his recorded work is sung in Portuguese) when he felt like it, not because he had to sell more records in America. He hung out with fairly trendy New York musicians (Brazilian native Arto Lindsay and David Byrne), but never made a big deal about it. Veloso was one of the rare musicians who was popular, sold a lot of records (at least in Brazil), and was a certifiable superstar, but never self-aggrandizing, narcissistic, or overly concerned with how hip he was.

Estrangeiro Even when he approached the age of normal retirement, Veloso showed no signs of slowing down. After his 1989 recording Estrangeiro (produced by Ambitious Lovers' Arto Lindsay and Peter Scherer) became his first non-import release in America, Veloso's stateside profile increased significantly, reaching its highest point with the release of 1993's Tropicália 2, recorded with Gilberto Gil. A brilliant record that made a slew of American Top Ten lists, Tropicália 2 proved once again that Veloso's talent (as well as Gil's) had not diminished a bit. His early-'90s recordings, Circuladô, Fina Estampa, and Circuladô ao Vivo (the latter of which includes versions of Michael Jackson's "Black and White" and Dylan's "Jokerman"), were uniformly wonderful, and in the summer of 1997 Veloso embarked on his largest American tour to date.

Livro Two years later, Veloso was the subject of an extensive, flattering portrait in Spin on the eve of the American release of his acclaimed 1998 album, Livro. In 1999, he released Omaggio a Federico e Giulietta, a tribute to auteur Federico Fellini and his wife, actress Giulietta Masina. He also won a Grammy for the Best MPB Album for 1998's Livro at the first annual Latin Grammy Awards. At the beginning of the new millennium, Veloso delivered a live bossa nova album in collaboration with poet Jorge Mautner, the spirited Noites do Norte, and the songbook album A Foreign Sound. In 2006, Veloso returned with Cê, a typically diverse and interesting album co-produced by his son Moreno. Veloso took some time out to tour and begin another book; he released Zii e Zie in 2009 on Nonesuch through World Circuit.

Live at Carnegie Hall, a record documenting a very special collaborative concert he and longtime friend David Byrne gave in 2004 as part of Veloso's residency at the renowned venue, was issued in 2012, a year that also saw the release of Abraçaço, the third part of the trilogy of studio albums -- Cê and Zii e Zie being the first two -- that placed the artist in the company of much younger players. The album was issued in North America by Nonesuch in March of 2014. The following year Veloso and Gilberto Gil embarked on a major world tour together called "Dois Amigos, Um Século de Música" which translates to "Two Friends, a Century of Music." With each artist celebrating a remarkable 50-year career, the tour was commemorated by a live album recorded in their native Brazil called Dois Amigos, Um Século de Música: Multishow Live. The extensive double album was released in April 2016 by Nonesuch.

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The album Circuladô had so much success in the previous year that Veloso released this double CD with some of its songs, like "Circuladô de Fulô," a baião with berimbau and cello Indian-like scales, built over the concrete poet Haroldo de Campos' homonymous poem (from the book Galáxias); "Itapuã"; and "A Terceira Margem do Rio" (a beautiful composition by Milton Nascimento/Veloso that has, under its universe of ecological images, glimpses of psychoanalytical and semantic impressions). The album opens with the re-recording of a Bahian samba, "A Tua Presença." "Americanos" is a striking discourse about homosexuals, AIDS, and Americans, not by accident performed immediately after Michael Jackson's "Black or White." "Um Índio" is a ballad recorded with success by Milton Nascimento and Barão Vermelho about an Indian who will come like a futuristic extraterrestrial. "Queixa" is an old romantic tune, now with a rock intro. The traditional Veloso recovery of old values is represented here by Carlos Gardel's immortal tango "Mano A Mano," with a superb cello backing (Jaques Morelenbaum, of course). Bossa is then recalled in "Chega de Saudade" (No More Blues). "Disseram Que Eu Voltei Americanizada" was the song written by Vicente Paiva and Luiz Peixoto for Carmen Miranda following her cold reception by Brazilians after her explosion in the U.S. The sentimental section of the album includes old Veloso hits ("Você É Linda," "O Leãozinho") and a beautiful '70s hit by Roberto Carlos/Erasmo Carlos, "Debaixo Dos Caracóis Dos Seus Cabelos." But the big hit of the album was "Jokerman" (Bob Dylan). The arrangements had a sensitive approach in the acoustic orientation, in contrast with Veloso's most frenetic albums.



Caetano Veloso - Circuladô Vivo  (flac  390mb)

01 A Tua Presença Morena 2:12
02 Black Or White/Americanos 3:25
03 Um Indio 3:18
04 Circuladô De Fulô 3:21
05 Queixa 5:02
06 Mano A Mano 4:15
07 Chega De Saudade 1:37
08 Disseram Que Eu Voltei Americanizada 1:47
09 Quando Eu Pensa Na Bahia 1:55
10 A Terceira Margem Do Rio 4:32
11 Oceano 4:12
12 Jokerman 6:54
13 Você É Linda 4:07
14 O Leãozinho 3:15
15 Itapuã 4:16
16 Debaixo Dos Caracois Dos Seus Cabelos 4:52
17 Os Mais Doces Barbaros 5:24
18 A Filha Da Chiquita Bacana/Cuva, Suor E Cerveja 5:24
19 Sampa 4:39

 Caetano Veloso - Circuladô Vivo    (ogg  164mb)

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Between harsh criticism (due to the retro opportunistic use of Tropicália), and sectarian defense, Tropicália 2 yielded a Caetano Veloso/Gilberto Gil tour through E.U.A. and Europe one year after this release. The reference to Tropicália was used as a safe-conduct for the duo's incursions in electronics, axé music (the contemporary and pragmatic sound of Bahia) and other commercial exploitation -- since under Tropicália everything goes (or used to go, some 30 years ago). The album opens with "Haiti," a dry percussive electronic pattern over which Caetano and Gil speak verses dealing with racism; "Cinema Novo" is a beautiful samba, whose lyrics "explain" and greet the Brazilian cinema movement which gained the world. "Nossa Gente" brings the percussive sounds of axé music together with funk brass attacks. "Rap Popconcreto" is a musical concrete poem which echoes as a synthesis of the old concept of Tropicália -- utilizing samplers in an improbable atmosphere, piling several old recordings from various artists singing the word "Quem?" ("Who?"). The Jimi Hendrix song "Wait Until Tomorrow" receives a Brazilian percussion treatment, and "Cada Macaco No Seu Galho" is a Novos Baianos hit which received an old baião groove treatment in the drum-machine programming, mixed with modern Bahian percussion. "Baião Atemporal" is a beautiful baião with a very modern and haunting melody and arrangement. The album, in philosophical terms, expresses fragile concepts. Poetically and musically, represents good entertainment, and, in its best moments, good Art.



Caetano Veloso & Gilberto Gil - Tropicalia 2     (flac  249mb)

01 Haiti 4:19
02 Cinema Novo 4:14
03 Tradicao 5:54
04 As Coisas 2:39
05 Aboio 1:32
06 Dada 3:00
07 Cada Macaco No Seu Galho (Cho Chua) 3:21
08 Baiao Atemporal 3:40
09 Nossa Gente 2:53
10 Rap Popcreto 1:58
11 Wait Until Tomorrow 3:25
12 Desde Que O Samba E Samba 5:11

  Caetano Veloso & Gilberto Gil - Tropicalia 2      (ogg  111mb)

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Caetano Veloso continues his free-thinking explorations of tropicalismo on this ambitiously arranged, elaborately packaged suite of songs devoted to whatever happens to cross his mind. Veloso says that he was listening a lot to the collaborations of Miles Davis and Gil Evans around this time, and Jaques Morelenbaum's charts often reflect their darkly urbane ethos. Yet for Morelenbaum's yin there is also the yang of the battering Bahian percussion that dominates many of the rhythm tracks. "Livros" in Portuguese means "books," so Veloso gives you a sample of his book Verdade Tropical in the booklet notes and pays eloquent tribute to them on the title track: "Books are transcendental things/But we can love them with our hands." He is alternately awestruck and appalled by the ambiguities of New York City on "Manhata"; here, the arrangement definitely contains haunting echoes of Evans. He can venture into atonality on "Doideca" (12-tone, but pointedly translated in the booklet as "loony"), recite the horrors of a slave ship voyage, tell someone off ("Nao Enche," which means "Piss Off"), or simply sing "How beautiful could a being be" over and over, presumably to a child, in falsetto to a hot groove. One of the most amazing songs is an epic about the life of Alexander the Great; it comes off like a great saga song. Finally, he runs down a long list of all his favorite Brazilian singers, seemingly leaving out no one, only to close with "Better than this there's only silence/And better than silence, only Joao."



Caetano Veloso - Livro (flac 346mb)

01 Os Passistas (Carnaval Dancers) 3:23
02 Livros (Books) 4:31
03 Onde O Rio E Mais Baiano (Where Rio Is Most Bahian) 3:22
04 Manhata (Para Lulu Santos) (For Lulu Santos) 5:17
05 Doideca 3:40
06 Voce E Minha (You Are Mine) 3:44
07 Um Tom 2:29
08 How Beautiful a Being Could Be 3:27
09 O Navio Negreiro (The Slave Ship) (Excerto) 5:17
10 Não Enche 3:31
11 Minha Voz, Minha Vida (My Voice, My Life) 2:50
12 Alexandre (Alexander) 5:48
13 Na Baixa Do Sapateiro (In Baixa Do Sapateiro) 3:46
14 Pra Ninguem (For No One) 2:59

Veloso - Livro      (ogg  141mb)

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In this album, Caetano Veloso used cool jazz and Gil Evans' orchestrations as the raw material for his synthesis with contemporary Bahian rhythms -- "Terra," from 1978, is an epic description in which Sketches of Spain influences dialogue with their rhythmic similarity with Bahian grooves. The track is the best of the album, which brings no news other than the interpretation of "Prenda Minha," from the gaúcho folklore, and the ridiculous yet highly rewarding financially track "Sozinho" (which may be the best reason for a Veloso album reaching the cipher of 1,200,000 sold copies for the first time), which propelled the selling of the album and its presence in the top radio charts. "Jorge de Capadócia" (Jorge Ben, 1975) is an emotional and beautiful delivery of the important song, but included in this repertory after Racionais MC's recorded it, it sounds a bit opportunistic -- the visceral phrase "eu estou vestido com as roupas e as armas de Jorge" (I am dressed with the clothes and weapons of Jorge's," a reference to the religious syncretism that unifies Saint Georges and Oxum in a Negro entity of protection, resistance, and survival) sounds incongruous when delivered by this elegant gentleman in an expensive suit. Musically, the excellent cool jazz orchestral arrangements for "Esse Cara," "Prenda Minha," "Terra," "Meditação" (a bossa classic propelled by a Bahian percussion), the also splendid Latin jazz arrangements for "Mel" (recorded by sister Maria Bethânia, here sung in Spanish in a convenient Mercosul version), and the delicate, straight voice/violão renditions for "Bem Devagar," "Drão," "Saudosismo," and the beautiful Chico Buarque song "Carolina" make the album worthwhile.



Caetano Veloso - Prenda Minha   (flac 390mb)

01 Jorge De Capadócia 2:57
02 Prenda Minha 1:40
03 Meditação 2:27
04 Terra 8:02
05 Eclipse Oculto 3:42
06 Texto "Verdade Tropical" 1:24
07 Bem Devagar 2:13
08 Drão 2:36
09 Saudosismo 2:24
10 Carolina 3:02
11 Sozinho 3:11
12 Esse Cara 3:43
13 Mel 4:55
14 Linha Do Equador 4:59
15 Odara 2:22
16 A Luz De Tieta 4:13
17 Atrás Da Verde-e-Rosa Só Não Vai Quem Já Morreu 5:05
18 Vida Boa 4:42

Caetano Veloso - Prenda Minha    (ogg  163 mb)

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