My local NPR station plays two Latin music shows Monday nights. The first is general Latin, mostly Cuban. The second is Brazilian. And I LOVE it. Every time I catch it, I’m amazed at how the music resonates with me, affects me inside. But sadly, I am most ignorant of Brazilian music. I wonder if someone has recommendations for must-have recordings, good books on the history or various types etc. I know some well-known names, like Jobim & Gilberto, but that’s about it. Does anyone else share my affection? What is it about that bossanova, that lloro (is that right?) that makes it so awesome?
You might want to try Red Hot + Rio. It’s a collection of Brazilian pop tunes from relatively straight up bossa nova to further out stuff like “Non-Fiction Burning” by PM Dawn, Airto (pronouned eye-AIR-toe), and Flora Purim that might point you in some direction. Rest assured there are quite a few directions to be pointed to from Berimbau music to Nano Vasconcelos to carnaval street samba to bossa-jazz like Toninho Horta and everything in between.
thanks, mack!
Lloro? Or do you mean forro? Anyway, as mack said, you can go in many different directions with Brazilian music.Putumayo and Rough Guides both put out generally good collections of world music, so you can start with their Brazilian CDs. A few years ago, David Byrne also produced a series of Brazilian compilations, each CD (I think it’s 4 total) featuring a different style, as well as having collaborated with Brazilian musicians on Rei Momo.
Some specific musicians from my rather limited collection, in no particular sequence:
Martinho da Vila (great samba), Ara Ketu, Olodum (they did the drum sequence for Paul Simon on Rhythm of the Saints), Luis Gonzaga, Paulinho da Viola, Marisa Monte, and Daniela Mercury (Brazilian dance sensation).