|
 My personal favorite is "Não Vou para Casa"
(I'm not Going Home), a humorous samba in which
the singer is urged to go back home, but refuses to return
"before the sun rises". Very good are also Tom Jobim's
"Você Vai Ver"(You'll See) and another Veloso composition,
"Coração Vagabundo"(Vagabond Heart).
By Ernest Barteldes
Music, as any other art form, has creators, imitators and developers. Of the second
category there is little to say; imitators basically jump the wagon and profit whatever
they can from the creator, while the developer tries his best to make the original
creation grow further.
In Brazil, samba had been around for ages, but it took the genius of Bahia-born João
Gilberto to develop the local beat and blend it with elements of cool jazz, thus creating
a whole new style, bossa nova, which swept the planet during the late fifties and
early sixties, and still influences a great number of musicians, from Charlie Byrd and
Stan Getz in their time to George Michael and Tuck & Patty nowadays.
Pray silence now, for the man who created the whole thing, with the support of Antonio
Carlos Jobim (who, against his own will took the credit for himself), Vinicius de Morais
and others has released a new studio album, recorded eight years after 1992's João
and three after the live Eu Sei Que Vou Te Amar (all titles, are, by the way,
available in the U.S.)
This time, alas, he plays by himself. Just the man, his guitar and his voice, and no
audience sounds. The album, properly titled João Voz e Violão (João, Voice and
Guitar—average price $18.00 ) opens with Caetano Veloso-penned "Desde Que o
Samba É Samba" (Ever Since Samba Was Samba).
Veloso, also a son of Bahia, wrote the song in 1993 as a tribute to samba and bossa
nova. In João Gilberto's voice, the lyric is taken to a whole new dimension:
A tristeza é senhora
Desde que o samba é samba é assim
A lágrima clara sobre a pele escura
A chuva fria que cai lá fora
Solidão apavora
Tudo demorando em ser tão ruim
Mas há uma coisa no entanto agora em mim
Cantando mando a tristeza embora..."
Sadness is dominant
Ever since samba was samba it has been like that
The clear tear over the dark skin
The cold rain falling on the outside
Solitude is frightening
Bad things taking so long
But there is something inside me
By singing I send sadness away...
Caetano Veloso, who produced the album, is an innovator in his own right. He was the
co-founder of yet another wave in Brazilian popular music, which blended bossa nova and
other elements of Brazilian sounds with the influence of late sixties psychedelics and
came up, in 1968, with a whole new sound, labeled tropicalismo.
With time, he became more and more refined in his songwriting, and João Gilberto's
influence became more and more evident in his work, to the point of his recording a rare
Gilberto composition, "Você Esteve com Meu Bem?" (Have You Been with My
Sweetheart?", never recorded by its composer) in his 1996 Fina Estampa En Vivo.
Veloso and Gilberto have since become friends, and the latter was instrumental in
Veloso's return from his politically enforced exile after three years in Europe during the
dark years of military dictatorship in Brazil. The album also contains two classic songs
which are present on virtually every bossa nova or João Gilberto collection:
"Desafinado" (Off-Key) and "Chega de Saudade"(No More Blues), which
are both Tom Jobim co-compositions.
The first was present in 1964's quadruple Grammy award winner Getz/Gilberto, an
instrumental album in the popularization of the "new Brazilian sound." The
second one is considered by music historians the song that, in 1959, started the whole bossa
nova wave.
In the new album, those songs are performed like Gilberto does onstage these days, with
no accompaniment. I believe the singer and Veloso decided to re-make the two songs
(specially "Chega de Saudade")in order to have a "proper" studio
versions, since the earlier ones, recorded years ago, where too much in the musical format
of the time, and Gilberto's guitar playing was not very well heard.
There are, of course, the many live versions, but the applause somewhat damages the
recording, specially when you're dealing with a very subtle vocalist and guitarist such as
Gilberto.
The other tracks are equally interesting. My personal favorite is "Não Vou para
Casa"(I'm not Going Home), a humorous samba in which the singer is urged to go back
home, but refuses to return "before the sun rises". Very good are also Tom
Jobim's "Você Vai Ver"(You'll See) and another Veloso composition,
"Coração Vagabundo"(Vagabond Heart).
The only bad thing about the CD is that it is too short for the price; it has merely 35
minutes, which gives the listener a feeling of dissatisfaction as the album ends.
The cover of the album shows a girl with her finger on her lips, requesting silence. It
is a direct message to the public of Credicard Hall in São Paulo that booed Joao Gilberto
during his 1999 performance, when, ever the perfectionist, he complained of excessive
feedback from the sound system. He reacted by showing his tongue to the public and left
Caetano Veloso, who was also performing that night, alone on stage to finish the show. One
can be almost sure that the idea for the cover came from Veloso, who has a reputation for
his caustic sense of humor...
One fact that gives this CD great importance is the fact that many of the original bossa
nova players are no longer in this world. Stan Getz passed away in 1991, Jobim in
1994, Vinicius de Morais in 1980 and Charlie Byrd left us recently. Of course they left us
countless recordings of their music, but fresh work from them is very rare, as João
Gilberto himself rarely does studio work.
The album, yes, is short, but it is a very good addition to the collection of a
listener of good music. A fine wine will go well with the album. A splendid time is
guaranteed for all.
Ernest Barteldes, the author, was born in Michigan USA and has been a
teacher of English in Brazil for over ten years. He is a graduate from Ceará State
University and recently married a Brazilian. Barteldes has been a regular columnist for
the Greenwich Village Gazette in New York City and has also collaborated to a
number of magazines and newspapers in the US and in Brazil. He can be contacted at ebarteldes@yahoo.com
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