I Had To Leave Brazil in Order To Appreciate Its Music Again

When I relocated to New York from Brazil, I must confess that I wasn’t that interested in the music from that country. Sure, I had a handful of records by Caetano Veloso, Rita Lee and Chico Buarque, but at the time – in October 2000 – my record collection contained more soul, blues, jazz and English rock.

It wasn’t that I didn’t admire the music. Just a few years earlier, I had been in the process of rediscovering bossa nova, a genre that was enjoying a revival in Brazil at the time since the publication of Ruy Castro’s Bossa Nova: The History of the Brazilian Music That Seduced The World.

That and the dedicated efforts of younger musicians like Leila Pinheiro, Rosa Passos  and Caetano Veloso, who kept the genre alive in its native land by constantly  recording and performing songs by Jobim & Co. in their albums and live shows.

At this point I must confess that my own renewed interest in the genre came via my girlfriend at the time (who went on to become my ex-wife), who was so obsessed with the music that she even wrote a dissertation about it for college. 

Anyway, at the time I left Brazil, you couldn’t find much quality music in the radio, especially in Fortaleza, where mass-produced forró, pagode and axé music dominated the airwaves to the point of absurdity.

Some bands even recorded their own version of international hits adapted for their own needs. Last time I was there, I heard their take on a religious song my church band plays during communion – go figure. I had no idea what kind of Brazilian music was being made in other markets.

Sure, I often got to hear some great artists and bands like Djavan, Pato Fu, Paralamas do Sucesso, Skank and Barão Vermelho (all of whom are still active today), but they were an exception to the general rule. I personally couldn’t stand what I heard on the radio there.

When I came back to the US and started writing about music, suddenly I started being exposed to artists I had barely heard about before – cats like Bebel Gilberto, Duduka da Fonseca, CéU, Monica Silva, Trio da Paz, Badi Assad, Anna Caram, The Ipanemas, Ricardo Silveira and countless others.

In the meantime, several other acts I didn’t care for before matured and refined their act so much – Daniela Mercury is one that comes to mind – that I now have their albums in my collection.

What I couldn’t believe was that these artists have a dedicated non-Brazilian fan base outside their own countries, even though some of them are pretty much unknown back home.

Bebel Gilberto was selling out venues in New York and London before she was even taken seriously in Brazil. Heck, I have attended at least ten of her shows over the years, but only recently have I begun hearing Portuguese spoken around me.

In the end, I had to leave Brazil in order to have a renewed appreciation and respect to its music. Today Brazilian CDs dominate my CD rack (yes, I still have those – no way I’m going to trust to have all that stuff as digital files).

I now play in a bossa band and have become more knowledgeable about Brazilian music than I was when I was actually living there. Heck, I even go to the occasional axé show when they come around town.

Ernest Barteldes is a freelance writer based on Staten Island, New York. He can be reached at ebarteldes@yahoo.com.

Tags:

You May Also Like

An Exchange

Debate Goes OnBy If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle ...

The Presence of Ancient Egypt in the Brazilian Press

Pyramids, Sphinxes and pharaohs. These and other elements of Ancient Egypt are included in ...

Scientists Warn Brazil Is Not Ready for a Dengue Epidemics

Scientists say that until a vaccine against dengue fever is available, controlling the disease ...

Brazil’s Trade Balance US$ 10.6 Billion in the Black

Manufactured products, industrialized products with high added value, were the highlight in Brazilian exports ...

Foreign Investors in Brazil’s Stock Market Triple

The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) reports that this year there has ...

Russia, the 2018 Host, More Prepared for World Cup than Brazil, Says FIFA

Preparations for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil have come under attack from FIFA ...

Brazilian Costume Jewel Maker Camila Klein Plan to Win the World

Brazilian costume jewelry by Camila Klein has been wining women world over or four ...

Brazil’s GDP Grows to US$ 609 Billion Up to September

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Brazil totaled US$ 609 billion in the period ...

Brazil: When Judges Go Beyond and Above the Law

The last days of the military regime (1964-1985) coincided with an incredible rise of ...

A Lesson of Brazil with Professor Lula

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in his State of the Union address ...