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And
now for something completely different. Os Ipanemas, a twelve
piece group led by widely acclaimed percussion maestro Wilson
Das Neves are possibly the leading exponents of the bossa tradition
in Brazil today. “Afro-Bossa” is a pretty apt title
for the group’s latest 2003 release on the Far Out Recordings
label. Roughly overviewed the material on the disc alternates
between jazzy bossa and percussively sambaish pieces that link
more overtly to the African tradition.
A superb example of the former is the first track “Suspeito”
, a lushly beautiful melody with heart-wrenching banter between
trumpet and trombone over a gliding bossa beat, while the latter
is the last, “Afro”, a percussion/vocal piece that
pulses with complex poly-rhythms. Between these two poles Afro-Bossa
charts a course that sails effortlessly between light-heated melancholy-tinged
joy, massed Brazilian chanting that touches on mystery and the
vital pulses of samba and other afro-based rhythms.
An expansive array of musical colours on guitar, trumpet, trombone,
clarinet, flute, bass and percussion are often married to striking
arrangements for cello and violin that link the two seeming extremes.
It would be remiss to fail to mention Wilson Das Neves’
singing on the one vocal number here, the romantic “Sereno”,
sung with all the saudade (yearning) and cool insouciance that
only Brazilians seem capable of evoking. A refreshing breather
from the avalanche of bossa remixes around nowadays, “Afro-Bossa”
gives lie to the cliché “they don’t make ‘em
like that anymore”. An instant bossa classic.
