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There is a less than flattering review of this collection of chorro,
samba, axe, bossa etc on the web, which tends to dismiss many
of the selections as being a bit lightweight (Rambles and Cultural
Arts Magazine). There is indeed a tendency to let things sail
past without paying much attention to them and everyone has prejudicial
preferences for particular styles. When I first put this one I
was struck by the loveliness of Rita Ribeiro’s beautiful
chorro-pop, the contemporary afoxe pop of Chico Cesar’s
Beleza Mano and some sparkling chorro instrumentals. But initially
Banda Explosao’s version of Madagascar Olodum didn’t
seem to hold a candle to Banda Reflexus’ explosive one.
Not too bad though, I thought as I put the CD on the shelf. Over
the weeks I would stick it on as aural accompaniment to other
activities and slowly became aware of the thought and care that
had been invested in this compilation.
Even though The Pulse Of Brazil makes no deeper claim on the psyche
than to present 16 varied examples of Brazilian popular musical
styles, the pitfalls of not giving any music a couple of auditions
became abundantly clear. Brazilian music works itself from a melodic
and rhythmic base simultaneously. And all the songs are excellently
performed examples of this. The four axe numbers are of a style
that abounded on the many lambada collections that were around
in the early 90’s and have long since fallen off the trend
wagon, but they’re better than most of the ilk. Two superb
chorro numbers, including a briefly pointed reading of the Jacob
Do Bandolim classic Assanhado by Nilze Carvalho that sparkles
with flute and cavaquinho.
Djavan’s Aquele Um is driving, jazzy bossa at the fingertips
of pianist Luiz Avelar. If it’s the rough open air ambience
of great street samba you’re after, then Bezerra Da Silva
is your man or maybe it’s the bubbling trombone led bossa-samba
joy of the opener, Grupo Raca’s Isaura…or the closer
Genival Lacerda’s 1964 forro hit Severina Xique-Xique which
the composer himself has updated into a sort of Brazilian salsa.
And what about the three forro entries, two of which temper the
genre’s ebullience with a forlorn wistfulness? Really, 15
years ago I used to avidly collect many compilations of Brazilian
pop music that featured more well-known names than the ones included
here and The Pulse Of Brazil rivals the best of those. If you
have little Brazilian music and want a good sampler that eschews
trendiness you can do far worse than this. RJ
