Tag Archives: brazilian music

Palavra (En)Cantada – Great Musical Documentary

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“Palavra (En)Cantada is a documentary by Helena Solberg, that offers an adventure through the Brazilian singer, poet and troubadour. The film looks at the relationship between poetry and music, weaving testimony by the biggest names in Brazilian music with performances and a surprising study of images.”

I saw this last night and absolutely loved it. It’s everything a lover of Brazilian music should see and know. Among all the documentaries on Brazilian music that I’ve seen (maybe 5-6), the only other one that comes close is Moro no Brasil (which I only had the chance to see the beginning of, though it looked equally as interesting).

Potpourri of Songs

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I’ve been listening to some random radio shows from Brazil and I’ve heard an array of songs. Below are three of them.

Here’s a classic ‘marcha’ (Carnival song) from 1930 that put Carmen Miranda in the spotlight, called Pra Você Gostar de Mim (aka “Taí”). By the end of 1930, the Brazilian newspaper O País called Carmen “the best Brazilian singer” (even though she’s Portuguese). The cover below is by Marina de la Riva.

Below is a song called Natureza (Nature) by Xangai whose real name is Eugênio Avelino. Xangai is a violinist and singer-songwriter from southern Bahia and received his nickname from his father’s ice-cream shop of the same name. The song is quite long but pretty good (even if the lyrics are by another person).

The last one is called Amigo é Casa (A Friend is a House) and is sung by Zélia Duncan and Simone. A good one to send to a best friend.

Vanessa da Mata – New Album!

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Her new album is called Bicicletas, Bolos e Outras Alegrias (Bicycles, Cakes and Other Joys). You can already listen to some of the new tracks on Youtube or on her site. Just be ready to hear some of these new songs over and over again, especially if you are a Brazilian radio listener.

Adão ou Somos Todos Filhos da Terra

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A short documentary (in PT) on a resident of the Cantagalo favela in Rio de janeiro. Adão Xalebaradã is a composer of more than 500 songs and yet he had never been recorded in Brazil until the following video was made in 1999. I wonder how many more Adãos are out there…

Rio Breaks & Beyond Ipanema – trailers

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The makers of two up-coming documentaries have put out trailers, both which I found out about via The Good Blood. Both look interesting. The first deals with a group of barely-teens who surf the waters of Rio de Janeiro and the second is about Brazilian music through the eyes of foreigners.

The links to the two trailers are here and here!

PS. – As a brinde (freebie), here’s another (short doc) I found on The Good Blood, called Temporal: The Art of Stephan Doitschinoff, which is really cool.

Belém – Pará, Brasil – Mosaico de Ravena

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Over at Açaí das Letras blog, I came across a really nice set of lyrics about Belém and upon doing a basic search, I found a great video of Belemense singer Nilson Chaves interpreting the song. Due to embedding limitations of WordPress, I’ll have to post the edited original version from Youtube by the 80′s band Mosaico de Ravena and link to the unedited version (which I recommend) by Chaves.

Belém – Pará, Brasil

They are going to destroy Ver-o-Peso
And put up a Shopping Center
They are going to take down the small Pinho Palace
In order to make a condominium
Poor thing, the Old City
It was sold to Hollywood,
To be used as a hostel
In Spielberg’s new film
Those who want to, can come and see
But just one at a time
We don’t want our crocodiles tripping over you all
The mentality is to blame
Created about the region
Why is it that so many people fear it?
The North doesn’t start with an M (Norte > Morte = Death)
Our indians won’t eat anybody
Because now they prefer hamburgers
Why doesn’t anyone take us seriously?
and not just our minerals…

Here’s the lyrics in Portuguese, including the rest of them which I didn’t translate.

DJ Vivo – Forró and Capoeira

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DJ Vivo comes through again with a great podcast full of Brazilian musical gems. This time, it’s on the subject of forró and capoeira, the former with perfect timing considering it’s São João month in Brazil.

Go check it out! If you like it, make a donation, if possible. Even $5! He does a quality service.

La Movida Brasileña featured on TV

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Reginaldo Lima, who has spent the last 5 years bringing Brazilian culture and music to Madrid via his radio show, was recently featured on Spanish television. As you may know as well, his site La Movida Brasileña is on my links page and I posted an interview he had with Lenine a few months back.

Parabéns, Reginaldo!