Pivotal in his development as a performer, composer, and arranger were studies with Eumir Deodato, David Baker, Guerra-Peixe, and Nadia Boulanger. Accompany artists like Elizeth Cardoso, Fátima Guedes, Marcos Valle, Nara Leão, Sueli Costa, Vinícius Cantuária, and Rita Lee refined his skills. Adolfo’s compositions have been recorded by, among others, Wilson Simonal, Ivete Sangalo, Leci Brandão, Emilio Santiago, Beth Carvalho, Sérgio Mendes, and Stevie Wonder.

The launching of his independent record label, Artezanal, awakened many Brazilian artists to the need for alternative paths of production and triggered a boom of independent recording. Further, Adolfo’s recordings dedicated to Chiquinha Gonzaga, Ernesto Nazaré, João Pernambuco, and to the composers of the Belle Époque are noted cultural milestones.

On his new recording, Chora Baião, Adolfo puts us into the eye of an aesthetic storm. With the definite intention of linking traditional and Brazilian jazz forms, he achieves a synergetic balance, or better, a bridge between stylistic tendencies. Eschewing the standard workhorses by Pixinguinha, Nazaré, and Luiz Gonzaga, Adolfo selected three originals as well as a baião and choro repertoire from the cannons of two Brazilian popular music (MPB) icons, who in passing these styles through their own filters, have reinvented them–Guinga and Chico Buarque. 1.

One of the highlights of Chora Baião is the way Adolfo has assimilated the styles of two MPB artists, whose compositions are guided by how they play guitar, and arranged the chord changes, bass lines, meters, and rhythms in a way that transforms the music into the sophisticated chordal and improvisatory complexities typical of the Beco das Garrafas jazz groups. Adolfo’s informed arrangements push the harmonic and rhythmic logic of these tunes to their ultimate conclusions. It is a masterfully assembled disc, engineered, recorded, and mixed by Alex Moreira of BossaCucaNova.

A glance at the personnel listing will tell you that something is up. Adolfo has chosen a stellar cast of players who bring out the best in one another: Marcos Suzano, Jorge Helder, Rafael Barata, Carol Saboya, and Leo Amuedo. This is a band that gels effortlessly, each musician playing an equal part. Never is there a moment’s complacency. Their conversancy with each other and with the demands of the music opens the way to an excellent recording. Indeed the teamwork between them helps explain the disc’s richness.

The opener, “Dá O Pé Loro” (Hey, Parrot! Give Me Your Foot), recorded by Guinga on his third CD, Cheio de Dedos, is a baião with Hermeto Pascoal’s influence and a jazz inspired arrangement. Beginning with a typical Northeastern percussion trio–pandeiro, zabumba, and triangle–all performed (via multi-tracking) by Marcos Suzano, this is music with an edge of excitement. Leo Amuedo’s guitar solo, dynamic with a discreetly propulsive power, serves as a fine introduction to his coherent solo style. In addition, the tune’s hybrid modality and rhythmic structure, work as foils to the Brazilian jazz rhythm section, enlivening an already inspired atmosphere.

The choro/samba-canção “Nó na Garganta” (Lump in the Throat), also recorded by Guinga on Cheio de Dedos, is subtle and delicate, Adolfo having made some perceptive changes in harmony, melody, and meter to link Guinga’s music to jazz. There is an exquisite sense of ensemble empathy as Adolfo solos over the A section and Amuedo on B. Both are superbly served by Suzano playing tambourin with his fingers and drummer Rafael Barata, using brushes on snare drum for the melody, but switching to sticks on cymbals for solos. A ping-pong dialogue at the coda between guitar and piano dovetails until the two coalesce in a contrapuntal weaving of independent lines.

The title track, Adolfo’s “Chora, Baião,” a baião with elements of choro, toada, and jazz–as well as eight bars of maracatu performed by Barata (drums) and Suzano (moringa) after the introductory lick–has bite and substance. Adolfo’s effectively understated solo is terse, lyrical, and dramatic, a flame that smolders rather than sears. Leo Amuedo’s has no hint of a semi-tentative approach to a phrase. His peerless, pure tone and an apparently unquenchable flow of improvisational ideas is the kind of thing that must cause acute envy among other guitar players.

“Você, Você” was a Chico Buarque, Guinga collaboration recorded on Buarque’s CD As Cidades. The lyrics for this toada, according to Buarque, were inspired by his grandson repeatedly saying, “Você, Você” (You, You) to his mother. Lyricists, however, seldom reveal the true meaning of their verse. Listeners paying close attention might catch an allusion to the Oedipus complex, a son’s deep admiration for his mother, a mysterious jealousy, written as an extended metaphor that only a poet with the acumen and talent of Chico Buarque can create.

Written by Chico Buarque for the film about a lighthouse keeper and his daughter, “A Ostra e o Vento” (The Oyster and the Wind) was originally a slow modinha in 4/4. Perceiving a link with Jobim’s “Chovendo na Roseira” (Double Rainbow), Adolfo changed the meter to a 3/4 jazz waltz and added choro elements in the harmony. Singing wordlessly, aside from the word vento (wind), Carol Saboya brings to the song an elasticity of time and melody that only a superb jazz singer can manage, while Barata’s exquisite brushwork and Leo Amuedo’s penetrative guitar, strong in content and paced by a naturally legato rhythmic approach, echo the mood.

Bassist Jorge Helder is the veritable anchor mooring “Chicote,” an up-tempo baião with jazz features, written by Adolfo when he studied with Guerra-Peixe. Says Adolfo, “That motif was actually influenced by Chick Corea, which is why the title is “Chicote.” Notable among the solos are Amuedo’s, showing an unflagging inventive flow and sensitivity to shadings; and the swirling rhythmic currents of Barata’s loose-jointed and fluid contribution, its varied points of emphasis do not punctuate or calibrate time, but redirect our perception of its flow.

Adolfo has been a consistently inventive stylist since the mid-sixties. His piece for solo piano “Chorosa Blues,” a toada with elements of choro and Canção-Brasileira, develops ideas rooted in the work of both Buarque and Guinga. Taking the basis, the obvious affinities in these works, Adolfo unfolds a tune that starts where they left off and, demonstrating lyricism and restraint, achieves a brooding intensity which is very much his own, a sepia hue more finely honed than melancholy.

Written in 1975 by Chico Buarque and Paulo Pontes “Gota d’ Água” (Drop of Water) is from a theater piece inspired by the Greek tragedy Medea by Euripides, which tells the story of a betrayed woman’s revenge. Originally a Canção-Brasileira with a taste of samba-canção, Adolfo’s arrangement incorporates elements of the slow tempo samba-jazz played by the trios during the 60’s on Beco das Garrafas. The bass and piano solos, evocative and satisfying, remain largely faithful to the contours of the song’s melody. It is a wistful piece and wonderfully atmospheric.

Recorded on Guinga’s CD Suite Leopoldina and dedicated to Jorge Helder, “Di Menor” (Underage), with its muscular single-note lines and energetic chords, generates staggering harmonic and kinetic energy. It begins with the pandeiro setting up a choro/samba de gafieira groove, and moves toward samba jazz. All Barata’s trademarks are here: his mobility around the entire kit and his expert use of the auxiliary percussion to flesh out the texture and offset the soloists in the most provocative light. Both Adolfo and Amuedo solo, but their statements are kept brief to create constantly changing colors, character, and perspective.

“Catavento e Girassol” (Windmill and Sunflower), recorded on Guinga’s second CD, Delírio Carioca, is a toada with elements from choro and samba-canção. Inspired by the original lyrics by Aldir Blanc, which suggest a couple’s strained dialogue and drama, Adolfo’s instrumental arrangement has piano and guitar doubling the melody in the A section, but in the B section they are dialoguing solo lines. Adolfo’s are graceful and flowing, sometimes long and intricate. Amuedo’s display a controlled, yet assertive manner. The serpentine lament of Suzano’s cuíca adds suggestive depth.

The CD closes with the absolutely haunting “Morro Dois Irmãos” (Two Brothers Hill) from Chico Buarque’s eponymous CD. On this toada, fused with a slow tempo Canção-Brasileira and jazz elements (in the harmony and phrasing), Adolfo’s tone is as clear as his musical thinking. There are many finger-perfect pianists on tap, but those of Adolfo’s natural musicality are rare indeed. Everything in the molding of the phrase comes from within, from an instinct for decorative touches. Beautifully nuanced, his delivery is clean and sure. Sensitivity of this kind just can’t be programmed.

This recording has the authoritative ease in execution that only comes through complete mastery. There is never a routine or automatic moment in its attractively varied program. It has a freshness that derives in large part from the impeccable musicians with which Adolfo has surrounded himself, all with improvisatory egos nicely in check. These are highly professional sidemen with depth of feeling and no little commitment. Amuedo and Adolfo offer up a plethora of compelling solos, and the supple, ESP-like collaboration of percussionist Marcos Suzano, bassist Jorge Helder, and drummer Rafael Barata cement it all together.

Perhaps the disc’s single most impressive achievement is the way Adolfo preserved the purity of these beautiful and inspired melodies, many of which are unknown outside Brazil. Hearing these arrangements teases listeners to compare them with the originals and note how Adolfo has refined their expressivity. You can feel the frisson within the group as they work out on the arrangements. The entire program exhibits a flair for the melodic and is easy to listen to again and again. One of those recordings where new delights come tumbling out at each hearing, Chora Baião is engaging music immaculately played from one of Brazil’s unsung greats.

1. There is a predominance of baião and choro, but a fusion of styles should be acknowledged at all times since the binary forms–choro, baião, and samba–come rhythmically from similar sources that can be synthesized in the maracatu.

 Journalist, musician, and educator Bruce Gilman has served as music editor of Brazzil magazine, an online international publication based in Los Angeles, for more than a decade. During that time he has  written scores of articles on the most influential Brazilian artists and genres, program notes for festivals in the United States and abroad, numerous CD liner notes, and an essay, “The Politics of Samba,” that appeared in the Georgetown Journal. 

He is the recipient of three government grants that allowed him to research traditional music in China, India, and Brazil.  His articles on Brazilian music have been translated and published in Dutch, German, Portuguese, Serbian, and Spanish. You can reach him through his e-mail: cuica@interworld.net.

Apparently Coca-Cola believes that crisis is but an opportunity for growth, just like the Chinese do. And after Coca-Cola’s announcement, many other companies decided to change strategies and make even bigger investments than planned.

Brian Smith, Coca-Cola’s President in Brazil, told the Brazilian press that he is not concerned with the political crisis, because these come and go and do not last more than a year.

Smith reminded that Coca-Cola has been in Brazil for 63 years and the company would not let it go of a good business opportunity because of politics. And he went on to say that when Mexico had a crisis in 1995, Coca-Cola multiplied the investments and by the time the crisis was over they had 5% more in the market.

If there are good opportunities, crisis or not, one has to go and get them, he told reporters in Brazil. Coca-Cola is buying 82% of the juice company and 41% of the total capital.

In Brazil for over half a century, Coca-Cola has seen it all, from the suicide of a President, to another’s resignation and a military coup afterwards, not forgetting an impeachment.

But what really counts for Coca-Cola, is how much they sell. Brazil was number two in Coke drinking growth in the world. and it is also the third biggest market for Coca-Cola, losing only for the United States and Mexico.

Crisis come and goes and in the last few years, soft drinks market doubled in size. Brazilians used to drink 6 billion liters of soda pops a year and today this number doubled to 12 billion liters. After this crisis, which will also pass, Brazil will still be an excellent market for the industry.

The Brazilian Hero

Tetê Leal, the Coordinator of Coopa-Roca, the coop for seamstresses of Rocinha, the big favela in Rio, was chosen by the Skoll Foundation, to be featured in the new series “The new heroes,” a show about the life of social activists throughout the world.

The show will be presented by Robert Redford and was produced for PBS. The new series tells 12 dramatic stories of those who bring innovative, empowering solutions to major social problems around the world.

Coopa-Roca’s mission is to provide flexible employment opportunities to women from low income families of Rocinha, particularly single mothers to work from home. 

Major founding was provided by the Skoll Foundation, with additional support from Calvert and the flora Family Foundation. Coopa-Roca is an offshoot from a recycling project involving local children. The first group of women produced craft work from textile remnants using traditional Brazilian techniques.

Sorry, But I Have a Book Call…

Paulo Coelho, one of the best selling authors in the world has his eye on mobile phones. Not to call his friends, but to show his books.

The new possibilities of cell phones are seen by many as million-dollar promotion tools.

It was actually HarperCollins Publishers who had the idea, not Paulo Coelho himself, he just said yes, why not. The publishing company picked three best selling authors for a kick off promotion in Australia.

Anyone with a trip booked to Sidney, will be able to read Coelho’s new book Zahir over the phone. The same book that was banished from Iran. Meanwhile, Coelho sells millions more with all the buzz around the book and he does not complain.

The phone idea is leaving the book industry so excited that many are already ordering books especially written for reading on cell phones.

Whatever this means… would it be a ten sentence long page, a one page long chapter? One wonders what these books will be like. And the question that comes to mind is, would Fernando Pessoa, Shakespeare, Guimarães Rosa, Sylvia Plath, Virginia Wolf, Machado de Assis, Robertson Davies, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Victor Hugo, Walt Whitman, to only mention a few, write for the telephone? Maybe this is too conservative a feeling, but it does feel weird to read books on a cell phone, does it not?

On the music level, Brazilian rock singer/composer Lulu Santos is launching his new song “Pop Star” on a cell phone. That makes a lot more sense. By the time his CD reaches stores in September, millions will have heard the song between chitchat. But books?  It’s just the sign of times. They are a-changing…

Out Damned Guns, Out I Say…

Gone are the days when Charlton Heston became the world’s hero playing roles like Ben-Hur. The actor, now a senior citizen, decided to dedicate the rest of his life defending armed citizens.

Heston, who is the president of the NRA (National Rifle Association) in the U.S., and became a big lobbyist for the bellic industry, is going to Brazil to lead a campaign pro-guns before the plebiscite vote. Again here, sign of the times. This time, sad times.

Meanwhile, Varig Airlines is totally engaged in a meritorious campaign against guns, despite all the threats the air company has been getting since it made its position public. Too much money involved, which, for many, is more important than human lives.

More

* Architect Oscar Niemeyer was invited by Brazilian Ambassador in Cuba, Tilden Santiago, to visit Havana and take a look at the site where the new Brazilian Embassy will be built. The building was designed by Niemeyer, who declined the invitation. The old architect refuses to travel by air nowadays…

* Seu Jorge, the Brazilian singer from the film City of God is not a phenomenon only in Europe. In the U.S. he had a role in Hollywood acting with stars like Bill Murray and Angelica Houston and directed by Wes Anderson.

* Chico Buarque has three new DVDs in the market in Brazil, France and Italy. They are À Flor da Pele, Meu Caro Amigo and Vai Passar. Rich with Chico’s best songs, interviews and photos. Interviews for each DVD were done in different cities. À Flor da Pele was done in Paris, Meu Caro Amigo, in Rio, and Vai Passar, in Rome.

* Chico sings with other great people. With Caetano Veloso, they do songs they have written from the female viewpoint, like “Tatuagem” (by Chico and sung by Caetano), “Esse Cara” (by Caetano and sung by Chico). You cannot not have it!

* Carmen, a book by Ruy Castro about the life of Carmen Miranda, will be out in October. In November, the Museum of Modern Art in Rio will feature the exhibit “Carmen Miranda,” as a tribute to the singer-actress on the 50th anniversary of her death.

* Ruy Castro interviewed several people who knew Carmen before she left for the United States and retraces the artist’s life, clarifying some tales about her. Carmen was born in Portugal, raised in Brazil and made world famous in Hollywood and New York. The writer admits that after years researching, thinking and writing about Carmen full time, he has fallen completely in love with both, the artist and the woman.

* Varig Airlines will no longer have Executive class when flying inside Brazil.

* Telemundo, the Spanish version of NBC, is quietly approaching Brazilian soap opera experts. The idea is to import some of our screenwriters, directors and producers to help improve the quality of their work in the U.S. of A.

* Google just closed a huge deal with the Brazilian Internet market, buying Akwan, which also does specific search. The deal is part of Google’s plan to invest US$ 25 million dollars in Brazil in 4 years.

* Micayork was an event planned to happen on August 13. But it had to be postponed to October because one of its honor guests, Carina Bedushi, Miss Brazil, was not granted a visa to fly to the U.S. Now misses, those cute creatures who all pray for peace in the world are a threat too? Will she get a visa? Will she not? With the system of no criteria in American consulates, we might just need daisies…

Clara Angelica Porto is a Brazilian bilingual journalist living in New York. She went to school in Brazil and at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Clara is presently working as the English writer for The Brasilians, a monthly newspaper in Manhattan. Comments welcome at clara.angelica@gmail.com.

Brazil rejected 48 million dollars from the US to use in AIDS programs. The reason was the condition imposed. In order to take the money, Brazilian government would have to make a public statement against prostitution and prevent prostitutes from participating in the program.

Aids Federal Program Director Pedro Chequer refused the money remarking that “fundamentalism and Manichaeism do not control Aids.”

The money, which was supposed to be paid in installments until 2008 to cover around 3% of the total cost of the program, will be replaced by the Brazilian government and other friendly countries.

If They Can Do It, So Can We…

President Lula is going to suggest to Brazilian musicians to follow in the steps of Lenny Kravitz and George Benson. The two donated instruments to a benefit auction for the Zero Hunger program in Brazil.

Kravitz guitar was sold for US$ 137,000 (322,000 reais) and the money will be used to build 230 cisterns, much needed during the draught in Northeast Brazil.

Lula was heard saying that if Brazilians could pay that much money for an instrument that belonged to an American musician, how much more they would not be willing to pay for a guitar that belonged to Baden Powell.

Of course.

The French Are Taking Over

When President Lula bought the AeroLula from France, everybody booed. After all, 56 million for a luxury airplane seemed a bit too high for a country whose main project is called Zero Hunger. But things are turning out pretty good, to say the least.

When Monsieur Jean Paul Ardide closed the sale, Brazilians had on a big smile. French government paid the bill and Brazil will only start making payments to France in 10 years. The two countries also made an agreement for investment and exchange of mutual interests. And it is happening already. Few examples:

French Airbus opened in São José dos Campos a manufacturer of airplane parts, a US$ 3 million investment, as part of the agreement.

Michelin is building a new factory in Rio de Janeiro for giant tires. And there is much more coming.

A representative from Jean Nouvel, the office that projected the Guggenheim in Rio (the unending story with no result, remember?), went to Rio in the middle of May to discuss details for the installation of a branch of the Pompidou Center in The Marvelous City.

Slimane Zeghidour, from TV5 went to Brasília to interview Lula for a special to be aired in three parts by TV5, RFI radio and the magazine Paris Match.

L’Occitane, the French beauty brand is opening a spa in Rio so fancy that it includes an H. Stern store.

And last, but not least, there is the recent business deal closed between the French Casino group and Brazilian food giant Pão de Açúcar.

Casino started buying slowly, in 1999. Pão de Açúcar made many investments within Brazil since that time, including the acquisition of the Sendas group.

Now Casino bought 50%, leaving Abílio Diniz (68), respected as a monster in business, as commander-in-chief for the next eight years.

France and Brazil have been exchanging mutual admiration for centuries. Now they are doing good business together.

With mutual respect, without the condescending spirit that sometimes seem to lead some business deals between first and third world countries.

In other words, the French are not threatening with unationalizing the companies, they accept that they should remain Brazilian, with a Brazilian cultural behavior.

So everybody wins and no one feels like they did good business and made money but were somehow robbed of something important.

The Sharp Eye of a Filmmaker…

Brazilian film director Andrucha Waddington, who has a new movie out with mother/daughter actors Fernanda Montenegro and Fernanda Torres, “Casa de Areia” (House of Sand), made a complaint to former Minister José Dirceu during the meeting with artists and producers of art.

His request was a new rule should be applied before one is eligible for tax exemption for investing in culture and the arts using the Rouanet Law, that makes sure part of the money used for cultural projects should go outside the institution’s own programs. come around from one place and back to the same place.

According to the filmmaker, Bank Itaú had a profit of R$ 3.7 billion, but should use R$ 30 million for cultural projects. Wonderful, if these numbers went beyond Itaú’s own cultural projects, which is not the case.

The young director said that Brazilian entrepreneurs should make a serious commitment to the country’s cultural production as opposed to concentrating on their own bellybuttons. Oops!

Good Business with Pomp and Circumstance

One of the most important names in the design industry is Brazilian. This is what one gets from the International Salon of Design Furniture in Milan. The Campana brothers now pose together as top favorites with Phillipe Stark, Karim Rashid and Jean Nouvel

Like in the fashion world, today’s furniture designers become celebrities themselves, distributing autographs, posing for photographs and dealing with a lot of press.

As good businessmen who want to move their business on even further, they talk to all, charm those who seem to need it and go on as top designers selling their furniture all over the places for expressive amounts.

The two brothers closed their first international deal with the famous Italian furniture factory Edra, seven years ago. Now that the Campanas became famous and are wanted by so many, Edra has the privilege to present one new and exclusive piece every year.

Last year, it was the chair Favela, made of pieces of wood recovered from trash, which was a tremendous success with both public and critic. Favela chairs became the thing to have in certain European circles.

In 2005 the Campanas gave Edra a winner table called Brasília. It has a glass top, but a very unusual one. It is made of irregular pieces of mirror, cut one by one forming a mosaic of reflections.

The table caused a blast. On top of this it still features Niemeyer’s buildings curves, a tribute paid by the designers to Brasília’s main architect and the predominant shapes of the capital of Brazil.

Gay Tourism in Important Destinations

Like New York, Rio de Janeiro is becoming a chosen place for American and European gays. At the Annual Convention of the Tourism Association for Gays and Lesbians, recently held in Germany, Rio was chosen to host the next event, winning over Madrid and São Paulo.

400 gays are expected to attend the Convention in May of 2007. Gay tourists are among those who do most spending, very much loved by resorts, hotels, fine restaurants and stores. They are also known for being loyal customers to those who give them special and unprejudiced attention.

The Client Is Always Right…

A cock spaniel was given a deluxe suite at a fancy hotel in Brasília during the Arab and South American leaders meeting in May. The staff waited on the pet with joy, the tips were very gratifying.

Besides, this was no usual pet – the dog was taken to the meeting to detect the presence of bombs in the hotel. Prevention is never too much. Pleasing the Arabs was not easy, though.

Jalal Talabani, Iraq’s President, did not like the installations of the hotel booked for him and transferred to a different one. The new hotel did its best to please the man. Red carpet and even a prayer room with magnetic needles pointing to Mecca, the Muslims’ sacred city.

Another hotel changed the decoration of two rooms, bringing in antique furniture to fit Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani and Argelia’s President Bouteflika’s tastes. And it was not the only one to do so.

One Arab leader brought all 25 wives and occupied a whole floor in a fancy hotel. Even Moroccan cooks were hired to adapt Brazilian food to the Arabs, who, by the way, loved Brazil’s tropical fruits.

Over 500 workers of the hospitality industry in Brasília received cultural training by specialists brought all the way from Dubai. Everything to please the client. Who, by the way, is always right.

Seniors Avant Garde…

Brazilian Congress is voting a law supposed to open many doors to senior citizens. According to the new law, they can attend college in public universities without taking the required entrance exams.

Ironically, the bill was introduced by a conservative Senator, known as ‘Coronel,’ who defends his position saying that “we will have a better country with seniors in school.”

The idea is great, because life experience means knowledge and wisdom. But the subject brings up a question: Will Brazilian public universities be able to keep openings for all involved, the young people seeking the universities to build up a future and all the old people who will go to school to make their presents better? Food for thought…

Tom Wolfe Learns How to Samba in Rio

Tom Wolfe arrived in Rio May 11 to open the International Biennial of Book. First thing he did was to ask his Brazilian editor, Paulo Rocco, to introduce him to Brazilian music. So it was done. Wolfe, between lectures and books, was seen sambaing around Lapa. He just ‘faced the music and danced…’

While in Rio, Tom Wolfe signed autographs for his book “I am Charlotte Simmons,” a 700 page novel about life in a fictional university campus in Pennsylvania, in an hedonistic environment of much alcohol and casual sex.

Wolfe surprised journalists revealing his vote for Bush. He said Clinton had the charm but Bush was the soldier who would make history if he succeeds in taking democracy to Arab countries.

Tom Wolfe wore white suits every day during the week he was in Rio and said that he would give Sigmund (Freud) a call to ask the reason for the obsession, if he were alive.

He was entertained about the curiosity around his white suits in Brazil. He hinted that even though he plans to write about the question of status in Brazil, regional differences would make a wonderful subject for a story.

The journalist declared himself a fan of Brazilian sociologist and writer Gilberto Freyre, and talked about the future of literature in his opening conference, saying that the best books written in the XX Century were non-fictional.

Wolfe showed that he knew more about Brazil than anyone could imagine. He even asked singer-songwriter Lulu Santos for his newest DVD at a party where the two sat and talked and became best buddies in the blink of an eye.

Wolfe was one of the first writers of the so-called new journalism, a more sophisticated and rich style that uses rules of literature for non-fictional writing.

About the heritage of the movement, he said on an exclusive interview to Veja magazine that “movements that bring ‘new’ in the name tend to age poorly.” Although New Journalism is still used in books, there is very little left in newspapers and magazines.

Editors seem to favor short and non-sophisticated texts, because of a belief that today’s youth has limited attention. Wrong, said Wolfe, who believes that young people do not care for reading only if the subject bores them.

Tom Wolfe went to Brazil after his son Tony talked to him enthusiastically about the country. Tony, an Art-History student who loves to surf, was in Jundiaí, in the interior of São Paulo state, recently on vacation and fell in love with Brazilian beaches.

That was enough to make the father decide to visit a country that, for a long time, has called his attention. The rest was a matter of contacts between editors to make the proper arrangements. Like opening the International Biennial of Book.

About Rio, Wolf said: It’s surrealistic!

Brazilian Is Cannes Winner

Cannes CinéFondation winner was “Buy it Now,” a film that tells the story of a 16 year old New Yorker who loses her virginity through the Internet.

The creative mind behind the winning movie belongs to Antônio Campos, Brazilian student of film at NYU (New York University). Antônio is Lucas Mendes’ (Globo International’s Manhattan Connection) and promoter Rose Ganguzza’s son.

Two Brazilian movies participated in Cannes in the category of films by students, CinéFondation, competing with 16 other films.

CinéFondation had Edward Yang, Chantal Akerman, Sylvie Testud, Colin MacCabe and Yousry Nasrallah as jurors.

The second prize was shared by “Vdvoyom” (A Deux), a film from La Fémis in France, and “Bikur Holim,” a film by Maya Dreifuss, from Tel Aviv University, in Israel.

The third prize was also shared, by Roland Edzrd for “La Plaine” from Le Fresnoy in France, and another New Yorker, Sameh Zoabi, a Columbia University student, with “Be Quiet.”

Toninho Horta Produces George Benson

Toninho Horta is producing the new George Benson album. Benson was doing a show in Toninho’s hometown Belo Horizonte and during rehearsal, one of his musicians needed a guitar.

A local producer contacted Toninho to solve the problem and when Benson heard the name, promptly said he would speak to him in person. In fact, Benson wanted to invite Horta for the show and to meet up afterwards.

When the two met, Benson asked Horta to play and show his new compositions. The invite and the yes came instantly, almost at the same time. Horta was given freedom to choose the band and Benson also handed him the repertoire so he could make the arrangements.

They played together and it was in great spirits that they recorded in São Paulo. They will finish recording in July in Los Angeles, after Horta returns from a tour in Europe. George Benson’s new CD with Toninho Horta shall be released by the end of the year. With lots of Brazilian swing in it.

The Brazilian of the Century

Chico Buarque was elected The Brazilian of the Century by French newspaper “Le Monde.” The most important newspaper in France had 10 pages on Chico’s literary and musical work on its May 19 issue.

Chico is getting bigger by the minute. For the US, after the success of “Budapest,” he is producing secretly, well, not so secretly anymore, a CD with his songs translated to English interpreted by several Brazilian singers.

“Photograph in Black and White,” “Without Fantasy,” “Eye in Eye,” “Golden Years” are some of the songs that already have English lyrics.

Smile, Chico, smile…

Gilberto Gil Honored in Stockholm

Gilberto Gil, songwriter/singer from Bahia, who is presently the Minister of Culture in Brazil, received an award for life achievement in music in Stockholm in May. Names like Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney have been honored with the same award in previous years.

According to Rio daily “O Globo”’s Ancelmo Gois, Gil did a moving solo rendition of “Flora,” written for his wife, who could not be present. Flora Gil was attacked by gunmen two weeks earlier and needed surgery. Flora is now recovered and Gil, a happier man.

Banned Can Be Good

Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho is one of the best selling authors in the world. He has sold over 65 million books all over the continents.

Few weeks ago in May, Coelho had his latest novel, “Zahir,” prohibited in Iran. His editor was questioned by local authorities to explain the book, chosen as the greatest attraction at the country’s most important international book fair.

Paulo Coelho had chosen Iran to do the international launch of the book, which had already sold 2 thousand copies before banned.

The writer is not a bit worried with Iran’s authorities decision. It only built even greater expectations around the book, which is now expected to be the best seller of the best-selling author.

Drops * Drops * Drops

* President Bush will go to Brazil in November. Great news.

* President Lula is having a hard time with the crisis of the “monthly contributions” (mensalões) allegedly made by his working party’s financial director. PSDB’s members (former President Fernando Henrique’s party), have been showing a dignified attitude, by not taking advantage of the situation. Minas’ governor Aécio Neves said “Lula is not Collor.”

* Rio de Janeiro will host the World Forum of Culture in 2006. Well done.

* The fastest growing air company in Brazil, Gol, started its first international flight to Buenos Aires. It will soon start flights to Europe and US.

* Varig will cancel several flights to US and Europe. One grows and the other shrinks.

*The Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN) is opening branches in Venezuela, Paraguay, Bolivia and Colombia. Up to now, it only had offices in Argentina and U.S. ABIN is also reestablishing contact with DGI, the secret Cuban police.

* Russia has given Brazil its support in the fight for a permanent seat with the UN Security Council. Much obliged, President Lula will go to Russia in October to hear it from President Putin in person.

* Voice of America, the radio station funded by the U.S. to take the American message worldwide, is closing its office in Brazil, located at the Botanic Garden in Rio. Jim Temple, correspondent in the Caribbean, flew from Miami to take care of moving the equipment.

* Bill Clinton praised Brazil’s Aids program four times during a lecture he gave at Brown University on the second week of May.

* Heitor Villa-Lobos will have a monument in Helsinki, Finland. Rio’s Mayor César Maia was invited by Helsinki’s mayor. Why Rio’s mayor? Because there is a monument for Sibelius, the Finish conductor, in Rio.

* According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Brazil has the greatest number of counties in the world, 5,562. Japan is next, (3,230), and US (3,141).

* Afroreggae does it again. Brazilian filmmaker Cacá Diegues is directing a movie based on the story of the group, produced by Hermano Vianna. Afroreggae and its band leader Anderson Sá were the theme of the documentary “Favela Rising,” winner of the Tribeca Film Festival.

* Fiction Planet, the band, was in Natal, northeast Brazil, at the end of May.. For those who do not know, the band’s guitar player, Joe Summer, is the son of Gordon Matthew Summer. Gordon who? Better said: Sting is the daddy who proudly attended the concert.

Clara Angelica Porto is a Brazilian bilingual journalist living in New York. She went to school in Brazil and at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Clara is presently working as the English writer for The Brasilians, a monthly newspaper in Manhattan. Comments welcome at clara.angelica@gmail.com.

As regular readers of the Brazzil website know, I have a profound interest in, and deep admiration for, music of all kinds and from every conceivable category, as evidenced by the number of articles I’ve written on the subject over the past year-and-a-half.

This fondly felt appreciation for the performing arts was instilled in me at an early age, and which my wife in turn has cultivated to an even higher degree in the years we’ve been together.

I’m glad to report, then, that this passion for all things musical has been handed to my high-school-age daughters, who, as luck would have it, have been blessed with beautiful voices, have sung in the school choir, have learned to play the keyboard, and can boast of artistic abilities we all hope will serve them well in the years to come.

Having myself been born in the high-rise district of São Paulo, I’ve often wondered if other musically inclined Brazilian families have experienced the same phenomenon of passing this gift of a previous generation’s genetically entwined talents down to their descendants.

That thought gave rise recently just as Maria Rita, the daughter of celebrated MPB star Elis Regina, mounted the dais to accept the Fifth Annual Latin Grammy Award for Best New Artist and Best Música Popular Brasileira Album.

Her late mother would have been pleased, I’m sure, had she lived to see Maria Rita’s triumph as she won these well-merited honors.

But what of the fate of other children of great Brazilian artists, who are they, and what has become of their fleeting chances at putting a personal stamp on their own individual accomplishments?
 
Nowadays, the endless possibilities for “fame” in general have greatly multiplied, given the proliferation of the Worldwide Web, digital photography, desktop publishing, instant messaging, chat-lines, and more.

These and other so-called modern conveniences, not to mention the latest round of reality TV programming, have allegedly conspired to make it a lot easier for simple folk like us to make it in the entertainment industry.  

But being the possessor of a well-known moniker, however, or a relative with an estimable lineage just might get that window of opportunity lifted a bit higher for you than it normally would for your average Joe – at least, that’s the public perception.

In any case, it’s talent that counts, or so they say, and it’s worth paying a visit to some of the major and minor ones out there, born to fabulously rich (in ability) musical families, so as to put this hypothesis to the test.

Brotherly Love

Beginning with the tropicalismo movement of the late 1960s, there is no better sampling of sedate professional rivalry than the affection shown by pop singer Caetano Veloso for his younger sister, Maria Bethânia, both of who come from the Northeastern town of Santo Amaro da Purificação, in the state of Bahia.

They have shared the musical spotlight on numerous occasions, and, to their mutual benefit, have kept up a reasonably amicable working relationship on and off the world stage for nearly forty years; if anyone knows of an incident where this has not regularly been the case, please let me know. 

In point of fact, there is some historical precedence for this behavior in the effervescent nightclub routines of Carmen and Aurora Miranda, who at one time had appeared together at the Cassino da Urca in Rio de Janeiro during the early thirties.

While Carmen later hit it big in Hollywood wartime musicals, little sister Aurora managed to sustain her own, not insignificant solo career; some condescending old-timers even insisted she had a lovelier singing voice than her more vivacious sibling. 

For those interested in making the comparison, Aurora sings and sambas, along with Walt Disney characters Donald Duck and Zé Carioca, in the colorful cartoon spectacular The Three Caballeros from 1945.

Its stunning visual design and zany, surreal presentation predates the Beatles’ own animated foray, Yellow Submarine (1968), by a full generation. 

From Tinsel Town we journey further eastward, to the core of the Big Apple, New York City, the incongruous birthplace of Brazilian pop stylist Bebel Gilberto.

Bebel has carved out an impressive niche for herself as a sophisticated interpreter and original composer of bossa nova, a style of music mastered long ago by her curmudgeon of a paterfamilias, vocalist-guitarist João Gilberto, one of the few living legends still active in the field today, and an artist who spent considerable time in the States as a previous resident of the borough of Manhattan.

Her mother, Carioca singer Miúcha, is the Bahian musician’s second wife and the sister of another famous celebrity, lyricist and composer Chico Buarque de Hollanda – so much for impeccable pop credentials!

A bold proponent of the current trends in Brazilian popular music, Bebel is considered by fans to be an integral part of the contemporary “new wave” of local performers to have made a market splash here, as her marvelous compact disc debut, Tanto Tempo from 2000, pleasantly proved.

For this inaugural work she was nominated for a Latin Grammy in 2001, and, talk about déjà vu, in the same artistic categories that Maria Rita competed in. Her follow-up album, the self-titled Bebel Gilberto (Six Degrees, 2004), continues to push the musical envelope in newer and more dynamic directions – with a hint of electronica thrown in for good measure.

Its success in the jazz and pop spheres has aided immeasurably in increasing the exposure and vitality of modern bossa nova at a time of decreasing interest and lagging record sales.

Another in a long line of inspired natives of Bahia is the incomparable Dorival Caymmi, whose prolific song output has served as the melodic equivalent to the literary works of novelist Jorge Amado.

Dorival has sired several exceptionally gifted offspring of his own that include singer-guitarist Dori Caymmi, songstress Nana Caymmi, and flutist Danilo Caymmi.

While most jazz buffs may only be familiar with the first of these performers, each has contributed his or her own fair share of talent toward keeping their father’s surname alive and well in the minds of music lovers on both hemispheres.

In fact, Dori has often been featured as an artist, instrumentalist, arranger, composer and producer on an incredible variety of studio releases over the last thirty years alone.

Apropos of his versatility, Caymmi enjoys a formidable reputation among smooth jazz colleagues David Benoit, Larry Coryell, Don and Dave Grusin, and many others, as a highly competent and in-demand session player.

His distinctively mellow baritone voice, reminiscent of his father’s unique timbre, can be heard on the soundtrack to the 1990 Sydney Pollack-Robert Redford film Havana, issued by GRP Records. Dori also shows up, in the flesh, on CTI’s Larry Coryell: Live from Bahia (1991), singing his own delectable mid-seventies composition, “Gabriela’s Song.”

Older sister Nana is no slouch, either, in the song department, as demonstrated by her lyrical partnership with Chico Buarque on the sensitively intoned “Até Pensei,” written by Chico, to be found on her EMI album Nana Caymmi – Resposta ao Tempo (1998).

The ballad is a highlight, too, of Mr. Buarque’s more current compilation of cuts from 2002 entitled Duetos, on the RCA/BMG label, produced by longtime associate Vinicius França.

Included on the disc with Chico is the Jobim-de Moraes work, “Sem Você,” taken from the songbook Vinicius de Moraes (1993), with the ever-popular Rio-born musician, Tom Jobim, at the piano. 

Papai Sabe Tudo (Father Knows Best)

As one of Brazil’s most widely respected and best-loved bossa nova practitioners, Antonio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim was himself the proud parent of similarly endowed children, namely his son, Paulo, and daughter, Elizabeth Jobim, an established artisan and painter in her own right.

All of them, including second wife Ana Beatriz Lontra, were prominently displayed with Danilo Caymmi and his spouse, Simone, on the CD/Video program Rio Revisited, in the JazzVisions series of concerts put out by Verve-PolyGram in 1989.

Filmed at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, California, in 1987, this remarkable live event captured the still expressive Jobim – many pounds heavier than what we remember from his youthful, carefree visage – basking in the familial atmosphere, with these two tuneful clans providing the harmonious backdrop to his most enticing creations.

Presciently, Tom’s broad musical influence and reach would extend far beyond his homegrown Brazilian brood.

Indeed, three of the more “junior” members of this elite gathering, i.e. guitarist Paulo Jobim; cellist Jaques Morelenbaum, whose claim to fame was as Caetano Veloso’s musical director, in addition to having been a frequent collaborator with Jobim Sr. on several recording projects; and his vocalist wife, Paula Morelenbaum, went on to form the Quarteto Jobim-Morelenbaum after the composer’s 1994 passing.

It consisted as well of Paulo’s own son and Jobim’s musical heir apparent, pianist and singer Daniel Cannetti Jobim. One could say that this latter-day jazz-chamber ensemble had taken up the late and much-lamented Carioca’s performance mantle where he literally had left off.  

Their year 2000 recording debut, Quarteto Jobim-Morelenbaum (Velas Records), and an ensuing American and European tour, were both a popular and critical success. The album’s exceedingly erudite liner comments by Caetano, however, were not very idiomatically translated from the original Portuguese and struck the sole sour note.

And speaking of Caetano, his son, Moreno, has also turned up of late in a musically eclectic group format of his own, called Moreno Veloso + 2, on the Ryko-Palm release Music Typewriter from 2001.

The other key players associated with the CD were multi-instrumentalists Domenico Lancelloti and Alexandre Kassin, with Moreno himself on guitar, percussion, and cello.

In his youth, the now thirty-something Veloso the Younger had toured frequently with his dad, and served as musical accompanist to such illustrious pop luminaries as Gilberto Gil and Carlinhos Brown.

With this kind of background, it should come as no surprise that the most offbeat item to emanate from his Typewriter is straight out of left field and reads like some esoteric producer’s worst nightmare: Moreno launches into a vocal duet, with guest artist Daniel Jobim, on the Churchill/Morley tune, “I’m Wishing,” from the 1937 Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the lines sung alternately in English and Portuguese.

Exactly what kind of statement Moreno wanted to make with this rather oddball piece escapes me; it could, moreover, represent a personal thumbing of his proboscis at the poor state of pop music per se, or whatever else his fertile mind might have conjured up at the time.

Either way, it was a decisive move on his part to have taken this more individualistic song route, much as his own father had done decades before him.

And we’re not done yet, as the ubiquitous Daniel crops up once again on jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli’s newest recorded entry, Bossa Nova on Telarc (2004), the latest stateside contribution to an already crowded platform.

In a salute to the genre’s pioneer, João Gilberto, the American-born Pizzarelli (himself the son of famed guitar-picker Bucky Pizzarelli) has his Brazilian counterpart, Daniel Jobim, perform the background vocals and Portuguese lyrics to his grandfather’s classic tune, “The Girl from Ipanema” – now that’s what I call entertainment nepotism!

Another welcome guest on several of the album’s tracks is none other than pianist, composer and producer Cesar Camargo Mariano, the talented former-husband of singer Elis Regina, which brings this genealogical survey full circle.

All of these diverse musical examples seem to share a common trait: they’re not just empty coincidences, but illustrate instead the vast interconnectedness of the Brazilian artistic experience.

Taken as a whole, they proclaim to one and all the sheer joy gregarious Brazilians get out of participating in life’s continuous songfest – with its firm and steady grounding in the sounds and rhythms of that most captivating of Latin countries, the always musically-exhilarating Brazil.

Joe Lopes, a naturalized American citizen born in Brazil, was raised and educated in New York, where he worked for many years in the financial sector. In 1996, he moved to Brazil with his Brazilian wife and daughters. In January 2001, he returned to the U.S. and now resides in North Carolina with his family. He is a lover of all types of music, especially opera and jazz, as well as an incurable fan of classic and contemporary films. You can email your comments to JosmarLopes@msn.com.

Copyright © 2004 by Josmar F. Lopes