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Celso Fonseca (1956, Rio de Janeiro) definitely is among the
most demanded guitarists in Brazilian music. He has worked with
numerous of Brazil's stars, like Gal
Costa, Simone, Milton
Nascimento, Djavan, Caetano
Veloso, Rita
Lee, Marisa
Monte, Ney
Matogrosso and Chico Buarque. In the past decade, Celso also
has had his focus on a solo career as a vocalist, guitarist and
composer. His trilogy of bossa nova inspired albums is an example
of his well documented craftsmanship. (Juventude / Slow Motion
Bossa Nova in
2001, Natural in 2003 and Rive
Gauche Rio in 2005).
Since Celso Fonseca makes records for the Belgian label Crammed,
he frequently visits the Lowlands (Holland and Belgium). This time
Celso and his band also performed at the somewhat pompous concert
hall of the old Flagey theatre complex in Brussels, Belgium. |
The warm voice and the acoustic guitar of Celso Fonseca were
accurately accompanied by three laurelled musicians. On keyboards
was Jorjão
Barreto, who, besides having worked with many of the big names in
MPB, also was a band member from respectively Banda Black Rio, Batacotô and
recently the Gospel band Rota 33. His inspired presence proved to
match very well with musical ideas of Celso Fonseca. With his playful
piano style, he made the music sound a bit more frivolous and jazzy. |
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Jorjão was skillfully supported by bassist Guto Wirtti. Guto
is from Frederico Westfalen, a city in Brazil’s southern state
of Rio Grande do Sul. He studied Afro-Brazilian music, which clearly
enriched his bass style. Currently he plays in the band of acoustic
guitar wizard Yamandú Costa. |
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Also from the south of Brazil, Pelotas (Rio Grande do Sul), comes
drummer Alex Fonseca. He has worked in various musical styles with
Pepeu Gomes (rock), Vitor Ramil (milonga), Fausto Fawcet (alternative)
and Leo
Gandelman (mainstream jazz) among others. |
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The music for this evening was mainly chosen from Celso's two
most recent releases for Crammed. The fellow musicians generously got
a chance to shine, mostly during the few instrumentals. Vinícius
de Moraes and Baden Powells' "Consolação" featured
an inspired piano solo, followed by an even inspired bass solo, while
drummer Alexander Fonseca indulged his passion during the song's
final bars. The character of the concert gained an international touch
by a few songs in English, while a few solo performances added to the
variety during the concert. It all resulted in a wonderful evening
of beautiful performed bossa inspired music by a musician who deserves
much more attention!


K.S.
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