In 2000 I reviewed Fato's Oquelatá Quelateja album for Luna Kafé (read review below). The album, the fourth for the group, created a stir in the Brazilian press. Daily newspaper O Globo called the attention to producers and record labels in Brazil to "pay attention to the sound coming from Curitiba," capital city of the Brazilian southern state of Paraná. Jornal do Brasil hailed Fato as a "positive surprise... with its sound from the south." Outside Brazil, Backstage, Guitar Player as well as radio stations were all tuning to the music created by Fato.

Formed in 1994, Fato released Oquelatá Vivo in 2002. The songs in the album were recorded live in shows in Curitiba and São Paulo. With the strong visual and sonorous appeal their music contains, this live recording captures the vibrancy that a studio recording cannot grasp. The songs in the album are a retrospective of the group's trajectory and its four previous releases. The emphasis on the fandango folkloric tradition and heavy percussion is evident is several tracks, such as in the rousing opener "A Noite," "Feito Frase Feita" -- with its beautiful flamenco sound and guitar work -- "Ouro" and others. Being a live album, it is expected that some arrangements are bolder. "Kismet," for example, has more electronic instruments added to the bouncy samba beat. I must say that in contrast with the studio version, the one here rocks. I cannot imagine anyone standing still while listening and seeing these guys play that tune. Of course the album could not possibly finish without two of Fato's biggest hits, "Encharque" and "Valadares."

If you have never heard this group, it is a hard choice to pick between Oquelatá Quelateje and Oquelatá Vivo. For starters, though, perhaps the live album is a better choice since it shows more of the music of this phenomenal group. For more information about this group, please visit its multilingual home page and enjoy their music.

E.L.

Brazilian music for the new century is what you will hear in Fato's third album, Oquelatá Quelateje. The album title, a made-up phrase with multiple meanings, shows up front the proposition of this group from the southern Brazilian state of Paraná. Innovation and tradition mix in a multicolored embroidery of sounds. The alliance of various musical traditions add to the melting pot that Brazilian music represents. Fato's music is most definitely unique, and that is precisely what the group had envisioned and accomplished so well with this prodigious album.

Produced by Rodolfo Stroeter, who has also worked with Gilberto Gil and Mônica Salmaso, Oquelatá Quelateje is the work of a dynamic group of musicians. Their diverse backgrounds clearly exemplifies the richness of the music they make. Their songs have world appeal and are also unequivocally Brazilian. The band is Grace Torres (keyboards), Ulisses Galetto (bass), Zé Loureiro Neto (drums), Gilson Hidetaka Fukushima (guitar), Babi Farah (voice), Alexandre Nero (voice), and Priscila Graciano (percussion). Their music is a feast for your ears and mind. Intricate harmonies are the background for elaborate lyrics.

The album opens with the overwhelming "Valadares," a song about an island off the coast of Paraná. Composed by band bassist Ulisses Galetto, that track is most likely the essence of the album. It grabs you instantly with the introductory rabeca sampler. That countryside feeling suddenly gives way to electric guitars and the sound of handclapping and foot stomping. Your senses are now in total ecstasy. You are experiencing the old Paraná tradition known as "fandango." Fandango is a dance of Spanish origin and influenced by the Brazilian native Carijós. Using wooden clogs to keep the beat of the song and adding handclapping along with fiddles and violas, the result is stunningly breathtaking. The fandango theme is again elaborated in the next track, "Encharque." Linking different threads of Brazilian history and culture - slavery, dance, rhythm, candomblé, and capoeira - "Encharque" once again reverberates with rhythmic pulsation. This odyssey of images and sounds continues track after track. With the polyphonous "Vozes," Fato takes us to a time that is yet to come, a time of harmony and world peace conceptualized in music. The addition of a Balinese chorus is all very entrancing. With "Kismet," the sound of Brazilian "tamborins" is sharp and stimulating. The lyrics argue about what is normal is unequal. The last verse is a summary of life's quest: what can you do in order to live?

Oquelatá Quelateje is an experience that goes beyond the music. The words are deep and rich in meaning, a true reflection of life. Whether conjecturing about human lives or one's destiny, Fato delivers its message with jubilation.

For more information about this group, please visit its multilingual home page and enjoy their music.

E.L.