Rousing Sounds
Fato’s Oquelatá Quelateja 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.
ALBUM INFORMATION
Fato
Oquelatá Vivo
OQ Produções OQ01 (2002)
Time: 52’01”
Tracks:
- A Noite (Ulisses Galetto – Grace Torres – Sandrão Fernandes)
- De (Antonio Saraiva)
- Istmo (Gilson Fukushima – Ulisses Galetto)
- Feito Frase Feita (Ulisses Galetto – Eduardo Hoffmann)
- Odisséia (Ulisses Galetto – Antonio Saraiva)
- Beira do Samba (Rodrigo Campello – Antonio Saraiva)
- Kismet (Ulisses Galetto)
- Ouro (Antonio Saraiva)
- Agora Fogo Mordido (Ulisses Galetto – Ricardo Pedrosa Alves)
- Passantes (Luiz Antonio Fidalgo)
- Baía-Rio (Antonio Saraiva – Pedro Ribeiro)
- A Língua Por Ela Mesma (Jana Mundana – Fábio Tavares)
- Morrer de Bem (Rodrigo Campello – Suely Mesquita)
- Foz (Grace Torres – Marcelo Sandmann)
- Encharque (Alexandre Nero)
- Valadares (Ulisses Galetto)
