:: Reviewing Brazilian Music We Like Since September 7, 2002 ::
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Seeing and Experiencing the Magic! In existence since 1994, the group Fato has called Curitiba, the capital city of the southern state of Paraná in Brazil, its home. With five CDs released and nine live shows to date, the … Continued
The Birth of Brazilian Contemporary Music Composer, maestro and cellist Heitor Villa-Lobos (Rio de Janeiro, 1887-1959) is internationally known as Brazil’s most important composer. Ethnomusicologist Gerard Béhague described Villa-Lobos as “the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian … Continued
A Confirmation of Good Taste Guitarists Ricardo Silveira and Vinícius Cantuária share an unconditional love for musical traditions. Yet this collaboration comes as a nice surprise. Ricardo Silveira (Rio de Janeiro, 1956) spent some time in Boston to study … Continued
Vinícius de Moraes: A Centennial Celebration! This podcast was produced to honor the centennial birthday of Vinícius de Moraes. He was born in Rio de Janeiro, RJ, on October 19, 1913, and passed away in Rio de Janeiro, RJ, on … Continued
A New Vinícius… After dedicating albums to the music of Villa-Lobos, Tom Jobim, Baden Powell and Moacir Santos, Mario Adnet decided to showcase the compositions of Vinícius de Moraes with other maestros. In Vinícius & Os Maestros the listener will not … Continued
A Loving Tribute and Celebration To celebrate Vinícius de Moraes centennial birthday on October 19, 2013, I spent a month listening to many recordings in his vast career. I heard gems such as his album with Portuguese Fado legendary … Continued
For the Love of Paradise Is there a more beautiful way to remember the sound of the late Márcio Montarroyos (1949 – 2007) than to hear him play the muted trumpet on the opening track of Liebe Paradiso? And … Continued
Musical Images of Brazil’s Interior Brazil is huge. Quite an obvious observation of course, but after listening to this album by Conversa Ribeira, one is confronted with that fact in an impressive way. Samba, bossa, forró, axé, choro, name … Continued
A Bountiful Garden! Here is one artist who is comfortable in any genre. André Mehmari has recorded with choro mandolin master Hamilton de Holanda (check out their latest collaboration, GismontiPascoal), jazz clarinetist Gabriele Mirabassi (the beautiful Miramari) and partnered with vocalist Ná Ozzetti for an … Continued
Affectionately Gratifying! Pianist extraordinaire, composer, arranger, singer and multi-instrumentalist André Mehmari (Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, 1977) has been wowing audiences worldwide with his diverse musical background and proficiency. I was one of those lucky audience members to experience André’s … Continued
With a Little Help from His Friends… — São Paulo native acoustic guitarist, composer and arranger Edu Leal released his first solo album in 2011. Vida Nova bridged Edu Leal’s instrumental music experience with new songs. Writing, arranging and producing … Continued
Poetic Guitars Acoustic guitars are probably associated with Brazil nearly as much as coffee and soccer. Obviously that is not hard to understand. When you think of Bossa Nova, for example, João Gilberto and his acoustic guitar style come … Continued