Word: braziller
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...accordion-dominated forro, which blends African rhythms with Portuguese folk music. Says U.S. guitarist Arto Lindsay, co-producer with Peter Scherer of the latest album by an eminent Brazilian performer, Caetano Veloso: "In Bahia and the north you find the purest African rhythms, some of the most innovative in Brazil." Notes Byrne: "Bahia may be to Brazil what New Orleans was as the birthplace of jazz -- a source of musical ideas that are later refined into new styles." Brazilian music, he explains, allows him to feel "the direct link between the ecstatic release of rhythmically based popular songs...
...their strong rhythmic foundation, Brazil's composer-performers add spicy blends of European melodies and unique harmonies. Maria Bethania, 43, first achieved prominence in 1965, when she substituted for the ailing star of a Rio musical. Her dark, husky voice shares a certain androgynous quality with those of some of Brazil's other top performers. Bethania's brother, Veloso, 47, is -- along with Gilberto Gil -- one of the main exponents of tropicalismo, the buoyant music of the student generation that emerged during a period of military dictatorship after 1964. That style advocated the rights of blacks, reintroduced strong Afro-Brazilian...
...Brazilian star perhaps most widely admired abroad is Nascimento, who credits trumpeter Miles Davis, saxophonist John Coltrane and the Beatles as influences. In airy harmonies that resound with the church music of Minas Gerais, the state in east-central Brazil where he grew up, Nascimento writes uplifting sound poems full of yearning and determination. His music is infused with a near mystical celebration of life and love, coupled with a respect for nature that borders on animism. Ironically, Nascimento's records, as well as those of many of his popular colleagues, have been largely displaced on the radio playlists...
...dismissed David Byrne's efforts as "inconsequential." Nascimento disagrees. "You're always trading ideas," he says. "It gives you life." Others are concerned that jaded outsiders will soon move on to something else. Anything is possible in the fickle pop-music world, but for now, musicians agree, it's Brazil that's got rhythm...
MUSIC: Oh, Brazil! New audiences hear its seductive sounds...