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Favela Soul
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The Beat, Favela Soul >>
BY MARA WEISS AND NSGO BETO
Seu Jorge is a piece of work. The vocalist who sings like an actor and the actor who sings on screen is both emphatic and believable in both roles. Before he was ever Knockout Ned in City of God and the Bowie-crooning sailor Pele dos Santos in The Life Aquatic. Jorge, was a Rio de Janeiro-based musician who was also active in theater. Before that he was a kid growing up poor in a slum, repairing tires to help support his family. It's not a quick or easy road from the favela to Hollywood. But Seu 's charisma has carried him (here, and it's that charisma that shines blighted in his second solo album Cru (Wrasse).
Jorge's voice has character. It's raw, not pitch-perfect, it can waver, squeak and appear to dive back into his throat at times. But it is categorically likeable. Cru (which means "raw") is a soul album painting fleeting pictures of humor, severity and profound emotion, exposed by the bare-bones production. Acoustic guitar. percussion and the odd synth combine into soulful resonance with samba underpinning. He opens with "Tive Razao," a sunny pagode-styled jaunt. "Mania de Peitao." which apparently is getting all kinds of airplay in Brazil. has a good-natured poke al silicone breast implants. On a version of Serge Gainsbourg's "Chatterton." he theatrically makes his deep voice as gritty as Gainsbourg's... until he suffers a coughing fit. "Sao Gonca," an earthy ballad of his own composition, and "Eu Sou Favela," a stripped-back samba de enredo, embody the connection he has to life in the periphery, to the street, to the everyday struggles of everyday people. Seu Jorge is a captivating personage on the arts scene of today. 09/01/05
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