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Album Review
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USA Today Travel, Album Review >>
What’s not to like about Brazilian samba and bossa nova with a little extra oomph?
If there’s one type of world music that both you and your dad will probably enjoy it’s Bossa Nova. Brazilian music got popular in the 1950s and then never really stopped being popular. It turned up in 1960s game shows, got funky in the 1970s, and then kept popping up in clubs around the world after that. One of the most interesting albums I’ve reviewed here was the 2006 collaboration between Sergio Mendez and Will I Am of the Black-eyed Peas, appropriately called Timeless.
This music is like bourbon: no matter what you mix with it, the original flavor shines through. So nobody is going to cry “blasphemy!” when producers and bands go nuts remixing classic songs like “Bananeira” (done as an instrumental here by Brazilian Groove Band). The beats in this collection, it should be noted, are not just electronic ones. “A Nega E O Malandro,” is pure analog, with a horn section and traditional percussion. When electronics are mixed in, as on Tita Lima’s “A Conta do Samba,” they take a back seat to the real stars.
Most Putumayo collections can’t be content to stay on one continent, but this one departs the home country less often than most. BungaLove is from Italy and there are a few mixed Brazilian-Americans, but the collection feels very grounded in Brazil. It also manages the tough feat of sounding fresh to jaded ears, yet still being a consistent enough introduction to appeal to someone exposed to this music for the first time.
Note that you can go download this collection instead of buying the physical CD with pretty pictures and helpful liner notes. Why is that a big deal? Putumayo has been the best-known holdout on the digital music front, refusing to put anything on iTunes or Amazon’s MP3 store. Times change though and 27 million CDs later, they finally bowed to the pressure of the marketplace with these “beat” collections. Go get your virtual copy now, before they change their minds! 02/27/12
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