Africa-Brasil Appreciation

fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
edited June 2012 in Strut Central
i guess this record is pretty basic or well-known, but hadn't put this on in years and its just sooo good on this hot summer day. every song bangs.

like harlem river drive, it is a fully realized fusion of styles. hoping to see this one on the strut top 100.

  Comments


  • A big favourite of mine.

    I can't speak Portuguese but I always sing along phonetically to "Xica da Silva". And I love that the first tune is a football tune.

  • neil_something said:
    "Xica da Silva"

    miriam makeba does a decent cover...

    tune is just 2 chords and real fun to play on an acoustic...:

    Gm: 355333
    F: 133211

  • You know what though, despite the huge amounts of Jorge Ben covers I can't help but feel that no one can really do the originals proper justice. The fact that it's just two chords means that it's his voice and the arrangement that is making the tune, and his voice is what usually does it for me. Not from Africa-Brasil but there's a tune from Bem-Vinda Amizade which sums this up perfectly for me; relatively simple, but just executed perfectly: Curumin Chama Cunh?? T?? Que Eu Vou Contar.

  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
    neil_something said:
    You know what though, despite the huge amounts of Jorge Ben covers I can't help but feel that no one can really do the originals proper justice.

    Kind of disagree with this, there's tons of great Jorge Ben covers.

  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    Jorge Ben might be the best to do it, ever.

    Who's better?

  • hogginthefogghogginthefogg 6,098 Posts
    Jonny_Paycheck said:
    Jorge Ben might be the best to do it, ever.

    Who's better?

    I listened to "A Tabue de Esmeralda" this morning. So good!

  • pcmrpcmr 5,591 Posts
    Jonny_Paycheck said:
    Jorge Ben might be the best to do it, ever.

    Who's better?

    as far as whole career ark, number of solid recordings, exerted influence, pure artist factors (lyrics, unique voice, inventing his own style)
    an argument can be made for GOAT he released so many year after year...all fresh sounding, continuing yet evolving
    incredible artist all around

  • HollafameHollafame 844 Posts
    pcmr said:
    Jonny_Paycheck said:
    Jorge Ben might be the best to do it, ever.

    Who's better?

    as far as whole career ark, number of solid recordings, exerted influence, pure artist factors (lyrics, unique voice, inventing his own style)
    an argument can be made for GOAT he released so many year after year...all fresh sounding, continuing yet evolving
    incredible artist all around

    Truth.

  • Horseleech said:
    neil_something said:
    You know what though, despite the huge amounts of Jorge Ben covers I can't help but feel that no one can really do the originals proper justice.

    Kind of disagree with this, there's tons of great Jorge Ben covers.

    Yes, I don't mean to suggest there are no good covers of his music, but when it comes to "Mas Que Nada" or "Pa??s Tropical" or "Carolina Carol Bela" or whatever, his version is usually the definitive one.

  • marumaru 1,450 Posts
    Jonny_Paycheck said:
    Jorge Ben might be the best to do it, ever.

    Who's better?

    Huge cosign.

    Pretty much his entire catalog is fire. There have been numerous occaisions ive had trouble deciding what to put on and jorge Ben always fits the bill no matter what kind of mood I'm in. Not many artists do that for me these days.

  • ElectrodeElectrode Los Angeles 3,080 Posts
    IF YOU WANT MY BODY AND YOU THINK I'M SEXY, COME ON SUGAR LET ME KNOW!

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Often the songwriter has the definitive version.

    Just the same, the better the songwriter the better the cover versions.
    Jorge Ben has been covered by some of the cheesy artists in the most sappy settings, and still it sounds good.

  • DJFerrariDJFerrari 2,411 Posts
    Jonny_Paycheck said:
    Jorge Ben might be the best to do it, ever.

    Who's better?

    He's my GOAT... hands down. Saw him live in Rio a couple years ago... such a great performer with tons of energy. The crowd ranged from age 18 to 80 and every single person there knew every single word to every single song. It was rather amazing, but made perfect sense given the number of straight up timeless essentials he wrote.

    I've been meaning to do a mix of just JB covers... I agree with Horseleech, there are a lot of good ones out there. For example, Maria Alcina's Fio Maravilha always slays the dancefloor. There's too many to count... so a mix is due!

  • HollafameHollafame 844 Posts
    His performance on MTV Acustico is a great example of how he's still got it.




  • jamesjames chicago 1,863 Posts
    I do not speak Portuguese and must thus recuse myself from the "GOAT" portion of this discussion, but I will say that when he played here in Chicago several years back (he somehow got booked into two shows at the HotHouse, one of which I saw, and after which a semi-faded dude from Brazil was all like, "Look, you don't understand: You need to thank God that Jorge isn't as popular here as he is everywhere else; what you saw tonight was like seeing the Rolling Stones playing in someone's living room"), it was absolutely explosive. Just endless joy.

    It's worth noting that dude's personal style was something of a surprise: He had on an American-style football jersey, sweatbands on both wrists, baggy slacks, and some locs, wearing it all well and looking at least twenty years younger than he oughta. When he was leaving the (like, half-foot-tall) stage after the umpteenth encore, a bunch of girls ran up on stage wanting a picture with him; he threw one arm each around the two ladies closest, chunked the deuce, waited for the flash, then vanished behind the curtain like the fucking Batman. His opening act was a local capoeira troupe, and during the portion of their routine where they got busy to a chant based on "Mas Que Nada," Jorge could be glimpsed in the wings, head-nodding with arms folded high in a textbook DMC-circa-1985 b-boy stance. Dude was fly, no question.

  • pcmrpcmr 5,591 Posts
    i've been listening to him all day now

    and must add
    i was saying that his style progressed per release while maintaining a continuity
    well every record has a strong variety of moods but stay cohesive as well
    i mean on the same record with take it easy my brother charles, criola, pais tropical there is this


    and then you think of each song and there is always a progress soft goes to frenetic there is almost never the same hook interpretation
    also
    he survived many an era and it seems even with label/arrangement he was able not only to weather the storm but the musical influences seemed to gravitate toward him. He broke out of the bossa packaging and made the psychedelic tropicalismo his own, string arrangement and children vocals never sounded corny they actually added to his oeuvre
    many personal recordings so many songs written and a nod to some of his other work link together many releases
    furthermore if you speak portuguese he is nominated for greatest song titles
    and the sheer number of quality releases would mean he could take down other GOAT contenders
    even his medley /best of album (one of the first records i owned, passed on in my dad's collection) sounds fresh and his christianity and futbol passion served to create amazing songs that are never tacky. and what other artist has this level of universal appeal yet distinctive style. you could find a song for almost every life circumstance.
    literally I EMBRACE HIS ENTIRE CATALOGUE and speaking of which I need to complete the discography

    finally
    tabua de esmeralda had always escaped me although it was the one album that never left the 128kb mp3 rotation
    during my time in brasil me and my soon to be wife would listen to the whole thing just chillin in a hamac
    she was discovering jorge and insisting on repeating it (i gladly obliged)
    a couple years later i get a wedding gift from a friend
    he tells me his brother has a collection of records and he asked him for some brazilian stuff since i travelled there
    he had no idea what this record meant to our couple

    it's another cover/title but it's tabua so it was a double surprise for me
    i'll make sure that the first song my children hear is magnolia

  • Related to the covers discussion; what about the tracks Jorge Ben wrote but never recorded himself. I've been trying to pick these up a lot lately & i've been most impressed by these:







    There's one more by Serginho Ventura called Carolina, but I don't have it yet to share, soon though... :P

  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
    I have the 7" of that Cyro Aguiar song and it sounds incredible. I play it almost every time I DJ and it's on my Waxi mix this year.
    I had the album, but that's the only good song on it, imo.

    One of the better covers out there:


  • SPlDEYSPlDEY Vegas 3,375 Posts
    Horseleech said:
    neil_something said:
    You know what though, despite the huge amounts of Jorge Ben covers I can't help but feel that no one can really do the originals proper justice.

    Kind of disagree with this, there's tons of great Jorge Ben covers.

    I'm going to agree with Horseleech.. Jorge Ben has been covered brilliantly by many artists. He's very much like Stevie Wonder in this respect.




    - spidey
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