The Other Brazil

Pernambuco, a state in Brazil’s northeast, is one of the country’s most potent and varied musical centers, where richly varied rhythms and song forms provide a very different sound from the usual samba and bossa nova that we get as the representatives of Brazilian music here in the U.S. This is the region that spawned manguebeat pioneers Chico Science and Nacao Zumbi, singer Alceu Valenca, and percussionist Nana Vasconcelos, but there’s so much more that’s generally hidden from non-Brazilian ears. On the more rootsy tip is a genre called embolada, a spare, improvised style that’s a not-so-distant cousin of rap, where vocalists spontaneously conjure poetic ramblings. The musical accompaniment is usually just rhythms tapped out on the pandeiro, a Brazilian tambourine. The duo of Caju e Castanha is one of the style’s most popular practitioners--they’ve made about 15 albums, and one of their latest, Embolando no Futebol, is exclusively about soccer. But if you, like me, don’t speak Portuguese the wit and verve of their back-and-forth verbal jousting is clearly lost. So here I’m posting a remix of one of their tracks, which bolsters their wordplay with some wiggy electronics courtesy of Monaural, the duo of Kassin and Berna Ceppas—one of the country’s hottest and most interesting production teams. Kassin is a member of Domenico + 2 (and Moreno + 2), and this fall will see the release of the first Kassin + 2 album. The track is taken from a collection called Mauritsstadt Dub, a 2-CD set that features one disc of more folkloric material from Pernambuco, and second disc of remixes—among the other participants are DJ Dolores, Instituto, and Apollo Nove.

Música de Cabloco Tocada No Pifano

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