Search - Bossa Electrica :: A Bossa Eletrica

BUY THIS ALBUM!

bordersj2 | Boston | 06/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There's something in the air in Sweden and the recipe has been pretty consistent. Mix in some great musicianship with a Brazilian vocalist - give it some spirit with live instrumentation and mixin' musical styles and there you have it! A healthy dose of magical sounding fusion. But Sweden and Scandinavia in particular have been putting out some breathtaking fusion releases in the past few years. Between this and Soul Quality Quartet which features Almaz Yebio and maybe Folk Og Røvere out of Norway, there's been loads of fusion. The similarity is warranted though thanks to Mats Ingvarsson's participation on both... along with Jatte Nilsson. Never mind groups like Wagon Cookin' and the many others.



This album I definitely enjoyed. It had some great tunes with some veyr very festive singing and playing. The cd starts out with "Quem Vai Devolver Meu Dia". This song... really is like returning one day to Brasil. It's followed up with "Tudo Esta Previsto", a song with slow moving samba, a hint of a low key cuica in the background and such a gentle guitar stroke. To me it was the highlite of Brazilectro 6 and was the essence of the compilation that features fusion of all sorts of styles from Europe to Japan. That cut's followed up with the stunning "Veja O Sol", a song that for whatever reason reminded me a little bit of "Covenda Na Roseira" and a Sarah Vaughn remake of another Brazilian classic... and one other track (forget which though... long time ago, I was maybe 5...). "Beleza Nao Vai Embora" showcases Guilem's surprisingly powerful voice that to be perfectly honest with you reminded me a bit of the legendary Salome De Bahia. How fitting since it was on an Orlann Divo track, while Salome blew away "Onde Anda Meu Amor"! Other great tracks were the title "Eletrificacao", "Para Variar", and the romantic "Vem A Tarde". Ha! The CD version of this has two other great, great songs - "Tombo in 7/4"... which is a very good and VERY VERY RARE song to get a hold of (original by Airto Moreira). You hear the samba bridge and yes, you may remember the overplayed 'Samba De Janeiro' that flooded the clubs in the late 90's before being absolutely destroyed by horrid mis-use during the Women's World Cup in the USA. This version will remind you of how good a song the original is and the way it was meant to be played or re-made.



I HIGHLY recommend this album. I was pleasantly surprised by it and cannot really say that there was a single track I didn't enjoy. I do wish they just played to their hearts content and kept recording "Llusao". But all the songs have a hook that grabs me. And if you did enjoy this cd, you should DEFINITELY pick up Soul Quality Quartet's "Dip", Jazzinho's "Jazzinho" and Wagon Cookin's "Appetizers" and "Everyday Life". "Dip" seems like the perfect companion piece to this and is a good contrast in the general feel with some straight jazz cuts and vocals that glide in them. Jazzinho's got some of the tightest musicianship I heard in all of 2004. And Wagon Cookin's tunes are full of life. For compilations you may want to check out Brazilectro 5 for the Folk Og Rovere cut, and session 6 too. And for more fusion - have a look at the Glucklich series by Rainer Truby; particularly volume 1, 4 and especially volume 5 which has an extremely rare Wagon Cookin' track titled "Lua". Finally... I think you'd like Da Lata's "Songs From the Tin" too, which is a very good album with Lilliana Chachian, Patrick Forge and of course, Christian Franck."