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Foreign Sounds |
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Music of The Silk Road, Various Artists, Arc Music http://www.arcmusic.co.uk The Afro-Brazilian Project, Ravi, Arc Music http://www.musicrama.com Maria Rita, Maria Rita, Warner Music/Musicrama http://www.warnermusic.com.br
Two of the richest-sounding songs (at least to my Western ear) are Misket (Scented Apple) and Findik Dalda Kalmasin (Don't Leave Any Hazelnuts on The Tree), both performed by a Turkish duo, Hüseyn & Günay Türkmenler. There's a lot of percussion added to strings and voices in these happy, upbeat tunes. Two particularly intriguing songs are sung by Afghan performers. Until recently, Afghani music was banned under Taliban rule, but now that the fundamentalist rulers are at least temporarily gone, musicians are once again performing their music for anyone who'll listen. The CD includes the love song Zim Zim Zim (according to the liner notes, the lyrics say that "the tips of your eyebrows pierce my heart like a scorpion/ I love the door, through which you pass") and Atan- Nomad Dance, a folk song performed by members of a nomadic tribe in Jalalabad. As I researched the songs on this CD, I was told (by a newly arrived immigrant) that Hossein Farjami is a very popular performer in Iran.
The same would go for I Love you, Snow of The North, a Chinese folk song. I couldn't bear the loud vocals by Wei Li (I also got a couple of ugly grins from some Chinese ESL students I played the recording to), and even after having heard the song a couple of times, I still can't bring myself to enjoy it. But then there's another Chinese song, Yu Ge (Song of The Fishermen), a moment so lovely that it brought to me an ear-to-ear smile. Music of The Silk Road celebrates so many different national instruments and styles that I can feel how my enthusiasm for it is being augmented by what might be called education for world citizenship. Brazil is known for its beautiful weather, its samba and for it fun-loving citizens, but the pop music scene hasn't been overly impressive because too many pop musicians have devoted themselves to making songs to forget. But recently Brazilians had a Norah Jones moment, and that happened last November when Maria Rita débuted with her self-titled album, now released in the USA. Maria Rita is the daughter of late Bossa Nova diva Elis Regina (who died in 1982 from a drug overdose at age 36) and composer-arranger Cesar Camargo Mariano, and her vocal resemblance to her mother is astounding - and, of course, Maria Rita knows it. In every song, she distances herself as much as she possibly can from her mother's unmistakeable style by singing to jazzy arrangements that were uncommon to Elis Regina. Two of the best tracks in the album were penned by Brazilian rock queen Rita Lee. In Agora Só Falta Você (You're All I Need), the original rock arrangement is replaced by a slap-string bass , piano and drum beat that makes the classic song her own. Pagú (co-written by Zélia Duncan), a humorous take on feminism, receives a Chicago Blues treatment that sounds much more interesting than the original take on the song by its writers a couple of years ago. There were only two moments on the album that I didn't much appreciate. The opening track, A Festa (The Party) at first sounds laid-back and unrehearsed, but then becomes manic - with far too many instruments in the mix, making the song sound a bit crowded. Encontros e Despedidas (Meetings and Farewells) is a well-known song by Milton Nascimento that was recorded by Elis Regina in the 1970s, but while the late singer's version was emotional and full of life, Maria Rita is so cold and subdued that it seems as if she's been forced to remake a hit from her mother's repertoire - something she avoids on stage, according to articles in the Brazilian press. Maria Rita's 2003 début introduced one of the best-selling albums in Brazil - an incredible feat considering it only had two months to achieve such a mark, though every sale is well deserved. Here's hoping that she'll be appreciated abroad as well. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing her in concert. Ever since Stan Getz joined forces with Antonio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto for the historic Getz/Gilberto album in 1964, many international musicians have been influenced by Brazilian music, creating music at the sides of Brazilian performers. Some of those include Brian May, George Michael, Sting, Joe Pass, Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Henderson, Sarah Vaughan and many others. The list grows. Ravi is a British musician who plays the Kora, an African string instrument that's somewhere between the lute and the harp. In his most recent experiment, The Afro-Brazilian Project, Ravi traveled to Rio de Janeiro and teamed up with Marlui Miranda (who performed on the soundtrack of At Play in the Fields of The Lord), jazz saxophonist Paulo Moura, percussionist Armando Marçal and others. The results were noteworthy. Brazilian music is heavily influenced by Africa's, so Ravi's kora incorporates itself perfectly to the mood and swing of the samba, bossa nova and modern jazz that is played throughout the album. At no moment does his instrument sound out of place. All these exceptional songs are original compositions penned or co-written by Ravi. I especially like Koração Brasileiro (a wordplay in which Kora and the Portuguese word for heart come together), a traditional samba that features Paulo Moura on clarinet, an instrument widely used by old-school samba musicians in a style that is called chorinho Moura enhances the arrangement by making the song sound like a classic. Another great moment is Bird of Paradise. Ravi sings words in English about the coming of spring. He ounds comfortable enough, resembling at times samba-infused Chet Baker. The heart of this song, however, emerges in the fine harmonica work of Guta Menezes, a young harmonica player who has performed extensively in Brazil, but who has yet to be discovered in the United States. The Afro-Brazilian Project is a fine album, deserving of the attention of anyone with an interest in both in modern and traditional-sounding Brazilian jazz-infused sounds. |
 
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Brazilian singer Maria Rita 
Hossein Frajani, among Iran's most popular musicians, can be heard on the album: Music of the Silk Road © 1997-2008 BEI
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