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Iraq, Cuba and Brazil: Musical Selections |
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Rhythms of Baghdad, Ahmed Muktar & Sattar Al-Saadi; Salsa Conga Loca, Rey Crespo; The Pulse of Brazil, Various artists, Arc Music, UK/Musicrama Rhythms of Baghdad
 At the same time that inspectors continued to fail to find WMDs in Iraq (and Bush was getting flack for making self-mocking jokes about it) we unearthed a small treasure from that long-suffering nation through its music skillfully performed by Iraqi-born Ahmed Muktar and Sattar al-Saadi in the newly released Rhythms of Baghdad
Mukhtar, who was born in Baghdad, is thoroughly skilled in the Oud, a guitar-like instrument. He is also a percussionist as well as a teacher of oud, percussion and Arabic music theory in London. Mukhtar has participated in musical projects throughout The Middle East and in Europe
Sattar Al-Saadi, also a native of Baghdad, specializes in several percussion instruments, such as the tabla, riqq (tambourine), bongos, congas and the like. He graduated from The Academy of Fine Arts in Baghdad and today he is a concert performer and also teaches percussion at the Conservattoire in Amsterdam, Holland.On their CD, the duo give us an almost academic lesson on the various sounds that come from their native land with songs that tell stories as they go along. In one of these tracks, Raqsat al shara, the lively beat and music describe an Iraqi wedding. "All the guests and relatives from both families are dancing", according to the CD's liner notes, "while groom and bride are looking at each other shyly". Also very interesting is the Mukhtar-penned Espaniola, played in what is described as "Darj, and almost forgotten style brought to Spain by the Arabs who settled there". Upon hearing it, one is surprised to realize that Darj sounds pretty much like a flamenco, from the guitar playing style to the three-by-four beat that characterizes that style. Another noticeable track is Nada'a al bahr, a melancholy tune describing weary fishermen returning home from a long day's work. Rhythms of Baghdad is a very interesting album, serving those enamored of Arab music as well as dreamers who travel to faraway locales without abandoning the comfort of their own homes. Salsa Conga Loca
In Salsa Conga Loca, Rey Crespo, the bass player and bandleader (who resides in London) takes us on a native Cuban journey through traditional-sounding salsa in an album that was fully recorded in Havana. The destination of this album is obviously the dance floor, but each track is also very rich musically. Vocalists Bertha Portuondo and Ismael Perez have outstanding voices, their lyrics sung quite clearly, and their nine-piece band has a very tight sound. There are no blank spaces in this music. One of the most amusing tracks is Rap de la conga, a fun-loving Latin take on a popular African-American beat "teaching" conga steps through a rap-like tutorial in the voice of the band's percussionist, Eduardo Veitia. Another moment during which the musicians flirt with more modern sounds is in the romantic Querer olvidarte(Wanting To Forget You), when the band is augmented by the sounds of an electric guitar and modern keyboards, giving the song more of a Latin-jazz feel. That same feel is used in yet another slow song, En el justo momento (At That Very Moment), which begins with a saxophone solo and follows with a heartfelt vocal that talks about taking a turn into the romantic realm: Una nueva alborada ha llegado a mi vida/Y No Siento el frio que arrasta a la duda/Solo vero el amor que ya a tientas se acerca/Y me asombro pense ya no verlo jamas (A new sunrise has come to my life/and I don't feel the cold that leads into doubt/I can only see the love that wants to come near/And it scares me to think I may never see you again...) Salsa Conga Loca is a fine album of Cuban music that goes well with festive occasions, but it is also pleasurable listening.
The Pulse of Brazil
What everyone knows is samba, the beat that Carmen Miranda brought into the U.S. country via Hollywood. The rhythm is represented here by two tracks. Isaura, an original song by Rio de Janeiro's Grupo Raça. Their variation on the beat is pagode, which is the music that people perform at informal get-togethers in homes and bars of Rio and in other Brazilian cities. The lyrics usually talk about love won and lost, and also about humorous aspects of everyday life. A darker side of samba is represented through the critical eye of Bezerra da Silva. Long before there was gangsta rap in the U.S., Bezerra sang about the lives of the people who live in the favelas (shantytowns) of Rio de Janeiro, their distrust of official authority leading to a strange glamorization of criminal life. In Malandragem Dá Um Tempo (which translates Hey Bro, Give Me a Break Here), he tells his friend that he will roll a joint but will not light up because the police are in the area and he's not in the mood for trouble with the law. "Forró" is the music of the northeast, a syncopated two-by-two beat to which couples dance till the sun comes up. The rhythm was relegated as unsophisticated for a long time even though the late Luis Gonzaga became a legend in the country, but in recent years the beat has gone mainstream through clever marketing by labels that specialize in releasing the beat in force. In this album, there are three forró tracks: a more traditional song Baião de Corda (Ó do Borogodó, which is untranslatable), a more commercial track (Mexe-Mexe, by Banda Mapson, which translates into "Into The Move") and the very humorous Severina Xique-Xique, by legend Genival Lacerda. Lacerda is the icon of the comedy forró wherein the lyrics have double meanings: what sounds innocent being blatant songs of sexual innuendo - a trick that composers picked up during the years of heavy censorship in the 60s and 70s. In Severina Xique-Xique, he tells us of a poor, ignored girl (Severina) who started a boutique, and now all the guys in town want to be with her because they have "their eyes into her boutique". But if one carefully listens to these words "boutique" becomes something else... In the late 50s Antonio Carlos Jobim and Joao Gilberto combined samba with elements of cool jazz, catching the attention of American musicians such as Charlie Byrd and Stan Getz. After the release of albums such as Jazz Samba and Getz/Gilberto in the early 60s, the style conquered the world. Bossa-nova is represented here by pianist Luiz Avelar, who has worked with Milton Nascimento, Gilberto Gil and others, and he gives us a beautiful rendition of Djavan's Aquele Um (That One). The only bad moments in The Pulse of Brazil are when they showcast Axé, the popular beat that emerged from Bahia in the late 80s. Instead of the original tracks, the CD has relied on cheap remakes (using electronic sounds!) of popular Bahia songs such as Prefixo de Verão (The Opening of Summer), Doce Multidão (Sweet Crowd) and two others. Apart from these assorted tracks, The Pulse of Brazil is a stellar album which I can cheerfully recommend. |
 
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Salsa has been a popular beat for ages, and it is hard not to notice it, especially if one lives in an area full of immigrants.
Luis Gonzaga can be heard on The Pulse of Brazil © 1997-2008 BEI
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