This is a CD re-issue of Casa Samba’s first release from 1993, available previously only on cassette. However, it’s still an all-round good reference for what Casa Samba is about.

Casa Samba was born in New Orleans in 1986 out of the ashes of the short-lived Mardi Gras organization, the Brazilian-themed Krewe of Palmares. Under the leadership of percussionist Curtis Pierre, Escola de Samba Casa Samba has been bringing Brazilian rhythms to New Orleans ever since, and was even honored by the Mayor back in the early ’90s as New Orleans’s first samba school.

Afro-Brazilian Fantasy presents a wide range of Brazilian percussion music, from the carnival songs of Rio’s samba schools (Curtis’s main influence here is Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel) to the samba-reggae rhythms of Bahia’s blocos-afros, like Ilê Aiyê, Olodum and Muzenza. Curtis talks about the importance of creating cultural and musical links between New Orleans and Brazil, one of the main aims of this release. This is best exemplified by the cut “Bahon: Connection from Bahia to New Orleans,” a second line with a samba beat.

This release features Casa Samba before the arrival of Rio percussion master Jorge Alabé. Curtis says that we’ll get to hear the post-Alabé evolution of Casa Samba with the release later this summer of a new CD under Alabé’s name.