After Carnival has silenced its mighty roar, things slowly return to a saner
sense of normalcy with the swaying, tropical acoustic music Brazil is renowned
for. The samba cancão and the subtly swinging bossa nova are what’s
mostly on tap here, serving as the organic curative should you survive Carnival
and live to tell. Cornerstones of Brazil’s roots music movement strut
their stuff with outstanding selections from Paulinho da Viola, Ana de Hollanda
and Chico Buarque. Gal Costa’s “Aquele Frevo Axé” serves
as the perfect transitional bridge: dreamy vocals, sparkling guitar riffs and
steady underlying rhythms that lead to slumbering trombone passages. Caetano
Veloso breaks the mode a bit by including an accordion and pulsating syncopated
slink on “Cajuína.” While the configuration and timbre of
rhythmic arsenals vary, the guitars sounder closer to one another with their
trebly-tinged, breezy stylings. A similar carefree attitude is also exhibited
by the younger generation of performers such as Theresa Christina, Rita Ribeiro
and Monica Salmaso. Glaucia Nasser stirs in surreal background vocals, piano
and middle-eastern stringed snippets (“Lábios de Cetim”).
No doubt exciting things lie in store for Brazil’s acoustic roots music.
All it has to do is survive another Carnival season.