In review--Vernacular Brazil

-


World/Classical 
Mario Adnet
Villa Lobos 
Borandá

I had heard of Heitor Villa Lobos for many years while reviewing classical music, but I had not listened to any music by this Brazilian composer until the arrival of Mario Adnet’s Villa Lobos--a beautiful collection of vernacular classical and Brazilian popular songs performed by some of Brazil's finest musical talent.  While I’m not going to delve into history or give you biographical information of Villa Lobos, I encourage you to look up this fascinating early 20th century composer after listening to this stunning recording.

As an homage to Villa Lobos, Adnet teams up with a Brazilian orchestra (Orqestra de Cordas), Edu Lobo, Milton Nascimento, Mônica Salmaso, Muiza Adnet, Paula Santoro, Yamandu Costa and members of the Adnet family. The result is upbeat performances such as Mazurka Choro and the opening track, A Menina Das Nuvens as well as, dreamy pieces, Tristorosa (sung by Mario Adnet and Paula Santoro with lush orchestration set behind this duet), the melancholic Aria (Cantilena), and Ondulando (composed in 1914) with its pensive horn soaring over strings.

Canção Cristal provides us with Santoro’s wistful vocals framed by cascading notes of piano and harp, back by the orchestra.  If you’re looking for a luscious duet, Salmaso and Lobo provide this on Caicó Aria, which also features Teco Cardoso’s flute, Marcos Nimrichter’s piano, and woodwinds (clarinet) by Igor Carvalho, Joana Adnet and Pedro Paes.  Adnet closes the CD the effervescent piece Estrella é Lua Nova which features Yamandu Costa’s guitar and a large group of musicians and singers.  This festive piece gets our feet moving in the right direction and its warmth conjures images of Brazil’s beaches.


http://www.boranda.com.br and http://www.marioadnet.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction to Peyote Songs & The Native American Church

-
Image
Father Peyote: Songs of the Native American Church Introduction to the Peyote Church Ceremony This is an archival article written in 2003.  It's not updated.  For more recent recordings, go to Canyon Records website, http://www.canyonrecords.com When some people speak of Native American ceremonies, the peyote ceremony or the ingestion of the hallucinogen peyote (contains mescaline) usually surfaces. However, there is too much false information being passed around in the non-native community surrounding peyote meetings. The first thing people need to know about the Native American connection to peyote is that the plant is sacred medicine ingested as a sacrament during healing ceremonies of the Native American Church. The second thing, people need to know is that the Native American Church is not a set structure like the Christian Church. The peyote meeting could take place in a Navajo hogan or a teepee. And finally, since the peyote meeting does in part derive from Nat
Read more

21st Century Musical Healer Series--Heather Hannan

-
Image
 Healing with Sound and Reiki Based in Toronto, Canada, Heather Hannan has proven with her own life healing experiences the enormous power of sound frequencies. She acts as a bridge between the mundane world (real estate) to other spiritual dimensions (past life regressions, quantum physics, Reiki, sound frequencies,  and other cutting edge work). I met Heather through my Linked In group Musical Healers and I'm delighted to include her work and insights on this blog. As you know, raising music and sound consciousness takes a world-size village of folks, just like Heather dedicating their lives to working with the healing power of sound.  Whole Music: When did you discover and begin exploring sound healing? Heather Hannan: Ten years ago I was at a crossroads in my life and looking for a group of like-minded people with whom to explore my gifts and talents through meditation. Little did I know that via the meditation group I joined I would be invited to
Read more

Talking about Timbre

-
Image
Wikipedia As I mention in my book Whole Music , when I was a child I fell in love with timbre and the voices of the individual instruments we listened to in music class.  Each instrument conjured a specific emotions or feeling in me.  The French horn caused me to feel majestic and the cello invoked melancholy.  My moods would shift with each instrument that I heard and my moods would shift quickly. Today, I listen to more than timbre, but I have an understanding of how tone, frequencies of the tone and timbre (the color of the tone) affect me on all levels.  And I wonder what listening to an entire symphony does with its many voices, themes, keys, musical passages etc... In the concept of "whole music" I prefer not to separate musical components, but in the case of this post, I will present solo instruments for your listening and feeling pleasure. If you keep a music journal (and I hope that you do by now), write down the emotions that come up with each instrument.  R
Read more