Jorge Ben - Jorge Ben (1969)
Artist: Jorge Ben(jor)
Album: Jorge Ben (1969)
Label: Dusty Groove America
Despite the flourishing interest in Brazilian music since David Byrne’s Brazil Classics series in the very late 80s, many incredible Tropicalismo albums have yet to be reissued in the States. Instead, the hits have been collected and recollected in compilations, greatest hits, and samplers galore. Now the pivotal album of Jorge Ben’s career, the album that transitioned him into a period of great productivity and innovation, has been reissued by Dusty Groove America. In many ways the current trend in cultural fusion, of musicians pulling from every obscure regional dance movement to enrich their beats, gets its form from the works of Jorge Ben, who mixed Samba and Soul into a style that has inspired musicians on a global scale since its creation. These songs are perfect. I can’t think of a different word. Each beat and note and word works, and each song is packed with sound.
Jorge Ben – Bebete Vaobora
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The curtain of percussive sounds, the sharp horns, and the Portuguese chorus: these are the sounds of Brazil that warm my blood. I feel a little foolish that I don’t know what this song is about, but I hold myself back from a quick google search. I am intoxicated with the sound, and I fear the meaning would distract or sober me from the sound.
Jorge Ben – Take It Easy My Brother Charles
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I think we are approaching a day when American bands will break into Portuguese (and I can’t wait), and I hope it creates the same odd, fluctuating tension I feel on this song as he weaves from English to Portuguese and back, somehow incorporating it into the beat, somehow making it feel seamless. Sleight of Portuguese.
For more information on Jorge Ben, check out out his official site and his wikipedia entry. Go check out the reissue at the label site, and buy the album.
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