These CDs contain rare and exciting recordings of various styles of music created in Brazilian territory that evolved into
what we today call Brazilian music, as well as precise and eloquent liner notes by ethnomusicologist Morton Marks (in
both English and Portuguese).
These recordings demonstrate the true meaning of what Corrêa de Azevedo used to call the "other" Brazil.
On the first CD, The Discoteca Col1ection: Missão de Pesquisas Folclóricas [Folklore Research Mission], most of
the music has great religious content and significance.
We hear a variety of musical styles on these recordings, including: Xangô (with roots in Iurubá religions brought
from Africa); Praiá (from Amerindian rituals); regional, early forms of what is here called samba (not at all
what we perceive samba to be today); and, the dramatic bumba-meu-boi, dance that blends Portuguese, Afro-Brazilian,
and Ameridian folkloric influences.
Many of the tracks were recorded (and probably filmed, as well) with dance troops performing the respective rituals and
dances. One can actually hear them (and perhaps even with a little imagination, see them) perform. Often, it was illegal to
conduct these rituals at the time they were recorded-special permission had to be granted to the researchers by the Brazilian
government.
The second CD, L. H. Corrêa de Azevedo: Music of Ceará and Minas Gerais, focuses more on the music of those two
states. Cocó, well -represented in this collection, was a popular musical form with similar magnitude to samba
in Rio and Bahia. Other styles include rojão (a predecessor and variant of today's baião), congo, Xangô,
and maracatú (recently made popular by the late Chico Science with his group Nação Zumbi [Zumbi Nation]).
From Minas Gerais one will find examples of catopê from the north of the state (more specifically Montes Claros) and
viçungos-perhaps the most African- sounding music in all of Brazil-which includes work songs of the diamond miners
of Diamantina.
From the series, The Library of Congress: Endangered Music Project, these two discs are a must for any true Brazilian
music lover. Producers Mickey Hart and Alan Jabbour are the men responsible for this remarkable deed. I wonder
if they will release other recordings of this nature.
Here are the true musical roots of the real, pulsating, and diversified Brazil.
