Nei Lopes

I stumbled upon Nei Lopes (Brazilian, b. May 9, 1942) in an quite unusual location: one of his CDs (De Letra & Musica) was sitting in the used discount rack of a CD store in coastal country town (pop. 44174) 3 hours from either Los Angeles or San Francisco. The CD was a kind of tribute to Nei Lopes: each song was a duet between him and a Brazilian samba or MPB heavyweight. On the cover of the CD was written the names of the guest artists that were singing with him: MPB king Chico Buarque, pagode sambistas Arlindo Cruz & Sombrinha and Zeca; there was also Alcione, the premier samba crooner-queen, plus many others. But just who is this Nei Lopes guy and what is this CD doing in San Luis Obispo?

I had to find out. It turns out that it was the best $6 I ever paid for a CD; for the remaining of the trip to SF I played the CD in the car, oh about 20 times. The CD is a mixture of up-tempo samba pagodes and ballads – skillfully arranged with lots of percussion, auxillary vocal backings, guitars and cavaquinhos and an occasional horn – and most, if not all, are Lopes’ compositions I believe. It was only later I found out he is a practicing lawyer in Rio. And what a nice voice you’ve got there, barrister.

But that’s not the end of the story. Nei Lopes is also a black activist, writer, poet and recently-turned blogger at the age of 62. Yet still he finds time to make damn good music. A rare, intellectual sambista.

Albums:

De Letra & Musica (2001/Velas) – As reviewed above, this is a solid CD that truly exceed my expectations. (If you are a Mangueira fan, you don’t want to miss the beautiful duet with Chico on Samba Do Irajá.) Highly recommended!

Lenine

I believe Lenine (Brazilian, birthdate unknown) is one of the few talented and creative musicians spearheading, for the lack of a better term, a new “progressive pop” movement in Brazilian music today. Born and raised in the Brazilian northeastern state of Pernambuco famous for its deserts, Lenine sings and plays the guitar with an equally arid style that is enhanced by his keen sense of rhythm. A trademark Lenine song usually begins with a catchy guitar and/or vocal riff punctuated by sudden starts and stops to hook you into his beat. Then once the percussion kicks in fully and he starts singing, you are sold. Clearly, the man knows how to groove. And apparently, Lenine is quite a poet with his lyrics too, according to my Brazilian friends.

Paulinho Nogueira

Paulinho Nogueira (Brazilian, born Oct. 8 1929, died Aug. 2 2003) was a guitarist and composer, and became famous during the bossa nova boom during the 1960s. But based on the recordings I have of him I would consider Nogueira a more MPB/classical guitar instrumentalist than just a typical bossa nova musician.

I first discovered his music in March 2003 when I was snooping around in a São Paulo CD shop. The shop owner had sheepishly agreed to let me listen to a few seconds of music from Nogueira’s album over the store’s loudspeakers (any longer would probably drive away the younger customers shopping for Axe or Pop there.) But a few seconds was all I needed to make up my mind to buy the CD: it was exactly the kind of soft yet precise guitar-playing that I have been looking for: Nogueira’s guitar is nothing as cutting and piercing as the great Baden Powell, but much more dimensional than the popular Toquinho.

Henrique Cazes

Henrique Cazes (Brazilian, born Feb 2. 1959) is primarily a choro artist that plays guitar and cavaquinho but seems to be more at home with the smaller instrument.

Albums:
Relendo Waldir Azevedo (1997/Som Livre) – Cazes plays cavaquinho in this solid album of the choro tradition with both rapid tempo and slow tunes, all of them composed by the late Waldir Azevedo, a well-known choro composer and cavaquinista. I find the slower numbers (e.g. “Pedacinhos do Céu”, “Mágoas de cavaquinho”, “Você, carinho e amor”) more inspired thanks to tighter, cleaner arrangments and excellent bass performance. However, the presence of an electric keyboard (?) in several numbers is unfortunate. Recommended.

Pat Metheny / Pat Metheny Group

Pat Metheny is one of the most versatile – if not significant – jazz guitarists today. His mastery of the instrument is unparalleled as no other guitarist can duplicate Pat’s fluid style that has come to define his playing. When he is not holding a guitar he is probably wielding a pen: Pat is an avid composer well versed in the theory of music. Since the 70s Pat’s own band – the Pat Metheny Group – has brillantly interpreted much of the music written by Pat (and his partner Lyle Mays), yet during the same period Pat has also ventured into numerous projects with others – from jazz greats to symphony orchestras – to release equally superb albums, breaking traditions and winning accolades on the way.