Azulão – Eu Não Socorro Não (1975)

Azulão “Eu não socorro não”
Released 1975 on Esquema (1239023)

01. Nega buliçosa (Tiago Duarte)
02. Forró do Compadre Solon (José Silva – Ivan Bulhões)
03. Mané gostoso (Lidio Cavalcante – Adolfo da Modinha)
04. Tropé de cavalo (Genesio Guedes – Abenildo Lucena)
05. A filha de Mané Bento (João Gonçalves – Genival Lacerda)
06. Esquenta moreninha (Assisão)
07. Eu não socorro não (F. Azulão)
08. Candieiro de Iaiá (Brito Lucena)
09. Severina xique xique (João Gonçalves – Genival Lacerda)
10. Tem que ter suor (Antonio Barros)
11. Canção do roedor (Cecéu)
12. Rosa mulher (Agripino Aroeira – Rosilda Santos)

Produced by Arnaldo Schneider
with assistance from Antônio C.
Recorded at Estúdio Hara
Sound technician and mixing – Max Pierre
Record pressed by Tapecar
Album cover by Joselito

Transcription details:
Vinyl -> Pro-Ject RM-5SE turntable (with Sumiko Blue Point 2 cartridge, Speedbox power supply) > Creek Audio OBH-15 -> M-Audio Audiophile 2496 Soundcard -> Adobe Audition 3.0 at 24-bits 96khz -> Click Repair light settings -> dithered and resampled using iZotope RX Advanced

This is the glorious first album by Azulão, born Francisco Bezerra de Lima. Known as “O Grande Pequeno” on account of his very diminutive height, there is nothing small about this guy’s voice or his charisma. He plays forró pé de serra in an old-skool style. When I first heard of him I was told he was in the same lineage (linha) as Jackson do Pandeiro, and while I was skeptical of such a bold comparison, I was also curious enough to buy his most recent album (released a few years ago) and he most definitely merits it. Since then I have had the pleasure of seeing him perform live during the season of Festas Juninas and must say he put on one of the best live shows I have had the pleasure of seeing. Azulão is a fixture in the music scene of Caruarú, a city in the interior agreste region of Pernambuco that is famous both for being the mecca of forró as well as holding the Guinness Book record for the largest outdoor concert(s) in the world, held during the São João festivities. Although he has been recording music for 35 years and performing music for much longer, Azulão remains something of a ‘best kept secret’, a forró celebrity in Pernambuco but seemingly under-appreciated everywhere else. I am still exploring Azulão’s discography but aside from some clunkers he recorded in the 80s, mostly due to 80s production values, it is hard to go wrong with this guy’s records and they are all worth checking out.

This record has a wonderfully crisp, full sound to it with top-notch production values complimenting the top-notch musicianship. Note the prominence given to the cavaquinho on this record – an instrument typically associated with samba, it was Luiz Gonzaga who first began using it on forró records. Although not uncommon in this setting these days, it is also not necessarily “essential” to playing pé de serra (the core instruments being sanfona, zabumba, and triangle), and so it is a delicious treat to have on this record. The title song is a bit of word play, which I would have missed if I had not been enlightened by proprietor of the Hotel Portela. The brief lyrics, repeated twice, are the cry of a man whose had enough of being mistreated by his lady. When he says that if he saw her being thrown into a fire and burning up, he wouldn’t save her (‘eu não socorro não’), the sonority of the sung refrain also comes out as ‘eu não sou corno, não’, the “corno” being the term for a man whose partner is famously cheating on him — in English, a “cuckold, Spanish “cornudo” or “cabrón”, Italian “cornuto.”

For better or worse, nothing is catching fire this week as the region where I live is being drenched in rain that has not stopped for four straight days. But if you can’t find a bonfire on your block, put on this record and start your own. Even if you don’t dance the forró or are perpetually dancing by yourself like me (which is particularly silly and impossible with forró), this album makes for a great listening experience under any conditions.

I have a handful of photos that I took of Azulão performing live, somewhere on a hard drive, but in lieu of their absence here is a look at the man in the present day from a pic I found on the interwebs

n 32o kbs em pee tree
or MIRROR HERE

Azulão – Eu não socorro não (1975) in FLAC LOSSLESS AUDIO

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