Luiz Gonzaga – Canta Seus Sucessos com Zé Dantas (1959)

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LUIZ GONZAGA CANTA SEUS SUCESSOS
COM ZÉ DANTAS
Luiz Gonzaga / Zé Dantas (1959)
1959, RCA Victor

1 Sabiá
2 O xote das meninas
3 Vem morena
4 A volta da asa branca
5 A letra I
6 O forró de Mané Vito
7 A dança da moda
8 Riacho do Navio
9 Vozes da seca
10 Cintura fina
11 Algodão
12 Paulo Afonso

All songs by Luiz Gonzaga and Zé Dantas

The season of Festas Juninas began a week ago in Northeastern Brazil, building up to the holiday of São João on June 24 (midsummer’s eve in the northern hemisphere) . If I had more energy I would provide you with some penetrating insights into the sociocultural significance of this annual festivity, its inextricable ties to regional history and identity, and its ramifications in securing a place for the Nordeste in the national imaginary. But for now, I will just say it has something to do with lots of funny hats and food made out of corn.

I almost did a vinyl transfer of this record from a 1970s repressing on one of those rubbery RCA “flexi-discs” they were making during the oil crisis, which has a bright orange ugly cover completely different from the original, before I realized I also had it on compact disc. This is a case where I will opt for the digital over the analog option… Released in 1959, it’s a collection of songs that had been released previously, mostly on 78’s if I’m not mistaken, in the period of 1949 to 1955 and that had Zé Dantas as co-writer. Zé Dantas (José de Sousa Dantas Filho) is probably Luiz Gonzaga’s most famous writing partner after Huberto Teixeira, and every song on this is great. Comprised pretty much entirely of “baião” and “xôte” tunes, it’s a pretty relaxing listen for such a danceable record. As the title of the record suggests this is a collection of hits of greater or lesser fame. I’ve posted two audio samples below. “Xôte de Meninas” is so damn catchy that it will actually blot out the complete butcher-job done on it by Marisa Monte from your brain if you were unlucky enough to have heard that version. “A volta de Asa Branca” is just what it would imply – a revisiting of Gonzaga’s famous anthem of the Nordeste. It’s not as good as the original “Asa Branca”, written with Teixeira, basically just a continuation of the story of the retirante but it’s still quite good, and in later years Gonzagão would often play the two songs back to back.

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Most of the volumes in the Coleção Luiz Gonzaga reissues by RCA have precious little in the way of information, but this time they’ve graced us with the original liner notes from Zé Dantas, who has a little to say about every song on here. Very nice.

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Nara Leão, Zé Keti, João do Vale – Show Opinão (1965)

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Show Opinão Nara Leão, Zé Keti, João do Vale
Recorded August 23, 1965 at Teatro Arena in Rio de Janeiro.
Released as Philips 632.775 in 1965 CD Reissue, 2002

Musical director: Dorival Caymmi Filho
Theatrical director: Augusto Boal

Band:
Dorival Caymmi – guitar
Franciso Araújo – drums
Carlos Guimarães – flute
Iko Casto Neves – bass
Bruno Ferreira, Ângela Menezes, Vânia Ferreira, Ângela Santa Rosa – vocal chorus

Audio engineer: Jorge Cardoso
Produced by Oduvaldo Viana Filho, Paulo Pontes e Pichinpla

Today marks the anniversary of Nara Leão’s death in 1989, when she left this world far too early due to a brain tumor, only 47 years old.

This year would also have been the 15th anniversary of our marriage, had she been alive to accept the love letters and propositions I was making to her, unaware that she had passed away. She seemed to have been everything I want in a woman – intelligent, politically engaged, breathtakingly beautiful, and from a wealthy family thereby eliminating my need to work for a living.

This album was recorded on the closing night of the original run of the “Opinão” theatrical production, which would go into a second run with Maria Bethânia taking Nara’s place. A combination of factors – her distancing herself from the bossa nova circle after Ronaldo Boscoli had an affair with Maysa without even the minor courtesy of discretion; her increasing preoccupation with the dire sociopolitical climate of Brazil, her interest in samba, and her marriage to cineaste Ruy Guerra – had led Nara Leão to changing her musical orientation rather quickly after becoming a star. Within a year of her first album release she was throwing in her lot with Carlos Lyra and others more involved with arts of the engajada (engaged) sort that had been evolving alongside initiatives from groups like the CPC in Rio (Centro Popular de Cultura) and MCP in Recife (Movimento Cultura Popular). The idea of bringing the arts “to the people” by staging performances in factories was actually rather elitist in its vanguardism, but its premise of breaking down the barriers between students, workers, and artists isn’t a bad one. This was the climate in which some interesting work emerged alongside the stuff that played out like tedious political tracts. “Opinão” seems to be one of the more creative attempts at synthesizing politics, music, and theatre. It took place in that curious period between March 31, 1964 when the military dictatorship began and 1968 when the decrees of Institutional Act No.5 severely restricted civil, political, and artistic liberties. For that brief period, social critiques like “Opinão” were still able to find a platform and in fact become a phenomenon playing to sold-out theatres. By the early 1970s, such a scenario would be almost unimaginable.

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The liner notes claim that the recording is not an attempt to translate the theatrical production of Opinão to the medium of a phonograph recording but rather a “condensation of the spectacle” made to communicate something about it in an authentic manner. The listener will note the immediate difference this makes to an approach like the dry, humorless P.U.C. / João Cabral de Melo Neto / Chico Buarque collaboration posted last week at Flabbergasted Vibes. Even without the benefit of the staging or sets, you get an idea of what Opinão was all about. And there was quite a lot of fooling around and satire going on as well. Your mileage may vary on this..

Snatches of songs that were part of Cinema Novo films by Nelson Perreira dos Santos and Glauber Rocha appear alongside songs by Vinicius de Moraes and Carlos Lyra, and of course compositions from Zé Keti and João do Vale. The version of “Carcará” on here may be the best I’ve heard, much better than Maria Bethania’s interpretation when she took over the role. And one surprise treat is the inclusion of the Cuban song “Guantanamera” here, which had just been a huge hit a few years earlier both in Cuba and Brazil. Apparently there is some Pete Seeger mixed into the lyrics somewhere on this interpretation although my throbbing headache today has kept me from figuring it all out. The band is recorded so well on this album that I have my doubts whether or not the songs were actually recorded live (my guess is they were not, and that the dialogs were edited in between studio takes). Whatever the case, this album is a historical and musical treasure and something of a rarity these days. Hope you enjoy it.

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Nara Leão, Zé Keti, João do Vale – Show Opinão (1965)

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Ronnie Von – A Máquina Voadora (1970)

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Ronnie Von
“A Máquina Voadora”
Released 1970 on Polydor (LPNG 44.050)
This pressing, Discos Mariposa, Argentina, 2006

01. Máquina Voadora
02. Baby de Tal
03. Verão nos Chama
04. Seu Olhar no Meu
05. Imagem
06. Continentes e Civilizações
07. Viva o Chopp Escuro
08. Enseada
09. Tema de Alessandra
10. Águas de Sempre
11. Cidade
12. Você de Azul

I have to admit it. If I were around in Brazil in the 1960s, I would have hated Ronnie Von with a passion. A former air-cadet pretty-boy (Top Gun, anyone?) who then went on to work at the Brazilian stock-market… A guy who would have been selling designer jeans in magazines if he had not eventually become interested in the idea of playing or singing music. He began cultivating this interest in 1964 because of a Brazilian Beatles’ cover band, and by 1966 was being presented on TV as a jovem guarda singer. I’m not kidding, it would have been very very hard for me to take this guy seriously. Ah and those hypnotic come-hither green eyes of his, how could I resist those?? Pretty easily, actually. As a friend of mine here put it, she always found Ronnie Von a bit too “mocinha”, which I discovered is probably the best translation of ‘pretty boy’, or at least of an effeminately macho heterosexual. He was also nicknamed “The Small Prince”, which sounds much better in Portuguese. Sort of.

In truth Ronnie is known more for his work as a TV presenter than a singer, being thrust into the spotlight rather quickly with those good looks and bad haircut (featured in one shot in the booklet and in this vintage clip on Youtube). He hosted a ton of different TV specials, introducing musical artists and interviewing guests. And here is where I begin to like Ronnie’s story, although I know nothing about his media personality. You see, as the 1960s drew to a close, he psychedelized himself. Rather convenient of him, you might be justifiably thinking to yourself. But how can you not like a guy who hosted a TV special in 1968 that is listed simply as “Ronnie Von and The Robot (In Which Ronnie Talks With a Robot).”

Ok, so now I’m all ears.

He made three long players in this period that are worth hearing, and this one is by far the best. In fact, I like it quite a lot. It’s got some pretty heady stuff on it to please any obsessive psychedelic-rock collector, while still retaining enough jovem guarda sensibility to never take itself too seriously (“Verão nos chama” and especially “Viva o chopp escuro”). The album has decent orchestral arrangements that don’t try too hard to sound like Rogério Duprat. The title track is a monster of a bad-ass song, in my opinion. In 1968 Brazil it would have come off as totally derivative of The Beatles simply by way of its production, but in the rest of the world at that time that was full of much more rock derivative of The Beatles, it wouldn’t sound that way at all. And in fact the song owes more to Taiguara and Roberto Carlos then to McCartney or Lennon. “Seu olhar no meu” has a lot of Donovan in it (another pretty-boy, come to think of it), which is completely alright by me as I happen to really like Donovan. And while some people may find his spoken poem “introduction” on “Continentes e civilações” a bit overdone (I put “introduction” in scare quotes because it lasts for a full two minutes), I find it highly entertaining when the crescendo kicks in and… well, goes nowhere really, that’s basically the end of it. The two songs apparently written for his daughter, “Tema de Alessandra” and “Você de azul”, are both really nice, even beautiful. Like other parts of the record, the production strikes gold with a delicate balance of strategic use of strummy acoustic guitars, bombastic organ chords, some noodling on a recorder or okarina flute, and fuzzy fuzzy electric guitar lines. Whatever dude, I find this album charming and I hope you do to.

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Ronnie, looking fabulous and not ‘mocinha’ at all, in fact.

The preparation of this post must have been cursed by haunted television personalities of ages past or whatnot. First I put together a folder with all the artwork crooked and barely usable and failed to notice this until all the other work had been done, including hosting the file. Alas, easy enough to fix and only slightly time-consuming. Then I discovered that I somehow missed a page or two of the booklet giving Ronnie’s bio, and one of the badly-translated pages in English. More importantly, I missed a shirtless photo of Ronnie. I am not fixing it again, but alas, I found the entire text of the booklet online to give you here. But no sexy chest, sorry.
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RONNIE VON – Biografia

Nascido em Niterói sob o signo de câncer, em 17 de julho de 1944, nos primeiros minutos de uma Segunda-feira.

Teve uma infância tranquila, fazendo muitas molecagens como era comum nas crianças da sua idade.

Em 1960 prestou exame para a Escola Preparatória de Cadetes do Ar de Barbacena, tinha 15 anos, entrou em 72º lugar, entre 4000 candidatos e 240 aprovados. Aos 17 anos de idade fez seu primeiro vôo sozinho num Folker T-21, um dos dias mais emocionantes de sua vida. Foi um bom piloto, mas fez um montão de molecagens, coisas da juventude.

Mas ser piloto não era o seu destino, então saiu da escola da Aeronáutica e foi para a faculdade de Economia onde passou a estudar a noite e durante o dia a trabalhar com seu tio que administrava empresas que operavam no mercado de capitais. Tempos depois casou-se com Aretusa, mãe de seus dois primeiros filhos e montou uma distribuidora de valores, começando a operar no mercado paralelo. Não obteve muito sucesso e teve que vender seu carro, presente de casamento de seu pai, e outros bens para honrar seus compromissos.

Em 1964 começou a interessar-se pelos Beatles, que tornaram-se seus grandes ídolos, iniciando assim o seu interesse pela música.

Em 1965, muito amigo de Eli Barra, um dos integrantes do grupo Brazilian Beatles (grupo “cover” dos Beatles), foi apresentado ao produtor Glauco Pereira, que sentindo o talento e as grandes possibilidades do rapaz, contratou-o imediatamente.

Sua estréia deu-se no programa BRAZILIAN BEATLES CLUB (1965), na antiga TV EXCELSIOR do RJ, onde cantou a música mais bonita da época – YOU’VE GOT TO HIDE YOUR LOVE AWAY, de Lennon e McCartney, tema do filme HELP, surgindo a seguir o seu contrato com a Philips, lançando seu 1º compacto com a música “MEU BEM”, versão feita pelo próprio Ronnie com o auxílio de seu pai, da música GIRL.

Agnaldo Rayol, em seu programa CORTE RAYOL SHOW, foi a grande chance que Ronnie procurava para vencer em SP, onde recebeu a consagração de ídolo (seus olhos verdes e tristes, conquistaram os corações das garotas).

A partir de MEU BEM, abriram-se as portas para um novo ídolo do iê iê iê.

Passando pelo programa de Hebe Camargo, tornou-se o “Pequeno Príncipe”(1966), um título que perdura até hoje.

Outubro de 1966, com o sucesso de MEU BEM, Ronnie ganha um programa exclusivo na TV Record: “O PEQUENO MUNDO DE RONNIE VON”.

No mesmo ano de 1966 surge o 1º LP, e os shows começam a aparecer por todo o país. Depois de MEU BEM, um novo sucesso: – A CATEDRAL.

Em 1967 Ronnie Von grava “A PRAÇA”, música de Carlos Imperial, com a qual vendeu muitos discos, mostrando um cantor mais versátil, menos “Beatles”, mas igualmente romântico. O estouro desta música mudou muito a vida de Ronnie, todas as cidades queriam conhecer o cantor de “A Praça”.

Com o final do “PEQUENO MUNDO”, Ronnie viaja para a Disneylândia onde passa 17 dias e aprende muitas coisas no bairro dos Hippys, voltando psicodélico.

Com o seu retorno vieram outros programas:

-RONNIE & RONALDO (TV RECORD – NOV/67)

-Na rádio Jovem Pan, “O mundo colorido de Ronnie Von” (67 / 68)

-RONNIE VON ESPECIAL (TV RECORD 1968)

-RONNIE VON E O ROBOT (onde Ronnie conversa com um Robot) (1968)

-RONNIE E OS ALEGRES COMPANHEIROS (com Renato Aragão) (1968 / 69)

Ronnie participou também de um dos Festivais da Record, defendendo a música “UMA DÚZIA DE ROSAS”, de Carlos Imperial.

Em 25/06/1968 Ronnie recebe o título de CIDADÃO PAULISTANO na Câmara Municipal de SP das mãos da vereadora Ana Lamberga Zeglio, onde Ronnie fez um breve discurso destacando a frase: -“HÁ MAIS ALMAS DO QUE TERRAS PARA CULTIVAR”.

Mais tarde recebe também o título de “Comendador” em BIRITIBA MIRÍM, onde inaugura a Avenida e Escola RONNIE VON.

Saindo da TV Record, Ronnie apresentou o programa “ASSIM CAMINHA A JUVENTUDE”, na antiga TV EXCELSIOR (1969 / 1970).

Em fevereiro de 1969, Ronnie inicia também um programa na rádio Nacional de SP, e lança mais um LP.

O pequeno Príncipe cresceu, cortou seus cabelos longos….tornou-se um “grande Príncipe”.

Entre um disco e outro Ronnie se dedica a outras atividades: empresário, produtor de modas, participa de filmes e novelas, entre elas “A Menina do Veleiro Azul” (1969).

Em 02/01/1970, nasce sua primeira filha, Alessandra, e Ronnie lança mais um LP contendo uma música em sua homenagem: – “TEMA DE ALESSANDRA”. No mesmo ano, em 02/12/1970, nasce Ronaldo, seu segundo filho com Aretusa.

Em 1977 ocorre uma nova reviravolta em sua carreira, Ronnie grava a música “TRANQUEI A VIDA”, pela RCA, e devido ao grande sucesso alcançado, regrava esta música em vários idiomas e passa a fazer muito sucesso também fora do Brasil.

Nesse mesmo ano Ronnie começa a participar de um programa de competição musical, o “QUAL É A MÚSICA”, onde torna-se o grande destaque do programa, devido aos seus conhecimentos e incrível memória.

Ainda em 1977, Ronnie faz mais uma novela: CINDERELA 77 (TV TUPI), onde vive um Príncipe motoqueiro.

Com o final da novela, surge mais um programa: RONNIE VON ESPECIAL (1977/78), desta vez pela TV TUPI.

No ano de 1979, Ronnie grava seu 2º LP pela RCA e logo depois, assina contrato com uma nova gravadora, a SOM LIVRE.

Nesse mesmo ano de 1979 Ronnie é pego de surpresa por uma grave doença, POLIONEURITE NEURO RADICULAR, que o deixa impossibilitado de andar e de cama por vários meses. Mas a vontade das pessoas de vê-lo curado era tanta, que através de orações e promessas, deu a ele forças para se recuperar.

E finalmente, depois de uma terrível luta contra a doença, Ronnie volta a cantar e promete: – “Só saio do Palco se me abaterem a tiros, e mesmo assim vou lutar muito para que isso não aconteça.”

Surge então em 1981 o LP “SINAL DOS TEMPOS”, onde Ronnie canta músicas com mensagens profundas, onde fala das mudanças e também do seu recaminho.

Nesse mesmo ano de 1981, Ronnie faz uma participação especial na novela O AMOR É NOSSO (TV GLOBO).

Em 1983 Ronnie aparece com força total, através da música “CACHOEIRA”, e novamente vem ocupar os primeiros lugares das paradas de sucesso.

Em 1984, Ronnie casa-se com a atriz Bia Seidl e muda-se para o Rio de Janeiro, mas mostrando que é um bom cidadão paulistano, um ano depois, retorna a SP, a terra que lhe adotou como filho.

Ainda em 84 Ronnie participa de um dos capítulos da novela “A GATA COMEU” (TV GLOBO), onde Bia Seidl é uma das protagonistas.

Em 1986, após ter protagonizado um filme em Buenos Aires/Argentina, entitulado TAXI UNO, Ronnie, no clima romântico de Buenos Aires, descobre o verdadeiro amor de sua vida, sua amiga de infância, Cristina, que esperou por ele durante muitos anos, e que havia ido até lá apenas para acompanhá-lo a uma exposição de arte.

Ainda em 1986 Ronnie grava o tema de abertura da novela SINHÁ MOÇA (TV GLOBO), – “Sinhaninha”.

Para comemorar os seus 20 anos de carreira artística, Ronnnie inicia em 18/11/1986 uma temporada de shows no ESPAÇO ELIS ARTE & RESTAURANTE.

Em 1987 Ronnie lança mais um LP, desta vez pela gravadora 3M, entitulado Vida e Volta.

Em 06/06/1987, nasce Leonardo, seu 3º filho, o primeiro com sua atual esposa Cristina.

Nesse mesmo ano de 87 Ronnie participa do Filme “A FILHA DOS TRAPALHÕES”, ao lado de Myrian Rios, Renato Aragão, Dedé Santana, Mussum e Zacarias.

Em 11/12/1988, Ronnie, emocionado, leva sua filha Alessandra ao altar.

Já na gravadora RGE, em 1989 Ronnie lança mais um LP, onde a música “Eu Amo Amar Você” e “Sinal de Vida” ganham grande destaque.

Março de 1991, Ronnie estréia um Talk show na TV RECORD que recebe o nome de SINAL DE VIDA, voltando a alegrar seus fãs com um programa semanal noturno.

1992 – Ronnie escreve seu primeiro livro: MÃE DE GRAVATA pela Editora Maltese. Uma autobiografia, cujo objetivo foi passar para os outros a experiência, a vivência, os acertos e os erros cometidos por ele.

A proposta desse livro era levar o conhecimento que adquiriu ao assumir a guarda de seus filhos, quando da sua separação, onde assumiu os dois papéis (pai e mãe), com êxito. Seus filhos aí estão, como um exemplo vivo de que o homem é capaz de educar e formar as crianças, mesmo com a ausência da mãe.

Em 1996, Ronnie lança seu primeiro CD pela gravadora PARADOXX MUSIC, intitulado “ESTRADA DA VIDA”.

Em 24/05/1999, Ronnie estréia pela CNT GAZETA o programa “MÃE DE GRAVATA”, um programa diário, dedicado em grande parte ao público feminino mas que acaba conquistando também o público masculino.

Em 05/03/2001 Ronnie é contratado pela TV MULHER onde continua a apresentar o programa “MÃE DE GRAVATA” e ganha o seu primeiro site na internet: www.maedegravata.com.br

Desde o dia 03/05/2004, Ronnie Von voltou a apresentar um programa na TV GAZETA intitulado “TODO SEU”, onde vem conquistando grande audiência, recebendo muitos elogios pela beleza do cenário, o bom gosto musical, pela sua simplicidade, e pela maneira carinhosa com que recebe a todos os convidados. Um momento de destaque do programa é o quadro “Visão Masculina” onde mulher não entra, e os homens debatem assuntos sobre as mulheres.

Este é apenas um resumo da carreira linda desse nosso ETERNO PRÍNCIPE RONNIE VON.

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Jorge Ben – "O Bidú" – silêncio no Brooklin (1967)

O BIDU – SILÊNCIO NO BROOKLIN
1967 on United Artists (LP 70.006)
This pressing, Atoll Music, France

1 Amor de carnaval
2 Nascimento de um príncipe africano
3 Jovem samba
4 Rosa mais que nada
5 Canção de uma fã
6 Menina gata Augusta (Jorge Ben, Erasmo Carlos)
7 Toda colorida
8 Frases
9 Quanto mais te vejo (Jorge Ben, Yara Rossi)
10 Vou andando
11 Sou da pesada
12 Si manda

All songs by Jorge Ben unless otherwise noted.

This post is dedicated to the guy in Madison, Wisconsin, who requested but then found it elsewhere before I got around to making this post. He’s a cool guy and regular visitor to Flabbergasted Vibes, so he deserves a shout-out, especially because he doesn’t live in New York. You see, hoje em dia, there is a large population of hipsters living in Brooklyn, raising rents (if not quite raising hell) by running around in their skinny jeans and messenger bags and generally thinking they are the center of the universe. Well unfortunately this record is one more feather in their ironic caps. I would like to take pleasure from telling these people that this Jorge Ben album is NOT named after their new occupied territory. But the truth is actually somewhat worse – it is named after an entire neighborhood in São Paulo that was named after their hip occupied territory. The neighborhood was christened thus by the Canadian-owned São Paulo Tramway, Light and Power Company, which also – in an interesting reflection on Canada’s bizarre tendency towards self-effacement – named handfuls of streets after famous cities in the United States.

The only record Jorge Ben ever made for United Artists, this was left out of the recent Salve, Jorge! box set. Like many rarities by major artists, its reputation probably exceeds its actual quality. It’s not a bad album, but it’s also not a great one. Some of the tracks are trying a bit too hard for jovem guarda caché for my tastes. This isn’t a slag against jovem guarda, it’s just that I think Jorge Ben was in a transitional phase trying to figure out where he wanted to go next, and this record just kind of proves that he hadn’t found it yet. Or, possibly, that it was recorded in a hurry while trying to renegotiate his expired contract with Philips.

It most certainly has some gems on it – the first two tracks open up the record with plenty of energy, and I’m particularly fond of the celeste (although it could be a vibraphone, I prefer to believe its a celeste) on the “Nascimento de um principe africano”. The track “Toda colorida” belongs among the ranks of any of Ben’s best stuff from this period, as does “Frases”, which was reworked by Caetano Veloso and renamed “Olha o menino” on his 1977 ‘Bicho’ album. But aside from these tracks, there isn’t too much that stands out. “Rosa mais que nada” is, unsurprisingly, a rehash of ‘Mais que nada’, and while the final track ‘Si Manda’ may be an upbeat number to close out the album, it is also just a rehash of the first track “Amor de carnaval.” Still, any Jorge Ben from this period is essential, at least to us Jorge Ben fans, and others may of course feel differently about this record than I do.

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