Conjunto A Voz do Morro – Roda de Samba (1965) {Paulinho da Viola, Elton Medeiros, Zé Keti, Nelson Sargento…}

“RODA DE SAMBA”
– CONJUNTO ‘A VOZ DO MORRO’
Jair Costa / Anescar do Salgueiro / Zé Kéti / Nelson Sargento / Elton Medeiros / Paulinho da Viola / José da Cruz

Released 1965 Musidisc Hi-Fi 2114
CD issue Musidisc 777.6099

This is a massive album – historically vital to the history of samba, an amazing and compelling listen; a group made up of “heavy hitters” in samba, and one of the earliest recordings of Paulinho da Viola, who sounds as refined and confident as he would ten years later. Oddly enough, as far as I know the only time it was issued on CD thus far is this Musidisc pressing done by Sonopress Brasil in 1995 (if I am reading the code correctly). The sound quality is as top notch as the music.

Photobucket

This recording has been reissued on vinyl throughout the 70’s with a different cover and credited to Paulinho da Viola (or at least, `Paulinho da Viola and Conjunto Voz de Morro`), which is obviously a way of cashing in on his celebrity status at that time. But in the mid-1960s, Viola was the up and coming youngster of this bunch. Names like Zé Keti, Elton Medeiros, Jair Costa, and Nelson Sargento would have been more familiar to the samba afficionado in ’65. But Paulinho is featured prominently — in the group photo, in the number of songs he sings lead on, and in the listing of his name first in the list on the cover. So this may have been an attempt to give his career a push.. I don’t know, I am an ignorant gringo, and it’s quite likely that a music journalist like Sergio Cabral has written about this album and explained the story and I should probably do my homework and find out more about it.

The compositions are all first-rate. You might notice the tune Elton Medeiros co-wrote with Cartola, one of many that Cartola never recorded himself. There are so many classic tunes here I feel silly trying to single anything out. But Anescarzinho`s “Intriga” and “Vai saudade” leap out at me, as does Mascarada from Zé Keti and Elton Medeiros. Zé Keti’s “Maria”, with Jair Costa on lead voice, is two minutes of perfect samba, with great leave-me-alone ‘dis’ chorus (Saia de meu caminho, eu não te quero mais/aonde eu vou/ Maria vai atrás). Paulinho’s “Coração vulgar” and “Jurar com lágrimas” are both stand-out tunes in his decades-long repertoire of memorable compositions, already demonstrating his special way of writing complex, long melodies and weaving them in a way that sounds deceptively simple. And it is nice to hear him sing in the context of this strong chorus of vocalists providing harmonies, counterpoint, and the whole package. The instruments are all recorded in pristine quality, mixed extremely well, and (of course) played with finesse. I am hoping my friend J.Thyme likes this album but he might be dismayed to know it is sans cuíca. It’s Cuíca-Free. Cuícaless.

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0 Comments

  1. senha – pass – magickal incantation / toada/ batuque:

    vibes

  2. May i ask a question: No more flac?

  3. hi anonymous. There was a mistake in the HTML code of the post, it should be fixed now. Thanks for drawing my attention to it.

  4. Flabbergast, I feel very lucky that I stumbled across your blog. LOVE the music you're putting out there. Thanks!

  5. Hi,
    Came across your blog searching for some Willie Rosario to listen to. Just wanted to say a big thank you for a very classy site, no attention to detail spared. Also love the reviews. Much prefer an honest appraisal of an LP & where I already own the LP/CD completely agree with the comments you make.

    J

  6. Hi Flabbergast. I'll admit that I know "Os Sambistas" more then I do this session, but I'm sure to get around to this very important document of Samba movement.

  7. Cool, JT, I am sure you will come back and let us know what you think of this one when you have a chance 😉

    By the way, both Rosa de Ouro albums coming soon, if you are interested. I've been digging into the 60s samba recordings more these days, I guess…

  8. man ! im from brazil and i love your blog ! thank you !

  9. It's an album I really like. I bought the CD the last time I was in Brasil which is, unfortunately, a long time ago. I really like Paulinho da Viola's work.
    And I'm looking forward to see what are those samba albums you plan to post…

    By the way, I was really into samba myself these last weeks and I wrote a lot of stuff about Candeia (but in french, of course)…
    http://lelixirdudrfunkathus.blogspot.com/

  10. Could you repost it?
    thank you

  11. Hi Flabbergast,Many thanks for the re-post and info !!!
    Niall

  12. The file you attempted to download is an archive that is damaged or possibly encrypted. MediaFire does not support unlimited downloads of broken or encrypted archives and the limit for this file has been reached. This file may only be distributed from a premium account.

  13. This is really unfuckingbelievable.. I think they are ought to get me. All my new shares are having problems ever since I was forced to ask for a refund on the "upgraded" account that was not actually an upgrade at all, just a scam. Now, mysteriously, all my files — which are prepared just like they always were — are coming up with that bizarre message

  14. …also, nobody has "contacted" me about anything at all

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