Zé Keti – Ensaio / MPB Especial (1973)

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Zé Keti
MPB Especial / Ensaio, 1973

Released as part of the series A MÚSICA BRASILEIRA DESTE SÉCULO POR SEUS AUTORES E INTÉRPRETES by SESC São Paulo

1 Máscara negra
(Pereira Matos, Zé Kéti)
2 Amor de carnaval
(Zé Kéti)
3 Meu pai morreu
(Zé Kéti)
4 A voz do morro
(Zé Kéti)
5 Leviana
(Zé Kéti)
6 Diz que fui por aí
(H. Rocha, Zé Kéti)
7 Opinião
(Zé Kéti)
8 Malvadeza Durão
(Zé Kéti)
9 Acender as velas
(Zé Kéti)
10 Mascarada
(Elton Medeiros, Zé Kéti)
11 O meu pecado
(Zé Kéti)
12 Não sou feliz
(Zé Kéti)
13 Peço licença
(Zé Kéti)
14 Natalino
(Zé Kéti)
15 A jaqueira da Portela
(Zé Kéti)
16 Decepção
(Zé Kéti)
17 Desquite lá no morro
(Zé Kéti)

Eduardo Guidin – guitar
Zé Keti – vocal and box of matches (fósforos)

Quote from Clique Music:

Zé Kéti gravou o programa EnsaiO, dirigido por Fernando Faro, em 1973, aos 51 anos de idade, em plena forma, esbanjando simpatia. O disco, lançado agora pelo Sesc-SP, abre direto com a voz de Zé Kéti – acompanhada apenas pelo violão de Eduardo Gudin e pela caixinha de fósforos do próprio sambista – cantando “Quanto riso, quanta alegria/ Mais de mil palhaços no salão”. Ao final da música ele explica que Máscara Negra foi o seu maior sucesso, em 1967, mas faz a ressalva: “Dinheiro? Bom, não deu pra fazer a minha independência financeira, mas deu pra ganhar alguma coisinha, né?”. Logo em seguida emenda o sucesso seguinte, Amor de Carnaval, de 1968 (“Uma música que pegou e até hoje a turma canta”). “A turma” continua até hoje cantando muitos sambas de Zé Kéti gravados nessa entrevista musical, como Diz que Fui por Aí, Mascarada, Opinião, Acender as Velas, Malvadeza Durão ou A Voz do Morro, seu primeiro sucesso, gravado por Jorge Goulart. Mas no disco também é possível encontrar relíquias, como Meu Pai Morreu, que Zé Kéti canta sozinho, só com a caixa de fósforos, e que compôs para a memória do pai, que morreu envenenado tomando uma xícara de café. As diversas fases de sua carreira são resumidas no disco. A participação no espetáculo Opinião, ao lado de João do Vale (“um caboclo nordestino muito bom”) e Nara Leão (“representando a mocinha de Copacabana, bacana e grã-fina”), a atuação como diretor musical do bar Zicartola, ou a organização do grupo A Voz do Morro (“o primeiro grupo de samba autêntico do Brasil”) – que juntava Elton Medeiros, Paulinho da Viola, Anescarzinho do Salgueiro, Jair do Cavaquinho, Nelson Sargento, Oscar Bigode –, com quem gravou Peço Licença (que o portelense Zé Kéti fez para poder namorar uma pastora da Mangueira), Não Sou Feliz (gravada por Cyro Monteiro, que “introduziu a caixa de fósforos no cenário da música popular brasileira”), Leviana, ou a belíssima Jaqueira da Portela. Autenticidade aqui é algo que não pode ser posto em dúvida. Tendo por todo o disco o acompanhamento apenas do violão de Gudin – adiantando uma espécie de “acústico” intimista – Zé Kéti mostra versões bem particulares de suas composições, imprimindo a este disco a qualidade de preciosidade. (Nana Vaz de Castro)

All of the SESC releases from the old MPB Especial / Ensaio program are wonderful, indispensable documents of Brazil’s rich cultural patrimony. But this one from Zé Keti is truly something special. Like most sambistas of his generation (or, truth by told, most), he is better known as a composer than a performer or recording artist in particular, but he was also one hell of a singer and as is evident here – a great interview subject. He lived a storied life that encapsulated so much of the trajectory of samba and intersection of different generations, different currents and changes in Brazilian society. In this interview he talks about his compositions that are still sung during Carnaval (speaking in 1973 but still true today), about his participation in the collective of samba composers and musicians at Zicartola (the bar run by Cartola and his wife Zica), the formation of the group Conjunto A Voz do Morro, and his involvement with the theatre group Arena which became Show Opinão and later just Opinão, with João de Vale and Nara Leão, which had as its centerpiece his composition “Opinão.” As the review in Portuguese points out, alongside the classics you would expect here (Acender as velas, Peço licença, Não sou feliz), the album also has the rare intimicacy of Zé singing a capella a song about the death of his father, killed by a poisoned cup of coffee (!!), called simply “Meu pai morreu.” As one volume in a series of releases that I can’t say enough good things about, this one really stands out!

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Conjunto Rosa de Ouro 1 & 2 (2010 Remaster)

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Clementina de Jesus & Aracy Cortes
with Conjunto Rosa de Ouro
“Rosa de Ouro” and “Rosa de Ouro No.2” (1965 & 1967)
REMASTER 2010, EMI (BR-EMI-67-00271)

As you can hopefully tell, this is the exact same album(s) as my last post, only a brand-spanking-new reissue, whose pressing includes a beguiling “Clementina Jesus 100 aos” printed on it, even though (as one of our readers observed) she is listed as having been born in 1901. But whatever the confusion about the occasion, it is good to see Clementina’s work coming back into print and hopefully more reissues will follow. UNFORTUNATELY, the label opted to issue this as a budget slipcase release that contains NO information WHATSOEVER (yes, I am using many capital letters). I mean, literally, no notes, no photos, no backstory, no musician credits unless you squint really hard at the reproduction of the LP cover (and even then, only the singers are listed, the other musicians having been credited elsewhere on previous releases). In my opinion, this is a rather lame way to honor the legacy of Clementina.

So what about the other reason people by reissued albums: new/improved/or at least different sound quality? Well let us have a look and a listen…

The song “Jura” from the 1993 CD pressing

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Left Right
Min Sample Value: -25959 -30224
Max Sample Value: 26572 32021
Peak Amplitude: -1.85 dB -.22 dB
Possibly Clipped: 0 0
DC Offset: .319 .243
Minimum RMS Power: -52.4 dB -56.87 dB
Maximum RMS Power: -8.06 dB -7.28 dB
Average RMS Power: -17.95 dB -14.85 dB
Total RMS Power: -17.16 dB -14.36 dB
Actual Bit Depth: 16 Bits 16 Bits

Using RMS Window of 50 ms

The same song, “Jura”, from the new 2010 remaster
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Left Right
Min Sample Value: -31332 -31968
Max Sample Value: 30974 31926
Peak Amplitude: -.39 dB -.22 dB
Possibly Clipped: 0 0
DC Offset: .006 .006
Minimum RMS Power: -88.58 dB -88.21 dB
Maximum RMS Power: -5.75 dB -5.6 dB
Average RMS Power: -15.25 dB -13.07 dB
Total RMS Power: -14.49 dB -12.59 dB
Actual Bit Depth: 16 Bits 16 Bits

Using RMS Window of 50 ms

This is not a tremendous difference – it is mostly just louder. There is some flattening of the dynamics but not nearly as bad as others I have heard and SEEN, where the resulting waveform ends up like a ruler-straight solid line instead of, well, a wave. The new mastering does seem to have fixed a rather huge problem with DC offset in the first pressing, but so far I haven’t figured out what cumulative effect (if any) this has on the final mix, although the stats are a pretty stunning difference.

On some tracks off the new remaster, the stringed instruments cut through a little better in the mix, a quality that I consider a positive change. And A/B comparison of some tracks where the ample, layered percussion nearly drowns out the guitars and cavaquinhos on the first 1993 CD pressing are now suddenly opened up to the listener to appreciate the detail of those instruments. Here I’ve taken one track as an example, the medley that numbers 18 on the CD (Degraus da vida /Mulher fingida /O que será de mim? /Que samba bom/Só pra chatear). On the original CD pressing the guitars and cavaquinho sound dull and buried in the mix, overpowered in particular by the sibilance in the percussion. Here’s what they look like displayed visually

Track 18, “Degraus da vida”, 1993 pressing
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Track 18, “Degraus da vida”, 2010 pressing
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What this shows is a pretty significant boost in the upper frequencies most prominently from 6khz to 15khz, which would explain why the harmonics from those instruments are suddenly foregrounded. I haven’t the time or the inclination to examine whether this new EQ curve was used across all of both Rosa de Ouro albums, but my guess is that an identical or very similar equalization curve was probably applied for most of the material. At this point I don’t have a particularly strong opinion about whether one is ‘better’ or ‘worse’ than the other. To make matters more complicated, I recently got hold of a vinyl copy of the 2nd volume and am pursuing a vinyl copy of the *first*, after which I can drive myself insane trying to decide if either of these CD pressings actually improved a bit on the original vinyl. I know, perish the scandalous thought — but as my friend Justin Thyme has repeatedly observed, recording studios didn’t really *nail it* in terms of recording these larger samba conjuntos until the 1970s, when advances in multitrack recording allowed for better definition and separation between the instruments. So far, I am not completely in love with the sound of the original vinyl either, which makes me wonder why I have just spent all this time writing about the production values of these different releases.

Flabbergast needs a hug. Or a lady-friend. Or both.

In the end, make up your own minds.

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Standing, left to right: Elton Medeiros, Turíbio Santos (non-member), Nelson Sargento, Paulinho da Viola, Jair do Cavaquinho, Anescarzinho do Salgueiro. Sitting from left to right are: Clementina de Jesus, Aracy de Almeida (non-member) e Aracy Cortes.


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Clementina de Jesus & Aracy Cortes / Rosa de Ouro, Vol. 1 & 2 (1965 & 1967)

Clementina de Jesus & Aracy Cortes
Conjunto Rosa de OuroVolume 1 (1965) (MOFB 3430) and Volume 2 (1967) (MOFB 3494)Released as a 2-for-1 on EMI in 1993 (827301 2)

Liner notes in English and Portuguese. Complete art scans, m3u, cue. Ripped in EAC V0.99 pb5 with log. Properly Tagged FLAC

rosa de ouro

The `Rosa de Ouro` was a theatrical production that was born out of the joining of the scenes bubbling up around the “Zicartola” samba club (a short-lived but very important business venture by Cartola and his wife, Zica), and the Opinão stage production put together by Nara Leão, Zé Keti, and João do Vale. To my knowledge there were no film cameras rolling around this cauldron of creativity, at least nothing in the way of a full-length feature, and it is a damn shame.

This show marked the “discovery” of Clementina de Jesus, her first time being thrust into the spotlight of the media, who was co-billed alongside Aracy Cortes who had years of experience as a singer in the theatre. As you can see from the woodcut shown here, the personnel is remarkably similar to the Conjunto “Voz do Morro”. Paulinho da Viola limits himself to the role of backing musician and vocalist on these records, contributing only two songs across both albums, but there are plenty of writing credits from Elton Medeiros, and the rest of the repertoire features tunes from Ismael Silva, Cartola, Pixinguinha, Assis Valente, Jair Costa, Noel Rosa and Anescar, Geraldo Pereira, and a host of public domain/’folklore’ sambas. There is even one tune credited to Heitor Villa-Lobos with Herminio Bello de Carvalho (the producer of the stage production). I am not sure if that composition was specifically created for this show. The theatrical production itself unfolded somewhat in the form of a documentary and manifesto of samba, with the live performances interspersed with pre-taped `depoimentos`, testimonial pieces of interviews with composers like Donga, Pixinguinha, Ismael Silva, and Cartola, singer Elizete Cardoso, and music critics and writers Mario and Sérgio Cabral. The musicians were seated around a simple table like one might find in any botequim in Rio de Janeiro. I am not a samba historian but I don’t think it would be too extravagant a claim to nail down the roots of the ‘samba revival’ that would eventually blossom in the early 70s to this moment right here. In the wake of the dominance of bossa nova, where so many sambistas and composers found themselves nudged out of the spotlight, the Rosa de Ouro was part of a revitalization and resurgence of new energy rising up out of the seemingly-bottomless fonts of inspiration of samba’s giants. These records are great, but I can’t shake the feeling that they are only a shadow of what the actual theatrical experience must have been like.

These two albums have just this year been released as a budget reissue in a digipak-style slipcase, from 2010 and according to the artwork celebrating 100 years of Clementina de Jesus. I will post something more about that shortly.

Gorgeous woodcut used on the jacket of Vol.2 first pressing
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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.

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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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