Tag: Forró

Jackson do Pandeiro
“O Cabra da Peste”

Original release: 1966, “Jackson do Pandeiro – O Cabra da Peste”, Continental, PPL 12265)

Censored release: 1969

reissue: 1978, “Jackson do Pandeiro – O Cabra da Peste – Edição Limitada”, Popular/GE/Continental, 146411047)

This pressing, Warner/Continental CD, 2001 (092741523-2)

01. Capoeira mata um (Alvaro Castilho – De Castro) Balanço
02. Tá roendo (Figueirôa – Maruim) Samba
03. A ordem é samba (Jackson do Pandeiro – Severino Ramos) Samba
04. Pinicapau (Codó) Baião
05. Forró quentinho (Almira Castilho) Forró
06. Bodocongó (HUmberto Teixeira – Cicero Nunes) Baião
07. Secretária do diabo (Osvaldo Oliveira – Reinaldo Costa) Forró
08. Vou sambalançar (Antonio Barros – Jackson do Pandeiro) Samba
09. Alegria do vaqueiro (Zé Katraca) Baião
10. Forró do Biá (Luiz Moreno – Jeronimo) Forró
11. Papai vai de trem (Ivo Martins – Jackson do Pandeiro) Baião

DELETED TRACK between tracks 10 and 11 above, Polícia Feminina (Severino Ramos – José Pereira) Forró

What a confusing release history this album has had, which utter lack of any information whatsoever on the CD reissue fails to clear up. This is what I was I have been able to piece together for you: “O Cabra da Peste” was released in 1966 (sometimes listed as 1963, which I originally fell for but was thankfully corrected about), censored and re-released without the song “Polícia Feminina” in 1969, then reissued again in limited edition in 1978, from which I suspect this album cover at the top was taken. I am not sure what is meant by the text under the photo, “rerecording with a new cover,” unless they consider the removal of one track to be a rerecording. Or perhaps by 78 they decided to put “Polícia Feminina” (a fairly innocuous and silly song about having your heart locked up in prison, etc) back on the album…. Whatever the case may be, the CD issue is still missing the track. The recording is in mono, so we can at least be glad they didn’t use a version “electronically rechannelled for stereo”…

Jackson do Pandeiro recorded a ton of hit songs that are very important for Brazilian popular music. None of those are on here. (You might, however, want to visit the previous post of O Rei do Ritmo on this site..). I read one review of this album, in Portuguese, that criticized the song selection as being the weakest of any album from Jackson’s career.. Well, if that’s true, I am still pretty impressed by this record and it only shows just how much of a genius this guy to give these tunes so much life. It’s a solid set of forró, samba, and samba de coco. And although there might not be anything that immediately has you singing along like many of his better-known releases, there are some real stand-out cuts here. “Capoeira mata um” totally kicks off right. “A ordém é samba” written by Jackson and and Severino Ramos, and “Bodocongó″ by Humberto Teixeira e Cícero Nunes are catchy tunes and hot performances, showing just how easily Jackson could interpret a variety of styles and have it still come out like, well, Jackson do Pandeiro. One difference between material from this era and his earlier 1950s successes can be found in the suingue (or, swing) of the rhythm section — the influence of bossa nova is felt in the way the drummer lays down some jazzed-out chops on even the forró numbers. While this might not be the place to start for people new to Jackson do Pandeiro, this a fine album on its own. It makes me happy.

Links removed and post bumped

Jackson do Pandeiro
“Sua Majestade – O Rei do Ritmo”
Copacabana records, 1960

1 Forró em Caruaru (Ze Dantas)

2 Cabo Tenório (Rosil Cavalcanti)

3 O canto da ema (João doVale – Alventino Cavalcanti – Ayres Vianna)

4 Sebastiana (Rosil Cavalcanti)

5 Cremilda (Edgar Ferreira)

6 Coco de improviso (Alventino Cavalcanti – Edson Menezes – Jackson do Pandeiro)

7 Xote de Copacabana (José Gomes)

8 A mulher do Anibal (N. de Paula – Genival Macêdo)

9 Um a um (Edgar Ferreira)

10 Coco social (Rosil Cavalcanti)

11 Falsa patroa (Geraldo Jacques – Isaías de Freitas)

12 O crime não compensa (Eleno Clemente – Genival Macêdo)

This long-player, which by all appearances seems to be a collection of the many singles put out by Jackson do Pandeiro in the decade or so before 1960, quite a few of them on 78s. Save Chiclete com Banana, most of his biggest hits are here, and it’s an incredibly fun listen. It is also one of the only releases from him you will find on CD besides a few anthologies. This is at least partly do the fact that Jackson recorded for at least four or five different labels during his career, and a lot of his output was in the form of singles. Hopefully someday there will be a boxset deserving of this huge figure in Brazilian music. Along with Luiz Gonzaga, he is a master of the genre of forró, but also known for his interpretations of ‘samba de coco’ — traditionally a type of samba found in the sertão or backlands of Pernambuco and Paraíba, accompanied by hand-claps and group call and response singing, but reinvented by Jackson into an ensemble setting. The guy just oozed musicality out of his pores. The style of syncopation he injected into his music is credited with transforming Brazilian music, changing the way musicians and composers were rhythmically approaching their material. I can believe it.

Whereas, Luiz Gonzaga – the undisputed king of the baião ballad and sort of the ambassador of forró “pé de serra” style – was in a way more of a curator of the rich, musical and cultural heritage of the northeast (my opinion, feel free to dispute it), Jackson do Pandeiro was forging new sounds and textures, or as the music-writers’ cliché would have it, “pushing the boundaries” of the genre(s). This is not meant to be a dig against Luiz Gonzaga: I adore him and his musical legacy, but there is a real way in which that legacy has become almost a stand-in for the culture itself, and Gonzaga was deliberately “reinventing tradition” to promote a previously devalorized part of the country. But Jackson, man, Jackson do Pandeiro was as ‘modern’ as any bossa nova, as charismatic and tempestous a stage presence as any rocker. Even if he wasn’t jumping around the stage, his performances would leap off of it and into your consciousness.

Why does Almira look so scared and horrified?
I’ll tell you.
It’s because Jackson do Pandeiro was an unstoppable rhythm machine. And, he was dancing right next to her.

Here is a bio of Jackson do Pandeiro from cliquemusic, translated by yours truly for your enjoyment:

BIO from CLIQUEMUSIC, translated by Flabbergast

Born in the interior of Paraíba, his first wish was to play the accordion. But since that instrument was very expensive, his parents gave him a pandeiro (tambourine). His mother was a singer of coco, and played the zabumba and ganzá. At 13 years-old he moved with his family to Campina Grande, where he worked at odd jobs and began to pay attention to the singers of coco and the guitar-playing minstrals at the open markets and fairs. It was in this city where his first stage name emerged, Jack, influenced by North American Westerns that he would watch at the cinema. In the 1940s he moved on to João Pessoa, where he played in cabares and on radio stations. Much later he went to Recife, Pernambuco, and it was there at the Rádio Jornal do Comércio that he definitively adopted the name Jackson do Pandeiro. In 1953 he recorded his first hits: “Sebastiana” (Rosil Cavalcanti) and “Forró em Limoeiro” (Edgar Ferreira). Three years later he married Almira, who would become his partner during performances. In the same year they moved to Rio de Janeiro, and Jackson was contracted by Rádio Nacional, where he was a popular and critical success for his way of singing baiões, cocos, rojões, sambas, and marchinhas of carnaval. His influence is felt still today in artists that have rerecorded songs that Jackson made famous, like “O Canto de Ema,” recorded by Lenine (*Flabber note: much better version recorded by Gilberto Gil on Expresso 2222… But I don’t like Lenine at all, he makes me cringe..), “Na Base de Chinela,” by Elba Ramalho,” “Lágrima” by Chico Buarque, or “Um a Um” pelos Paralamas do Sucesso.** An inspired composer and instrumentalist of rare talent, he popularized other classics of Northeastern music, like “Chiclete com Banana” (Gordurinha/Almira Castilho), “Xote de Copacabana” (José Gomes), “17 na Corrente” (Edgar Ferreira / Manoel Firmino Alvez), “Como Tem Zé na Paraíba” (Manezinho Araújo / Catulo de Paula), “Cantiga do Sapo”, “A Mulher do Aníbal”, “Ele Disse” (Edgar Ferreira) and “Forró em Caruaru” (Zé Dantas). In 1998 he was the honored figure at the 11th Prêmio Sharp de Música (Flabber note: I don’t know what this event is…)

** Flabber note: A glaring omission from this list by cliquemusic — “Sebastiana” was recorded by Gal Costa on her 1968 album, and its one of the wildest renditions of anything associated with Jackson do Pandeiro.

*** An even more glaring omission is Gilberto Gil’s version of CHICLETE COM BANANA, which is still performed by him frequently. Along with O Canto de Ema recorded by Gil on Expresso 2222, these songs were my first exposure to Jackson.

**** Flabber note: This brief bio also does not mention that Jackson became involved with the same religous sect, Cultural Racional, that had Tim Maia recording his wonderfully looney masterpiece(s) of funk in 1975. The album of Jackson’s where the Racional philosophy gets reflected most is titled “Alegria Minha Gente” from 1978 and as far as I know has never received a CD release.
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HAVE A LOOK AND A LISTEN!!!

SEBASTIANA – A fantastic song, also great for practicing your vowel sounds (and sometimes epsilon)

CHICLETE COM BANANA

This clip of “Chiclete Com Banana” is a rather odd piece compiled by someone wanting to make a statement about the Americanization of Brazilian culture, splicing in old footage of films and carnaval and cartoons. It may or my not have something to do with cineaste Jose Nelson, I don’t know, I can’t figure it out.. I like it though. And keep an eye out for a George Bush playing percussion!

Clip of a documentary made by TV Cultura — sign the petition to get this shown in full!

And more — A Globo documentary (using some clips from the TV Cultura one, incidentally), just the first bit