APRESENTACAO

Listen to APRESENTACAO by G.R.E.S. MOCIDADE INDEPENDENTE DE PADRE MIGUEL.

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2008!

The idea this week is to play some less "pop" and more "authentic" sounds from South America (using quotation marks to avoid arguments about just what those terms should mean). For much of the last couple of weeks, it's been all non-Brazilian South American music, but for 2008 we're bringing back the Brazil! Apresentacao is a favorite batucada of mine (batucada being Carnival music, samba, but with everything but the percussion left out) (which isn't leaving out very much). I especially love each of the breaks in the music, which almost remind me of breakbeats, but even more give me a sense of a group of musicians walking in a parade and periodically going back to themes or patterns as they move along the route. A festive and heavy way to start the year.

The group of musicians playing on the track is called a samba school (the prefix "G.R.E.S." is a Portuguese designation of same), and it's taken from a wonderful Soul Jazz comp that you can find here if you look hard enough.

Again, Happy New Year!

Photo: Town of York Civil War Monument.