music review: Zeca Baleiro

A few blogs back I embedded the song Bienal by Zeca Baleiro onto my blog.  I then translated its lyrics because I think they are hilarious. 

I first heard the song on one of two CD’s by Baleiro that I had just bought from Amazon.  I had no idea who he was until I bought the things.  And I probably bought them because the Amazon Computer, in it’s infinite wisdom, and based on a profile it developed of me using previous purchases, “suggested” that I might like to spend more money at its virtual store purchasing them.  The computer was right.  But computers are demanding, and that was not the end of our interaction.

It’s funny how this internet business works, some computer or another is always asking me for my opinion.  And of course, after it suggested that I might like the music of Zeca Baleiro, and after I bought a couple of albums from it, the Amazon Computer sent me one more email asking me to rate my musical experience.  I obliged.  And because I care about what I wrote, of course I am sticking it here in my blog about much of nothing:

  

Disclaimer: Not sure if this review will help anyone choose whether or not to buy this album. 

I was born and raised in Brazil but left the country at the age of 17 to come study here (USA), and here I stayed. Listening to Baleiro’s songs takes me back to a time and place I thought I had learned to forget.  It is not only the sound of the music that takes me back there, it’s the attitude.  An attitude that makes itself felt not only in the way Baleiro articulates his sound, but also in the way he constructs his lyrics. 

In terms of sound, Perfil is pretty global.  Baleiro not only integrates together a bunch of different Brazilian musical beats and styles; but he also deftly cannibalizes and assimilates other genres ranging from American rock, pop, hip-hop, rap and even country, on to Indian beats and rhythms.  On the other hand, although  Por Onde Andará Stephen Fry (pronounced by Baleiro as Steefã, which I love) contains some of the same songs found in Perfil with their global feel, the album has more songs with a Samba beat and feels more straightforward Brazilian (or Brazeelhã).

In terms of lyrics, well, one just has to learn the Portuguese to understand the breadth and natural poetry of the language, not to mention the humor with which Brazilians put it to use.  Brazilians are adept at assimilating other cultures without ever diluting their own.  Listening to these albums reminds me of how they integrate into their culture anything that washes up onto their shores, especially the English language.  They do it effortlessly and with (again) humor.  They consume it and weave it seamlessly into the fabric of their own speech where it feels entirely at home and yet points to the fact of its appropriation and difference.  Brazilians do this so gracefully, so unlike the French who do it with a petty Anglophobic attitude.  So yeah, I really miss the attitude.

Zeca Baleiro’s music takes me back to a certain time and place, which is weird, because he is of this time and not of mine.  It reminds me of how much I actually miss that time and that place...

Are these good albums? I like all the songs, love some, and find myself moving to a lot of them.  That said, nobody actually makes albums in this day and age anymore... But the music: it is fun.