Obrigado Brazil

After being underwhelmed following the first couple of listens, I decided to step back and take stock. What was right here, and what was wrong?

What's right is that this is a very listenable overview of Brazilian music, providing a staggeringly wide-ranging selection of this country's hugely diverse musical landscape--everything from Heitor Villa-Lobos to Pixinguinha to Camargo Mozart Guarnieri to Antonio Carlos Jobim to Egberto Gismonti. To even attempt to effectively present such a panorama requires a certain amount of chutzpah; to pull it off requires genius, which, I'm sorry to say, this disc lacks. Nevertheless, listeners unfamiliar with the richness of Brazilian music will find here a decent introduction.

Alas, that's also what's wrong with it--it's little more than an introduction, a buffet, albeit, a not untasty one. To retain any kind of sense of musical continuity and flow in the presentation of such an enormous variety of indiginous musics, an artist must engage in a trade-off, a kind of dumbing down of the inherent wild eccentricities of this remarkable music, a relegation of the delicacies to the musical equivalent of a steam table. Yes, this disc is unfailingly pretty, but it lacks the madcap, unruly beauty that is at the heart of so much of this music. For example, Egberto Gismonti, a man who spent several years in the Northern Brazilian jungle researching the ethnic music of that region resulting in such spectacular discs as Danca Das Cabecas, Sanfona, and Sol Do Meio Dia has never sounded so sedate (although there's some of the old fire and earthiness in Salvador, the concluding cut).

If this tempts listeners into exploring the glories and richness of Brazilian music, great. But it must be recognized that this is, at best, a sampler, and that it pales in comparison to the real thing. 3 and 3/4 stars would be about right, I'd say.


Obrigado in the studio   March 4, 2004
Dr. Christopher Coleman (HONG KONG)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

Yo-yo Ma is one of the most interesting musicians working today. His eclectic tastes bring us fascinating music from around the globe, and his astonishing musicianship guarantees excellence in every new adventure. Recent CDs have seen him venturing to China via the Silk Road and to the Belle Epoque of France. His attention has also been focused on Latin America with Soul of the Tango and this first, studio version of Obrigado Brazil. He has even followed up these recordings with Obrigado Brazil Live in Concert, which repeats some pieces from the earlier studio recordings but is primarily new work in the same vein.

Ma is joined by a septet of mostly Latin American performers, two of whom also double as composers: composer/clarinettist Paquito d'Rivera, singer/guitarist Rosa Passos, guitarists Sergio and Odair Assad, Ma's long time accompanist at the piano Kathryn Stott, and a bassist and percussionist.

Listen to one of my favorite tracks, the lovely Menino, and you wil hear that Ma brings real sensibility to this music. Occasionally his performance reveals that he isn't as familiar with the style as d'Rivera or the others--he tends, for example, not to bend pitches but approach them as his Classical training would have--but this is no significant flaw, as the qualities of line and rhythm he does bring to the music compensate. Those who complain that Obrigado Brazil isn't truly Brazilian music, that it's perhaps over-refined miss the point entirely, and are advised to look elsewhere for their entertainment. Certainly if "authentic" folk music is what listeners are after, they won't find it here. But they will find wonderful music, played with love and dedication by superb musicians, and well worth hearing.

Now, to compare the studio version with the live concert recording. The liner notes of Obrigado Brazil Live in Concert claim that the energy of a live performance makes the works the two CDs share sound totally different, with the implication that live is better, but I can't agree. There are subtle variations, to be sure-for example one of the pieces has much more percussion in the studio version, and even the ambience of the studio recording is audibly different from the live concert-but these aren't wild distinctions and certainly not necessarily improvements. The energy of a live concert may well be counterbalanced by the control of a studio version. It's surely a matter of taste. Personally I usually prefer studio recordings to live. Here, though, the biggest difference is not in the comparisons of the pieces that are on both CDs, but on the contrasting approaches of the overall programme. The studio version of Obgriado Brazil is more introspective and melancholy; the concert recording has more fast, joyful works and moves beyond Brazil for its sources. In this particular case, I prefer the live concert material for the most part. The two final pieces of the studio recording are glorious, though, and I wouldn't want to miss them by only purchasing the live recording. I'm totally taken by the joyous exhuberance of the penultimate track, Brasileirinho, and the crazed final track, Salvador, with its wild improvisation. Admittedly, what I prize many listeners may despise--so much so that the marketers label this last a "bonus track". And I'm not so much a Bossa Nova fan, but if you are, I think the studio CD leans more in that general direction. Whether to buy one or the other, or even both, will surely be a matter of personal taste. But certainly, do buy one--you're almost guaranteed to enjoy it!


By Bossa Nova standards, just ok   November 8, 2003
Andres Centeno (NYC)
10 out of 12 found this review helpful

The first time I listened to the CD, I thought, "Let's give it a few more tries...Let it sink in." It never did. The talent is there, but the creativity and passion are not. Bossa Nova is not applied classical music. Classical music is beautiful; Bossa Nova is beautiful. But they are different. There is far more exciting stuff out there in the Bossa Nova world. Kenny Barron's gig with Trio da Paz; or Morelenbuam(2)/Sakamoto -now that is Bossa Nova cello! Surely Yo Yo Ma could some day be a great Bossa Nova cellist, but until then, don't waste your money.