Episode 131: Brazilian Rhapsody

Today’s theme is Brazil; I perceive the need for a little more sunshine on your radio dial today. Brazilian sounds are up there with reggae as music that is impossible to associate with cold weather; everything about Brazilian music reflects a culture of warmth. This will be a Brazilian playlist in four movements; first we are going to hear a sampling of afro-Brazilian religious music, with the heavy presence of African drumming. Some of the music in this set is drum and vocals only. After that we’ll move into samba, the music that married African rhythms with the Portuguese cavaquinho and other European influences. To start hour two I’ll be playing some samba cancao, music mixing samba influence with pop and ballad elements, bringing a bigger emotional range to samba music, which otherwise tends to have a happy-go-lucky profile. This is where we will get in our slowjams today. I’ll end the show by bringing in the horn section for some swinging Brazilian pop music, mostly from the 70s. Today’s show is Rhapsody in Brazil, a spectrum of sounds from the Brazilian scene.