Nearly 50 years after beginning his career, Cartola, the maestro of the samba, released his first album, and it exudes the quiet grace and rural charm that the samba featured decades before it was modernized later in the century. Of course, all the songs were written by Cartola himself (just 12 of the hundreds he composed), and most are by him alone. Those with limited knowledge of Brazilian music will find Cartola's vocal style closest to the quiet and husky growl of João Gilberto, with an accompanying slow groove and textured guitars. It's a vivid document of Brazilian roots music, featuring the instruments and stylings that all of the most famed artists of the '60s (Jobim, Gilberto, Veloso, Gil) would draw upon for their artistry.
To enjoy the great classics of Samba with Cartola, Paulinho da Viola, Martinho da Vila and others
After an eight-year break and 31 years into his career, Paulinho da Viola got the first gold record of his career, selling more than 100,000 copies. He also received the Grande Prêmio da Crítica from APCA. The album is direct and pure, like a roda de samba, without keyboards or other diversions, besides subtle strings and saxes. He goes straight to the heart of samba, surrounded by bearers of the tradition of the Carioca hills – his friends, his "brothers," his father César Faria (a former member of the historic regional choro group Epóca de Ouro), here playing the seven-string violão. Da Viola's elegance meets a distinctive melancholy and a genuine simplicity, forging a peculiar and sophisticated sound in which the influences of the great masters of the hills – Cartola and Nelson Cavaquinho – are evident. "Quando o Samba Chama" evokes a strong symbolic image very dear to da Viola.
Classic samba by the master of classic samba, Paulinho da Viola. Having recorded and album called 'Samba de Madrugada' with his friend and partner Elden Medeiros a few years previous, this is actually Paulinho's first disc released under his own name. The liner notes contain a big chunk of autobiographical writing from Paulinho, talking about the first Carnaval blocos he formed in his neighborhood of Botafogo and his trajectory through which he eventually came into contact with the Portela samba school and began working around people like Candeia, Casquinha, Monarco and others, and eventually hanging around the bar 'Zicartola' with the likes of Cartola, Elton Medeiros, Nelson Sargento, Nelson Cavaquino, Elizete Cardoso….
Itamar Assumpção was one of the big names and contributors of the Vanguarda Paulistana, an alternative scene that dominated São Paulo in the very late 70s and the first half of the 80s. This movement gathered artists willing to break the Majors control, years before the Internet and the contemporary Indie music scene. Itamar music mixes Rock, Samba, Funk, with sharp satire and strong social criticism, with a very wide spectrum influence. Ironically, his sole album produced by a Major in 1988 has the title Intercontinental! Quem Diria! Era Só O Que Faltava!!! (Intercontinental! Who Knew! It's Just What Was Missing!!!).