This
is their third album on Far Out Recording following 'The
Return Of The Ipanemas' and
'Afro
Bossa' and
it’s the best yet according to the label boss, Joe Davis. He’s
the man responsible for their resurgence as it was his quest to track
down the original album from The Ipanemas of the 60s. Again, like
Banda União Black, 40 years on, we’ve lost some of the original
members but none of the spirit.
The
band are led by two of the innovators of the bossa, Wilson Das Neves
(vocals/drums) and Neco (guitar) who went onto record with all the
top players of the era like Chico Buarque,
'Tom’ Jobim, Wilson Simonal and Elis Regina.
Your
not going to have the benefit of hearing this at a beach bar on a
sunny day with the girls and boys parading in their swimwear (not at
the time of writing in the UK anyway), but ‘Samba Is Our Gift’
does set you up to get laid back.
Huge
start with ‘Imperial’ on the ‘La la la la la larrssss’, you
feel like Astrid is getting off that plane to have a holiday in a
different world.
‘Mangue’
is a delightful lite samba-cancao (sung-samba) in the breeze with the
gentle picking of Neco’s guitar. With the muted batucada, get ready
for the “um, dois, três, quarto” and the explosion. Ah ha! it
doesn’t come (Hey Joe, savin’ that one
for
the Spiritual South Remix?)
‘Samba
Pra Mim Mesmo’ retains the mood but the tempo picks up at times
like on ‘Treze, Trinta E Nove’.
All
this Brazilian brilliance makes me regret not following last year’s
resolution to learn Portuguese. We’re told in the sleeve notes that
‘Malandro Quando Vaza’ is a song about a conman and that Wilson
only developed as a singer less than 10 years ago. You’d never
guess from his performance here.
This
being a Far Out Recording, you won’t be surprised to find Ivan
(Mamão) Conti features throughout variously on drums, percussion and
guitar. So whilst he puts himself about, you can feel something of
that Azymuth vibe going on, where he’s done the arrangements, but
it never overshadows ‘the gift’ of the samba. As ever, all the
musicians are superb but you won’t fail to be impressed by the
trumpet of Jesse (is that Jesse Sadoc?) and the Trombone of Vitor
Santos (all the tracks but in particular, ‘San Roque’).
Talking
of Jesse, ‘Valsamba’ is seriously percussive and even with the
addition of a string arrangement sounds like a Collery brass band
(albeit one in Rio). It takes you by surprise this one and it’s one
for consideration to go into the next Hectic mixtape.
No
Hectic gripes regarding the cover and the sleeve notes are excellent
by Mr. Davis and DJ Cliffy (see Banda União Black).
If
you need a samba gift, this is 'the'
album
for you.
Reviewed:
The Ipanemas
Title: Samba
Is Our Gift
Label: Far
Out Recordings
Cat. No. FARO 106 CD Release date: 01 May
2006
Format: Vinyl Re-issue 20th April 2024
Tracklisting:
1. Imperial (4:29)
2. Malandro Quando
Vaza (3:18)
3. Mangue (3:03)
4. Samba Pra Mim Mesmo (4:41)
5.
Taioba (3:11)
6. San Roque (5:11)
7. Valsamba (4:05)
8.
Folia No Samba (3:48)
9. Samba D (2:19)
10. Treze, Trinta E
Nove (3:29)
11. O Smaba E O Meu Dom (5:09)
Tracklisting:
1. Imperial (4:29)
2. Malandro Quando
Vaza (3:18)
3. Mangue (3:03)
4. Samba Pra Mim Mesmo (4:41)
5.
Taioba (3:11)
6. San Roque (5:11)
7. Valsamba (4:05)
8.
Folia No Samba (3:48)
9. Samba D (2:19)
10. Treze, Trinta E
Nove (3:29)
11. O Smaba E O Meu Dom (5:09)
—Gerry
Hectic
Sunday
16 April 2006
