Alpiste
Os sonhos nπo envelhecem (Dreams Don't Get Old) is the name of a book just published about Milton Nascimento and the group of musicians from Minas Gerais collectively known as Clube da Esquina (their two records are now available in CD). The group got the name Clube da Esquina (Corner Club) simply because they used to meet at the home of Mßrcio and L⌠ Borges, which happened to be at the corner of two streets.
If you like orchids you should fly to Rio de Janeiro right now. The biggest orchid show ever is in progress at the Museum of Modern Art: 200,000 plants. I remember that when I was a kid we used to stop by the side of the road, during trips to the coast, and go climb trees to take orchids home to my uncle who collected them. Funny thing is, for a country that has 2,300 native species of orchids, Brazil is a small market, with only about 10 million dollars a year in sales.
Carlos Diegues, the director of Bye Bye Brazil, has just released his film of Jorge Amado's novel Tieta do Agreste. The star is the beautiful Sonia Braga and Caetano Veloso wrote the score. Are we going to see it in the US? There's a good chance, since Sony was involved in producing the film. In any case, the CD with the movie songs is already available in Brazil and the US.
Dorival Caymmi, 82 years old this past April, lives in Rio de Janeiro now and doesn't go back to Bahia very often any more. You probably know him as the father of Dori and Danilo Caymmi, who often work in the US with American musicians. I, personally, often silently thank him for fathering Nana Caymmi, one of my favorite Brazilian singers. If you don't know any of his songs, remember, this is the man who put Bahia on the musical map of Brazil and the world. Here's a short list of Caymmi classics: Vatapß, O que Θ que a baiana tem? (this one made a star of Carmen Miranda), Marina, Saudade de Itapoπ, A preta do acarajΘ, Lß vem a baiana and Samba da minha terra (recorded by another famous baiano, Joπo Gilberto).
