MPB - M·sica
Popular Brasileira - is a label meaning much more than the literal translation
"Popular Brazilian Music." It defines the strain of popular music that emerged
in Brazil after the watershed Tropicalismo movement in the late 60's. Tropicalismo was an
artistic movement that celebrated cultural cannibalism; blending musical and artistic
ideas from other cultures with Brazilian styles to create a new national and cultural
identity. Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso were among the leaders of the movement, and it
influenced a generation of musicians. In the 70's and 80's, these artists created a rich
body of music that mixed Brazilian styles like samba, bossa nova (itself a hybrid of jazz
and samba), and forr≤, with foreign influences like rock, reggae, jazz and African music.
That background is essential to understanding why Chico CΘsar is being hailed as one of the most important MPB artists to emerge in quite some time. While sometimes compared to Caetano for his voice, and to Gil for his guitar technique and song writing, Chico is, in actuality, probably the most original voice to emerge in Brazilian music in the 90's. His songs are notable for deeply poetic and linguistically playful lyrics, combined with engaging and hook-laden melodies, and, in the best MPB tradition, a daring blend of rhythms and styles that lean heavily on his native northeastern roots.
An area of Brazil that's typically under-represented on the national scene, Brazil's northern and northeastern reaches are home to myriad rhythms and dance forms, many more than just forr≤ and frevo, the forms familiar to most listeners. Chico's music often blends the Caribbean-influenced rhythms of carimb≤ and serimb≤ (from the island of Maraj≤) with rock and reggae, sometimes adding the thunderous percussion of a Bahian Bloco Afro. He utilizes lesser-known folk forms from Brazil's rural areas like bumba-meu-boi from Maranhπo, folia de reis from Minas Gerais, and reizado from Paraφba. Don't worry if you've never heard - or heard of - these musical forms. You don't need to be an ethnomusicologist to appreciate the results. From these under-utilized veins of Brazil's musical heritage, Chico mines some of the freshest sounds to emerge in MPB in many years.
The first album, Aos Vivos (Velas, 1995), is a live, mostly solo performance in which the strength of his compositions shines most brightly. From his haunting "A Primeira Vista" (now a smash hit nationwide by Daniela Mercury) to the richly alliterative poetry of "A Prosa Imp·rpura do Caic≤," Chico emerges on this album as a fully-formed artist, with a confident and exuberant vocalization style, adept guitar work, and compositions that can hold their own with the best of the best from the MPB generation. In fact, many of them are now recording his work - Zizi Possi, Elba Ramalho, Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethania, Daniela Mercury and others have all recently recorded versions of Chico's songs.
The second album, Cuscuz Clπ (Polygram, 1996) reveals the complete Chico, with occasionally rocking and raucous arrangements of new material as well as a few songs also done on Aos Vivos. There's a beautiful new arrangement of "A Primeira Vista" that (in my view anyway) should be the hit in Brazil - not Daniela Mercury's. For fans of the first album who might have thought Chico was a quiet, reflective singer-songwriter, guess again. Cuscuz Clπ provides a startingly different identity, a near punk-like ferocity at times (the German newspaper Sⁿdwest Press once compared him to Sex Pistol's lead singer Johnny Lydon) and arrangements that blend Bahia with BelΘm, Jamaica with Cuba, and Brazil with North America.
That facility for creating a fresh, new hybrid sound is the mark of a true MPB artist, and, with a repertoire of some 250 songs already composed, something tells me we'll be talking about - and hearing from - Chico CΘsar for many years to come.