With these words, artists, likely throughout
the world, have encountered the spectre of persecution at the hands of bureaucrats
and despots alike. Military coups aside, there are no refuges of freedom from
this type of political censorship even in a democratic state. The foundation
of the state is sameness and consequently the fostering of that sameness, and
barring that, distraction. For me though, as if to suggest that distraction,
those words mean that I now have a new "list" of music to search for, to add
to my collection.
Unfortunately, for me it seems, the records that surrounded me in my youth were
not the Jazz my father enjoyed; if I can believe what my mother told me years
later. I really have no idea what music he liked, other than Glenn Miller and
Elvis. Her taste ran to Gladys Knight, Lou Rawles, Barry White, and Stevie Wonder
? Motown and Buddah Records. Luckily for me, there was still Rock & Roll. When
I started listening to the Beatles, she remarked that she preferred the Beach
Boys to the Stones or the Fab Four. For all her East Texas upbringing, she still
managed to have rhythm and a degree of hipness to her musical tastes. And it
wasn't all R&B Motown sound; we regularly cleaned house on Saturday afternoons
to Santana's Abraxas and Blood, Sweat & Tears.
Still, had we listened to Jazz on KTSU (TX Southern U), as I did years later
when I moved from the suburbs into the city, I likely would have heard it before
I was so late in my teens. What you ask? The same sweet sounds of Astrud Gilbreto
singing the song that changed it all, Garota de Ipanema (The Girl
from Ipanema). When I heard Joao Gilbreto's guitar, like all those MPB players,
and all the American Jazz players, hell pretty much everyone that heard it,
it sounded so, so, so je ne sais quoi. I had a similar feeling recently listening
to the Toquinho & Vinícius song (it was actually written by Vinícius and Baden
Powell) Canto de Ossanha, which I hope to not slaughter next week. There
is just something about the Bossa style of guitar; it is infectious and euphoric.
Shortly after my realization that paternity was hanging about, another song
written by a Bossa great came into my life. As if to honor my soon to be daughter,
her conception in march, Aquas de Marco (Waters of March), written
by "Tom" Jobim, appeared on our musical horizon. My companion heard Susannah
McCorkle's version of the song on KPLU and was infected by the tune and its
beautiful lyricism, made only more hypnotic by the Portuguese. She called the
station after hearing it a second time to find out whom, what, and when. Only
to find out, that the where would force us to wait nearly two months, before
we could listen at will. Guess I can expect to look forward to the same kind
of wait to find some of these titles on the list. And it isn't likely the Gilberto/Getz
for the Os Afro-Sarnbas album is going to turn up in the used bins around
here; if it did, it won't stay there long.
One thought I had on the text was the relationship between the entrudo,
Dionysius, Saturnalia, and the Bacchanalia and the relation this has to the
idea of releasing the tensions inherent in a hierarchical system based on wealth
and the ownership of other humans, whether by socioeconomic or physical slavery.
These festivities have a correlation to the "Fool's Day", where the rulers and
slaves exchanged places, for the same purposes of relieving pent-up frustrations
about their limited vertical advancement in the social structure.
Another thought would be reflective of what we have read about the transmission
of traditions across time and space and in spite of overt oppression. Brasil
seems to be a synthesis driven culture. This is obvious, in the mixture of Portuguese
lyricism and guitar techniques, with African rhythms and spiritual vitality
seen in much of the music of Brasil.
One question I would raise is where are the AmerIndian influences? The authors
of this work seem to be shortsighted in their attention to the subject. Going
so far as to say, we don't have time to cover this subject, we will "leave it
to other authors" (vii).