BUT IT ISN'T HERE

Music is the greatest communication in the world. Even if people don't understand the language that you're singing in, they still know good music when they hear it.

Lou Rawls

Maria Bethania

Ladies first, and Maria Bethania is quite a lady ! Though she is known to be Brazilian superstar Caetano Veloso's sister, she is no mere sidekick. On the contrary, she has a 30 year old career as one of the figure heads of the "novos bahianos".

Born Maria Vianna Telles Veloso in 1946 in the small town of Santa Amaro da Purificaco, Maria Bethania began her recording career in 1965 with Carcara, a song written for her by her brother. Though the recording was a success, Bethania spent much of the next 15 years revered as a cult performer, a musicians' musician, with record sales that never matched her influence. This was partly due to her distancing herself from her brother and his involvement in the radical tropicalismo movement of the late '60s. Caetano Veloso, and other performers such as Gilberto Gil, were innovative and controversial and she supported them fully. However, she simply chose to have her own voice and an image similar to that of her contemporary Gal Costa : an openly sensual, hippie, earth mother. This meant more than just clothes and hair. Under a military dictatorship, it was a countercultural and politically endangering move.

These choices aside, what makes Maria Bethania a unique and revered figure, an important musical presence, is her voice. Warm, throaty and sensuous, thrilling and caressing, gritty and urgent, her phrasing is impeccable and her tone plays with notes delicately, emphasizing all the subtleties of the music (this is especially true when she sings her brother's songs). Her live performances, which may involve poetic recitations and gestures, are more akin to performance art than to the usual run-of-the-mill pop music performance. For years, listening to her meant you became one of her audiences, one of the small but devoted few. But her 1978 record Alibi changed that. Filled with love songs written by Chico Buarque, and others, the record was a nationwide hit becoming the first million-selling record by a female artist in Brazil. From thereon her career took off as she continued to record primarily love songs, a career move that has so endeared her to audiences that she is considered the queen of Brazilian romantic music.

Now in her 50s, with three decades of recording and performing behind her, Maria Bethania has achieved international acclaim as a singer and performer remaining as great as ever (listen to her 1995 in-concert recording Ao Vivo and you'll hear it for yourself).

1955, Mel, Verve; 1978, Alibi, Verve; 1984, A Beira E O Mar, Philips; 1988, Dezembros, Braziloid; 1989, Personalidade Maria Bethania, Verve; 1990, Memoria da Pele/Memory of Skin, Verve; 1991, Cancoes E Momentos, Ariola; 1991, Canto Do Paje, Verve; 1992, The Art of Maria Bethania, Verve; 1993, Minha Historia, Philips; 1994, As Cancoes Que Voce Fez Pra Mim, Philips; 1994, Los Canciones Que Tu Hiciste Para Mi, Philips; 1994, Anos Dourados, Alex; 1996, Brincar de Viver, Globo Polydor; 1996, Sonho Impossivel, Globo Polydor; 1997, Ambar, Capitol; 1997, Maria Bethania Acervo Especial, Vol. 1, BMG Brazil; 1997, Maria Bethania Ao Vivo, Polygram Brazil; 1998, Colecao Obras Primas, Polygram International; Maria, RCA; Verdades E Mentiras, RIN; and she also recorded on : 1990, Simplesmente, Verve; 1995, Brazil's Best, RCA International; 1996, Grandes Nomes, Polygram Brazil; 1997, Serie Aplauso, BMG Brazil; 1998, Brazilian Collection, Polygram; 1998, Portfolio; and featured on : 1983, Veloso, Caetano Uns (Vocals); 1996, Sound of the Beat Sound of the Beat (Alto, Vocal); 1997, Brown, Carlinhos Alfagamabetizado (Vocals); Great Brazilian Songbook, Great Brazilian Songbook #1 (Producer, Art Direction).

Real Audio files

Awo	Explode Coracao	O Lado Quente Do Ser
Tenha Calma	Morena	Olha
Cheiro Do Amor		Palavra

Caetano Veloso

It is impossible not to mention Caetano Veloso when one speaks of contemporary Brazilian music. Some have dubbed him the "Bob Dylan of Brazil", implying he is a pop musician/poet/filmmaker/political activist whose importance in the world of international pop is on a par with that of Dylan, Bob Marley, and Lennon and McCartney. However, given Jungle Echoes' musical preferences, we will dub him the "Bob Marley of Brazil". Take the time to listen to his recorded output over the last 30 years, you will see that this is no exaggeration.

Born in 1942 in Santo Amaro da Purificacao in Brazil's Bahia region, Caetano Veloso absorbed the rich mosaic that is Bahian music with its influences by Caribbean, African, and North American pop music. However, it was on the cool, seductive bossa nova sound of Joao Gilberto (a Brazilian superstar in the 1950s and still a superstar) that Veloso built his intensely eclectic pop. Following his sister Maria Bethania to Rio in the early '60s, the 23-year-old Veloso won a lyric writing contest with his song Um Dia and was quickly signed to the Phillips label.

It wasn't long before Veloso (along with other Brazilian stars such as Gal Costa and Gilberto Gil) represented the new wave of MPB, i.e., "musica popular brasileira", the Brazilian term for pop music. Bright, ambitious, creative, and with an openly leftist political outlook, he soon became a controversial figure in Brazilian pop. By 1967, he and Gilberto Gil, created a new form of pop music called, by artist Helio Oiticica, tropicalismo. Arty and eclectic, tropicalismo retained a bossa nova influence, adding bits and pieces of folk-rock and art-rock to a stew of loud electric guitars, poetic spoken-word sections, and jazz-like dissonance. Although not initially well received by traditional pop-loving Brazilians - both Veloso and Gil faced the wrath of former fans - tropicalismo was a breathtakingly innovative and rich, thus signaling that a new generation of daring, provocative and politically outspoken musicians were out to change the face of MPB.

This was not without dangers as, since 1964, Brazil had been ruled by a 20 year-long military dictatorship that had no tolerance for "radicals" and their music. Almost immediately the government hatchet fell in an attempt to circumscribe the recordings and live performances of many tropicalistas. Censorship of song lyrics as well as radio and television playlists (Veloso was a regular TV performer on Brazilian variety shows) became as common as the persecution of performers openly critical of the government, with Veloso and Gil at the top of the hit list. Both men spent two months in prison for "anti-government activity" and another four months under house arrest. After a defiant 1968 performance together, Veloso and Gil left for London in a forced exile. Veloso continued to record abroad and write songs for other tropicalismo stars, but it was not until 1972 that he was allowed to return to Brazil.

Although his commitment to politicized art never wavered, Veloso, over the 20 years that followed, went from being a very popular Brazilian singer/songwriter to becoming the center of Brazilian pop. He kept up, and continues to keep up, a grueling pace of recording, producing, and performing. In the mid-'70s, he added writing to his resume, publishing a book of articles, poems and song lyrics covering a period from 1965 to 1976. In the '80s, his fame grew outside of Brazil with tours in Africa, Paris and Israel, an interview Mick Jagger for Brazilian TV and, in 1983, a first American appearance at age 41, selling out three nights at the Public Theater in New York. The shows that were rapturously reviewed by the then-New York Times pop critic, Robert Palmer.

Though Veloso's records were extremely hard to find in American record stores - and when one could locate them, they were expensive Brazilian imports - the buzz on Veloso grew, thanks in part to Palmer and other critics writing about pop music. This did nothing to change Veloso's work, which remained challenging and intriguing without being modified for anyone's tastes. Veloso sang in English - most of his recorded work is sung in Portuguese - when he felt like it and not to sell more records inthe US. He is one of those rare musicians who is popular, sells a lot of records (at least in Brazil), is a certifiable superstar, but never feels the need to make known how hip he is to one and all. At age 57, he is has not slowed down. After his 1989 recording Estrangeiro became his first non-import release in America, Veloso's stateside profile increased significantly, reaching its highest point with the release of 1993's Tropicalia 2, recorded with Gilberto Gil. A brilliant record that made a slew of American ten-best lists, Tropicalia 2 proved once again that Veloso's talent, as well as Gil's, has not diminished a bit. His most recent recordings, Fina Estampa, Circulado, and Circulado Vivo are uniformly wonderful. After a 30 year career, Caetano Veloso remains a truly magnificent artist and a staunch idealist.

1967, Domingo; 1968, Caetano Veloso, [1968], Phillips; 1969, Caetano Veloso [1969], Phillips; 1971, Caetano Veloso [1971], Phillips; 1972, Caetano Veloso e Chico ao Vivo na Bahia [live], Phillips; 1974, Temporada de Verao, Phillips; 1976, Doces Barbaros, Phillips; 1978, Maria Bethania & Caetano Veloso ao Vivo [live], Phillips; 1979, Cinema Transcendental, Verve; 1981, Outras Palavaras, Phillips; 1981, From London With Love [live], Phillips; 1982, Cores, Nomes, Verve; 1983, Uns, Verve; 1985, The Art of Caetano, Verve; 1986, Caetano Veloso [1986], Elektra/Nonesu; 1988, Totalamente Demais [Totally Too Much], Verve; 1988, Caetano, Verve; 1989, Estrangeiro, Elektra; 1990, Caetano Veloso, Elektra; 1990, Muito, Verve; 1992, Circulado, Elektra/Nonesu; 1993, Personalidade, Verve; 1993, Minha Historia, Philips; 1994, Fina Estampa, Polygram; 1994, Tropicalia 2, Elektra/Nonesu; 1995, Fina Estampa en Vivo [live], Mercury; 1996, Divina Estampa, Polygram; 1996, O Quatrilho, Blue Jackel; 1997, Araca Azul, Polygram Brazil; 1997, Barra 69, Polygram Brazil; 1997, Bicho, Polygram Brazil; 1997, Caetanear, Polygram Brazil; 1997, Circulado Vivo, Polygram Brazil; 1997, Joia, Polygram Brazil; 1997, Muitos Carnavais, Polygram Brazil; 1997, Qualquer Coisa, Polygram Brazil; 1997, Transa, Polygram Brazil; 1997, Velo, Polygram Brazil; 1997, Tieta Do Agresta, Blue Jackel; 1998, Livro, Polygram International; 1998, Amanha; 1999, Prenda, Minha - New 1999, Polygram International; Juntos E Ao Vivo, PolyGram; Caetano & Chico, Verve; 1990, Sem Lenco, Sem Documento, Verve; 1993, Personalidade: The Best of Brazil, Verve; 1996, Grandes Nomes, Polygram Brazil; 1997, Coleccion Mi Historia, Polygram; 1998, Brazilian Collection, Polygram; 1999; Millennium; Polygram International; and featured on the following : 1959, Nova Bossa: Red Hot on Nova Bossa: Red Hot, Verve Guitar (Vocals); 1981, Costa, Gal O Melhor De Gal Costa; 1982, Nascimento, Milton Anima; 1983, Musica Popular Brasilei Musica Popular Brasileira (Vocals); 1986, Red Hot + Rio Red Hot + Rio (Vocals); 1988, Ritenour, Lee Festival (Vocals); 1991, To Scratch That Itch - To Scratch That Itch: Luaka Bop Roo; 1991, Os Cariocas Reconquistar (Vocals); 1992, Thielemans, Toots Brasil Project (Guitar, Vocals); 1993, Thielemans, Toots Brasil Project, Vol. 2 (Guitar, Vocals); 1993, Caram, Ana Maracana (Composer); 1995, Melting Pop Brazilian G Melting Pop Brazilian Groove (Vocals); 1996, Mendes, Sergio Oceano (Vocals); 1996, World Christmas World Christmas (Guitar, Vocals); 1997, Rodrigues, Virginia Sol Negro (Liner Notes); 1997, Pradera, Maria Dolores Caminemos (Guitar); 1997, Brown, Carlinhos Alfagamabetizado (Vocals); Great Brazilian Songboo Great Brazilian Songbook #1 (Guitar, Voices, Producer); Ile Aiye Canto Negro (Vocals).

Real Audio files

Contigo En La Distancia	Eu Sou Neguinha	Pronta Pra Cantar
Eu Se Que Vou Te Amar	Noite De Hotel	Rai Das Cores
	Rumba Azul