África Brasil

Among the long string of historical albums he created, África Brasil, from 1976, is a milestone in Jorge Ben's career. It is the record in which he definitely swaps the acoustic for the electric guitar. Narrating Jorge Ben's journey, album by album, to África Brasil, the 14th studio LP of his career, the journalist Kamille Viola interviews musicians, producers, researchers and even soccer stars like Zico (honored in the track "Camisa 10 da Gávea" to review the artist's life story and the background details of the album's production. Considered to be the high point in the career of the author of "Umbabarauma", África Brasil comprises alongside A tábua de esmeralda (1974) and Solta o pavão (1975) Ben's inspired "musical alchemy" trilogy. As Jorge Ben recalls in an interview to author of the book: "This guitar was amazing because I was still playing on the Ovation [guitar], and one day one of my musicians, the bass player Dadi, showed up with it and I liked the guitar, I found it beautiful, and I said: 'Dadi, do you want to swap that guitar or sell it or something?' He said 'No, no'. I said: 'Dadi, you're a bass player and I have a Fender bass guitar. We could swap'. And he agreed immediately. So I got the guitar and that was it, we started to 'electrify' (laughs)". Among artists like Gilberto Gil, Marcelo D2, Lúcio Maia, Jorge Du Peixe, Dadi, Gustavo Schroeter and BNegão, interviewed by the author for the book, Mano Brown, leader of the group Racionais MC's and an outspoken admirer, summarizes Jorge Ben's importance: "He's like James Brown, Marvin Gaye, these great artists with a large body of work, from time to time they come to you. The music comes back. I listened to Jorge Ben at several moments of my life, several moments of his career. I recall many phases. [...] In samba sessions, we would sing Jorge Ben. Whoever could sing Jorge Ben in a samba rhythm was doing ok (laughs)." Kamille Viola, a journalist with over 10 years' research on Ben's work, stresses in the book: "Gilberto Gil, Mano Brown, Chico Science and Nação Zumbi: Jorge Ben was a beacon to all of them. Tropicalism, Brazilian rap and manguebeat, three of the most important musical expressions in Brazil, looked to the alchemist for inspiration. If it were not for Jorge Lima Menezes, the Babulina of Rio Comprido, the history of Brazilian music would certainly be different." The Brazilian Music Records series, published in Portuguese and English, is edited by the music critic Lauro Lisboa Garcia.

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