i used to date a brazillian lady, she translated some jorge ben lyrics and they were extremely disappointing.
Ain't Much F*ckin' with Jorge Ben
- Thread starter kitchenknight
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- brazil
Good point, Jorge Ben's music seems to do that, after living in Lisbon for 6 months I can understand most things he's singing about, but A T??bua de Esmeralda was my fav. record before I learned Portuguese and that hasn't really changed. However, I find myself enjoying Milton Nascimento's Clube da Esquina much more now that I can understand the lyrics.
Overall I hate the production soundwise it's close to a dave matthews band album. Mainly the digital overpolished drums. It's very similar to his last solo album Cru. However this one actually has better songs IMO. The track I posted is for sure the standout banger on the album. Even the hidden song w/ Eterna Busca sans drums sounds excellent. It has some standout not so great tracks, and some standout amazing songs. Overall I'd say it's worth a listen though.
- spidey
- spidey
Man, i love jorge's music..I'm lucky my Mom is brasilian and has the ill vinyl collection so i grew up listening to alot of incredible Brasilian sides including alot of Jorge Ben..Africa Brasil is my all time favorite..Right now i'm in Brasil and its sad how much of the younger generation that I speak with knows nothing about him or his music..i guess its parelell to the younger generations in America and classic beats..Good post.Peace-p
Got sucked into a Jorge Ben rabbit hole for a bit, which happens from time to time, and stumbled onto this thread. The man's output is insane, and it's funny how I used to be all "I like his stuff up to A Banda do Zé Pretinho, then he got kinda lame like most Brazilian musicians in the 80s" and now I'll happily put on records like Bem Vinda Amizade or Alô Alô, Como Vai? He went on a 20-year run of relentlessly good music, even the filler tracks are fire on his LPs.
As for the lyrics, I think every Brazilian knows you don't get into Jorge Ben for his lyricism. He's got the basic love songs, the rambling stories where he's trying to cram entire sentences into those bars, and some straight up unhinged stuff about alchemy or astronaut gods. Yet you can't hate him for it because the crazy stuff is just kinda funny, and the good vibes are always there anyway. Put on some Chico Buarque if you want to get all scholarly about the written word.
At any rate, I used to go to Greg Caz's Brazilian Beats Brooklyn party at Black Betty's on an almost religious basis, and we all worshiped at the altar of Jorge Ben. Then one day I get there a little early and Greg just kinda whispers to me "I don't like to spread rumors, but I've been told there's a good chance that Jorge Ben is going to stop by tonight." I didn't know what to make of that, so I just assumed there was no chance in hell that it could happen. But a few hours later the man himself materialized inside the bar, just standing very chill at the edge of the dance floor in jeans and pretty basic brown sweater and baseball cap. There was no big commotion or anything, just half the crowd who knew who he was slowly losing their mind, while the other half were just regular hipsters who had no clue what was happening. Greg and Sean played a few of his tracks and he was just nodding and singing along to his own stuff. Then he proceeded to dance with every single girl in the bar over the next few hours.
As for the lyrics, I think every Brazilian knows you don't get into Jorge Ben for his lyricism. He's got the basic love songs, the rambling stories where he's trying to cram entire sentences into those bars, and some straight up unhinged stuff about alchemy or astronaut gods. Yet you can't hate him for it because the crazy stuff is just kinda funny, and the good vibes are always there anyway. Put on some Chico Buarque if you want to get all scholarly about the written word.
At any rate, I used to go to Greg Caz's Brazilian Beats Brooklyn party at Black Betty's on an almost religious basis, and we all worshiped at the altar of Jorge Ben. Then one day I get there a little early and Greg just kinda whispers to me "I don't like to spread rumors, but I've been told there's a good chance that Jorge Ben is going to stop by tonight." I didn't know what to make of that, so I just assumed there was no chance in hell that it could happen. But a few hours later the man himself materialized inside the bar, just standing very chill at the edge of the dance floor in jeans and pretty basic brown sweater and baseball cap. There was no big commotion or anything, just half the crowd who knew who he was slowly losing their mind, while the other half were just regular hipsters who had no clue what was happening. Greg and Sean played a few of his tracks and he was just nodding and singing along to his own stuff. Then he proceeded to dance with every single girl in the bar over the next few hours.
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