So, we're back, at long last! :) As some of you may know, I was in Brazil for 4 weeks over the summer (in fact, winter there!), and am now fully updated on the latest music news. I'll be playing some stuff I've discovered recently very soon, but today I'd like to talk about an old favorite of mine, Lenine. He is from Recife (the capital of the state of Pernambuco); as some readers may recall, in the 1990s Recife had an extremelly vibrant music scene, including the groundbreaking Chico Science & Nação Zumbi (see this post). It was also in the mid-1990s that Lenine became known in the rest of the country, when he and percussionist Marcos Suzano released the now legendary Olho de Peixe -- legendary not only because it’s a terrific album, but also because for a while at least it was really hard to find... I went to the very first concerts of Lenine & Suzano in São Paulo in May 1995, and I have to say I was simply flabbergasted from the very start –- so much so that my friends and I went to the first concert of a series of three, and then went to the other two again in the following days! I still love this album and pretty much know all songs by heart.
Lenine released a few solo albums since, and my favorite among those is Na Pressão (1999). I also went to a concert of the Na Pressão tour, but this time in the Melkweg in Amsterdam. It’s again one of those rare albums that I like to listen to from beginning to end, not skipping any song. The opening song is ‘Jack Soul do pandeiro’, and is an ode to Jackson do Pandeiro, a percussionist and singer who’s had quite some success in the 1950s and 1960s, and is the voice you hear halfway the song (the chorus of his ‘A cantiga do sapo’). There are other great songs in the album such as 'Paciencia" and 'Meu Amanhã'.
Lenine is a great performer, with a distinctive and powerful voice and a great guitar rhythm, but he’s also an accomplished composer; his songs have been recorded by many other Brazilian singers. To illustrate his talents both as a composer and as a performer, I’ll post two songs: ‘O Último Pôr-do-sol’ from Olho de Peixe (keep in mind that it’s only the two of them, Lenine and Suzano, no band), and ‘Jack Soul do Pandeiro’. Here’s also a live version of the latter, with guest appearance by Seu Jorge (another favorite of mine).
I'm sure Lenine will make your Friday and your weekend much more enjoyable, so go for it!
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