I had promised Julian Kiverstein to finally write a post on Baden Powell this week, but I am in Munich at the moment with very precarious internet connection. So I’ll have to postpone the Baden Powell post to next week. For this week, here are two renderings of the Brazilian version of ’16 tons’ – thanks to Bryce Huebner for making me think of it! Unlike the original version in English, the Brazilian lyrics make no reference to hardship or exploitation; instead, the song is about how impossible it is not to dance to it! (Typical…)
The first recording is by Noriel Vilela, from the late 1960s: he had an amazing low register, as you can hear for yourself below, and has recently become a bit of a ‘cult’ singer in the ‘sambalanço’ gender. I’m also posting a more recent recording of the song, by a band called Funk Como Le Gusta, in their 1999 album Roda de Funk -- it's a great album, by the way.
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