I’m in Munich at the moment visiting the MCMP, but heading back home tonight after an European tour which included London, Prague and Munich. I like to be inspired by the places I visit for my BMoF selection (like last week with a London-inspired post), so following this principle, I was looking for something German-inspired to post. There are not that many salient connections between Brazilian and German music, but there is at least one interesting case. In 1978, Chico Buarque composed the musical Ópera do Malandro, inspired by Bertold Brecht’s The Three Penny Opera and John Gray’s Beggar’s Opera, which was then released in record form in 1979. Most of the songs are original compositions, but the opening song is a samba rendition of ‘Mack the knife’ (or ‘Die Moritat von Mackie Messer’) by Brecht and Weill. So here is ‘O malandro’, sung by the vocal group MPB-4. It is yet another proof of how much of a great, timeless song it is in that it allows for so many different interpretations. (I'm also a big fan of the Ella Fitzgerald version, here live in Berlin. UPDATE: Eric reminds me that he posted before on the great Ella and the fellas.)
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