Marcos Valle
Garra

Listening to (including initial encounters) or simply being acquainted with Brazilian music can be divided into three very stereotypical categories:

- First category: "Ah, Brazilian music, samba, nice butts, the comedian from Colorado", "Brazilian music? Well, too cheerful and carefree. It's dance music, the only decent thing that came out of that country is Sepultura".

- Second category:"Brazilian music? It seems limited like reggae, the usual rhythms, it's all the same", "It's not as superficial as people say, I've heard some Veloso, they also had a cool rock band, Os Mutantes, but well, it's not a scene comparable to others in the global music landscape. The best names were often those imitating English and American bands, but there are also some very good bands, just like everywhere else in the end", "Brazilian music scene: crap and beautiful things".

- Third category: "Damn, what a crazy scene, in its most inspired moments, it's one of the most free, spontaneous, crazy, brilliant, and whimsical musics in the world, they have melody and rhythm in their blood and it's definitely one of the most important music scenes that can stand on equal footing with much more renowned contexts".

I naturally belong to the third category.

If you too want to enter the wonderful world made of orderly anarchy, saudade, and at the same time joy, follow my advice, listen to this album. If you believe that the highest points, the geniuses of world melody in popular music, are limited to the usual names (Bacharach, Brian Wilson, or the Beatles to name the most well-known), if you think only the Anglo-Americans were hammering and flirting with the cosmos between the late Sixties and early Seventies, well you might change your mind perhaps with this album. A premise: those allergic to Brazilian music won't change their minds, because here you'll definitely find melodies the Beatles would have been proud of (the title track Garra is an example), sumptuous examples of relaxed melody, over lyrics that exalt the blending and openness among various cultures ("black is beautiful"), for the rest you'll also find some stereotypes (the first song with a slightly religious text or the song dedicated to football, but damn, "how cool" a young person would say).

This album is a melodic and sonic explosion, with some splashes of madness typical of that period (early Seventies) and tiny hints of the most melodic and accessible psychedelia, in short, a gem that requires several listens to be fully appreciated by us accustomed to a purely Anglo-American context (musically speaking).

So, who the hell is Marcos Valle? You've heard names like Veloso and maybe you even know them well, and why not, Tom Ze who is already legitimized by David Byrne, but who is this guy who, amid hundreds of thousands of debaser reviews, no one had the courage to talk about? He is one of the most important Brazilian artists; sure, he doesn't have the worldwide fame of a Gilberto Gil or indeed Veloso and Tom Ze, but in Brazil, he's an institution, not least because some of the most famous Brazilian songs in the world were written by him, just think of the archetypal "Samba de Verão", with its universal melody taken as an example of Brazilian music, this song was written by him. Look it up on YouTube, it's very likely you know it, probably even the comedian from the awful Colorado used it as a base for his sketches.

Lately, assisted by a reissue of his 70s catalog (his best works), overseas, in the USA, he is beginning to be known and praised, yet he has a highly respectable past, having also collaborated with the great Sarah Vaughan and having written one of the last classic rock and lounge albums in history in '68, an album written specifically for the American market, with reinterpretations of Brazilian classics adapted to "Western" sensibility. Garra is not a corrected and atmospheric album, but a cheerfulness of colors and moods, give it a chance and a world will open up for you.