Dream Variants: Jorge Ben

Showing posts with label Jorge Ben. Show all posts

Friday, February 13, 2026

Hermes Trismegisto E Sua Celeste Tábua De Esmeralda

If you know, you know...

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Menina Bonita Não Chora

If the world doesn't already know, I love me some early Jorge Ben samba. Jazzy, propulsive rhythms, and Ben's voice make for great music nearly every time. This particular musical gem telling a beautiful girl to not cry is an under-appreciated track from Ben's first album, one of my favorites. Though Jorge would later move beyond the jazz arrangements, I still long for more Brazilian music like this. Unlike bossa nova, this samba-jazz was more of a mixture of jazz and samba rhythms (as well as the lack of restraint and nearly cool jazz vibes of so much bossa nova).

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Jorge Ben's Xica da Silva

The 1970s was an interesting time in Brazil: dictatorship, the beginning of samba-funk and further growth of rock and other American influences in MPB and Tropicalia, and a resurgence in Afro-Brazilian movements. Jorge Ben, of African descent himself, performed songs and composed albums in honor of Afro-Brazilian history, heritage and identity, as the title of the album likely suggests, África Brasil. I have written extensively about race relations in Brazil elsewhere, (here and here and this on racial democracy) too. Moroever, other songs on this album recall the legacy of Zumbi, who led a maroon slave community, Palmares. But "Xica da Silva," a funky tribute to an enslaved woman of African descent who, in what is Minas Gerais became the wealthiest woman in all of 18th century Brazil, tops the album. In addition, the lyrics are easy to understand, even with my very basic Portuguese I have studied! Listening to this funky tribute with clave to a slave woman really makes me want to watch the 1990s telenovela with Taís Araújo starring as Chica da Silva, although telenovelas are usually horrible from my experience. Oh well, "Xica da Silva" is one of the best Brazilian and funk songs I have ever heard, listen here.

Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai!
Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai!
Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai!
Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai!...

Xica da, Xica da, Xica da
Xica da Silva, a Negra!...(2x)

Xica da Silva
A Negra! A Negra!
De escrava a amante
Mulher!
Mulher do fidalgo tratador
João Fernandes
Ai! Ai! Ai!...

Xica da, Xica da, Xica da
Xica da Silva, a Negra!...(2x)

A imperatriz do Tijuco
A dona de Diamantina
Morava com a sua corte
Cercada de belas mucamas...

Num castelo
Na Chácara, na Palha
De arquitetura
Sólida e requintada
Onde tinha até
Um lago artifical
E uma luxuosa galera
Que seu amor
João Fernandes, o tratador
Mandou fazer, só para ela
Ai! Ai! Ai!...

Xica da, Xica da, Xica da
Xica da Silva, a Negra!...(2x)

Muito rica e invejada
Temida e odiada
Pois com as suas perucas
Cada uma de uma cor...

Jóias, roupas exóticas
Das Índias, Lisboa e Paris
A negra era obrigada
A ser recebida
Como uma grande senhora
Da corte
Do Reis Luís!
Da corte
Do Reis Luís!...

Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai!
Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai!...

Xica da, Xica da, Xica da
Xica da Silva, a Negra!...

Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai!
Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai!...

Xica da, Xica da, Xica da
Xica da Silva..

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Jorge Ben Jor

I love this guy. Beautiful music from the 1960s to at least the 1970s, he composed some of the best known Brazilian music around the world. Check out my overly long playlist on youtube here.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

African-American Soul Meets Samba

The hit song, "Tighten Up" by Texas R&B group Archie Bell & The Drells was the inspiration for the title track of Jorge Ben's 1970 Força Bruta. By the 1970s, samba-rock and samba-soul were becoming the predominant trends in 1970s Brazilian popular music. Moreover, Jorge Ben and other Afro-Brazilian artists were beginning to incorporate more themes of resistance, black and brown power, and cultural pride during this decade by using American funk and soul styles. This culminated in Jorge Ben's Africa Brasil and Negro e lindo albums, articulating a pride in Afro-Brazilian culture usually not expressed so explicitly in most Brazilian popular music. Check out Jorge Ben's "Brazilianized" version of "Tighten Up" here. Jorge's version uses the same guitar lines but with obviously different lyrics sung in Portuguese. Also, watch this live version of the original song.

Also check out Wilson Simonal, a popular Afro-Brazilian singer during this same period who recorded a tribute to Martin Luther King.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Best of Jorge Ben Jor

Jorge Ben's "Chove Chuva" and "Onde Anda o Meu Amor"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSlnTUJ8JCo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsFhqAjWRt8

"Patapatapata" and "A Tamba" and "Tim Dom Dom"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlUAyvgpDLo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ypphRODPQU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olZ_KpDEOYQ

"Mas que Nada" and "Rosa, Menina, Rosa"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDlVZNfxVtE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e4aF8ZczuQ&feature=related

"Agora Ninguem Chora Mais" and "Vem, Morena, Vem"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naAalzfvZKM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HykvKnGaomM

"Que Pena" and "Take It Easy, My Brother Charles"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i46osqhlcY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tihuetXMG8U&feature=related

"Por Causa de Voce," "Capoeira," "Deixa o menino brincar, "Quase Colorida"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpYFL3qtysI&feature=fvsr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y85xQPE8SQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sinIWw2gPw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdo2xyof9Aw&feature=related

"Pulo, Pulo,""Carnival Triste," "Jorge Well,""Anjo Azul," "Bebette Vaobora," "Lalari Olala,""Frases," "Cade Tereza,""Todo Colorida," 'Guerreiro do Rei"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5olPL7Dc7NA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neX6i_epnj8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96_jUOxUrXc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt2ZaFxPEuE&feature=related

http://soundcloud.com/acaua_fonseca/03-lalari-olala-jorge-ben

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC6MjMT51IU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiDJr6duECw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV7m7mfZ09U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TuUtLOSMlc

"Bom mesmo e Amar" and "Pais Tropical"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gssbacOiXbg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoca1Jb33Ts