Forgive Me: Ana Costa and Oswaldo Cavalo with "Pra Que Pedir Perdão"

Today's random tune is by Ana Costa.  A singer of samba, the lively Brazilian music that provided the basis for bossa nova, Ana Costa is one of the newer voices carrying the samba torch. She started in rough bars in a region just north of Rio de Janeiro, and was one of the founders of the all-female samba group Roda de Saia, later known as O Roda. She joined Martinho Da Vila's daughter Mart'nalia in a band and toured Brazil, the US and Europe, and began eventually to write songs.  This song, Pra Que Pedir Perdão, can be found with just her voice on her 2005 album Meu Carnaval, and this version with Oswaldo Cavalo, about whom I couldn't find much information, on the various artists compilation album Putumayo Presents: Brazilian Cafe (2009).

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: http://www.thenewblackmagazine.com/view.aspx?index=2324

Lighting It Up: Nei Lopes with Dudu Nobre and "Fumo de Rolo"

Today's song is Fumo de Rolo by Nei Lopes. Lopes is a 74 year old samba singer and composer who also happens to be a lawyer, writer and historian. Trained in the law by the University of Brazil, he abandoned his career in the 1970s to take up music. A partnership with prominent samba artist Wilson Moreira led to many compositions that are now recorded by almost all interpreters of traditional samba. In the 1980s, he was a leader of the pagode movement which brought traditional samba back to the radio airwaves after it had been briefly superseded by such new genres as bossa nova. Lopes has written extensively on Afro-Brazilian and samba themes and since 1995 has been working on his sweeping Brazilian Encyclopedia of the African Diaspora. Fumo de Rolo is from Lopes' 2001 CD De Letra & Musica and he is joined on the song by Brazilian singer and composer Dudu Nobre.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nei_Lopes

A Heartache: Stan Getz and João Gilberto with Antonio Carlos Jobim and "Para Machucar Meu Coraçao"

Our random tune for today is by two legends of jazz, Stan Getz and João Gilberto. The song, Para Machucar Meu Coraçao, also features pianist Antonio Carlos Jobim. Stan Getz was an American jazz saxophonist known as The Sound because of the warmth of his tone. João Gilberto is a Brazilian singer, songwriter and guitarist whose recordings established the Brazilian genre of bossa nova in the late 1950s. Antonio Carlos Jobim was a Brazilian songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, and pianist/guitarist. His songs were instrumental in the creation of bossa nova. You can find Para Machucar Meu Coraçao, which translates to "For Hurting My Heart," on the seminal jazz album Getz/Gilberto (1964). This is also the album that introduced the world to the Jobim classic The Girl From Ipanema, as well as the voice of Astrud Gilberto. The album won Grammy Awards in 1965 for Best Album, Best Jazz Instrumental Album, and Best Engineered Album (non-classical) as well as Record of the Year for The Girl From Ipanema. It is ranked number 446 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Getz, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%A3o_Gilberto, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%C3%B4nio_Carlos_Jobim, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getz/Gilberto

Spicy: Dona Onete and "Jamburana"

Today's random tune is by the "Queen of Carimbo," Brazilian singer and composer Dona Onete. From the region of Pará, at an early age of fifteen she was singing traditional music such as boi bumba, samba and quadrilles. She has researched the rhythms, dances and traditions of her home region so that she can present it in her music, and has established music and dance groups in order to foster preservation of the music and culture of the region. Known internationally, Dona Onete has performed throughout Brazil, Europe and the United States. Her accomplishments and contributions to the art of Brazil gained her Brazil's Ordem do Mérito Cultural. This song, Jamburana, can be found on her 2014 album Feitiço Cabloco. The song sings the praises of an herb used in the cooking of the Pará region.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dona_Onete

More Than Anything: Bab & Rolando 808 with "Mas Que Nada (Melodic Side Remix)"

Mas Que Nada (Melodic Side Remix) is the title of our random tune for today. Performed by Bab & Rolando 808, the tune features the voice of respected Brazilian singer Rolando Farias, who now lives in Paris and teamed up with African DJ Alioume Ba to cover this tune. The song was originally written by Brazilian legend Jorge Ben but was made famous by Sergio Mendes and Brazil '66. The song is a celebration of the samba. Mas Que Nada (Melodic Side Remix) can be found on the compilation CD Putumayo Presents: Brazilian Groove (2003).

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Ben_Jor; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9rgio_Mendes

Don't Mess with It: Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca with "Tu No Sabes (No te Metas)"

Today's random song is by Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca, called Tu No Sabes (No te Metas). Of Angolan descent but now living in Los Angeles, Lemvo and his band Makina Loca blend music encompassing styles ranging from Cuban salsa, samba and African genres such as soukous and kizomba. He has released seven albums. Tu No Sabes (No te Metas) can be found on his album São Salvador (2000).

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

At Grandpa's House: Márcio Faraco and "Na Casa Do Seu Humberto"

Today's random tune is by Márcio Faraco, a Brazilian guitarist, singer, composer and producer currently living and working out of France. He blends the samba and bossa nova of Brazil with musical influences he has picked up in France such as jazz, African music and fado. His music caught the ear of his countryman Chico Buarque, who invited him to participate on an Antonio Carlos Jobim tribute album. This song, Na Casa Do Seu Humberto, is from his 2000 CD Ciranda, and can also be found on the various artists compilation Putumayo Presents: Brazilian Café. The song is a recollection of a childhood spent at a grandfather's house.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

It's a Wonderful Life: Wal Santana and "Que Vida É Essa (Que Pega Pega No Pé)"

Feeling psychedelic? Our random tune is just the thing for you! Que Vida É Essa (Que Pega Pega No Pé) is by Wal Santana. Information on Wal Santana is scarce but I was able to piece together that this song was his first single. He played music in styles such as Música popular brasileira (or MPB: a style which revisits Brazilian styles such as samba and regional music and combines them with foreign influences like jazz or rock), funk and disco. You can find Que Vida É Essa (Que Pega Pega No Pé) on his debut album of the same name (1973) and on the compilation album Rough Guide to Psychedelic Samba (2015).

Not Contradictory At All: Teresa Cristina and Grupo Semente with "Para Não Contrariar Você"

Today's tune is by Brazilian singer Teresa Cristina and Grupo Semente. She began singing in bars in Rio de Janeiro, doing interpretations of samba by various artists. In 1998 she began singing in the Bar Semente, accompanied by a band. The bar adopted her as their prime attraction, and her group became known as Grupo Semente. You can find this song, Para Não Contrariar Você, on the 2009 compilation Putumayo Presents: Brazilian Cafe.

Funk Dancing: Luisa Maita and "Desencabulada"

Luisa Maita, a Brazilian singer-songwriter, brings us our random tune today. Born into a musical family in São Paulo, Brazil, she learned to sing samba and bossa nova as well as her father's compositions, and her professional career began at age seven singing jingles. She founded her first band, Urbanda, in 1999 and began collaborating with musicians from her generation. A collaboration with Brazilian singer Virginia Rosa, who recorded two of Maita's songs for one of her albums, encouraged Maita to continue writing songs. In 2010 she recorded her solo album Lero-Lero, which led National Public Radio to hail her as the "New Voice of Brazil." Her music draws inspiration from the samba, but also pop influences such as Michael Jackson, Prince and Stevie Wonder. This song, Desencabulada, is from her 2010 release Lero-Lero.

Little Devil: The Ricardo Herz Trio and "Saci"

Brazilian popular violinist Ricardo Herz and his trio brings us Saci for our random tune today. Ricardo Herz is a classically trained violinist from São Paulo who also received an education in jazz from the Berklee College of Music. His music uses Brazilian melodies as well as a varied rhythmic structure, such as choro, samba and variations. He has also conducted much research, leading to an in-depth knowledge of Brazilian music. Saci is from the Ricardo Herz Trio's 2012 album Aqui é o Meu lá. The title refers to the mythological Brazilian trickster with a magical red cap that rides dust devils.

Smoking: Nei Lopes with Dudu Nobre and "Fumo de Rolo"

Today's song is Fumo de Rolo by Nei Lopes. Lopes is a 74 year old samba singer and composer who also happens to be a lawyer, writer and historian. Trained in the law by the University of Brazil, he abandoned his career in the 1970s to take up music. A partnership with prominent samba artist Wilson Moreira led to many compositions that are now recorded by almost all interpreters of traditional samba. In the 1980s, he was a leader of the pagode movement which brought traditional samba back to the radio airwaves after it had been briefly superseded by such new genres as bossa nova. Lopes has written extensively on Afro-Brazilian and samba themes and since 1995 has been working on his sweeping Brazilian Encyclopedia of the African Diaspora. Fumo de Rolo is from Lopes' 2001 CD De Letra & Musica and he is joined on the song by Brazilian singer and composer Dudu Nobre.

Favela Romance: Luisa Maita and "Maria e Moleque"

Luisa Maita, a Brazilian singer-songwriter, brings us our random tune today. Born into a musical family in Sao Paolo, Brazil, she learned to sing samba and bossa nova as well as her father's compositions, and her professional career began at age seven singing jingles. She founded her first band, Urbanda, in 1999 and began collaborating with musicians from her generation. A collaboration with Brazilian singer Virginia Rosa, who recorded two of Maita's songs for one of her albums, encouraged Maita to continue writing songs. In 2010 she recorded her solo album Lero-Lero, which led National Public Radio to hail her as the "New Voice of Brazil." Her music draws inspiration from the samba, but also pop influences such as Michael Jackson, Prince and Stevie Wonder. This song, Maria e Moleque, is from her 2010 release Lero-Lero.

Dance Away the Sadness: Marissa and "Saudade Fez um Samba"

Marissa, a Brazilian singer from Rio de Janeiro, brings us our song for the day. Marissa is also an accomplished percussionist who has spent much time studying and perfecting her knowledge of Brazilian rhythms as a member of various percussion groups. Saudade Fez um Samba (Sadness Makes a Samba) was written by bossa nova legends Carlos Lyra, Ronaldo Bôscoli and João Gilberto. It speaks of how the joy of a samba replaces the pain of lost love. Saudade Fez um Samba can be found on the 2006 compilation album Putumayo Presents: Brazilian Lounge.

Forgiveness: Ana Costa with Oswaldo Cavalo and "Pra Que Pedir Perdão"

Today's random song, Pra Que Pedir Perdão, is by Ana Costa with Oswaldo Cavalo. The song is about asking forgiveness for pain inflicted on someone else by the singer. How often do we do things for which we should ask forgiveness, and how often do we ask forgiveness when we don't need to? For example, Megan is always asking forgiveness - in her family they learned to say "I'm sorry" for practically any time a person expresses some sort of discomfort. What it has done is make the asking of forgiveness less meaningful. On the other hand, I don't ask forgiveness enough and have many times done things that I should apologize for but have not. Pride and fear get in my way. Supposedly, my Catholic faith is based on forgiveness, but forgiveness is sorely lacking in society today - a person makes a mistake and goes to jail and does time for their crime, but lives with the crime for the rest of their life - a victim of unforgiving society which means they won't get a job, will struggle to find housing, and will find few situations where they can get a leg up. Truly, there are some people who cannot be forgiven, but I believe most can and should. I'm an optimist that way. Most of us are not, it seems.

A singer of samba, the lively Brazilian music that provided the basis for bossa nova, she is one of the newer voices carrying the samba torch. She started in rough bars in a region just north of Rio de Janeiro, and was one of the founders of the all-female samba group Roda de Saia, later known as O Roda. She joined Martinho Da Vila's daughter Mart'nalia in a band and toured Brazil, the US and Europe, and began eventually to write songs. Pra Que Pedir Perdão can be found on her 2005 album Meu Carnival, and on the Putumayo Presents: Brazilian Cafe (2009).

Music That Makes You Happy: Nei Lopes and Dudu Nobre with "Fumo de Rolo"

One of the fun things about the new movie Guardians of the Galaxy is the central importance of a cassette entitled Awesome Mixtape #1. If you've seen the movie, the main hero carries this cassette around with him wherever he goes and plays it on a Sony Walkman. His mother gave it to him just before she died, and it's his one connection with her as he never knew his father. An article I read about the movie focused on this one prop, and the dying art of the mix tape. I remember doing mix tapes back in the 70s and 80s to give to people who were special to me so that I could share music that I found meaningful with them. The key to the mix tape was the order of the songs. Every song was specially chosen, sometimes around a central theme, and every song had its right place in the mix.

A nice website called 8tracks.com allows its members (it's free unless you want to buy bells and whistles) to make their own modern day versions of mix tapes. I created an account and since have had great fun putting together song mixes. You can upload songs from your own collection to the site, and then put together the mix which you can label as private so that you can keep it for yourself or for certain people, or you can label it as public and then other members of 8tracks.com can listen to it, mark it if they like it, or mark individual songs they like and create their own mixes. I've created about 20 mixes, some better than others - my most ambitious being a trip around the world through songs where the criteria is that the countries must either touch or have an unbroken connection over water. I start with the United States, and then head over to Europe and from there hit every continent. But, I've made two mixes of songs that make me happy - Happiness and Happiness Too - songs that bring a little light into my life, or make me smile, or make me want to dance or all of the above.

When I make a new mix for happiness, I think that samba will definitely have to be a part of it. When I posted today's song, a samba, to the Facebook version of this blog a person "liked" it and commented in Spanish that he was dancing with wild abandon in his office. Of the musics of many different countries, I find that at least for me, the happiest music seems to come from Brazil. This is funny to me, because Brazil also has some of the most melancholy music with their embrace of their "saudade." It's almost like there is no in between for Brazil. the music is either extremely happy or extremely melancholy, and they move effortlessly between the two. Of the happy musics, samba is certainly one of the happiest. I don't know Portuguese, so for all I know the lyrics could be about death and destruction or lost love and despair, but the music is so upbeat and lively I sincerely doubt it. I think that it there is a heaven, I'd like Brazilian happy music like samba to be on the speakers a lot of the time (sharing with big band swing and jump blues). A heavenly mix tape, if you will.

Today's song is Fumo de Rolo by Nei Lopes. Lopes is a 74 year old samba singer and composer who also happens to be a lawyer, writer and historian. Trained in the law by the University of Brazil, he abandoned his career in the 1970s to take up music. A partnership with prominent samba artist Wilson Moreira led to many compositions that are now recorded by almost all interpreters of traditional samba. In the 1980s, he was a leader of the "pagode" movement which brought traditional samba back to the radio airwaves after it had been briefly superseded by such new genres as bossa nova. Lopes has written extensively on Afro-Brazilian and samba themes and since 1995 has been working on his sweeping Brazilian Encyclopedia of the African Diaspora. Fumo de Rolo is from Lopes' 2001 CD De Letra & Musica and he is joined on the song by Brazilian singer and composer Dudu Nobre.