Moreno Veloso — Um Passo a Frente

Here’s a perky cover of Gal Costa’s ‘Um Passo a Frente’ by Moreno Veloso, who is, as you may have guessed, the son of Caetano, and has released several albums on David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label.

But I’ll be honest and admit the real reason I’m posting this—the host. He is a riot, mustachioed and suave, and he speaks Portuguese with Moreno to boot. This is quite an interesting little project he has going, mostly with South American artists. It’s called On the Shelf, and it’s a Tokyo-based production in which musicians perform from the “narrowest stage in the world” — a bookshelf! Check out his other videos too.

Raul Seixas — Cauboi Fora da Lei (Outlaw Cowboy)

You think you’ve seen it all. And then you see a Brazilian hippie rock star do his best impression of Clint Eastwood in a saloon, strumming a cardboard guitar as every outlaw in the place gets a bullet.

I can’t say my life is better for having seen this, but it certainly isn’t worse.

(yes, I’ve been on a Raul Seixas kick lately)

Jorge Ben — O Homem da Gravata Florida

from A Tábua de Esmeralda (1974)

This is starting to turn into Jorge Ben appreciation week, but that’s ok. He’s always been one of my favorite musicians. But not until yesterday was he also one of my favorite lyricists. I was compelled to translate every song on A Tábua de Esmeralda — thanks to Google Translate, not my Portuguese skills. And what I found were GEMS! Great gems of lyrics. Like this one, O Homem da Gravata Florida, The Man with the Floral Tie.

I’d always loved Jorge Ben’s music, and particularly this album, but it’s incredible I was missing all this. The Portuguese and the English, side by side, in the image below.