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Release
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Release
Marcelo Janot
ALBUM WITH UNHEARD SONGS AND OLD RELEASES OF JORGE BEN JOR.
Between 1978 and 1986, period in which he was contracted of Som Livre, Jorge Benjor – Who still used to sign as Jorge Ben – left some unfinished jewels in the record company, in Rua Assunção 443, some unaccomplished precious. Two decades later, such treasure is reborn in “Recuerdos de Asunción 443”. Except for “Falsa Magra”, recorded by the samba Singer Branca Di Neve in 1987, and “Heavy Samba”, released with the title of “Um Poeta Amigo Meu” by Leci Brandão in 1989, all other compositions are unheard and were rearranged in studio by Benjor, who faces the project as a new album. “These are urban and suburban dancing poems, which provides some progress to what I have been doing in my career”, he states. At the same time as the unheard Project, Som Livre releases, for the first time in CD, remastered , three of the seven albums of Jorge Ben in the record company: “Dádiva” (1983), “Sonsual” (1984) and “Ben Brasil” (1986).
Two decades have passed since then, but the recent revival of the sambalanço, a kind of music creates and spread by Jorge, makes “Recuerdos de Asunción 443” to sound very contemporary. It is proved by the beat of “Falsa Magra”, one more of the several Unknown muses idealized by the poet – Feminina/ companheira/ sexy/ inteligente/ amante caprichosa/ sutil e maliciosa/ e gostosa/ Falsa Magra, onde está você? [Feminine/ companion/ sexy/ intelligent/ meticulous lover/ subtle and malicious / and hot/ Fake Slim, where are you?].
In the album, Jorge is followed by a group of heavy musicians including Marcio Montarroyos, Leo Gandelman and Serginho Trombone, among others, with arrangements of Lincoln Olivetti. “Zenon Zenon” emerges in a Latin jazz beat, talking about um poeta contundente/ muito sutil e contente/ avisou/ que Hermes três vezes o grande/ está com a gente.[a cutting/ very subtle and happy poet/ he warned/ that Hermes three times the great/ is with us]. The poet Zenon was a friend of Jorge in the 70s, interested in alchemy, who studied in Sorbonne and lives in Europe until nowadays, where the two of them come across each other when Benjor is in tour.
“O Astro” and “Marron Glacé” were written at the end of the 70s to two soap operas in Rede Globo with the same names, but ended up to be unused. The first, with a beautiful chord arrangement, leads to the phase of “Tábua de Esmeraldas”. The second explores the metal gender and has its lyrics in Spanish, something almost new in Benjor’s career (“Maria Luiza”, from the album “Homo Sapiens”, 1995, was the exception).
As far as possible, Jorge tried to use the original voice and arrangements, adding a new song layer. In “Duas Mulheres”, which has the lyric inspired in one of his favorite books, the “Livro dos Seres Imaginários” of the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, he doubles the voice and has a conversation with himself. The same feature used in “Saint Lebowitz”, in which the electronic base is exceed out.
The battle cry Alô Poeta, Alô Comanche opens “Heavy Samba”, talking about a “poet who wanted to talk to God”, referring to his friend Gilberto Gil (with whom he recorded the daring double disc “Gil e Jorge – Ogum-Xangô”). Another tribute to the tropicalist group is the sambalanço “Miss Mexe Gal”, which was written to the Singer Gal Costa when she released the historic album “Fa-Tal”, in 1971. Gal Costa recorded several of Jorge’s compositions (such as “País Tropical”, “Que Pena” and “Tuareg”) – ALKAHOL- SOLEIRO – EU VOU LHE AVISAR HABIB.
Besides the loyal fans, Jorge Benjor sees his audience being renewed every year.
The news is not restricted to “Recuerdos de Asunción”. The albums being released again have a bonus track. In “Dádiva”, the song “Waimea 55000”, which talks about a “wave of 15 meters long which is born once a year in Hawaii”, and reveals the surfer side of Jorge – Yes, he even had a contest team, the “Ben Surf”. In the CD version of “Ben Brasil,” it was included the song “Natal Brasileiro”, recorded to a part of the TV show “Fantástico”.
The last three albums of Jorge Ben in his first passage by Som Livre bring some jewels of his repertory which remained forgotten. The explosive samba-funk “Eu Quero Ver A Rainha”, in a duet with Tim Maia, opening “Dádiva”, has everything to score in the dance floors. It was the first time which Jorge recorded with Tim Maia, to whom he pays tribute later with the hit “W/ Brasil”. “When I wrote ‘Ive Brussel’, to the album ‘Salve Simpatia’, I wanted to put together Caetano, Tim Maia and Roberto Carlos. It wasn’t possible.
The album “Sonsual” had the participation of musicians such as Antonio Adolfo and Paulo Moura, besides the arrangements of César Camargo Mariano. If in the album “Bem-vinda Amizade” (1981) he had already composed a samba-enredo (lyric to samba groups in Carnival) (“O Dia Em Que O Sol Declarou Seu Amor Pela Terra”), this time he had the Idea to Record “Hooked On Samba”, a pout-pourri with the samba songs of the schools who were presented in the Carnival of 1984.
“Ben Brasil” opens with “Roberto, Corta Essa”, sambalanço which is frequently part of his shows’ set list until nowadays. “Sasaci Pererê”, originally composed to the special TV show “Pirlimpimpim”, makes children of any age rock. In “Procura-se Uma Noiva”, the piano of João Donato does really well, with even a solo applauded in the end (the moment of “piano play”, as Jorge likes to announce).
With a show agenda permanently full, Jorge Benjor intends to include in his next shows, besides the eternal classics known by everyone, some “new” songs. They have, for sure, everything to rock the party. “Salve simpatia!”
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