Brazil Classics, Vol. 1: Beleza Tropical (CD - 1989)

Personnel: Milton Nascimento (vocals).

Liner Note Authors: David Byrne; Arto Lindsay.

Photographers: Paulo Kawall de Vasconcellos; Evandro Teixeira; Sergio Dana; Dario Zalis; Antonio Guerreiro; Januário Garcia; Carlos Da Silva Filho; Chris Callis; Joao Bosco.

Translator: Arto Lindsay.

The first in a series of compilation discs put together by David Byrne for his Luaka Bop label, BELEZA TROPICAL attempts to harness a whole musical movement within a single collection. While North America had long succumbed to bossa nova (to the point of its becoming merely a cheesily exotic seduction), the sounds of tropicalismo initially had little impact outside of its native Brazil. Forged in a period of social and political upheaval, the music draws on an enormous variety of musical influences--from traditional Brazilian folk music and street songs to chansons and rock & roll--and reflects the complexity of a culture caught between the expansion of the modern world and the harshness of a repressive dictatorship. And although it's impossible to draw an entire portrait with a single stroke, BELEZA TROPICAL is a suitable introduction to some of the innovators of Brazilian pop, among them Milton Nascimento, Gal Costa, and Caetano Veloso. minimize