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Post by Wolfgang on Aug 6, 2016 2:41:58 GMT -5
I watched -- off and on -- the Opening Ceremonies of the Rio Olympics. One positive from the ceremonies was a segment which reminded me of a Brazilian song I had long forgotten, but which I loved growing up because my mom listened to it all the time on our record player. Yes, the old phonograph. Vinyl records. At the time, it was one of my favorite songs of all time, but as a kid, you can't go around bragging about loving this song because it was an old song (1939) and none of the kids knew it.
It's called "Aquarela do Brasil" or, simply, "Brasil." It was composed by Ary Barroso in 1939. It has been recorded by hundreds of artists. Here is one of the more "accessible" versions. It's by Ray Connif singers. It's not my favorite version but it gets to the meat of the music very quickly:
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Post by Wolfgang on Aug 6, 2016 2:44:15 GMT -5
My favorite version of "Aquarela do Brasil" is by Joao Gilberto, the guy who also made "The Girl from Ipanema" famous.
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Post by Wolfgang on Aug 6, 2016 2:47:17 GMT -5
Speaking of "The Girl from Ipanema," another Brazilian favorite, here's the famous version made by Joao Gilberto and Stan Getz:
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Post by Wolfgang on Aug 6, 2016 2:50:37 GMT -5
Here's "Mais Que Nada" -- another great Brazilian song, from 1966. Also one of my favorites. The best version of this song is by Sergio Mendes:
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Post by mikegarrison on Aug 6, 2016 3:29:13 GMT -5
It's not music, but if you have ever read Feynman's first autobiography (I think he wrote three of them....), he tells a story about going to Brazil as a visiting scientist. He decided he would learn Spanish before he went there, so he signed up for a Spanish class. However, as he was going to the first Spanish class, he saw a pretty woman walk into a Portuguese class and decided to follow her. But then he thought, "Hey, I'm going to be down there for a while, I really should learn the language." So he went to the Spanish class instead.
And then when he got to Brazil, that's when he learned they speak Portuguese there.
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Post by Wolfgang on Aug 6, 2016 11:08:48 GMT -5
What a doof. A physicist and he didn't even Google about Brazil!
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Post by Northern lights on Aug 6, 2016 11:23:23 GMT -5
I feel like that is a common misconception.
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Post by Wolfgang on Aug 6, 2016 11:39:09 GMT -5
I feel like that is a common misconception. I think a lot of people hold onto mistaken beliefs about the languages spoken in various countries. Many think that if a country is named _______, the national language is _______ian, as in just add "-ian" (and its variations) at the end of the country's name. For example, if the country is "Iran," they must speak "Iranian." (It's actually Farsi.) I have to remind them: hey, doofs, look at America. Do they speak "American?" Or Canada? Do they speak "Canadian?" It's not that they're stupid; rather, just ignorant and generally lack curiosity about countries outside the USA. It gets confusing because people either forgot or never learned which colonial powers ruled these nations. And then there's the Dutch, who've decided to live in a nation called The Netherlands, which also confuse people for other reasons. I'm old and, I like to think, non-ignorant but I still get confused about: United Kingdom vs. Great Britain vs. British Isles vs. plain old England. LOL! I have to look it up all the time! |
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Post by Wolfgang on Aug 6, 2016 11:41:32 GMT -5
Another great version of "Aquarela do Brasil," this time by Antonio Carlos Jobim:
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Post by Wolfgang on Aug 6, 2016 11:48:14 GMT -5
And then there's this well-known (to Monty Python fans and other film buffs) version of "Aquarela do Brasil" from the Terry Gilliam film "Brazil":
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Post by Northern lights on Aug 6, 2016 11:57:03 GMT -5
I feel like that is a common misconception. I think a lot of people hold onto mistaken beliefs about the languages spoken in various countries. Many think that if a country is named _______, the national language is _______ian, as in just add "-ian" (and its variations) at the end of the country's name. For example, if the country is "Iran," they must speak "Iranian." (It's actually Farsi.) I have to remind them: hey, doofs, look at America. Do they speak "American?" Or Canada? Do they speak "Canadian?" It's not that they're stupid; rather, just ignorant and generally lack curiosity about countries outside the USA. It gets confusing because people either forgot or never learned which colonial powers ruled these nations. And then there's the Dutch, who've decided to live in a nation called The Netherlands, which also confuse people for other reasons. I'm old and, I like to think, non-ignorant but I still get confused about: United Kingdom vs. Great Britain vs. British Isles vs. plain old England. LOL! I have to look it up all the time! I have to confess, I have had a lifetime affinity with Martial Arts, and only learned Brazil spoke Portuguese, and not Spanish around the mid 90's. That's when Brazilian or Gracie, Jiu-Jitsu came on the scene. This skinny little Brazilian guy, Royce Gracie was tying, huge well skilled dudes in knots. From there you would hear the Brazilian fighter's in interviews speaking Portuguese. |
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Post by Wolfgang on Aug 6, 2016 13:33:23 GMT -5
I think a lot of people hold onto mistaken beliefs about the languages spoken in various countries. Many think that if a country is named _______, the national language is _______ian, as in just add "-ian" (and its variations) at the end of the country's name. For example, if the country is "Iran," they must speak "Iranian." (It's actually Farsi.) I have to remind them: hey, doofs, look at America. Do they speak "American?" Or Canada? Do they speak "Canadian?" It's not that they're stupid; rather, just ignorant and generally lack curiosity about countries outside the USA. It gets confusing because people either forgot or never learned which colonial powers ruled these nations. And then there's the Dutch, who've decided to live in a nation called The Netherlands, which also confuse people for other reasons. I'm old and, I like to think, non-ignorant but I still get confused about: United Kingdom vs. Great Britain vs. British Isles vs. plain old England. LOL! I have to look it up all the time! I have to confess, I have had a lifetime affinity with Martial Arts, and only learned Brazil spoke Portuguese, and not Spanish around the mid 90's. That's when Brazilian or Gracie, Jiu-Jitsu came on the scene. This skinny little Brazilian guy, Royce Gracie was tying, huge well skilled dudes in knots. From there you would hear the Brazilian fighter's in interviews speaking Portuguese. I got into UFC and MMA back in the late 1990s, too! I saw the first five UFC on VHS tapes. LOL! I was a big Royce Gracie fan (hated Ken Shamrock). Sadly (or fortunately, depends on how you look at it), I lost interest in the sport. |
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Post by Phaedrus on Aug 6, 2016 14:10:58 GMT -5
It's not music, but if you have ever read Feynman's first autobiography (I think he wrote three of them....), he tells a story about going to Brazil as a visiting scientist. He decided he would learn Spanish before he went there, so he signed up for a Spanish class. However, as he was going to the first Spanish class, he saw a pretty woman walk into a Portuguese class and decided to follow her. But then he thought, "Hey, I'm going to be down there for a while, I really should learn the language." So he went to the Spanish class instead. And then when he got to Brazil, that's when he learned they speak Portuguese there. If I remember this was when was trying to learn how to play the bongos. He also said he had a real good time with the Pan Am stewardesses. |
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Post by Northern lights on Aug 6, 2016 14:30:51 GMT -5
Every biography should have a pan am stewardess story IMO.
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Post by Wolfgang on Aug 8, 2016 1:55:56 GMT -5
"Corcovado" from the album Getz/Gilberto, a must for any fan of fine jazz music.
This album's soothing sound helps you chill...
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