June 21, 2005

Seu Jorge is best known for his role as the gangster Knock Out Ned in the favela street-wise Cidede Deus ("City of God") and the surreal interludes playing guitar and singing David Bowie songs in Portuguese in the film "Life Aquatic" starring Bill Murray as a gonzo underwater documentary producer.

Seu Jorge made his U.S.debut at S.O.B.'s on June 13th, 2005. At first I was quite disappointed to see him on stage as a trio—with a locally based cavaquino player and percussionist. Both were competent players but I had first seen Seu Jorge full force with four or five percussionists. We are told that Seu Jorge will be returning in the September to do a 17 city tour with his full band. Details forthcoming. Get ready to mark your calendars for that.

Seu Jorge is a soulful singer with a magnetic charisma. His sound is his own but a first time listener would hear samba and bosa nova in the mix. The sold out crowd was mostly Brazilians, many of whom knew all the words and sang along. A Brazilian friend told me he was not really big in Brazil; "more of an underground artist. No radio play." You could say that about most interesting musicians artists actually as Brazilian radio tends to be very narrowly formatted and conservative. Seu Jorge does not have the perfect pitch of MPB (Musica Popular Brasileira) stars and his guitar strumming accompaniment is pretty basic. But like I said, the man does have soul. Even if you don't understand the language the languorous sounds of romance and the harsh tones of social criticism connect.

At one point, Seu Jorge got off his stool to give a mini-speech in broken but understandable English. Speaking for the Brazilian favela (slum) dwellers that surround the megalopolis of Sao Paulo and the favela that stare at the sumptuous homes that sit on hills in gated communities in Rio. Seu Jorge spoke of the favela residents reputation for violence. He said they're just hungry and something has to be done about the widespread poverty in the face of wealth. The crowd of mostly white Brazilians cheered.

Bill Murray came to see the show in a faded t-shirt. That was whispered to him on stage and Seu Jorge smiled and said " Murray". I look forward to seeing Seu Jorge again in September, this time with his full band.

He is also a singer-songwriter with an international release "Cru" on the French label Favela Chic (or roughly translated, Ghetto hip).

Fallou Dieng rocks Harlem with mabalax “hard and tough.”

Last Friday night, St. John the Divine cathedral received an audience for a night of Senegalese music. Fallou Dieng, a rising star in the mbalax tradition popularized by Senegalese superstar Youssou N’Dour and his band members, brought his melismatic vocals to a clamoring audience of Senegalese-Americans. Fallou entertained the crowd well into Sunday morning.

Fallou fronted a band that included guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, drum kit, two sabar drums, and one tama “talking” drum. While the crowd came to hear Fallou’s lyrical voice the highlight of the show came from the rhythm section, which ornamented the kick and snare with African percussiveness confounding in both its complexity and power to move. The two sabar players thunderous attacks on their drums reminded one of the sound of Thione Seck’s “mbalax pur et dur” (“mbalax hard and tough”).

The social scene was fascinating. When the Senegalese gather in New York for a concert by an artist visiting from Dakar, there’s always a joyful vibe, intoxicated by sweet memories of home no doubt (not alcohol since most Senegalese do not drink.) When Youssou performs in New York, he attracts an audience of over 2,000--Senegalese revelers dressed in either traditional long robes, chic dark suits or Brooklyn hip hop gear. Fallou’s audience was noticeably younger than Youssou’s and for the most part they were more dressed down. Most of the ladies were chewing gum laconically and bobbing to the music while circles of male friends showed off their high jumping, arm-flailing mbalax dance moves, punctuated by the sharp rhythm changes of the band with a pelvic pump.