Wintertijd

Que Onda?

Earlier I wrote Israel was not the place for Jazz, really. So people might wonder what it is the place for. To be honest, Israel's music scene is not even close to being covered by the word horrible. Abysmal, frightful and terrible also come to mind, but still it doesn't begin to express how bloody boring and blasé I think 99 out of 100 Israeli songs are. Bland Ballads, annoying Italo-pop and half-ethnic commercial efforts with a good dose of Arabic or Hebrew "wallawalla" wailing in it are the norm of the day, and I hear them blaring out from every car I pass. If there are people of musical taste in this country, they keep quiet and well hidden.

But the weather is definitely sunny, so one thing I find myself listening to is Latin music of different kinds. Admittedly, half of my Latin collection is Brazilian. Brazil is simply a wonderful country from a musical perspective. Either which way, I got the bright idea to do a "Que Onda?" compilation of "latin" music, whatever that might mean. I am told that according to Brazilians there is no such thing as genres of music. There is simply music and man is put on earth to play it, whatever it is. We'll see. I'll still take the liberty of making a Latin Compilation.

It's no more than fair that I start in Brazil. With the man who originally wrote "Mas Que Nada". That particular song was one of the things Sergio Mendes actually did better than the original. One of the few things, I might add, because Mendes tends to get to bland. So Mas Que Nada will pop up later and not done by Jorge Ben. Not that there's much wrong with the original, it's just that it's not a standout track for the man. It's simply one of twenty excellent songs on the album I have.

The best track of the "best of" album I have is by far O telefone tocou novamente. It's funky as hell, it has a good voice track, it's got a cool horn section in it, it has a string section and it just rocks. It's one of those songs I can put on repeat for 45 minutes or more without getting the least bit tired of it.

Download it. Burn it. Stick it in your car stereo. Put the volume on the maximum your ears and speakers can take and let Mr Jorge Ben do it to you in your eardrums!

Posted by Chris at August 22, 2007 05:30 PM