Random Play All: Mais Feliz

(Bebel Gilberto, Berlin 17/6/06 by akimowitsch )

Stupid blogger. I wrote a whole post earlier today then it got mysteriously lost in the ether and here's me having to rewrite something I've already written. I always get confused when I have to do this, although it's not really a rarity, and I get confused quite easily...

Today's Random Play All track is Bebel Gilberto's Mais Feliz from her 2000 album, Tanto Tempo. This album was purchased in a moment of pining for Brazil some time while I was writing a Brazilian Electronica post (as featured on Best Week Ever!), but it's not really an electronica song, or album. What it does have though, is the masterful touch of Mitar Subotic, or Suba, at the helm, both writing and producing. If you come out of reading the Rough Guide... posts with respect for just one person, or looking to buy just one album, make it Suba, and make it Sao Paulo Confessions, a masterfully subtle blend of traditional music, bossa nova, MPB and electronica, making it one of the most essential Brazilian releases since the heyday of Os Mutantes, a good thirty years previous.

Anyway, legend has it that Suba died while rescuing the tapes for Bebel Gilberto's Tanto Tempo album (from whence comes this track) from a studio fire, which only adds to his mystique. What he left behind is another masterfully subtle album, not of his usual eclectica but of more traditional new wave bossa nova, complete with Gilberto's earthy, sensual voice and just the lightest instrumental flourishes.

The album hinges on the balance between Gilberto herself and the gently swinging, sophisticated acoustic guitar, with a hint of brushed snare. This song (which Google translates as happyer, complete with bizarre spelling) is in this vain and has ever such a little bit of electro-trickery just to add a haze, a shimmer if you will. As always with Suba, it's certainly not overdone and does nothing but add to the atmosphere of the tune. So listen up, it's a great tune and a beautiful sound, and will have you scurrying for the Ipanema before you can say Obrigado Simone!

The Music
Bebel Gilberto - Mais Feliz

The 'fo
Artist: Bebel Gilberto
Website: bebelgilberto.com
Recommended: Tanto Tempo
Label: East West
Buy: Amazon
More: Hype Machine; elbo.ws
If you like this you might like: Celso Fonseca - Natural
Tags: Brazil; bossa nova; acoustic; samba; Bebel Gilberto; Suba