Pre-world, music
Sergio Lira | chatham, nj usa | 06/25/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"at the end of the sixties gil lived in london, where he learned how the whole thing was put together: baiao, bossa nova, the rest. this album was not born there. its older brother 'expresso 2222' was not born there either. but london became gil's reference. if 2222 is gil's best album ever, refavela is the next in majestic line. why then this business of london? it was there where gil spent a good chunk of time playing in the street with people of the world. he da bahia, the others from bahia. from london he went back to brazil, released a couple great records and in 77 put this great pre-world music album in the market. i had never heard of balafon before. i had heard that gil had gone to africa and here was the result. this album had more than an african gil in the cover. it had the name refavela, re-slum, written on the top of little paper adornements used during a mid-year celebration: festa de sao joao. this visual salad was a reminder of the tropicalismo and its grand dad modernismo. mix/remix. here was re-favela, a poetic sign from and to the people who migrated to brazil. black. black and white. pop music under cancer and capricorn, brazil, bahia, africa, rio, not london, london. tru-ly good. minor issue with a jobim song. not with the song or interpretation, but with its 7th track spot. this song ('samba do aviao') should be either first, last or out. problem? "samba do aviao" speaks of airplanes and emotions, rio. this album is a trip. a trip starts in rio or in africa ending in rio, not in the 7th track (also, it sounds a bit flat despite its funky-bissau beat). a trip to and from carnival. from africa to africa. to the mental hospital where they put him for ganjing ('sandra' is a song to the women he met there). to africa again in 'baba alapala', 'balafon', 'ile aye'. to africa/bahia in 'patuscada de gandhi'. to his mind in 'aqui e agora' and 'era nova'. back to rio in 'refavela'. back to pixinguinha, a brazilian master (another one from xango's tribe). to sao joao xango menino. marimba and the balafon, this is pure pre-world music: something re-invented in africa, educated in london and born in brazil. a masterpiece. plus ultra. no less."
