fiction!) re-telling of his life, not necessarily true events (!!!). Well, to be fair with the guys who made the film, there's a warning in the opening credits stating what we're about to see is a "romanticized" (i.e. Hardly anything you see in the film really happened the way it's shown. Abreu was married to Durvalina (who was NOT from his hometown) from the age of 19 until his death at 55, had eight children (not three as portrayed in the film), and the character of Branca (the "muse") is fiction - in fact, "Branca" is the title of one of his waltzes. The younger generation may recall Brazilian actress Denise Dumont singing it on-screen in Woody Allen's "Radio Days" (1987), in a somewhat Cubanized version, with Tito Puente's percussion. Then in 1943 it suddenly became an international hit when organist Ethel Smith played it in Walt Disney's animated film "Saludos Amigos", later reinforced by Carmen Miranda's zestful rendition of the song in "Copacabana" (1947). The instrumental theme "TIco-Tico no Fubá" enjoyed a mild success in dancing rooms of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in the 20s and 30s, until in 1942 (Abreu was already dead by then) a version with lyrics became a big hit in Brazil with virtuoso "choro" singer Ademilde Fonseca. In reality, Abreu was a moderately successful composer/band-leader from small town Santa Rita do Passa Quatro (near São Paulo), who wrote mostly simple waltzes, "choros" and polkas and composed the title song in 1917 (at 37, not in his early twenties as in the film) - FAR from anything Beethovenian. One evening, at the circus, Branca inspires him to improvise the catchy melody of the title song, which he eventually somehow manages to forget entirely, until, years later, it suddenly comes back to him just minutes before his untimely death. He can't decide whether to marry his small town sweetheart Durvalina (inexpressive Marisa Prado) or to elope with beautiful circus horse-rider/ballerina Branca (gorgeous Tonia Carrero, sadly wasted). He is portrayed here as some kind of misunderstood music genius - we see Beethoven's bust on his piano and he literally sweats and shouts to make his band musicians get things right. For another view, try Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops' The Latin Album, which mixes incendiary pieces by Ginastera, Moncayo, Guarneri, and others with the tourista material, thus creating a better balance - and a far better program - than the Kunzel disc."Tico-Tico no Fubá" is supposed to portray the life story of Brazilian composer Zequinha de Abreu (1880-1935), played by an awfully miscast Anselmo Duarte, but nothing could be less accurate. But, of course, that's not the premise of this CD - a look at how American commercial pop integrated Latin influences - and all a listener can do is go with it or not. One longs in vain for a taste of the real thing - say, a roaring symphonic showpiece by a Latin classical composer. Guest trumpeter/toreador Doc Severinsen does his best bullfight fanfare in "La Virgen de la Macarena" and fellow Tonight Show veterans Tommy Newsom and John Bambridge help out with some of the arrangements (catch the latter's clever Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony" reference in the middle of "El Cumbanchero"). The music conjures images of ladies with baskets of fruit on their heads or loud, affluent, middle-aged American males in shorts and hats with cameras dangling, trying to do the mambo. And you can guess what the tunes are: "Brazil," "Cielito Lindo," "Granada," "Tico Tico," "Carioca," "Besame Mucho," "Mexican Hat Dance," "The Girl From Ipanema," Barry Manilow's infernal "Copacabana," and more. Every twitchy Tropicana cliché in the book from the middle of the 20th century is seemingly invoked in these deliberately kitschy treatments of the usual chestnuts. The execution is there Erich Kunzel & the Cincinnati Pops display an undeniable zest and affection for the material here. This collection of symphonically inflated south-of-the-border pops is an American tourist's idea of Latin music - and there's a place for that it all depends upon the execution and the freshness of the arrangements.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |