finding Nei Lopes and Fabiana Cozza in SP

I finally caught up to Nei Lopes in São Paulo last Thursday. I have already mentioned him in an earlier post about partido alto. I have been trying to meet him at a few shows here in Rio but he always slips out quickly before I can catch him! So I went to the release of his new book Dicionário Literário Afro-Brasileiro (Pallas 2008) and was able to purchase a couple of his other books and get my copy of Logunedé (Pallas 2007, 2nd ed.) signed! I still hope to get an interview with him, so more posts will be forthcoming. At the book signing I also ran into Fabiana Cozza, a young singer from SP that is getting high marks for her second album. She was very nice and also told me she would be happy to let me interview her soon. More to come...

In the meantime I thought I could share some music from both of these artists.

Nei Lopes not only writes extensively on samba and Afro-Brazilian themes, but is also an activist, composer and recording artist. The first track is an ode to the Afro-Cuban deity Eleguá, known as Exú in Brazil. The album nods beautifully to the historical affinities between the two countries and their African heritage.




"Samba de Eleguá" (Nei Lopes)
from the album Partido ao Cubo (2004)

The second track is one of Nei Lopes' biggest hits from his partnership with Wilson Moreira, recorded by Beth Carvalho on her 1978 album De pé no chão. This album is significant in its importance in launching the so-called "pagode" movement that exploded on commercial airwaves in the 1980s, launching a whole new crew of samba artists. I posted a song by the pioneers of that era, Fundo de Quintal, in an earlier post here. Many of the members of this group are featured on this recording as studio musicians a few years before they launched their debut album (you can see them on the cover in the background). I will post more on this later.




"Goiabada-cascão" (Nei Lopes e Wilson Moreira) by Beth Carvalho
from the album De pé no chão (1978)

Finally, I would like to post one from Fabiana Cozza's second album Quando o céu clarear (2007). Fabiana has been highly praised by Nei Lopes (who also contributed a song to her album) as one of the great revelations of the São Paulo samba scene.




"Incensa" (Roque Ferreira) by Fabiana Cozza
from the album Quando o céu clarear (2007)

Enjoy.