Having been in the travel industry for most of my working life, I had the pleasure of visiting South America approximately 16 or 17 times. Needless to say, whilst there, and when the daytime work was finished, I spent most of my evenings and nights in the many small clubs, particularly in Rio - a city which I came to know very well.
The clubs are small, smoky, (expensive if you don't know the ropes) and have just the most incredible musicians, many extremely young but nevertheless unbelievably musically and rythmicly talented.
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| Ed's third! |
I used to often visit the cafe/bar where Jobim wrote "The Girl from Ipanema" and have a coffee or a beer and of course take in the visual delights offered by the locals on Ipanema beach. (Our beaches are better and our pavements are not covered with dog poo like in Rio) It does however have an atmosphere which is intoxicating - the people are fantastic, the women seem to ooze sex appeal but this with the most simple clothes and cheap jewellery. There are many famous Brazilian song writers and their bossa novas are usually about love and romance, no doubt inspired by sultry temptresses - oh, and I really enjoy their hot humid climate.
The following songs are on my CD and I have done two of the songs just on solo piano which is a first fo me. The songs on the CD are:
Once I Loved (Click HERE to listen)
Beautiful
Love
Black
Orpheus (Click HERE to listen)
Dindi
Perfidia
Gentle
Rain
Agua
de Beber
How
Insensitive
Brazil
The
Girl from Ipanema
Triste
It’s
Impossible
Masquerade
Let me know if you like the sample tracks.
For those of you who know my son Donovan, besides being a botanist of note, he is also a fine photographer, handy to a fault in the kitchen and a purveyor of fine verbage - all talents which he offers on a blog called greenlimabeans.com. He has an interesting writing style which you may enjoy. Visit his blog HERE and click on the various navigation buttons. There are some stunning photographs and interesting chat on all sorts of subjects!
After a long absence, I am going to try and do a blog from time to time.
After a long absence, I am going to try and do a blog from time to time.
Cheers for now
Eddie