Best Brazilian Disco Artists?

[PaulC]

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[discosavvy]

I'm not familiar with the names you cited, but can recommend the music of the 6-member BsB Disco Club. Not the best band name, but their music is outstanding... 100 times better than that other BSB, the infamous Backstreet Boys. Some of their tracks are pure disco while others are experimental/jazzy or Brazilian-style, mostly energetic tracks but there are a few slow ones too. They got some good reviews in the Brazilian media and have been touring for a long time. They have an official website so go there for samples and information.

Miquel Brown sang a song called "The Day That They Got Disco in Brazil" - what day was that? When did Brazilians first catch the disco fever, 1975?

[paul]

Sounds interesting 'savvy. I'll follow your suggestion and go to the website.
Feel free to chime in Boodi 8)

[zeca azevedo]

I am currently listening to my partners Brazillian Music Collection and really enjoying Ed Mota, Tim Mia, (both Disco artists), also, Marisa Monte and Bebel Gilberto :lol:
Are there any others from the past or present who match the quality as these artists?

Hi Paul, what about a brazilian guy answering your question? :lol: :lol:

First, let me say that all the artists you mentioned are great, especially TIM MAIA, the one and only KING OF BRAZILIAN SOUL MUSIC. Tim recorded an album in 1978 called TIM MAIA DISCO CLUB with some disco numbers, but he was mainly a soul artist. I'm a big fan of his music. TIM died a few years ago, unfortunately, but ED MOTTA, his nephew, continues to carry the torch of brazilian soul music through the new century. ED MOTTA is one of the best singers on the soul scene today, and I'm not talking about BRASIL only - he is serious competition for these guys in USA who call themselves "SOUL ARTISTS" today. Just listen to his records and you'll agree with me. ED released a new album this month called POPTICAL, a great mix of brazilian music, jazz and funk - there is a great dance number called TEM ESPAÇO NA VAN - everyone into soulful dance music shoulda listen to this fella.

But wait, there's more info about brazilian disco. Let me talk about some artists who recorded some disco tracks in the disco era, the late 70's.

The greatest disco group BRASIL ever had was called AS FRENÉTICAS. They were a group of six girls who did performances at a legendary disco club in RIO called DANCIN' DAYS in the 70's. Their first album, released in 1977 (re-released in CD in 2002 here in BRASIL) mixes disco with samba and carnival music with verve and grace. But their second album contains their biggest hit, the greatest brazilian disco song ever made: DANCIN' DAYS. If you don't know this track, I recommend to you - it's classic disco, a fantastic track that deserves attention from disco fans everywhere.

NEY MATOGROSSO, a legendary singer and performer, known in our country for introducing androgyny in brazilian popular music, recorded a classic disco rendition of NÃO EXISTE PECADO DO LADO DE BAIXO DO EQUADOR, composed by Chico Buarque (our Gershwin, to put in simple words). The track was recorded in L.A. and it is DISCO with capital letters. But there's more: BRASIL has its own QUEEN OF DISCO, and her name is LADY ZU. She recorded 2 classic albums in the late 70's with disco tracks like A NOITE VAI CHEGAR and DISCO DANCE. Her two 70's albums were re-released in CD 2 or 3 years ago.

RITA LEE, one of the most important figures in brazilian pop, recorded lots of disco tracks in the late 70's/early 80's, like AGORA É MODA, CHEGA MAIS, LANÇA PERFUME, SAÚDE, etc.

GILBERTO GIL, one of our greatest musicians, recorded some great disco songs too: REALCE (1979), LUAR and PALCO (1980) are probably his best disco songs.

RONALDO RESEDÁ was a singer known for his disco records, like MARROM GLACÊ and KITSCH ZONA SUL, his only hits. He died in the 80's, and these 2 tracks are somewhat obscure, but you can't talk about brazilian disco without mentioning this guy.

ROBSON JORGE and LINCOLN OLIVETTI - these 2 guys were present in almost every dance record made in BRASIL in the late 70's, early 80's, as musicians and producers. They had a trademark sound that resembles EW&F in some way. Not exactly disco, but their sound is heavily influenced by disco, for sure.

If you want some "pulp disco", we have some trashy disco artists too: GRETCHEN, RABO DE SAIA, ELISÂNGELA, HARMONY CATS, DUDU FRANÇA, MISS LENE, and other that I can remember right now.

Well, maybe it's time to let another brazilian tell the story (MARCIO, BLAXMAN, RHESSEL...) :D

BTW, MARISA MONTE is VERY popular here in BRASIL. The best selling album of the year here is TRIBALISTAS, a beautiful, mellow album recorded by MISS MONTE with ARNALDO ANTUNES and CARLINHOS BROWN (Carlinhos appeared in the much maligned film SPEED 2 :roll: , singing his smash dance hit A NAMORADA.)

That's it for now. Peace.

zeca azevedo :D

[PaulC]

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[Boodikka]

:roll:

Hmmm.......last time I checked I was still uma Brasileira.

[PaulC]

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[NickNack]

Zeca,

You've got my mouth watering. I bet a lot of that stuff is just awesome. The Brazilian influence seemed to surface ever so often in disco music. I'd love to hear some "straight up", so to speak. Is some of this music still available do you know?

[zeca azevedo]

Zeca,

You've got my mouth watering. I bet a lot of that stuff is just awesome. The Brazilian influence seemed to surface ever so often in disco music. I'd love to hear some "straight up", so to speak. Is some of this music still available do you know?

Hi fellas,

first, BOODIKKA, I'm sorry, I know you are brazilian, but I wrote my post after midnight, I was kinda sleepy :lol: and forgot some names. I'm sure you can name some brazilian artists who did disco for the guys here.

Second, Nick, I have some of the records I named on the post, of course. I have more than 15 albums by TIM MAIA on my collection, and I have ALL the albums by ED MOTTA. I also have the 2 album by LADY ZU I've mentioned, and I have a compilation by AS FRENÉTICAS. I think I have a nice collection of brazilian soul/disco/funk. Recently (2 or 3 years ago), these 70's brazilian soul/disco songs began to play again at parties and radio stations here in BRASIL. Some artists even got a record contract after more than 15 years away from the bizz (LADY ZU, AS FRENÉTICAS, GERSON KING COMBO and others) and they're appearing on TV shows and newspapers. There's a lot of great brazilian dance music that deserves to be discovered, for sure.

To prove that I was sleepy when I wrote my post :lol: :lol: , I forgot to mention other important brazilian artists who recorded disco:

JORGE BEN - the king of rhythm, the genius who invented SAMBA ROCK, recorded some discofied numbers in the late 70's - early 80's. There's a beautiful disco medley of TAJ MAHAL/FILHO MARAVILHA/PAÍS TROPICAL, 3 of his greatest hits. This medley can put fire on any dancefloor.

GERSON KING COMBO - this guy was our JAMES BROWN - he did 2 albums in the 70's filled with hard funk and some discofied songs (on his second album, the first is more JB funk)

UNIÃO BLACK - the backing group for GERSON KING COMBO on his classic first album released an album in 1978 with a great disco track, called VOULEZ-VOUS (no, this isn't the ABBA song), I think you guys will appreciate this one.

SAMBA SOUL: this group is a mystery. It is a bunch of brazilian musicians who did a disco album in the late 70's with 2 north american vocalists. There a SUPERB version of DANCIN' DAYS (the song by AS FRENÉTICAS) that you guys will enjoy, I'm sure. I had a 12" by SAMBA SOUL that was very disco, with a version of MAMBO Nº 5 on one side and CHOVE CHUVA (a classic song by JORGE BEN) on the flip side.

All these recorded were re-released in BRASIL on the last 3 years (except the SAMBA SOUL stuff that is very RARE, even here in BRASIL). You can do some research on KAZAA too :lol: :lol:

PaulC, thanks for your kind words about my post. I hope I helped you in some way.

Peace,

zeca azevedo :D

[QUINNY]

.........and...........
TANIA MARIA whose 'Come With Me' was a pretty darned big disco record in the UK (with certain people).

BTW: I was listening early this morning (12 midnight - 2 a.m.) to Deviation on 1XTRA and the DJ Benji B played quite a few tracks that he described as "mad Samba". Whether or not that's a true genre name I don't know, but I suspect it could be. The records tended to be heavy funk with Sanba like rhythms. The overall effect is like having a heavier, spacier updated Jingo.
One record especially that he's played the past 2 weeks and looks like it could be a biggie mixes Rap with Samba with sorta Kletzmer rhythms and sound (with an accordian no less). It's by KD5 or KB5 (couldn't quite decipher that) and is really very commercial. The Rap kinda lets it down for me though.

[Forrrce]

The Banda Black Rio LPs from the '70s on RCA all sound pretty much like Earth, Wind & Fire. They had vinyl re-issues in the early-to-mid '90s and some even came out on CD. There's a 'best of' comp. from around 5 years ago available on a UK label.

There's a really nice Brasilian Capitol 12" from around '78 that I have in my collection, which I've been looking for to recommend since this thread started, but I haven't tracked it down yet. :-?

There are plenty of Brasilian left-fielders, though - one of my favourites is a Marcus Valle track called 'Estrellas' from around 1983 which is a slickly produced, sophisticated slice of American boogie! :D

Saw (and met) Ed Motta twice last year, I sometimes do restoration work for the UK label which released his 'Dwiza' LP here. I hadn't heard of him before then, but he has a real presence - he's about 5' wide! Lovely guy to talk to - his last LP is very much modelled on the independent black jazz from the '70s that we're both into.

[PaulC]

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[PaulC]

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[QUINNY]

Of course there's always Eumir Deodato. His early records like Theme From 2001 and Super Strut were played a lot in the clubs I worked.
I won't mention any of his later disco records or collaborations as I'm sure everyone knows about them.

[Marcio**]

"Velas", instrumental, by Quincy Jones from the album The Dude, 1982.
"Calmarie" by Deborah Harry from the album Def, Dumb & Blonde, 1989.

Zeca, thanks for the class :D .

[Marcio**]

"Velas" by Quincy Jones - written by Brazilian songwriters (Ivan Lins and Vitor Martins)
"Calmarie" By Deborah Harry (Blondie) - written by Brazilian songwriters (Naná Vasconcelos and...I can't remember the other !!!). Percussion by Paulinho da Costa.
"O Ba Ba (No Reino da Mãe do Ouro)" by D.C. LaRue - written by a Brazilian songwriter (Rubem da Mangueira)
"Brazil" by The Ritchie Family - written by a Brazilian songwriter (Ary Barroso)

Samba Soul: the L.P. "Do It" was recorded at RCA Studios in São Paulo-Brazil and RCA Studios in New York, 1978. Diva Grey was the lead vocalist on all tracks of the Side A.

Alice Street Gang (Amazon Records) with the song "Brazilian Hustle" :D

[Disco Push!]

hello everyone
it is nice to see people talking about brazilian disco and I want to say something about it....
there was a tv show called DISCO SHOW in Rede Globo channel ( I have the album released in 1978 by Somlivre), the ouverture theme was Dancing in my feet - Laura Taylor. Well, it was oriented for brazilian disco but Donna Summer was in it when she came for a concert over here in Rio. It was funny to see a singer who would become famous and sooo cheesy after the disco wave, her name was Rosana and the track was "Muito Independente", Rabo de Saia, Joelho de Porco, Jane Duboc, Ronaldo Reseda, Don Beto performed also there.
It is important to mention other disco acts in Brazil such as Painel de Controle, Ana e Angela, Secos e Molhados (second phase without Ney Matogrosso), The Vamps (a project by Mr Sam), which I play often when I run my party here in Rio or when I play in Paris, it is nice. Other acts which sung in English was Skorpio among others...
Cheers

[travis]

LOL. no one seems to have mentioned sérgio mendes (and it probably serves him right for not coming to the homeland in 30 years as he says)! but he had a track called I'll tell you that was a floor filler at the New York City club in Rio back in the day. Disco Push mentioned a certain Mr. Sam... I thought this was Brazilian. I've got a bit of a disco oddity called Disco Blood by the Vamps that's excellent that I'd continuing playing to this day had the vynil not gone to pot!!!

[Mixmachine]

I have a 1978 made in Brazil Disco album by the Cosa Nostra Disco Band called "Tarantella Disco" featuring Santo Malfatti, but I'm not sure if this is Brazilian or Italian, to me the music sounds like Discofied versions of popular Italian classics melodies.

Anyone knows if this band was Brazilian or Italian ??

[KoolChris]

I have a 1978 made in Brazil Disco album by the Cosa Nostra Disco Band called "Tarantella Disco" featuring Santo Malfatti, but I'm not sure if this is Brazilian or Italian, to me the music sounds like Discofied versions of popular Italian classics melodies.

Anyone knows if this band was Brazilian or Italian ??

Don't know the act, but everything points towards Italy:
the name of the band: Cosa Nostra is the name of one of the most important (historically and in numbers) organizations of the Mafia out of Sicily.

the name of the track: a tarantella was an antique popular dance typical of southern Italy, fast-paced, with a beat based on tamborines.

the name of the featured artist: "malfatti" in italian is plural for "ill-done" (crude, gross). "Santo" of course exists in both the portuguese and italian languages, but as far as I know, it would only be used as a noun in portuguese, not as an adjective as in this case: "san" would be correct instead in portuguese (correct me if I'm wrong). "Santo malfatti", on the other hand, would be correct italian. My 2 cents.

[tmob]

Did I miss mention of Cassiano's Onda? Killer groove, strangely haunting...still sounds as good as it did 30 years ago.

[KoolChris]

Did I miss mention of Cassiano's Onda? Killer groove, strangely haunting...still sounds as good as it did 30 years ago.

Great track, indeed. But wasn't Cassiano cuban???

[tmob]

Great track, indeed. But wasn't Cassiano cuban???

From what I found on the Web, I thought he was Brazilian but I'll certainly bow to the more knowledgeable here...

[JussiK]

Best pure disco from Brazil : the BLACK HOLE album, with it's 9 minute killer "Me and my super friends" space track!

[Disco Push!]

Hello all
Let's clear up some points
Cassiano is brazilian, he used to be always with Tim Maia and Hyldon.
The Cosa Nostra - Tarantella Disco, yes, this is 100% brazilian, produced by the same Mr Sam who was argentinian, ok?
See ya
Marcel Chapman aka Disco Push