South America has a strong stream of big bands merging jazz, Afrobeat and Latin/Brazilian musics. I’ve written on Höröyá, but the current runs much deeper than one band.
La BOA
A.k.a La Bogata Orquestra Afrobeat. This Colombian outfit adds in Caribbean elements to the normal Latin-Afrobeat mix, though they tend to move from style to style rather than mix them. On their early work the Latin-Caribbean stuff works better than the more Afrobeat oriented songs. Their first releases, a three-song EP and a debut album (that repeats one song from the EP) were collaborations with renowned Colombian folk singer Nelda Piña. She’s one of those aged performers whose presence and smarts overcome the limitation age has placed on her voice.
On the band’s second full album, Volumen, Piña guested on only one song, but while the quality of the singing declined, the overall results are more cohesive, and the African influences more effectively deployed. Instead of flitting from style to style, they hew closer to Afrobeat, but with other elements brought in to provide different shades. You can listen to the music and purchase it here.
Grades:
Afrobeat y Caribe EP (2014), B-
Animal (2015), B
Volumen (2017), B
Gypsy Ska Orquestra
GSO began in Caracas, Venezuela, in 2009 when Sebastian Leon and Mauricio Vivas went out on the streets to perform a mix of ska, Latin, jazz, and Balkans Romany music. Over time the band grew and eventually started playing parties locally before beginning to tour, even heading to Europe.
They debuted with a five-song, self-titled EP, but the performances are a little stiff and the songs a little derivative, which may not be a surprise for a band devoted to live performance. Their second EP tried to rectify the problem by recording live. It’s common for fans of jam bands to claim you have to hear them live to appreciate their art, but more often than not the live performance gets by on the shared emotion of the moment, and any recordings of the show detail the flaws that were there the whole time. Not this time. GSO thrives on the live energy and communicates that to the listener at home. Speed and propulsion leave you dizzy, but the skill of the players grounds the frenzy so it doesn’t fall apart or devolve to anonymous dance beats. Better songs help, too.
The band made its proper debut with Danza Macabra, which finds a good space between the live triumph and the first EP. It doesn’t crackle with the energy of the live EP, but the band seems more comfortable in the studio, and the stronger songwriting of EP2 proves no fluke. (Three of the four songs from the live EP reappear here.) Their debut album loses steam toward the end, but for the first ten tracks it’s the kind of world party that gives internationalism and miscegenation a good name. Listen and buy the band’s releases here.
Grades:
Gypsy Ska Orquestra EP (2011), C+
EP2 (2013), A-
Danza Macabra (2017), B+
Newen Afrobeat
Perhaps the class act of South American Afrobeat, Chile’s Newen Afrobeat formed in 2009 in Santiago. Where many Latin and Brazilian Afrobeat pioneers use Fela Kuti as a starting point, Newen Afrobeat are committed disciples, even covering two Fela songs with son Seun on an EP. The 14-member outfit includes a lead singer (María Francisca Riquelme), two backup singers, two guitarists, two percussionists, drummer, bassist and five horn players. But where Fela is mesmerizingly shambolic with his hectoring Africanized English mercilessly mocking colonizers and hometown oppressors, Newen Afrobeat are tight and clean with Riquelme putting across more earnestly polite—if still good—politics. (Environmentalism, indigenous cultures. That type of stuff.) Also, their songs are generally shorter. Kuti usually released albums of two 15-minute “songs”, or even just one track divided over the album’s two sides. Newen Afrobeat can and will stretch out, but don’t make bursting past the 10-minute mark their modus operandi.
Although the band is tighter and more prone to showy instrumental bits than Fela, they don’t reduce Afrobeat to displays of technical virtuosity. Groove, propulsion and gestalt are its heart, not solos and showing off, so when a player does take an extended solo, the instrument rarely just floats over the music, but engages and bounces off the other players. Having vocalists, helps, too. Instrumental music without compositional chops or distinctive soloists struggles to survive out of the background. Newen Afrobeat doesn’t have that problem. As good groove music, it works wonderfully in the background as you do dishes, cook or write, but the music’s too strong to just stay there. Your attention gets pulled toward this moment or that—a cutting, angular guitar line here, a hard punching horn section riff there—and the moments shift from listen to listen because the their music is chock full of the stuff.
The band arrive fully formed on its 2013 debut. Leading with a Fela-esque 13-minute opener, they dazzle with both instrumental and writing chops. Their similarity with Fela is even a bit eerie at times. Are they sampling that horn sound? Interpolating that guitar bit? No, but the facsimile is striking. But not a turn off. The band has enough presence and homegrown flavors throughout to make not just putting on your favorite Kuti album instead rewarding. Of course the shorter song lengths that follow the lead track create a very un-Fela like atmosphere. Only the final track goes past 10-minutes, and only one other gets close. So where Fela would be happy to give you only one or two grooves in an album, here you get seven, and the change of pace helps sell the music.
The debut was followed four years later—years filled with extensive touring—by an EP collaboration with Seun Kuti, Fela’s son. The band covered two Fela songs, “Upside Down” and “Opposite People”. Here the covers are too close to the originals. Add in that as good as Newen Afrobeat is, they lack Fela’s mystical presence, and that they chose two of Fela’s lesser grooves to cover and you have a project that doesn’t justify its existence.
The band bounced back two years later with Curiche. Less immediate than the debut, the fun details are still there. The vocal chorus and Riquelme play a slightly larger role this time out, which gives the instrumentalists a little less room, and a couple of guitar solos that devolve into showy noodling make you glad that the writing and playing are more holistic. So those guitar riffs and percussion that lock in like intricate clockwork don’t announce how wonderful they are, but they are wonderful. You can listen to and buy Newen Afrobeat’s music here.
Grades:
Newen Afrobeat (2013), A-
Newen Plays Fela EP (2017), C+
Curiche (2019), B+
Nomade Orquestra
Jazz, funk, Afrobeat, hip hop, a soupçon of rock even at times, Nomade Orquestra is a largely instrumental outfit that explores cross connections among a variety of Africa-derived musics. If I were mean—and I am a little since I’m writing this sentence—I’d point out that their supposedly adventurous mélange trods some well-worn paths. But I’d need to hasten to add that they trod them fairly well, too. If the music isn’t as challenging as it could be—the solos are pretty straight and lack a distinctive voice—writing and arranging smarts more than compensate. They know their sonics, and have a knack for finding what sounds good so that their music avoids the threat of blandness that so often goes with this user-friendly mix of world styles.
The band form in São Paulo in 2012 and debuted with a self-title album four years later. There’s a bit of John Lurie’s Get Shorty soundtrack in their sound, albeit without the playful humor. But though they play it straight and sometimes get stuck in a solos-for-solos’-sake morass, the band mostly puts their sound across. It helps to play it out loud. I often found it annoying on headphones where it didn’t justify my continued close attention, but when filling a room while you’re writing, eating or doing something else, the richness of the instruments working together overcomes the weaknesses that sometimes stand out when you listen closely. At 78 minutes, though, they do test your patience.
Which they must have figured out, because at 46 minutes, the sophomore album, EntreMundos, avoids that problem. The beats and horn charts are a little more ham-handed, but (mostly) in a John Bonham kind of way where the obviousness isn’t obliviousness to any redeeming smarts. African and Arabic elements are played up this time, sometimes at the expense of other elements in their mix, which might explain why this one wins with the shorter playing time, but loses slightly on overall sonic appeal.
(There’s a live album in 2018 and a remix EP with Victor Rice that I’m skipping.)
One their third album, but band really pushes itself out of its comfort zone. Vox Populi, Vol. 1, as the name implies, finds the instrumental band making room for collaborators, four vocalists over eight tracks, two per singer. They didn’t hire scrubs, either: Siba, Juçara Marçal and Russo Passapusso have notable day jobs. Only rapper Edgar lacks an established career. But in all four cases, the Orquestra treats the singers as full-fledged partners. Edgar and Passapusso get fittingly funky tracks, Siba’s songs echo his northeastern sonics, while Marçal’s have a hint of Metá Metá. The collaborations tend vocal-centric as the musicians play for the singer/rapper, sometimes stepping so far back from to make room for the voices that the band risks getting lost in the team-ups. It speaks to a confidence of a band willing to risk being overshadowed rather than coast on their good reviews and growing fan base.
You can listen to and buy the first two albums here. The third album can be heard here.
Grades:
Nomade Orquestra (2016), B-
EntreMundos (2017), B-
Vox Populi, Vol. 1 (2019), B
Editor’s note: While I like sharing good music I love or at least like, part of my goal with this site is to be a bit encyclopedic. In part because Joe Sixpack’s superb site isn’t updated as often, current English language writes ups of new Brazilian music are difficult to find. My resources page has some help there, but Brazil Beat exists to fill in those gaps. But when faced with bands I don’t have a lot to say about because I find the music less than compelling (usually average, maybe slightly above average; sometimes, if rarely, bad), working up a full overview isn’t worth the effort. At best their album grades top out at B-, which means just barely above average, but not exactly the kind of thing I’d return to. (Maybe they sneak a full B past me. Anything higher is a fail on my part.) So Short Notes will fill in those missing details with brief summaries of the band’s style and recommendations of where to start. I may not like them, but you might fall in love.
Short Notes
Abayomy Afrobeat Orquestra – Where Newen Afrobeat sounds dynamic in their Fela worship, AAO tends to come across as dutiful. Skillful, sure. Funky? You bet. But they make the fatal error of thinking Fela’s art would be improved with professionalism and guitar solos. Albums: Abayomy (2012), Abra Sua Cabeça (2016).
Bixiga 70 – Many smart people with great ears would tell you this band is the top instrumental act in Brazil or even South America, but as much as I want to hear that I haven’t been able to. Funky, skillful, with arranging and composing tricks that tickle your ears, the whole never comes together for me. As background music it would make you think you’re at a hip restaurant, but in the foreground, after a track or two, I can’t keep focus or even find it a bit corny. You could pick up any of their albums as a starting point as they all tend to sound a bit samey to me, but I’d probably give the nod to the self-titled debut. I will say this—some smart young person’s gonna find a treasure trove of samples herein. Albums: Bixiga 70 (2011), Bixiga 70 II (2014), Bixiga 70 III (2015), Quebra Cabeça (2018).
Iconili – Another instrumental jazzy Afrobeat band good for a track or two, but without the moments that jolt you out of your tune-out like Bixiga 70 can muster. Went more ’70s fusion jazz on 2019’s Quintais and, shockingly, it was an improvement. Albums: Iconili (2010), Tupi Novo Mundo (2013), Piacó (2015), Quintais (2019)
Brazil Beat 