CD ECM Records Nana Vasconcelos: Saudades

1980

Nana Vasconcelos - Berimbau, percutie, voce, gonguri
Egberto Gismonti - Super 8-String Guitar
Members of the RSO Stuttgart , dirijeaza Mladen Gutesha

Nana translates „Saudades“ as „big nostalgia“ and his first „solo“ record for ECM is intended to convey his feelings for his native country, Brazil. The music for strings on “Saudades” was written by Egberto whose “straight music” credibility stretches back to tutelage by Nadia Boulanger and Twelve-ton composer Jean Barlaque. However, nothing in Egberto’s classical past quite prepares one for “Saudades”, where overlapping strings and percussion or multi-layered voices suggest some new kind of hybrid music… out of the jungles of the Amazon… and the conservatory! In addition to the ‘mixed idiom’ sequences, “Saudades” also includes a more “traditional” Nana/Gismonti duet – the very beautiful “Cego Aderaldo”. The string arrangements are conducted by Mladen Gutesha, with all the sensitivity he revealed on earlier ECM projects – like the remarkable Keith Jarrett trilogy comprising “In The Light” (ECM 1032/33), “Luminessence” (ECM 1049) and “Arbour Zena” (ECM 1070).