Olha, É Como o Verão

Welcome to The Weekly Read by Drew Lane, a newsletter for short story aficionados and those curious about literature, music, and the craft of fiction.

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Dear Reader,

To shade you from the summer heat, today I'd like to introduce you to one of the Masters of Brazilian music and one of my favorite singers - Caetano Veloso.

If you haven't recognised his witty face or the album title on this beautiful cover by Rafaela Guedes, keep on reading.

I came across Veloso's music for the first time on an intercontinental flight six years ago.

I was looking for something new and poked at the Bossa Nova playlist hoping it'd do the trick. I curled into my seat while the first song - Samba do Verao or Summer Samba, to which this article owes its title - cast its gentle groove.

Simple.

Soothing.

The song lulled me for the rest of my time in the air (four hours) and the whole of my stay on the other side of the world.

Just like a summer breeze at the end of a quiet day by the beach.

Fast forward a few months and I stumbled upon a trailer for a contemporary dance show by a famous choreographer.

Something was special about the music. It was in English but I couldn't grasp the lyrics due to the singer's accent.

I looked it up.

The music was called It's Long Way and it was again by Caetano Veloso.

I didn't know he could sing in English.

How come he did?

Turns out, Veloso, who was born in the state of Bahia in the Nordeste Region of Brazil in 1942, spent two years in political exile in London. A "dark period" of his life, where he still got acquainted with rock-n-roll and other music styles he would later fuse with Bossa Nova and various Brazilian genres.

For more information, check out his biography.

Veloso uses powerful chords (guitar, bass) and strings with a variety of drums to build on forceful minimalism at times and elaborate melodies at others.

Mora na Filosofia is a great example of this, with its strong chords and clear voice at the beginning going crescendo in speed and intensity towards the end.

This song also illustrates how Veloso, a master of metaphors, connects the dots.

With more dots.

And even more.

Creating unique textures and bringing what Tom Jobim, other Master of Brazilian Music, would call "an intellectual angle" to Brazilian popular music.

Which is true.

One evening at work, I thought I'd dig deeper into his style and listened to a song called Terra.

I pressed play and marvelled at the orchestra in the back. Towards the end, I almost spilled my coffee over my screen.

Was that a berimbau?

In the orchestra ?

For those of you who are not familiar with berimbau, it's one of the typical instruments, with atabaque, that is played in capoeira. A chord instrument, it sets the melody and, most importantly, the rhythm for capoeira games.

In Terra (i.e. Earth), out of nowhere berimbaus and atabaques come together to celebrate the Earth, like a beautiful woman.

If you pay closer attention to the lyrics though, it is not so surprising. The song mentions Bahia, where capoeira comes from, just like Veloso.

This makes Terra a moving tribute to Afro-Brazilian music, amongst many others.

Veloso is a word, music and aesthetics wizard. No doubt many have swooned over his smile and charm, samba movements and arm swings.

But what I think makes him special is his sensitivity to life, people and feelings.

He celebrated beauty, love and passion in many ways and described interestingly the women who swept him off his feet. A Tigress stronger than a Lion, a woman just like the summer in Samba do Verao or one with a kabuki, strong muscles and powerful teeth.

His sense for contemplation doesn't stop there.

It stretches over to landscapes, Brazilian colours and even cities like Sao Paulo which he learnt to appreciate with the years despite its "inelegance and chaotic geometry".

Veloso incorporates the richness of life through seemingly meaningless details in his songs and performances, thereby creating something deeply personal yet universal.

Groovy.

Samb-y.

And federating.

With the years, nothing has changed, only evolved, and we can still find him:

bringing in new instruments,

revisiting classics,

and gathering generations.

Veloso has inspired many artists and his music is now a cornerstone of modern Latin Music and Brazilian music in particular.

My next short story will of course have something to do with him and by then, I wish you a pleasant week enjoying his music.

See you next Sunday.

Drewly Yours,