Samba

This is the official companion piece to the interests blog post about Brazillian Music. I don't really have much to write about it other than it's awesome I enjoy it greatly. I figure I will just include links to some of the songs I have been learning on guitar and by extension listening to hundreds of times over and over.

First up, the one that kicked this off for me. Aguas De Marco - Tom Jobim & Elis Regina [Link]

I don't know what there is to say about this song other than it rules. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that it literally won nation wide votes for best song in brazillian history.

Up next, Saudade Vem Correndo - Stan Getz & Luiz Bonfa [Link]

On every guitar cover I watched for this song the comments are always people referencing the legacy its had. It's been featured as a sample in a lot of songs. I think the original is pretty great though.

Number 3, Corcovado - Tom Jobim, Joao Gilberto & Astrud Gilberto [Link]

Ok so fun fact I guess, the singer at the start of this song was married to the other singer for a little bit. In reading about them I stumbled upon a very old looking archive of the official website for Astrud. It looks like she was a really big animal rights advocate for her entire life. Her website is here and I suggest looking through it. There are lots of photos of her over the years with lots of very influential bossa nova people. Also an art section with some, um, sort of peculiar ms paint looking drawings. The website sorta just bursts with personality.

Its getting very late and I am becoming very tired so to round off the list we have Chega De Saudades - Tom Jobim [Link] and Samba De Uma Nota So - Tom Jobim [Link to Live Version because sure]

Alright that's all I got.

They Are Gutting A Body of Water

This should come as no surprise if you've read my interests post from a couple days ago. I've been listening to TAGABOW since 2023 when their song Eightball came up in my Spotify discover weekly. I didn't listen to much more of them for a few months when I found out (too late) that they were coming to Toronto. They were opening for Panchiko I believe and tickets for that sold out. I got really into them over the following summer and fall so when I found out they were back in Toronto in November I made sure I bought tickets as soon as I could. They were opening for Julie, who I had never heard of at the time. Also playing was Her New Knife. I was super excited to see them and had to explain to my 50+ year old co-workers that I was seeing a band called "They are gutting a body of water". Anyway by the time I got to the venue, TAGABOW had posted on their instagram account that their bus broke down and they wouldn't be able to make it to the show. That was really dissappointing but the show ended up being really good. I sorta had a Julie phase afer that. Anyway back to TAGABOW. Since finally getting to see them live the other day, I have been listening to their new album obsessively. I've been watching and reading interviews with the band in between studying for my exams. Today I taught myself the riff from "American Food" on guitar by ear. It's not perfect I think. Anyway I'm really into this album. My favourite songs are The Chase, Sour Diesel, Trainers, and American Food. I need to figure out how to make music that sounds like this. This will be my winter break project once exams are done.

The Music Tapes

I am aware of the allegations regarding Julian Koster. He seems like a really bad guy. I will talk about the music now. These songs are genuinely some of the most beautiful things I have ever heard. In a very warm and cozy way. I am very happy that Christmas is right around the corner because these songs are very like old timey christmas kinda thing. This dude is playing banjo with a violin bow. What the freak. And singing/musical saw. Big bells, horns. My favourite songs are It's so Peaceful in the Country, and The Sea of Tranquility. The allegations are extremely dissapointing because this is someone I want to consider a role model and inspiration.

These are my favourite songs, you can stream them in here so Julian Koster doesn't get any money.

It's so Peaceful in the Country.

The Sea of Tranquility.