Music Reviews

Jovino Santos Neto, André Mehmari

Guris Celebrating the music of Hermeto Pascoal

Guris

Adventure Music

Formats available: CD

Guris is a charming and in places romantic Brazilian antidote for super-hot summer days of the sort we occasionally experience in the UK. It is a musical smorgasbord that contains flavours from many musical styles but is fundamentally a testament to the very unique charm and magic of Brazilian music and culture. Those looking for a samba or bossa nova will be disappointed, while those rhythms are here, they are mixed and intertwined and never dominate or take the foreground. There are influences of modern classical and jazz but the harmonies and tunes can only be described as “Brazilian”.

Guris is a collaboration that celebrates the life of composer Hermeto Pascoal, a musical tribute for his 80th birthday. It is full of soul, musicality and talent that’s charmingly performed by Jovino Santos Neto (piano) and André Mehmari (piano, Fender Rhodes, harmonium and bandolim). The album is a musical romp (for the most part) that oozes and smoulders its way through a mix of very lyrical and soulful tunes that one can easily sing along to or harmonise with. It is played by both with much confidence and a great deal of talent. The songs are Pascoal originals which while they may be familiar in his native land are not well known further afield. That said his Slaves Mass album was repressed by Pure Pleasure on 180g vinyl not so long ago. It is quite a gem.

On this album the performance is aided by voices and towards the end of the album the two performers indulge in what sounds like puerile nonsense (read: noises) as they add voice to the instruments. Pascoal used a pig to provide such sounds in at least one of his performances. The album is not for everyone, some may struggle with the absence of a clearly defined style, but those who take time to listen will discover a mighty rich tapestry from a musical world that can usually only be found in Brazil. The recording quality is somewhere between rich and exact.

Standout tracks
‘Samba Do’
‘Andorinhas’

Reuben Klein

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