Naná Vasconceloss Saudades (33 1/3 Brazil) - Softcover

Daniel B. Sharp

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1501345702 ISBN 13: 9781501345708

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021

Synopsis

The berimbau, a one-stringed musical instrument that looks like a bow from a bow-and-arrow, is customarily strung with the wire found within a car tire. When Afro-Brazilian percussionist Naná Vasconcelos set out to build his own, however, he strung it instead with a single Steinway piano string, signaling his desire to take the instrument beyond its traditional settings. Naná grew up in Northeast Brazil, surrounded by the resourceful improvisation born of necessity that the car tire wire solution symbolizes. As his long career progressed, he lived his dream to play concert halls throughout the world with his single Steinway string. Naná painted with sound, reimagining percussion and voice to create evocative, cinematic soundscapes. This book revolves around Naná's 1980 album Saudades, released on ECM records. It traces his early work between 1969-1979 as he lived in New York, Europe and Brazil, as he developed his approach to music-making that culminated in Saudades.

About this title

About the Author

Daniel Sharp is Associate Professor at Tulane University, USA, jointly appointed in music and Latin American studies. He is currently chair of the Tulane music department. He is the author of Between Nostalgia and Apocalypse: Popular Music and the Staging of Brazil (2014)

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1501345702
• ISBN 13: 9781501345708
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128