Tuca - S/T
Posted on December 19, 2006 by Milan
This Brasilian album from 1968 is suprisingly unknown and probably pretty rare. You wonder for what reason since it's such an excellent bossa nova record. Tuca displays a nice feel for understatement in her voice and although a portion of the material is in a breezy mood, the blackness of the cover can be felt in between the notes at all times.
Tuca gives plenty of room to the arrangements, that are pretty moody and experimental. She co-wrote some 5 songs on the album, of which Abstrato no 1 (descrição de um quadro da bienal) is perhaps the most interesting, since it starts out with an instrumental mini-suite that's very dark and turbulent (please to explain what the subtitle means…) All tracks are good, but another one called Verde is especially interesting, having a beautiful melody that's sung over an accompaniment of whispered oral percussion and accoustic guitar, as the rest of the record, seemingly recorded in a spacious and darkened studio.
Listen to: Tuca - Verde
Filed under: Brazilian
4 Comments to “Tuca - S/T”
Thanks Moogman. I guessed that was the translation. Either that or “description of a tear drop from a two year old” which would have been nice too (ha ha). I’ve got a stand alone player here for the moment but will try to record it somehow at some point (recorded the track in the review a long time ago).
Tuca is a mysterious figure and died at an ealy age, having made three albums I believe. You can find some of her albums on the Loronix Brazilian music blog. She also contributed heavily to two wonderful albums recorded in France in the early 70s: Nara Leao’s “Dez Anos Depois” and Francoise Hardy’s “La Question.”
Thanks for the info and the link. The story of her death I read there is rather sad… I’ll check out her other albums.
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Hey Milan
I don’t know this record, nor that song you wanna know what its name means.
Abstrato no 1 (descrição de um quadro da bienal) means Abstract number 1 (description of a painting in the Bienal).
Bienal is an art exhibition that occurs here in Sao Paulo each two years, hence the name (Biennial).
I’d like to listen to the record; maybe you could post it.
Peace
MM