Inner Focus Music

Since the 1980s the northeastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco and its capital have generated some of Latin America’s most forward-looking popular music. Musicians from Recife, Olinda and rural Pernambuco have concocted rock laced with funk; reggae; the local beats of maracatú and frevo; old rural songs; and the beats, burbles and scratches of electronica. In songs on the superb compilation “What’s Happening in Pernambuco?” (Luaka Bop), sizable ambitions are disguised by casual vocals and grooves that toss together disparate materials with wily ingenuity. Liner notes translate the lyrics for a glimpse of the ideas behind the lilt, like this one from Siba: “Everyone heard a silent shout asking: Where does our memory hide?”  Read more

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