:: These articles were published in various magazines
:: in the U.S., Europe, and Brazil.

 

Magazine Articles

Daniella Thompson


Cartola

Plain João: The Man Who Invented Bossa Nova
He’s been called O Rei da Bossa, O Mito, Il Maestro Supremo, and O Zen-Baiano. He’s been widely gossiped about throughout his long career. Hailed as a genius, clucked over as a reclusive eccentric, and arguably the most enigmatic Brazilian alive, João Gilberto continues to confound his countrymen forty years after he burst upon the public scene and changed Brazilian music forever.
Brazzil, May 1998

Magic Marcos
Marcos Sacramento is creating new samba hybrids.
Marcos Sacramento is breathing new life into old sambas.
He’s a voyager who gazes forward and backward at the same time. And the voice—that glorious voice!

[article with interviews, disc reviews, discography, and song lyrics]
Brazzil, February 1999

Independent in Rio
When record companies view good music as a liability, artists have no choice but to take matters into their own hands.
[interview with songwriter/guitarist/singer Dil Fonseca]
Brazzil, March 1999

Independent in Rio, Pt. 2
More and more artists are taking control of their own recordings. Rita Peixoto and Carlos Fuchs have taken self-production several steps further.
[article with interviews, discography, and song lyrics]
Brazzil, April 1999

Vocal Power
Vocal groups are hot again, and Arranco is the hottest of them all. The good news about vocal arrangements is that what still works best is good old samba. Arranco de Varsóvia adds its own flavor to a long and distinguished line of samba ensembles.
[article with interviews, discography, and song lyrics]
Brazzil, May 1999

Rio When It Drizzles
Rio de Janeiro is a delightful place to visit in the fall—Brazilian fall, that is.
Brazzil, June 1999

Against the Tide
They’re young. They’re white. They’re middle-class. Why are they playing traditional samba? What is this anomaly known as Família Roitman?
[article with interviews, discography, and song lyrics]
Brazzil, July 1999

Let There Be Lumiar
How a guitar teacher turned a fledgling publishing firm into the cultural powerhouse known as Lumiar Discos & Editora.
[article with disc reviews]
Brazzil, December 1999

More of Lessa
Instrumentalist, composer, arranger, and now singer Rodrigo Lessa has his fingers in many pies, all bursting with multiple flavors.
[interview, disc reviews discography, and song lyrics]
Brazzil, January 2000

Stalking Stokowski
Once upon a time, an American record company got its hands on some rare and wonderful Brazilian music and made it even rarer. This is the story of my hunt for Native Brazilian Music.
Brazzil, February 2000

Choro, Inc.
The uniquely Brazilian musical genre known as choro is the big star of new label Acari Records.
[article and interviews with Luciana Rabello, Mauricio
Carrilho, and Alvaro Carrilho & disc reviews]
Brazzil, April 2000

Jazzing It
An arbitrary look at that nebulous musical form known as Brazilian jazz.
[article with nine disc reviews and song lyrics]
Brazzil, September 2000

Alvaro Carrilho
[entrevista em português/interview in Portuguese with the choro flutist]
Agenda do Samba & Choro, November 2000

Mauricio Carrilho
[entrevista em português/interview in Portuguese
with the guitarist/composer/arranger]
Agenda do Samba & Choro, November 2000

Luciana Rabello
[entrevista em português/interview in Portuguese
with the cavaquinho virtuosa and composer]
Agenda do Samba & Choro, November 2000

Song of the South
How a city with no indigenous cultural roots is creating a musical legacy.
[new music in Curitiba—article with reviews of several artists’ discs,
an interview with Carlos Careqa, and song lyrics]
Brazzil, December 2000

An American Malandro
Rick Warm’s record label is the hardest-working malandro around.
[article with interview and disc reviews]
Brazzil, April 2001

An American Malandro, Pt. 2
Richard Boukas talks about life, music, and the lure of the Brazilian.
[interview with the guitarist/composer/vocalist]
Brazzil, May 2001

Filling the VVoid
José Carlos Costa Netto’s independent label Dabliú Discos champions the less obvious in popular music.
[article, interviews with J.C. Costa Netto and Eduardo Gudin, disc reviews, and song lyrics]
Brazzil, July 2001

Discografia essenziale dello choro
[essential choro discography]
Musibrasil.net, October 2001

Guinga Rising
Thirty-four years into his career, the composer finally looms larger than his interpreters.
[article with interviews, disc reviews, discography, and song lyrics]
Brazzil, November 2001

Curitiba, quel suono dal Sud, Pt. 1
[Italian version of Song of the South]
Musibrasil.net, November 2001

Curitiba, quel suono dal Sud, Pt. 2
[Italian version of Song of the South]
Musibrasil.net, December 2001

Let’s Hear It for Jobim
On O Mestre Leo Peracchi and Francis Hime’s
Sinfonia do Rio de Janeiro de São Sebastião.

Brazzil, June/July 2002

Jazzing It, Pt. 1
Sguardo arbitrario a quella nebulosa chiamata “Jazz brasiliano”.
Musibrasil.net, July/August 2002

Jazzing It, Pt. 2
Sguardo arbitrario alla galassia musicale conosciuta come “Jazz brasiliano”.
Musibrasil.net, September 2002

From Cabaret to Syllables
Singer Suzana Salles conquers on two parallel fronts.
[article, interview, and song lyrics]
Brazzil, December 2002

Ary Barroso’s herbal bath
How a young composer found fame and fortune.
Brazzil, April 2003

More than Jobim’s alter ego
There have been speculations about Newton Mendonça’s songwriting abilities. Would he have measured up without Tom as his partner?
Brazzil, May 2003

Ary Barroso’s unknown album
Researcher Omar Jubran has been working on the Ary Barroso project for about ten years now. However, securing a release for the projected 20-CD collection isn’t so simple, as sponsorship has yet to be found, notwithstanding Ary Barroso’s centennial, which occurs this year.
Brazzil, July 2003

Minimalist Luciana
Luciana Souza has miraculously managed to elude the trap thatbesets so many of her fellow culture-crossing artists. Singingin English she manages a neutral accent that allows the songs to shine unmolested. A key ingredient in the formula is the singer's absolute restraint at all times.
Brazzil, July 2003

Carmen Miranda’s Embolada Riddle
No one thought anything of it when Chico Alves’ disc came out, nor six years later, when Almirante recorded the same tune. Thewhole matter would never have erupted into controversy had it not been for Carmen Miranda. It was the song’s inclusion in a Hollywood film and the hoped-for rich royalties that caused the ruckus.
Brazzil, August 2003

When Europe Discovered the Sounds of Brazil
The Romeu Silva band’s success in Europe led to further international tours. In 1932, Romeu Silva left for the Olympic Games in Los Angeles with the Brazilian Olympic Band. In 1935 he returned to Brazil, bringing along several American band members, including Booker Pitman and the crooner Louis Cole.
Brazzil, December 2003

Gabriel Grossi: Brazilian Harmonica Wunderkind
Brazilian Gabriel Grossi’s debut disc offers a mixture of the classic and the avant-garde laced with jazzy improvisations and demonstrating a high level of virtuosity and versatility. Grossi offers a bit of the old, a lot of the new, tossed together with a dash of the unexpected. It’s an auspicious debut and then some.
Brazzil, December 2003

Assorted Brazilian Biscuits
Given the brushoff by BMG, singer Maria Bethânia signed withBiscoito Fino and began releasing the kind of music she likes to do.Her double CD Maricotinha Ao Vivo did so well that she followed it up with a religious album that few in the industry would havethought commercial. It’s excellent.
Brazzil, February 2004

Is Elis & Tom, Special Edition, Worth the Trouble?
How many people will want to pay for a DVD-CD combo when their equipment is capable of playing only the CD? It’s wonderful to know that a superior version is available. But until the rest of us are sufficiently equipped, Philips and Trama would be well advised to bring out a stand-alone CD with the bonus track.
Brazzil, September 2004

Eighteen assorted reviews & articles
Brazzil, Sept.–Nov. 2004

Carmen: The Unhappy Hollywood Life of Brazil’s Shiniest Star
Brazzil, 25 January 2006

Brazil’s Number 1 Songbook Reviser Loves His Thankless Job
Brazzil, 5 November 2006

 


Copyright © 1998–2020 Daniella Thompson. All rights reserved.