Edu Passeto and Gui Tavares: Noite Que Brincou De Lua

Elan, intelligence and passionate engagement: vocalists and guitarists Edu Passeto and Gui Tavares bring all this out in these exemplary performances on Noite que Brincou de Lua. These songs by Mr Passeto and Mr Tavares together with a constellation of stars echo the floating melodies and many splendoured harmonies evocative of the music of Milton Nascimento and the musicians Club de Esquina who once poked the Brasilian dictatorship of the 1980’s firmly in the eye with music like this. There is something to be said of how endearing it still is today, almost thirty years after they were initially recorded.

The music floats with clarity and precision and both music and words run the full gamut of themes that gently bucked government restrictions imposed on artists at the time without ever compromising lyricism much like the music of the Tropicália movement, which was equally lyrical and also had a slightly harder edge to it. On this album Mr Passeto and Mr Tavares are also provided immaculate accompaniment with dashing virtuosity by a host of Brasilian musicians who may not be active today, but were forces to reckon with three decades ago. The settings of the music are acutely sensitive to word and situation, through-composed in an almost always evocative of old-fashioned and gorgeous balladry. This means that lyrics dictate structure and rather than vice-versa. Naturally this deserves wide exposure even today, which speaks to the timelessness of this music.

The crowning glory is “Sabia Na Palmeira”, but the other songs are no less beautiful and “Profome” is particularly eloquent, as is “Vento me Traz”, with its infectious joy and the glorious clarion call of the French horn played here over the radiant Fender Rhodes of Amilson Godoy by Abilio Golvêa. Maestro Benito Juarez also conducts the velvet-textured string ensemble here, as he does on three other songs on the album. The all-round technical excellence of the recording is also significant with the comprehensively unifying vision of Edu Passeto and Gui Tavares providing the ballast for a truly enduring repertoire that seems to grow more meaningful with each successive spin of this memorable disc.

Track list – 1: Noite Que Brincou de Lua; 2: Sabia Na Plameira; 3: Seguir; 4: Fogo Grande; 5: Heroi De Jornal; 6: Menino De Pinorama; 7: Canto Livre; 8: Descobrir; 9: Baca Sara; 10: Profome; 11: Vento me Traz

Personnel – Gui Tavares: guitars and vocals, agogô (6), caxixi (10); Edu Passeto: guitars and vocals, ganzá (6, 10); Marquito Cavalcante: bandolim and 12-string guitar (7); Alice Lumi: charango (9); Cristine Durand: vocal introduction (1, 6) and claps (9); Sabá: vocals (2, 4); Zaldo Rocha: vocals (4, 6), backing vocals (7); Álvaro Peterson Jr: vocals (4, 6, 9), backing vocals (7); Adailton Meira: piano (1, 3, 10), wood blocks (4) and afouxé (10); Albano Sales: Fender Rhodes and harmonizer (2), incidental piano (5), rain stick (6); Amilson Godoy: Fender Rhodes (5, 7, 8, 11), base-arrangements (11); Roberto Araújo: electric bass (1 – 3, 6 – 11); José Manuel Scabello: drums (1), agogô and caxixi (4) and reco-reco (10); Jayme S. Pladevell: drums (2, 6, 7, 8), snare drum (9 – 11), ton-ton (9), triangle (9) and effects (2); Ding Dong: agogô (1, 10), ganzá (4, 5), triangle, bombo legrero (7, 9), effects (6, 7, 9) and final effects (11); Valdiley Francisco de Assis: flutes (1, 11); Ricardo Figueiredo: flutes (1, 6, 10); Maninho: flute (2, 7, 8 – 10), saxophone and claps (7, 9); Junior: flute (4, 8); Sérgio Struckel: violin (3, 6, 8, 11); Carmella de Mattos: violin (3, 6, 8, 11); Sergio Righini: violin (3, 6, 8, 11); Edith Pifau Golvêa: violin (3, 6, 8, 11); Paulo V. Hutterer: viola (3, 6, 8, 11); Sonia Martins de Lima: viola (3, 6, 8, 11); Walter Barthmann: cello (3, 6, 8, 11); Abilio Golvêa: French horn (3, 5, 11); Maestro Benito Juarez: conductor strings (3, 6, 8, 11); Geraldo Jorge Silva: fagote (5); Helder Marques: electroacoustic musical effects: (5); Mauricio, Eduardo, Mane, Ricardo, Jayme, Beto, Edu, Gui, Nabe and Ding Dong: hand claps (9)

Released – 1981; Re-issued – 2018
Label – Amendoim; Far Out Recordings
Runtime – 33:26