Encanto

Brazilian music legend Sergio Mendes spins his remarkable magic on his newest recording, a bona fide classic! This is a kaleidoscopic album that underscores the maestro's ear for addictive melodies, as well as his ability to cast incredibly talented singers and musicians from all over the world
Customer Review: a review for Brasil '66 fans
It's been around 40 years since Mendes reached an artistic and commercial peak with several classic albums that successfully mixed bossa nova, jazz, and pop music. Those albums still sound fresh today, thanks to the terrific songs, latin rhythms and some sparkling arrangements. Since then, Mendes has experimented with mixing his Brazilian sound with folk rock, funk, dance music, hip hop, and on "Encanto," some r&b. As someone who prefers the work he did with Brasil '66 to anything more recent, to my ears the album is pleasant though generally forgettable with the exception of a few wonderful tracks. Unsurprisingly the best tracks are those with strong melodies by Antonio Carlos Jobim, in particular "Somewhere in the Hills" and "Dreamer," both of which are direct descendants of the sound of Brasil '66. "Dreamer" includes both Herb Alpert and Lani Hall, who sounds remarkably like she did when she was fronting Brasil '66. This is a genuinely stunning track and easily the best on the album. Natalie Cole sings "Somewhere in the Hills" which is appropriately jazzy and is one of Jobim's strongest melodies. Other Jobim tracks include "Waters of March" which Mendes has covered several times in the past. It's a singer's song, and sounds a little rhythmically stiff here, as it has in his previous efforts. "Morning in Rio" is also good, with a more Brazilian styled melody and a nice trombone solo. The rest of the CD is listenable, but not such that I ever want to hear most of it again. "The Look of Love" is an unnecessary remake of a good song. What made the original great was a sensational big band arrangement which has been dropped in favor of a hip hop arrangement. I liked the Brazilian styled funk of "Odo-ya" and the mellow "Catavento" with Mendes' wife on lead vocals. On the other hand, "Funky Bahia" and "Lugar Comum," the latter of which features an Italian rapper doing a little snippet of "Volare," are disposable pop/hip hop songs. If I could get into Mendes' head, I would try to convince him do an album of Jobim and Marcos Valle songs with Herb Alpert and Lani Hall and a small jazz/bossa combo. It might not sell a million copies, but it would be an artistic triumph. If you're an unreconstructed fan of Brasil '66 as I am, I can recommend this with reservations. You might be better off just downloading a handful of tracks. But "Dreamer" should not be missed.
Customer Review: Summery and enchanting.
"Encanto" follows the highly acclaimed 2006 collaboration with will.i.am Timeless and with this latest release, Sergio takes us even deeper into Brazil, having recorded all the basic tracks in Rio and Bahia and finally finishing up in in California, where the studio band included Alphonso Johnson. For "Encanto" (in Spanish for Enchantment), Mendes has also enlisted the formidable and enchantingly diverse talents of an array of guest musicians who hail from the world over. Latin superstar Juanes from Colombia and multi-talented Carlinhos Brown & Vanessa da Mata from Brazil jostle alongside the foremost Japanese pop group Dreams Come True, Belgium's Zap Mama and Italian rapper Jovanotti. This international cast is completed by the American stars Fergie, Siedah Garrett and Herb Alpert who is accompanied by his wife, original Brasil '66 singer, Lani Hall. Old smoothie Mendes gets jiggy on a selection of bossa-favourites with a raft of guest stars including the ubiquitous Will.i.am and Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas, Natalie Cole and Herb Alpert et all... This new album essentially is a cross between Mendes' soft, salsa-tinged melodies and modern day R'n'B. The opening track, "The Look of Love" with rap/vocals by Fergie, is a deliciously moreish funky-fusion, and for the first third or so, the combination of Sergio's Rhodes with the hip-hopped production style is terrific. Perhaps this new version of Burt Bacharach's "The Look Of Love", which Mendes had originally transposed to bossa nova heaven in 1967 is the boldest track on "Encanto". This new interpretation, produced by Black Eyed Peas will.i.am, preserves the alluring melody of the original while bringing the song into the new millennium with crisp drum programming and a sexy rap by Fergie. Then it goes all smooth jazz on you. Not bad, though. Whether you are a Sergio Mendes fan especially the earlier stuff, Brasil 66, Equinox, etc or a Black Eyed Peas fan, or indeed R&B then there's something on this album to please everyone. I'd say for such a challenging album there are only a couple of songs that are just to heavy hip hop for me. The rest is a joy to listen to, if you are open minded about remixes and love to see what Sergio has been up to. This album is a grower. The more I listen to it, the better it gets. You will like it. Picks of the album: "The Look of Love", "Waters Of March", "Dreamer", and "Somewhere In The Hills (O Morro Nao Tem Vez)". Equinox Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 - Greatest Hits The Very Best of Sergio Mendes & Brazil 66

Gharana essentially means a school of thought, or a school of music, that follows a particular style perfected over the years by rigorous practice and enhanced by coming generations that combine contemporary styles and incorporate new ideas. Gharana literally means family tradition, members of a family of musicians establishing their own unique musical discipline consistently over three or more generations. It is difficult to give an exact date when this system came into being. Ithawa gharana has evolved over seven generations of some of the finest sitar players of India. Shujaat Khan is seventh in this unbroken chain of sitar virtuosi from Ithawa gharana and is considered to be the torch bearer for the future of this school of music. With Shujaat Khan in concert today, it would be appropriate to bring forth some of the hidden facts about the history and evolution of this style of music.

Ithawa gharana in its present form owes its existence, its popularity and its distinctive style of sitar playing to Shujaat Khans father, the legendary musician Ustad Vilayat Khan. But for him, the gayaki ang or vocal style in instrumental music, which is the hall mark of this gharana, would neither have existed nor would have flourished. To talk about Ithawa gharana of recent years is to talk about Vilayat Khan and his early period of musical training, his original thoughts about bringing gayaki in instrumental playing, his improvisations and changes made to the structure of sitar to accommodate the continuity of sound or to imitate vocals in sitar playing. It is believed that only after Vilayat Khans tantalizing performance that won the hearts of the listeners, critics and musicians alike, at the 1943 Vikram Samaroh music conference in Bombay, instrumental music earned a wider acceptance in the main stream classical music.

Born in 1928 in Gauripur, East Bengal, Vilayat Khan entered the world of music at an early age of four and gave his first performance when he was eight. He also made his first recording at the same age. Vilayat Khan hails from an impressive family of musicians. His great grand father Ustad Sahabdat Khan gave todays surbahar, the bass version of the sitar and a very difficult instrument to master, its present tonal and structural form. At the early age of ten Vilayat Khan lost his first guru, his father Ustad Inayat Khan, a leading instrumentalist of his days. Thereafter he moved with his mother to the state of Nahan near Delhi to learn music from his maternal grand father Ustad Bande Hasan Khan, who was the court musician of the state. During 40s and 50s there still was Inayat Khans influence in Vilayat Khans playing. Tantrakari was still very prominent. The right hand which is considered as the main subject of instrumental playing for string instruments was still distintly dominant. Tantrakari had been taken to great heights by earlier generations but now was the time to give new direction to instrumental music. It is believed that human voice is the sublime epitome of expression and all other sounds are subordinates used only for enhancing and ornamenting the vocal music. In his quest to achieve vocal continuity in the sound of sitar, Vilayat Khan introduced the gayaki ang in instrumental music during the early 60s.

Khayal ras, a vocal music style with imaginative use of lyrics, began to emerge in instrumental music with Vilayat Khans introspective vision and vivid imagination. The tone of sitar was now changed. The right hand remained at its place but there were significant advancements in the left hand. The pancham of kharaj was now replaced with a steel gandhar (this change helps in establishing the mood of the raag). Several other fundamental changes were also made to the structure of sitar.

There were various subjects involved in khayal ras which required ample improvisations in order to translate it in instrumental music. At first Alap, the slow but contemplative progression of a raag, was given a different approach adorned with meend, krintan and zamzama. Next were taans and bol taans, the fast tempo phrases, and thumri. The transition towards khayal ras is quite evident in Vilayat Khans recordings from 60s onwards.

Gayaki ang is now successfully passed on to Ithawa gharanas next generation of musicians. Today there are many musicians who prefer and follow this style of music. Thanks to his creative genius for this enormous contribution to the world of music. It would be righteous to refer to Ithawa gharana as Vilayatkhani gharana.

Shilpa Rao is a professional Indian Classical Music artist. Learn basics of Indian Classical Music system at http://www.articlestonurture.com/classical/music.html/3

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