Tom Zé: Estudando O Pagode (Luaka Bop)

Its title echoes Brazilian Tropicalismo co-founder Zé’s 1976 album Estudando O Samba (“Studying Samba”), but this time out, the genre under scrutiny, Pagode, is an urban street music originating in the favelas, or slums. Since the world of Pagode is highly male-centric, Zé uses it here as the basis for a self-described “masculinist” three-act operetta whose main theme is sexuality and the (mis)treatment of women throughout history, from the Garden of Eden to the present.

The libretto concerns young Everyman Maneco Tatit and his strained relations with girlfriend Teresa, who eventually turns to prostitution following his abuse. The work as a whole makes great leaps in both time and space, incorporating mythological characters like Aphrodite and Don Quixote along its circuitous route. As befits the dialectical bent of the material, many of the songs are male-female duets, with characters responding to lines thrown out by others in previous arias. The lyrics are given to metaphor and proverb, unlike Zé’s usual penchant for onomatopoeic poetry, and although they sound wonderful in Portuguese, they read rather clumsily in English.

On the upside, Zé’s always demonstrated a surrealist’s fondness for found sounds, incorporating power tools, for instance, into his recordings long before industrial dance music made it fashionable. On Pagode, he broadens his palette like never before. Some of the myriad noises include a braying donkey, a man’s sobbing, orgasmic grunts, whirring machinery, measured breathing, even a kazoo-like trumpet formed from a rolled-up ficus leaf.

This kitchen sink approach is no collection of mere gimmicks. It actually helps form the rhythmic bed of the tracks, many of which are anchored by fretless bass, giving them a woozy quality. The result is perhaps Zé’s most funky work and one that highlights the African influence that his native Bahia shares with the Caribbean.

Though Zé can’t sustain the experimental spirit through all three acts (one song sounds like conventional salsa and another like smooth jazz) it’s astounding to think that at an age (70) when most artists are merely repeating themselves, there’s one who hasn’t stopped pushing himself. (www.luakabop.com)

7 Blips out of 10 By Matthew Christoffersen