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Funnily enough the roots of the scene can be traced back to the deportation of Brasilian soul boy number 1, Tim Maia, from the good old US of A on dope charges. Before being unceremoniously dumped on a flight back to Rio big Tim fortunately had time to pack a big pile of soul records next to his underpants. A year after his return to Brasil he recorded his first album of Braslian soul and a movement was created.

DJ Cliffy, compiler of his wonderful compilation, is a Brasilian music don even residing there in his younger days. If you need any more credentials he is also the driving force behind Batmacumba, the UK’s longest running Brasilian music night and seven years after volume one he digs a little deeper into the world of Brasilan music to rescue some lesser known soulful gems from obscurity.

Kicking off with the summer funk of Zeco Do Trombone & Roberta Sax a stellar mix of soulful breezy Brasilian vocals, wah wah guitar and classic funk horn arrangements, the tone for the comp is well and truly set and is just one of many highlights in this obvious labour of love.

I’m loving the classic strings, subtle flute and English lyrics of Pete Dunaway and ‘Supermarket’ although he is one of the Brasilian artists to possible take the Americanisation of Brasilian music too far, going as far as changing his name and singing in English! ‘Br Samba is a sexy slice of instrumental samba jazz funk fusion and disco doesn’t escape the fusion treatment either with Bebeto’s ‘Princesa Negra De Angola’. The Brasilian summer soul injection that is Edson Frederico E A Transa’s version of ‘Bobeira’ is another personal favourite.

In these more enlightened times the ladies of Samba soul are also represented which certainly wasn’t the case in the good old, bad old early days of male music domination in Brasil. Look out in particular for Sonia Santos, an incredible talent who only received recognition through leg ups from her friends Tim Maia and Jorge Ben. She closes this excellent CD with the incredible ‘Poema Ritmico Do Malandro’.

Batmancumba Website
Strut Records