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| Obrigado Brazil | 
 enlarge | Artist: Yo-yo Ma
Label: Sony
Category: Music
List Price: $18.97
Buy New: $2.45
You Save: $16.52 (87%)
Buy New/Used from $2.45
Avg. Customer Rating:  (33 reviews)
Sales Rank: 14461
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.5
MPN: 89935
UPC: 696998993525
EAN: 0696998993525
ASIN: B00009ZKXD
Release Date: July 29, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Yo-Yo Ma is Amazing! September 5, 2003
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
I was fortunate enough to see a live concert featuring the songs from the Obrigado Brazil cd. It was one of the most incredible musical experiences of my life! Yo-Yo Ma is an amazing musician - you know that he's great when you realize that you can understand the entire meaning and purpose of a song that doesn't even have lyrics. My personal favorite on this cd is track 9 - Menino. It is a gorgeous melody that the composers at the concert said was about a young boy. I still get tears in my eyes just listening to the cd. I would strongly recommend this cd, even if you are not a huge classical music fan - it is wonderful! :)
Yo-Yo's best "classical crossover" CD yet. August 31, 2003
114 out of 118 found this review helpful
It's been enjoyable for me to experience Yo-Yo Ma's excursions into "not quite classical" music, and to take note of how much better he gets with each such foray, and how those forays have introduced me to other great musicians.
It was through Yo-Yo's first such foray, "Appalachia Waltz," that I initially became familiar with the fiddling of Mark O'Connor and the bass playing of Edgar Meyer, two artists I've since become well-acquainted with, collecting all of their works. And, if this early foray of Yo-Yo's was somewhat tentative on his part, in terms of adapting to new styles of playing, he has only gotten better - measurably better, in fact - since then.
"Obrigado Brazil" is the sequel to Yo-Yo's wildly successful "Soul of the Tango" album, and I think it surpasses it in every respect, not least of which is his constantly improving skill at absorbing and subsuming "world music" genres and styles. Moreover, the variety of Brazilian music on this album is far wider - and the music itself much more laid-back - than the tangos of that earlier effort. (There is a near-monochromatic tension in the rhythms and sharp accents of the tango, as a musical form, that can tend to give the music a sense of "sameness"; a little can go a far way. This is hardly the case for the mellower range of styles present in Brazilian music, which is much more of an amalgam of the many cultural styles of Brazil than the more restricted - and heavily stylized - tango form.)
For this project, Yo-Yo has brought along a few artists who collaborated on the "Soul of the Tango" project: Kathryn Stott, the pianist on both, and Oscar Castro-Neves, the great Brazilian guitarist who not only got in some of the best guitar licks on "Tango" but produced that album as well. Other well-known Brazilian and world music artists include Cyro Baptista, Paulo Braga, Romero Lubambo and Nilson Matta (who collaborated with Oscar and with Paul Winter on their "Brazilian Days" album), the guitarists Sergio and Odair Assad, Rosa Passos (a wonderful Brazilian vocalist seemingly the equal of Astrud Gilberto or Luciana Souza), Paquito D'Rivera on clarinet, and, last but far from least, Egberto Gismonti, a phenomenally gifted composer and instrumentalist, here offering up two of his own works in duets with Yo-Yo (one on piano and one on guitar and flute).
With sixteen great tracks (not a one of them less than outstanding), it is very hard to play favorites. But there are a few that stand out above the others for me, so I'll say a few words about these. First would be "Chega De Saudade" by the great Antonio Carlos Jobim, with Rosa Passos on vocals and guitar. "Saudade" is a uniquely Portuguese word for "longing" that has no direct English equivalent; the music, however, says it all.
Second would be the well-known Heitor Villa-Lobos tune "Alma Brasileira," arranged as a duet for cello and piano (Kathryn Stott). Anyone familiar with the work of Villa-Lobos, Brazil's greatest composer, would recognize this track even without referring to the track titles.
Third, simply because it is simply "great fun," would be "Brasileirinho," a "street samba" (common at Carnival time), arranged for cello, clarinet, piano, guitar, bass and lots of riotous percussion. A typically joyous Carnival "romp."
And finally, what I believe to be the very best track on the album, "Bodas De Prata & Quatro Cantos," an extended (nearly 10-minute) work by Egberto Gismonti for cello and piano (with Gismonti on keyboards). I first ran across the music of Gismonti when a friend, knowing that I liked Brazilian music, "gifted" me with a few of his albums acquired while he was in Brazil. Gismonti is a prodigiously talented composer and instrumentalist who needs to be better known in the U.S. Perhaps this track on "Obrigado Brazil" will be the key that opens the door for American listeners. The work is virtuosic in every respect (Yo-Yo and Egberto pull out all the stops in performing it), and it certainly engaged my "classical" side for its full duration.
"Obrigado Brazil" samples all of the multicultural styles of Brazilian musics. But, if there is a "spiritual godfather" overlooking the artistic efforts and the perfecting of Yo-Yo's Brazilian styles, so that he is "at home" with the genres (particularly Bossa Nova and samba) in this project, I think that godfather is Oscar Castro-Neves. I sense his artistic influence throughout, most particularly in Yo-Yo's very Brazilian way with phrasing and articulation. And why not? They worked so closely together on "Tango" that such a relationship is both understandable and natural.
In an earlier review, of Regina Carter's "Paganini: After a Dream" album, I had offered up the opinion that Ms. Carter had the best inside shot at a "best classical crossover" Grammy. Hmm... Now I'm not so sure. But I'm sure that the Grammy race for this category will be interesting, with both Yo-Yo and Regina having such great albums for the event.
Bob Zeidler
"Brazil and the rhythms abound ~ Yo-Yo-Ma! August 22, 2003
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
Sony presents a musical journey to South America and Brazil ~ "Obrigado Brazil", featuring our favorite cello musician extraordinaire Yo-Yo-Ma. His style comes through with flying colors of warm and touching melodic senses, that only this young artist can conjure up for the South American pieces. Classical and jazz are married together with the listener in mind and it works perfectly. Why can't all albums of this genre be complete and entertaining as this one!Each element gives a rhythmic sensation throughout the entire album, such as "DANSA NEGRA", smooth and non-rippling ~ Yo-Yo-Ma is simply brilliant within each passage. Entire album is a listening pleasure and delightful to behold ~ grab this one quick before it goes out of print...gotta love it! Total Time: 71:51 on 16 Tracks ~ Sony 89935 ~ (7/29/2003)
Mr ma's got the hang of Bossa nova! August 15, 2003
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I had only to hear "Chega de Saudade" and I was hooked! Mr Ma is a consumate musician and is accompanied in this venture by a troupee of the finest instrumentalists ever. All the songs have that special thing that makes you want to listen again and again. If you only buy one CD, let it be this one!
 misses the point August 13, 2003
12 out of 27 found this review helpful
As a long time fan of Brazilian music, including its more classically orientd side (Villa Lobos, etc.), I found this CD a major letdown. Uninspired and lacking any sense of the spirit of Brazilian music, it really is a waste of time.
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