Arthur de Faria & Seu Conjunto
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Arthur de Faria & Seu Conjunto

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"Music for Growunups"

Hungry for some truly original Brazilian music? Go listen to Arthur de Faria's latest CD, Música Pra Gente Grande. This Gaúcho (from Rio Grande do Sul state) musician isn't offering the same old stuff. It's real art, not just well-produced craftsmanship.
Fabiano Golgo
How often can you say the CD you are listening to is more than just another piece manufactured or electronicfactured for your easy swallowing — following that ol' rule of repeating what has already been created—this time by someone with more original talents? Fourteen times, in my case, only within two days.
Wait. Don't try, you, thirsty for good sounds, to find my E-mail address to request the name of these dozen plus names. It is a single piece of art that inhabited my stereo for a couple of days and seemed to not want to leave. And that is because I am a true lover of art. As in original. Not as in good craft. And we need to make the distinction between art and craft. Let's face it: many people can draw cubist influenced pictures nowadays, but Picasso showed how in the first place. Anyone can make rhymes on the Jobim or Vinicius' style — but who introduced the marvel to us?? And to the world, for that matter?

Well, don't rush. I will tell you the name of this finding. Yes, finding. Because, like most talents, it comes from an unexpected place and has no big pop machine backing its release. But, first, go into that area in your gray matter that stores the good things that life has to offer. There yet? Well, when was the last time a new name entered it as being truly original, pure, humorous and sensual Brazilian music? And played by a real musician and his real musician friends—with names, not numbers)?

Oh, ok: you are remembering that Caetano, or that solo by that great former band member who had full reasons to show you what he/she /it had best. All right, there are plenty of authors in our "verde-amarelo" repertoire to make us proud to be from the Pátria Amada (Beloved Country). But is this list of a recent (green-yellow—the national colors) season? Or a compilation of well-endowed names, for long making our intimate moments more intimate, giving our "get-togethers" a better ambiance?

Now, let me get deeper, and more anal: which one of them had a great set of pieces of varied—truly varied— sound styles, with real swift lyrics and elegy? Which was celebrated by the national unanimity—one of the few unanimities that is not stupid: writer Luís Fernando Veríssimo, to cite only one? Which was played homage to by a radio station in the city where whoever isn't a musician is a tourist: Prague?

If you want to hear a sincere scorn on the capabilities of our average musician, please go get Música Pra Gente Grande, by Arthur de Faria. And don't shy away because of the title—a paradox remnant of that Sunday morning hour of Concertos Para a Juventude (Concerts for the Youth). And it is not necessary to be "gente grande" (grown-up person) to listen to this CD. You will become one afterwards, at least musically.

Arthur offers this blind date with the widest ebb of genres in his typical childish maturity. Like an unpretentious "Gaúcho" (that is possible, sometimes), he spreads his years of music knowledge with a flagrant sensuality and the fluency of an outrageous flexibility that you haven't—and can't—find in the current constellation of artists. It was necessary for someone with the sole ambition of making something good (let's put it in capital letters, if you will: GOOD!) so that we could have this witty extravaganza that not only compellingly advocates the Brazilian true sounds, but stylishly contributes another few to them.

When you listen to Arthur's work you will find that it isn't just another version of the good old stuff you love. You will find originality at its most, a satire that stings, a warm ductile length of lyrical spins you are not used to, and will be besotted by a soft vibration that is acquiescing in a sanity that our latest media-celebrated offspring has not, and will never, achieve.

Replete with styles we would be otherwise afraid of or unprepared for, like waltzes (in a way grandma would never imagine, but would certainly enjoy as well), cantiga de roda (for the wise ones), choro-canção (originality, anyone?), samba (not from Som Livre, that is), milonga (for all nationalities outside the Pampas, too), baião (by a Gaúcho: don't miss it!), corta-jaca (check it, I can't explain...), and even covers that won't disappoint. Performed by a population of instruments that goes from the pocket latophone to the fagote, the banjo and the trombone, a sax alto, mandolin, drums and other percussion instruments, plus the homey piano and Verbosis of Arthur himself. For those who need to categorize, there could be comparisons to the old sambistas de bar, to Arnaldo Antunes in a Gilberto Gil mood, or a drunk Jobim, also a tropical Badalamenti, even a crazier Noel Rosa... who knows?

For me, it's a pledge for goo - Brazzil Magazine


"Music for Growunups"

Hungry for some truly original Brazilian music? Go listen to Arthur de Faria's latest CD, Música Pra Gente Grande. This Gaúcho (from Rio Grande do Sul state) musician isn't offering the same old stuff. It's real art, not just well-produced craftsmanship.
Fabiano Golgo
How often can you say the CD you are listening to is more than just another piece manufactured or electronicfactured for your easy swallowing — following that ol' rule of repeating what has already been created—this time by someone with more original talents? Fourteen times, in my case, only within two days.
Wait. Don't try, you, thirsty for good sounds, to find my E-mail address to request the name of these dozen plus names. It is a single piece of art that inhabited my stereo for a couple of days and seemed to not want to leave. And that is because I am a true lover of art. As in original. Not as in good craft. And we need to make the distinction between art and craft. Let's face it: many people can draw cubist influenced pictures nowadays, but Picasso showed how in the first place. Anyone can make rhymes on the Jobim or Vinicius' style — but who introduced the marvel to us?? And to the world, for that matter?

Well, don't rush. I will tell you the name of this finding. Yes, finding. Because, like most talents, it comes from an unexpected place and has no big pop machine backing its release. But, first, go into that area in your gray matter that stores the good things that life has to offer. There yet? Well, when was the last time a new name entered it as being truly original, pure, humorous and sensual Brazilian music? And played by a real musician and his real musician friends—with names, not numbers)?

Oh, ok: you are remembering that Caetano, or that solo by that great former band member who had full reasons to show you what he/she /it had best. All right, there are plenty of authors in our "verde-amarelo" repertoire to make us proud to be from the Pátria Amada (Beloved Country). But is this list of a recent (green-yellow—the national colors) season? Or a compilation of well-endowed names, for long making our intimate moments more intimate, giving our "get-togethers" a better ambiance?

Now, let me get deeper, and more anal: which one of them had a great set of pieces of varied—truly varied— sound styles, with real swift lyrics and elegy? Which was celebrated by the national unanimity—one of the few unanimities that is not stupid: writer Luís Fernando Veríssimo, to cite only one? Which was played homage to by a radio station in the city where whoever isn't a musician is a tourist: Prague?

If you want to hear a sincere scorn on the capabilities of our average musician, please go get Música Pra Gente Grande, by Arthur de Faria. And don't shy away because of the title—a paradox remnant of that Sunday morning hour of Concertos Para a Juventude (Concerts for the Youth). And it is not necessary to be "gente grande" (grown-up person) to listen to this CD. You will become one afterwards, at least musically.

Arthur offers this blind date with the widest ebb of genres in his typical childish maturity. Like an unpretentious "Gaúcho" (that is possible, sometimes), he spreads his years of music knowledge with a flagrant sensuality and the fluency of an outrageous flexibility that you haven't—and can't—find in the current constellation of artists. It was necessary for someone with the sole ambition of making something good (let's put it in capital letters, if you will: GOOD!) so that we could have this witty extravaganza that not only compellingly advocates the Brazilian true sounds, but stylishly contributes another few to them.

When you listen to Arthur's work you will find that it isn't just another version of the good old stuff you love. You will find originality at its most, a satire that stings, a warm ductile length of lyrical spins you are not used to, and will be besotted by a soft vibration that is acquiescing in a sanity that our latest media-celebrated offspring has not, and will never, achieve.

Replete with styles we would be otherwise afraid of or unprepared for, like waltzes (in a way grandma would never imagine, but would certainly enjoy as well), cantiga de roda (for the wise ones), choro-canção (originality, anyone?), samba (not from Som Livre, that is), milonga (for all nationalities outside the Pampas, too), baião (by a Gaúcho: don't miss it!), corta-jaca (check it, I can't explain...), and even covers that won't disappoint. Performed by a population of instruments that goes from the pocket latophone to the fagote, the banjo and the trombone, a sax alto, mandolin, drums and other percussion instruments, plus the homey piano and Verbosis of Arthur himself. For those who need to categorize, there could be comparisons to the old sambistas de bar, to Arnaldo Antunes in a Gilberto Gil mood, or a drunk Jobim, also a tropical Badalamenti, even a crazier Noel Rosa... who knows?

For me, it's a pledge for goo - Brazzil Magazine


"Hardcore-Jazzer"

Arthur de Faria finden sich Mitglieder des klassischen Symphonieorchesters der Stadt Porto Alegre ebenso wie Hardcore-Jazzer, Folk- und Rockmusiker. Der Sound (...) ist von den Jazzbands des Porto Alegre der 20er Jahre inspiriert, die aus der Mischung der musikalischen Traditionen der italienischen, deutschen, jüdischen und portugiesischen Einwanderer entstanden waren (...). - Wuk Magazine


"Hardcore-Jazzer"

Arthur de Faria finden sich Mitglieder des klassischen Symphonieorchesters der Stadt Porto Alegre ebenso wie Hardcore-Jazzer, Folk- und Rockmusiker. Der Sound (...) ist von den Jazzbands des Porto Alegre der 20er Jahre inspiriert, die aus der Mischung der musikalischen Traditionen der italienischen, deutschen, jüdischen und portugiesischen Einwanderer entstanden waren (...). - Wuk Magazine


Discography

1. Música pra Gente Grande - 1996 - independent - 2000 - Núcleo Contemporâneo
2. Flicts - 2000 - Barulhinho / Tratore - 2008 - Allegro
3. Meu Conjunto Tem Concerto - 2002 - Barulhinho / Tratore
4. Música pra Bater Pezinho - 2005 - Yb

www.myspace.com/seuconjunto

Photos

Bio

WHO THE FUCK IS ARTHUR DE FARIA & SEU CONJUNTO?
Arthur de Faria & Seu Conjunto is a music group from Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, in the deep South of Brazil, a place where Brazilian, Uruguayan and Argentine cultures get mixed. And that is precisely the group's aesthetic orientation, not only in its vocal works but also in its instrumental music projects: to mix the folk music language of those three countries with collective improvisations that point to the influence of jazz and contemporary music, while still being open to rock, pop, and even the imaginary folklore of regions as far away (from where we stand) as the Balkans, not to mention Viennese waltzes and Czech polkas.
Add to that the tangos, milongas, Brazilian waltzes, sambas, zambas, and also the fox-trot, the beguine, the bolero. Old rhythms as seen through contemporary eyes, which are not the same eyes of pop music, but rather the eyes of invention. Add something else too: the sheer joy of playing, of being on stage, knowing that the audience is both the main reason to be there and an essential component of the show.
Arthur de Faria & Seu Conjunto has released four records, in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, tours regularly in these countries and also took part in some international festivals, in Prague and Vienna. The group is formed by seven musicians with totally different backgrounds, which results in a collective approach that sounds very special: the number one bassoon player from the local symphonic orchestra who is an ardent practitioner of contemporary music; the number one trombone player from the same orchestra who is a chamber music practitioner and also the leader of a folk-jazz group; a saxophone player totally devoted to jazz music who has also published a book on the subject; a 100% heavy-rock guitar player; a bass player and a drummer/percussionist who form the most in-demand local rhythm section, playing everything from jazz to classical music, including folk music, Brazilian Popular Music (MPB) and funk; finally, at the piano, vocals and compositions, Arthur de Faria, an awarded composer and arranger who signed dozens of movie and theater soundtracks, besides being a teacher of Brazilian Music History, a record producer and the author of books and essays about popular music.