SEM TOSTÃO 2... A CRISE CONTINUA... - CRISTINA BUARQUE E HENRIQUE CAZES

Cristina Buarque and Henrique Cazes stylishly resume the series Sem Tostão (kicked off with the outstanding ...A Crise Não É Boato, in 1995). Volume 2, subtitled …A Crise Continua, takes up the approach of the previous part: the tribute to Noel Rosa, revered in the duo’s 1998 concert. Recorded last year, the album’s release was delayed in many months, and is finally coming out. Cristina (singing) and Henrique (acoustic guitar and vocals) made the right decision in choosing the CD format. …A Crise Continua was recorded live at Bip-Bip (famous samba bar in Rio de Janeiro), with the discreet participation of the audience.

The album acts almost as an informal songbook of Noel Rosa, with one singularity: as the title suggests, the selected songs are basically about various financial problems, a recurrent theme in Noel’s head. Some of the composer’s most peculiar songs relate to that topic - like Com que Roupa?, Seja Breve and Mas Como Outra Vez, all of them included on the album. Noel’s self-depreciating ironic verve seem to emerge on this set of songs, carefully picked by the duo.

In this context, the small subtleties in Cristina’s interpretation emphasizes the humorous side of many of the tunes (such as the precious re-creations of Seja Breve, Tarzan, o Filho do Alfaiate and Frankenstein da Vila), and also on the romantic and bitter moments, like Julieta (in which the singer incorporates the sad tone of the lyrics) or Deixa de Ser Convencida. Henrique Cazes keeps the pace up, be it on the acoustic guitar (specially in the opening track, Não Tem Tradução, with a 1m03s solo introduction), be it on the microphone, to sing and/or tell tales about Noel Rosa.

The duo brilliantly reports the polemic between Noel and Wilson Batista, recording three medley tracks that contain nine songs written by the rival composers. It’s nice to follow the ingenious discussion between the samba artists, which produced songs like Palpite Infeliz (by Noel) and Conversa Fiada (Batista) and reached its paroxysm in the hilarious Frankenstein da Vila - where Wilson really lost his patience with Noel. All of them are recreated on the album.

This Sem Tostão (Pennyless) release is worth a treasure. According to the CD booklet, "since we only depend on Noel’s good sambas and on the extension of the national crisis, the series Sem Tostão won’t be over with this volume 2". Fortunately, albums like these can soothe any crisis.

(Marco Antonio Barbosa)