Harmony and Arrangement
Celebrate Bazilian music
at Chez Pierre tonight.
By Maisha Maurant
Democrat Staff writer
Samba and sadness are like drinking and driving.
The two don't mix.
“People who practice yoga surely doesn't smoke because it doesn't match,” said Julio Cesar de Figueiredo, a visiting Brazilian pianist. “And people who samba can't be sad because it doesn't match.” The samba and bossa nova are included in tonight's celebration of the Brazilian styles of music at Chez Pierre restaurant. The eatery has settle in at its new digs on Thomasville Road.The compilation of Brazilian pop will feature guest Figueiredo and local Brazilian jazz group Welson Tremura and the Brazilian Knights. The Brazilian Knights are made up of Tremura on acoustic guitar and vocals, Alan Hightman on jazz guitar, Alejandro Berti on double bass and Nathan Stowell on drums. Jazz vocalist Pam Laws is also a special guest at tonight's concert, which will be held in the upstairs room of the eatery. Figueiredo said, it will be a night of “pure Brazilian expression.”
“The rhythm in Brazilian music makes you feel like you want to move your body,”Tremura added. Tremura is a doctoral student in ethnomusicology at Florida State university. He already holds a law and music degree. Last week he directed the performance of Samba Oba, FSU's Brazilian ensemble in its concert of world music. Figueiredo is from Rio de Janeiro and Tremura from São Paulo, Brazil. The duo has worked together for 10 years. They play together when tremura visits Brazil in the summer. “Together it's like the right hand and the left hand,”said John Daigle, musical coordinator for Chez Pierre. Tremura said that despite Brazilians' struggle social problems such as poverty and violence, the concept expressed in their music is that life is good. “It's the kind of music that lifts up your spirits,”said Tremura. “It makes you want to kiss yourself. It makes you feel good about yourself.”
“It's the kind of
music that lifts up
your spirits.It makes
you want to kiss your
wife or your
boyfriend.”
—Welson Tremura—
Agreeing with Tremura, Figueiredo said the people lose their troubles in the music. “There is another universe where they are dancing samba,” Figueiredo said. “There is nothing else. There is samba. Sadness doesn't go with samba.”Brazilian sounds began to filter to American listeners in the '60s and '70s and through the work of musicians such as Stan Gets, João Gilberto, Sergio Mendes, Pat Metheny, Ella Ftizgerald and Sting. That popularity continues to grow today. Tonight's concert is just the introduction to the musical jaunts Chez Pierre plans to take its customers on. Artists such as Laws, Berti and guitarist Gary Piazza and others have performed at the venue. “The quality of music is part of the experience here,” Daigle said.
Interview on Friday, November 22, 1996
