Jorge Ben: África Brasil [FUTURE SHOCK]

Why you'll love it

This 180g pressing brings back the album where Jorge Ben swapped his acoustic guitar for an electric one. It is in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die and is widely heard as a peak of Brazilian funk.

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• Original 11-track album

About the album

For more than a decade Jorge Ben's sound began with an acoustic guitar played like a drum. Then, after A Tábua de Esmeralda and his live summit with Gilberto Gil, he plugged in. África Brasil was cut in ten days at Phonogram Studios in Rio with a big crew of musicians, including his band Admiral Jorge V, and it sounds like a street party that has found its way into a recording studio.

Afro-Brazilian percussion, wah-wah guitar, horns and chanting voices pile up over samba-funk grooves. "Ponta de Lança Africano (Umbabarauma)" is a joyous football anthem, "Taj Mahal" and "O Plebeu" come back reworked with a driving electric rhythm section, "Xica da Silva" tells the story of a legendary Brazilian woman, and "Camisa 10 da Gávea" shows his lifelong love of the beautiful game. The closing "África Brasil (Zumbi)" pays tribute to the Afro-Brazilian freedom fighter, with lyrics about Black history set to a groove you can't sit still for.

Critics loved it from the start, and its dance-floor pull keeps growing. If you've ever wondered why record hunters get misty-eyed about 70s Brazil, put on side one and stand well back.

Also at Kops: more Jorge Ben on vinyl · browse World

Tracklist

Listen

On Future Shock (cat# FS4485), a reissue of the 1976 album.