Hunger Gives You a Headache

Cascabulho

Mangue Beat Manifesto

Most of Brazil's rich regional folk styles have remained just that—well-preserved heritage music with little international aspiration. There are, however, exceptions—like the music coming from Recife, in northeast Brazil. Since the early 1990s, a group of younger musicians equipped with samplers jolted the folk music they've known since childhood (styles called coco and forro among others) with wicked dashes of funk and psychedelic electronica. While the catalyst of this "mangue beat" scene was Chico Science, who died in 1997, the most accomplished followers were the intense (if short-lived) Cascabulho.

Hunger Gives You a Headache is dedicated to Jackson do Pandeiro, an accordionist and composer of the 1950s who was one of Brazil's first hybridizers; his trick was to merge traits of the accordion-based forro with samba and other modern styles. Cascabulho reinterprets several of the legendary Pandeiro's compositions ("17 na corrente," "Xodó do sanfoneiro") as well as other well-known traditional songs. Alongside them are originals by singer Silvério Pessoa and these are the gems—spirited, celebratory tunes that carry cries of social injustice along with the occasional sampled Charlie Parker riff or P-Funk bass line. Pessoa writes in bite-sized catchy bursts, and relies on call-and-response with backing singers to give his refrains their staying power. The songs embrace samba, African Candomblé ritual, and down-tempo funk, a divine mix that Cascabulho shares with gypsy collage artist Manu Chao (see p. 154) and other open-minded purveyors of world groove.

Genre: World, Brazil
Released: 2000, Piranha
Key Tracks: "Boi catimbó," "Xodó do sanfoneiro," "Vovó Alaíde."
Catalog Choice: Silvério Pessoa: Silvério Pessoa.
Next Stop: Jackson do Pandeiro: Cinqüenta Anos de Carreira
After That: Banda Black Rio: Best of Banda Black Rio
Book Pages: 149–150

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1000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die