eMusic Review 0
The only thing even vaguely brutal about this mellow-yet-funky 1970 album by then-30-year-old Jorge Ben is its title. While the tropicalistas were crafting outré sounds (sometimes while exiled abroad), Bahia-born Ben was un-self-consciously writing and performing laid-back compositions in which love and geography become virtually indistinguishable. "Terezinha (Teresa)" may be an adorably sun-splashed Brazilian woman, but one isn't enough. "Mulher Brasileira (Brazilian Women)" celebrates all of them. "Black or white, rich or poor, pretty or ugly, you are wonderful." Ben, accompanied by Trio Mocotó, begins most tunes with a funk-inspired acoustic guitar riff punctuated at various times by swaying strings, surging horns, a squeaky cuica, or a train whistle. While Força Bruta succeeds best as an album, individual tracks such as opener "Oba LÃ Vem Ela" (Oh Boy, Here She Comes) and its echoing closer, "Força Bruta," exemplify Ben's syncretic subtleties. You might even say that Ben's blend of American soul with Brazilian samba — expressed through a passionate embrace of the land and its people — is itself an expression of tropicalismo in its purest form, both under the radar and in the blood.
