MPB-4 offers vocal chords to pop music
The long-lived group was about to record new songs by Celso Viáfora and Lenine, but ended up picking hits from pop bands like Skank, Natiruts and Cidade Negra
Silvio Essinger
26/01/2001
Along their 36-year career, MPB-4 never imagined the problem they would face while singing a song like Presente de um Beija-flor, a hit by the reggae group Natiruts (formerly known as Nativus). Upon a hearing of the demo tape by his son Marcos, Miltinho had a hint of what they were getting into: "He said: 'Hey, you guys got the tempo backwards!'", he tells. None of that decresed their will, though, and the album MPB4 e a Nova Música Brasileira (read the review) is coming out now, on Abril Music. In it, the veteran vocal group offers its approach to Brazilian pop hits like the Natiruts song, as well as Resposta (Skank), Primavera (Los Hermanos) and Onde Você Mora? (Cidade Negra), besides celebrated tracks from the so-called New MPB, such as À Primeira Vista (Chico Cesar), Mentiras (Adriana Calcanhotto), Lenha (Zeca Baleiro) and Paciência (Lenine).
That's a hell of a change for artists who became notorious for their interpretation of anti-military repression songs written by Chico Buarque. "We would say everything that was stuck inside people's hearts.", recalls Miltinho. He reveals that the group feared for their old fans' reaction to the new album. "But our friends like it."
MPB-4's original idea was to record a full album of new songs by composers like Celso Viáfora and Vicente Barreto, Lenine, João Bosco, Abel Silva and Suely Costa. Its purpose would be to launch unreleased material only, which the group hadn't done in a while. "We can't close our eyes to what is new", defends Miltinho.
Right away, they offered the CD to Abril Music. First, because it was the label that had been releasing albums by veterans like Ivan Lins, Alceu Valença and Moraes Moreira. Second, because MPB-4 had already worked on Polygram with the current head of Abril Music, who bought the idea and made a few suggestions, for example, to go for hits, instead of new songs. The quartet eventually gave in, in spite of that concept being so different from their initial idea. "We thought it would be cool to reach different audiences: the fans, who otherwise wouldn't be listening to that kind of music, and the youngsters, who otherwise wouldn't be listening to MPB-4", states Miltinho.
The young Jairzinho Oliveira took charge of the production of MPB4 e a Nova Música Brasileira, writing some of the arrangements. Others were written by Max de Castro. According to Miltinho, MPB-4's new disc has no competitors in the pop market. "There are no vocal groups, anymore, all there is is some guy upfront and not even using back up singers!" The new repertoire will be presented from April on, in Rio de Janeiro.
That's a hell of a change for artists who became notorious for their interpretation of anti-military repression songs written by Chico Buarque. "We would say everything that was stuck inside people's hearts.", recalls Miltinho. He reveals that the group feared for their old fans' reaction to the new album. "But our friends like it."
MPB-4's original idea was to record a full album of new songs by composers like Celso Viáfora and Vicente Barreto, Lenine, João Bosco, Abel Silva and Suely Costa. Its purpose would be to launch unreleased material only, which the group hadn't done in a while. "We can't close our eyes to what is new", defends Miltinho.
Right away, they offered the CD to Abril Music. First, because it was the label that had been releasing albums by veterans like Ivan Lins, Alceu Valença and Moraes Moreira. Second, because MPB-4 had already worked on Polygram with the current head of Abril Music, who bought the idea and made a few suggestions, for example, to go for hits, instead of new songs. The quartet eventually gave in, in spite of that concept being so different from their initial idea. "We thought it would be cool to reach different audiences: the fans, who otherwise wouldn't be listening to that kind of music, and the youngsters, who otherwise wouldn't be listening to MPB-4", states Miltinho.
The young Jairzinho Oliveira took charge of the production of MPB4 e a Nova Música Brasileira, writing some of the arrangements. Others were written by Max de Castro. According to Miltinho, MPB-4's new disc has no competitors in the pop market. "There are no vocal groups, anymore, all there is is some guy upfront and not even using back up singers!" The new repertoire will be presented from April on, in Rio de Janeiro.