Fôrça Bruta

Fôrça Bruta(Brazilian Portuguese:[ˈfoʁsɐˈbɾutɐ]) is the seventhstudio albumby Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitaristJorge Ben. It was recorded with theTrio Mocotóband and released byPhilips Recordsin September 1970. Conceived at a time of political tension indictatorial Brazil, its title comes from thePortugueseterm meaning "brute force" and has been interpreted ironically due to the music's relatively relaxed style.
The album introduced an acousticsamba-based music that is mellower, moodier, and less ornate than Ben's preceding work. Its largely unrehearsed, nighttime recording session found the singer improvising with Trio Mocotó'sgroove-oriented accompaniment while experimenting with unconventional rhythmic arrangements, musical techniques, and elements ofsoul,funk, androck. Ben's lyrics generally explore themes of romantic passion, melancholy, and sensuality, with women figuring prominently in his songs. In a departure from the carefree sensibility of his past releases, they also feature elements ofidentity politicsandpostmodernism, such as irony and reimagining of established idioms.
A commercial and critical success,Fôrça Brutaestablished Ben as a leading artist in Brazil'sTropicáliamovement and pioneered a unique sound later known assamba rock. Renowned among collectors and musicians but relatively rare outside of its country of origin, the album was released for the first time in the United States in 2007 by the specialty labelDusty Groove America, attracting further critical recognition. That same year,Rolling Stone Brasilnamed it among its100 greatest Brazilian albums.
In 1969,Jorge Benre-signed toPhilips Recordsafter a four-year leave from the label due to creative differences and recorded hisself-titled sixth album.It featured songs performed withTrio Mocotóas hisbacking band; Ben had met the vocal/percussion group while touring the nightclub circuit inSão Pauloin the late 1960s.The band's members were Fritz Escovão (who played thecuíca), Nereu Gargalo (tambourine), and João Parahyba (drums and percussion).The album was a commercial comeback for Ben, and its success created a busy schedule for all four musicians.This "hectic" period for them led music critic John Bush to believe it may have resulted in a relaxed recording ofsamba soulforFôrça Bruta.
Ben regrouped with Trio Mocotó in 1970 to record the album.They held one nighttime session without rehearsing most of the songs beforehand. According to Parahyba, this was intended to give listeners an impression of the mood that developed as they played in the studio.
During the session, Ben first sang his vocal for a song before the accompanying instrumentation was recorded. He played the acoustic guitar for the instrumentals, and specifically the ten-stringviola caipirafor the songs "Aparece Aparecida" and "Mulher Brasileira".He also repurposed atuning fork, a device traditionally used by musicians to maintainmusical tuningamong instruments; the singer instead stimulated it with his mouth to generate sounds that resembled a harmonica.
For their part, Trio Mocotó attempted to develop a distinctivegroovewith a rhythm that would suit therockor "iê-iê-iê" feel of Ben's guitar playing.The band played several percussion instruments, including theatabaqueandbell plates.For "Charles Jr." and other tracks, Parahyba used the whistle of his sister's electric toy train as ahorninstrument, breaking it in the process.
String and horn sections were recorded and included in the final mix but went uncredited in the album's packaging.It credited C.B.D. inRio de Janeiroand Scatena in São Paulo as the recording locations forFôrça Bruta, which was named after the Portuguese for the phrase "brute force".According to Robert Leaver ofAmoeba Music's international records department, "one can see a sly irony" in the title, considering the heightened political tension indictatorial Brazilat the time and the gentle quality of Ben's music for the album.
Fôrça Brutahas a pervasive sense of melancholy and idiosyncratic contrast, according to Brazilian music scholar Pedro Alexandre Sanches, who identifies each composition on the album as either asamba, samba lament, or "samba-banzo".Greg Caz, a disc jockey specializing in Brazilian music, recognizes this quality as not only melancholic but mysterious and departing from the carefree sensibility that had been the singer's trademark.This is demonstrated in the lyrics, melodies, arrangements, and Ben's "devilish" guitar figures, with "Oba, Lá Vem Ela" and "Domênica Domingava" cited by Sanches as examples.Ben's guitar playing, more developed and prominently featured on this album, leads music journalist Jacob McKean to find the sound altogether subtler and "stripped down" when compared to his previous records, while colored by a "somewhat crunchy, folksy tone" established in the opening songs "Oba, Lá Vem Ela" and "Zé Canjica".
Overall, the songs are longer and more groove-based than on Ben's previous self-titled album.They also experiment with unconventional percussive arrangements, particularly on the cuíca-driven "O Telefone Tocou Novamente" and "Zé Canjica" (with itsdrum cadence), resulting in rhythmiccontrastsbetween Trio Mocotó and Ben's instruments.This rhythmic direction departs from his earlier music's innovative "chacatum, chacatum" beat, which had become popular and widely imitated by the time of the album.
While still samba-based with hints ofbossa nova,Fôrça Brutaalso adds understatedfunkandsoulelements in the form of horn and string arrangements. Horn riffs are arranged in the style ofSérgio Mendeson "Pulo, Pulo", in the style ofStax Recordson "O Telefone Tocou Novamente", and on the title track, which appropriates the groove of the 1968Archie Bell & the Drellssong "Tighten Up". On "Mulher Brasileira", a string section is heard playing swirling patterns around Escovão's cuíca, while the more uptempo rhythms of "Charles Jr." and "Pulo, Pulo" are given contrast by more relaxed string melodies.
Another source of contrast and funk/soul influence is Ben's singing, which McKean describes as "more intimate" than in the past.Along with his characteristic wails andcroons, he exhibits a newfound raspy texture in his typically languid and nasal vocal.His singing also functions as an additional element of rhythm to some songs.According toPeter Margasak, Ben can be heard "reinforcing the rhythmic agility of his songs with pin-pointphrasing, surprisingintervallicleaps, and a plaintive kind of moan".
On "Zé Canjica" and "Charles Jr.", Ben improvises phrases (such as "Comanchero" and "the mama mama, the mama say") as rhythmic accompaniment during otherwise instrumental sections of the songs.The name "Comanche" is also implored by Ben in moments on the album. As Parahyba explains, it is a nickname given to him by Ben, who originally recorded it as a joke on "Charles Jr." A different explanation came in the form of a lyric in Ben's 1971 song "Comanche": "My mother calls me / Comanche".
Women are central figures in Ben's lyrics throughout the album, especially in "Mulher Brasileira", "Terezinha", and "Domênica Domingava"; "Domênica" is a variation on Domingas, the surname of his wife and muse Maria.His preoccupation with female characters led Sanches to identifyFôrça Bruta's predominant theme as Ben's "Dionysianbody", referring to the philosophical concept of a body that can submit to passionate chaos and suffering before overcoming itself.
Several of the songs deal with romantic disappointment.In "Zé Canjica", the narrator apologizes for being confused, sad, and moody while sending away a lover he feels he does not deserve. "O Telefone Tocou Novamente" expresses grief and pity over an angry lover ringing the phone of the narrator, who leaves to meet, only not to find her. During the song, Sanches observes a moment of catharsis by Ben, who raises his singing voice to an almost crying falsetto.
Ben's lyrics also appropriate thematic devices from the popular imagination. Sanches compares the verses of thecaipira-influenced samba "Apareceu Aparecida" and "Pulo, Pulo" to songs from ciranda, a traditional Brazilian children's dance.In "Apareceu Aparecida" – which employs the "rolling stone" idiom – the narrator rediscovers the euphoric joy of living after his beloved has accepted him again; this leads Sanches to conclude that Ben sings ofhedonismin a concentrated state.
Some songs feature expressions of political values.Thenationalistic"Mulher Brasileira" celebrates Brazilian women regardless of their physical appearance and is cited by Brazilian journalist Gabriel Proiete de Souza as an early example of Ben's attempt to empowerAfro-Brazilianwomen through his music.In Caz's opinion, the lyrics onFôrça Brutareveal deeper concerns than were found in the singer's previous recordings, shown most notably by "Charles Jr.", in which Ben explores his identity as an artist and as a black man.Brazilian music academic Rafael Lemos believes it demonstrates Ben's process of placing "black heritage intomodernity", in the aftermath ofslavery in Braziland the continued marginalization of black people there.According to one translation of the lyrics, the narrator proclaims:
"Charles Jr." and other songs also use elements ofpostmodernism, such asself-reference, irony, andsurrealism(as in the lyrics of "Pulo, Pulo").Some ofFôrça Bruta's characters and stories had appeared on Ben's earlier work, albeit in slightly different manifestations. On his 1969 album, "Charles" was depicted as a heroicRobin Hood-like figure of thecountry. The sensually primitive "Domingas" and "Teresa", also from the previous record, are rendered here as the more sophisticated "Domênica" and the irreverent "Terezinha", respectively.Ben sings the latter song in an exceptionally nasal voice interpreted by Sanches as an ironic caricature ofmúsica popular brasileira.
Fôrça Brutawas released by Philips in September 1970.It was received favorably inVejamagazine, whose reviewer found it impressively rhythmic, full of musical surprises and suspense, and comparable to acomic bookin the way familiar fantasies and characters are reformulated in strange yet delightful directions.Commercially, it was a top-10chartsuccess in Brazil and produced thehit singles"O Telefone Tocou Novamente" and "Mulher Brasileira".
The album's performance established Ben as an integral artist in Brazil'sTropicáliamovement, led by fellow musiciansCaetano VelosoandGilberto Gil.The following year on his next album,Negro É Lindo(English:Black Is Beautiful), Ben delved further into the black identity politics of "Charles Jr." while retaining the melancholic musical quality of the previous record.
Fôrça Bruta's fusion of Trio Mocotó's groove and Ben's more rockish guitar proved to be a distinctive feature of what critics and musicians later called samba rock.Its soul and funk elements, most prominent in the title track, helped earn the album a respected reputation among soul enthusiasts and rare-record collectors.In an interview forGuy Oseary'sOn the Record(2004), music entrepreneur and record collectorCraig KallmannamedFôrça Brutaamong his 15 favorite albums.Recording artistBeckalso named it one of his favorite albums.
In 2007,Fôrça Brutawas re-released byDusty Groove America, a specialty label in Chicago that reissued rare funk, jazz, soul, and Brazilian music titles in partnership withUniversal Music.The reissue marked the first time the album had seen release in the United States.Dusty Groove askedChicago Readercritic Peter Margasak to writeliner notesfor the release, but he declined, citing in part the lack of American literature available on Ben.New York-based retailerOther Musiclater named it the fourth best reissue of 2007 and one of Ben's "deepest, most emotional albums".That same year,Fôrça Brutawas ranked 61st onRolling Stone Brasil's list ofthe 100 greatest Brazilian albums. In an essay accompanying the ranking, journalist Marcus Preto called it the singer's most melancholy album.
In a retrospective review forAllMusic, John Bush regardsFôrça Brutaas one of Ben's best records and gives it four-and-a-half out of a possible five stars. In his estimation, it retained each participating musician's abilities over the course of "a wonderful acoustic groove that may have varied little but was all the better for its agreeable evenness".A reviewer forThe Boston Globesays Ben's masterful performance of this music – "a fusion of bright samba and mellow soul" – still sounds original and essential more than 30 years after its recording. Recommended even for non-Lusophones, it "transcends language and era with an organic vibe and breezy spontaneity", in his opinion.
Other reviews praiseFôrça Brutaas a "samba-soul heater" (Now's Tim Perlich) and "one of the most buoyantly textured and warmly melodic LPs ever recorded" (Matthew Hickey fromTurntable Kitchen), with Hickey calling "Oba, Lá Vem Ela" among its "loveliest tunes".InImposemagazine, Jacob McKean highlights the two opening tracks, finding "Zé Canjica" particularly attractive, and believes that "Apareceu Aparecida" features the album's most appealinghook. He also finds Trio Mocotó incomparable in their performance and the album to be elegant and exquisite overall. However, he quips of Ben's nasally singing on "Terezinha", saying it sounds unusual, and that the string section is given slightly too much emphasis on "Mulher Brasileira".
Less enthusiastic about the album isStylus Magazine's Mike Powell, who writes that it has "a kind of aesthetic gentility" that characterizes most Brazilian music and polarizes its listeners as a consequence. Powell adds that, while his cavil may be silly,Fôrça Brutaremains "demure samba-rock laced with sliding strings, an agreeable, samey atmosphere, no strife on the horizon", assigning it a letter grade of "B-minus".According toPeter Shapiro, it may be "too dainty" or not adventurous enough for some listeners, lacking the stylistically eclectic abandon of other Tropicália music. But in his appraisal inThe Wire, he judges the album to be "something of a minor masterpiece of textural contrast" and "a stone cold classic of Brazilianmodernism", representative of the country's flair for "weaving beguiling syncretic music from practically any cloth".
Having discovered Ben's music in 2009,indie rockmusicianAndrew Birdwrites in a guest column forTimethatFôrça Brutais a classic of "raw and soulful Tropicália". He also observes in Ben's singing a "pleading quality" that projects a simultaneous sense of melancholy and delight.Alynda Segarra ofHurray for the Riff Rafflistened to it while making her band's 2017 albumThe Navigator, later citingFôrça Bruta's string arrangements as an influence on her "cinematic" approach to the album's lyrics.
All songs were composed byJorge Ben.
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.
Trio Mocotó
Production