A
close follower of the bossa nova movement and dedicated apprentice of earlier
composers such as Tom Jobim and João Gilberto, Chico Buarque had a flying start
in his musical career with the release of four stellar eponymous records in the
late 1960s. These records blended bossa nova and samba to great effect, and
cemented Buarque’s position among the MPB giants. However, the best of Buarque
was yet to come. Construção, released
upon Buarque’s return to Brazil after exile, is arguably his most accomplished
effort to date and undoubtedly one of the best records of Brazilian music.
Here, Buarque broaches darker topics than those in his previous discography,
while his lyrics are more politically engaged. “Deus lhe Pague” constitutes the
most biting political comment in the record, where Buarque openly criticizes
the Brazilian dictatorial regime and its social aftermath. “Cotidiano” and
“Construção” are also socially concerned, and address the boredom of daily routine
and the debasement of the workingman, respectively. “Valsinha” is a sad love
song about a couple that experiences a brief moment of joy after a long period
of dullness. “Minha História” imaginatively retells the story of Jesus Christ
as the son of a sailor and a prostitute. My favorite song in Construção is “Samba de Orly”, a tribute
to the exiles during the military dictatorship that was composed by Buarque,
Toquinho and Vinícius de Moraes:
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