Blogs do SAPO - POSTS

Maurício Barra — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:37:12 GMT

Esta é boa !

Maurício Barra — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:09:17 GMT

" A partir de agora basta usar o polegar para fazer a rolha de cortiça saltar de uma garrafa de vinho. A Helix, a solução inovadora criada pela Corticeira Amorim e pela norte-americana O-I, hoje apresentada ao mercado na Vinexpo, a maior feira de vinhos do mundo, promete revolucionar o mundo das rolhas e das embalagens de vidro combinando uma rolha de cortiça ergonomicamente desenvolvida e uma garrafa de vidro com uma rosca interior no gargalo.

Tudo isto, sem perder a sonoridade característica associada à abertura de uma garrafa de vinho.

Para garantir a performance desta solução técnica e a possibilidade da sua utilização sem grandes investimentos por parte das caves produtoras de vinhos, as duas empresas trabalharam em parceria durante quatro anos.

Sem divulgar o investimento em causa, a Corticeira Amorim admite que o projecto absorveu "parte substancial" da verba de cinco a seis milhões de euros canalizada anualmente para a sua área de investigação e desenvolvimento.

Destinada a vinhos de consumo rápido, com preços de venda ao público entre os cinco e os dez euros, a Hélix foi testada por uma dezena de caves de três países com boa receptividade, diz a Corticeira."

in Expresso

"Rhumba Multikulti"

Maurício Barra — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 07:48:34 GMT

ill Remember April

Maurício Barra — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 07:45:51 GMT

Thompson was born in Columbia, South Carolina and moved to Detroit, Michigan during his childhood. Thompson had to raise his siblings after his mother died, and he practiced saxophone fingerings on a broom handle before acquiring his first instrument. He joined Erskine Hawkins' band in 1942 upon graduating from high school.
After playing with the swing orchestras of Lionel Hampton, Don Redman, Billy Eckstine (alongside Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker), Lucky Millinder, and Count Basie, he worked in rhythm and blues and then established a career in bebop and hard bop, working with Kenny Clarke, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Milt Jackson.

Dos professores, entre a espada e a parede, ao desprezo pelos alunos.

Maurício Barra — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 06:43:47 GMT

Recorro a um artigo de Martim Avillez Figueiredo no Expresso para discorrer sobre o assunto.

(…) Davis Osborne, que promoveu a reforma da administração pública no Governo Clinton, esteve em Lisboa numa conferência em que abordou o sistema de ensino português. Mencionou que o sistema português não premeia a concorrência entre as escolas ( e, por inerência, entre os bons e os maus professores ) nem oferece liberdade de escolha aos pais dos alunos .

Simulou a nosso sistema de educação à restauração: imaginem que teríamos de comer no restaurante mais próximo de casa, e apenas nesse – apesar de todos os outros serem iguais uma vez que as ementas, os cozinheiros e empregados são distribuídos centralmente - , as portas estariam abertas apenas nove meses por ano, a ementa evoluía com a idade do comensal, as refeições eram grátis pagas pelos contribuintes e os salários do pessoal dependiam dos anos de serviço e não do seu mérito. Finalmente os restaurantes funcionariam mesmo que os consumidores não gostassem deles. E o sistema não existe assim porque é financiado pelo Estado: na Suécia, em que todas as escolas têm financiamento público e integram o sistema público de formação, as escolas, públicas ou privadas, têm liberdade de escolha dos seus projectos educativos e de contratar os professores que melhor de adequem ao que pretendem e o Estado, no final, avalia as escolas baseado nos resultados dos exames finais, acompanhadas de inspecções frequentes para garantir que as escolas não tenham só bons alunos.(…)

Em Portugal os pais não têm liberdade de escolher a escola para os seus filhos no sistema público, os manuais escolares são iguais para todos e escolhidos por uma entidade que considera as crianças pobres selvagens que devem evoluir naturalmente sem que o ensino as impeça de fazer o que lhes apetece, e até recentemente não havia exames nem chumbos em parte dos anos lectivos para todos serem iguais. Iguais aos que não estudavam.

O nosso modelo de educação pública, nos últimos trinta e nove anos, tem sido um modelo de tendência sovietóide que não deve ser muito diferente do que se pratica actualmente em Cuba. Sempre sob pressão e/ou controlo de sindicatos comunistas, que, excedendo largamente o que o seu âmbito de actuação, ou seja, defender profissionalmente os professores, têm intervindo no próprio modelo de formação e nos conteúdos formativos, obstaculizando sistematicamente a liberdade docente e curricular que permitiria escolha dos pais dos alunos baseada no mérito de formação, ferindo gravemente a qualidade do futuro dos alunos que recorrem ao ensino público, precisamente incluindo os mais desprotegidos e com menos recursos económicos.

Isto funcionou até ao momento em que este Governo tomou posse, e, com ele, o melhor e mais esclarecido Ministro de Educação que temos nesta IIIª República. Centrou a educação nos alunos e não nos direitos adquiridos dos professores, melhorou os conteúdos formativos e criou sistemas que poderão permitir aos pais escolherem as escolas dos seus filhos, transformando o ensino público em escolas que realmente ensinam e não em fábricas de horários ocupacionais de grande parte dos jovens portugueses.

A greve dos professores em dia de exames, precisamente no dia de exames, depois de o Ministro da Educação ter cedido no horários de trabalho e na mobilidade e mostrar disponibilidade para mudar a data de exames desde que o sindicato não marcasse greve para a nova data, é a instrumentalização dos professores, angustiados pela reforma em curso no sector público, por parte do PC para os utilizar como carne de canhão contra os alunos, contra os pais dos alunos e, sobretudo, contra eles próprios, obrigando-os a abdicar de um acto essencial da sua profissão de ensinar para servilmente servirem um modelo ideológico que não respeita os direitos dos alunos.

No fundo, tenho pena dos professores: estão entre a parede das circunstâncias que hoje obrigam à reforma da dimensão do Estado, e a espada da minoria comunista que durante trinta e nove anos criou as circunstâncias em que agora se encontram.

Em tempo:

“depois de terem marcado a greve para dia de exames, alegando a defesa da escola pública, sindicalistas e grevistas queixam-se que se os exames não forem adiados, os alunos do privado são beneficiados porque os professores dos colégios privados não fazem greve”.

Pois é !

E também em relação aos alunos do ensino público que puderam fazer os exames.

Entretanto, hoje, dia de greve, às 16,00 hrs:

O MInistro da Educação, Nuno Crato, em conferência de imprensa, fez ainda um balanço desta greve, apontando dados provisórios do Júri Nacional de Exames: “mais de 70% dos alunos realizaram os seus exames e 73% das escolas com exames marcados realizaram-nos a 100%”.

Posto isto, Nuno Crato deixou uma palavra de “apreço” pela “grande responsabilidade de directores e professores que puseram acima de tudo o interesse dos seus alunos”.

E às 19,00 hrs:

O líder da Fenprof, perante o falhanço do que pretendia, garante que a greve não era contra os exames, era uma greve de professores. A sério ? Então porque a fez no dia de exames ?

Registe-se a lamentável falta de probidade profissional de parte da imprensa, com destaque para a SICn e o Público, que tomaram como suas as justificações comunistas da Fenprof.

Sweet Home Chicago

Maurício Barra — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 10:26:29 GMT

Nighty-one year old blues legend and N.E.A. Recipient Robert Lockwood, Jr. plays live on stage at the Palace Theatre in Grapevine, Texas.

Robert Lockwood was playing professionally at parties in the Helena area by the age of fifteen. He often played at fish fries, juke joints, and street corners throughout the Mississippi Delta in the 1930s with his stepfather Robert Johnson, and also occasionally with Sonny Boy Williamson II or Johnny Shines.
In 1941, Lockwood made his first recordings with Doctor Clayton for the Bluebird label in Aurora, Illinois. During these same sessions, he also recorded the four songs which were released as the first two singles under his own name, which were early versions of his staple repertoire. These recordings were released as 78s on Bluebird Records. The same year he and Rice Miller aka Sonny Boy Williamson II were featured on the first King Biscuit Time radio program on KFFA in Helena, Arkansas. For several years in the early 1940s the pair played together in and around Helena and continued to be associated with King Biscuit Time. From about 1944 to 1949 Lockwood played in West Memphis, Arkansas, St. Louis, Chicago and Memphis. He would also serve as an influence for B. B. King early in his career playing with King's band in Memphis.

Smile At Me

Maurício Barra — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 10:25:06 GMT

Howlinf Wolf was a musical giant in every way. He stood 6Œ 3, wore size 16 shoes, had skin so dark it shined like silver, and poured out his darkest sorrows in a rough gravely voice. Half a century after his first hits, Wolffs sound still terrifies and inspires. It is of little wonder why Sam Phillips who also discovered Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis, referred to Howlinf Wolf as his greatest discovery.

You Got To Pay

Maurício Barra — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 10:23:37 GMT

Magic Slim was forced to give up playing the piano when he lost his little finger in a cotton gin mishap. He moved first to nearby Grenada. He first came to Chicago in 1955 with his friend and mentor Magic Sam. The elder Magic (Sam) let the younger Magic (Slim) play bass with his band and gave him his nickname.

At first Slim was not rated very highly by his peers. He returned to Mississippi to work and got his younger brother Nick interested in playing bass. By 1965 he was back in Chicago and in 1970 Nick joined him in his group, the Teardrops. They played in the dim, smoke-filled juke joints popular in Chicago in the 1970s on bandstands barely large enough to hold the band.

Night Time Is The Right Time

Maurício Barra — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 10:21:44 GMT

Roosevelt Sykes filmed in 1965 performing his classic song "Night Time Is The Right Time."
Blues pianist Roosevelt Sykes billed as "The Honey Dripper" recorded "Night Time Is the Right Time" for Decca in 1937 calling it "one of his 'hits' of the day." The song is a moderate-tempo twelve-bar blues that features Sykes on vocal and piano. It has been suggested that it was drawn from the old vaudeville tradition.
In 1938, Big Bill Broonzy recorded the song with slightly different (and more suggestive) lyrics. The same year, Roosevelt Sykes recorded a second version titled "Night Time Is the Right Time #2", also with different lyrics. These earliest recordings of "Night Time Is the Right Time" are credited to Roosevelt Sykes and Leroy Carr. Although Carr died in 1935 without any known recordings of the song, "Night Time Is The Right Time" bears considerable similarity to Carr's "When The Sun Goes Down". The latter was phenomenally popular song at this time, having been covered by the Ink Spots and also serving as a model for "Love In Vain" by Robert Johnson.

Ramblin' Blues

Maurício Barra — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 10:20:02 GMT

Johnny Shines was born in Frayser, Memphis in 1915 and spent most of his childhood in the city playing slide guitar at an early age in local “jukes” and for tips on the streets. He was "inspired by the likes of Charley Patton, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lonnie Johnson, and the young Howlin' Wolf", but he was taught to play the guitar by his mother. Shines moved to Hughes, Arkansas in 1932 and worked on farms for three years putting his musical career on hold. It was a chance meeting with Robert Johnson, his greatest influence, that gave him the inspiration to return to music. In 1935, Shines began traveling with Johnson, touring the south and heading as far north as Ontario where they appeared on a local radio program. The two went their separate ways in 1937, one year before Johnson's death.

Future Blues

Maurício Barra — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 10:18:22 GMT

Born Willie Lee Brown on August 6, 1900 in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Brown played with such notables as Charley Patton and Robert Johnson. He was not known to be a self-promoting frontman, preferring to "second" other musicians. Little is known for certain about the man whom Robert Johnson referenced "You can run, you can run, tell my friend Willie Brown" in his prophetic "Cross Road Blues", and whom Johnson indicated should be notified in event of his death. Brown is heard on Patton's 1930 sessions of Paramount, at which time he also made his only surviving commercial solo recordings "M & O Blues," and "Future Blues." At least four other songs he recorded for Paramount have never been found.
Apart from playing with Son House and Charlie Patton it has also been said that he played with artists such as Luke Thomson and Thomas "Clubfoot" Coles. David Evans has reconstructed the early biography of a Willie Brown living in Drew, Mississippi, until 1929. He is recalled as singing and playing guitar with Charley Patton and others in the neighbourhood of Drew. Informants with conflicting memories led Gayle Dean Wardlow and Steve Calt to conclude that this was a different Willie Brown. Evans rejects this, believing that the singing and guitar style of the 1931 recordings is clearly in the tradition of other performers from Drew such as Charley Patton, Tommy Johnson, Kid Bailey, Howling Wolf and artists recorded non-commercially.
Although certain details of his early life remain unclear, Willie Brown did settle in Robinsonville, Mississippi around 1929, moving to Lake Cormorant, Mississippi by 1935. He performed occasionally with Charley Patton, and continually with Son House until his death. Brown died of heart disease in Tunica, Mississippi in 1952, at the age of 52.

Walkin' Blues

Maurício Barra — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 10:16:14 GMT

Recorded by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress at Klack's Store in Lake Cormorant, Mississippi during August 1941 with Son House (guitar & vocal), Willie Brown (guitar), Fiddlin' Joe Martin (mandolin), and Leroy Williams (harmonica). This recording was made by Alan Lomax for a joint project between Fisk University and the Library of Congress documenting the music of Coahoma County, Mississippi in the Summer of 1941. On this date Brown played second guitar on three performances by the whole band, and also recorded one solo, "Make Me a Pallet on the Floor."

The Search for Robert Johnson (1991 Documentary)

Maurício Barra — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 10:14:37 GMT

The Search for Robert Johnson is a 1991 UK television documentary film about the legendary Delta blues musician Robert Johnson, hosted by John Hammond, and produced and directed by Chris Hunt. In it, Hammond travels through the American Deep South to pursue topics such as Johnson's birth date, place and parents, his early musical development, performances and travels, romances, his mythic "pact with the devil," his untimely murder in his late twenties, the discovery of possible offspring, and the uncertainty over where Johnson is buried. Throughout, Johnson's music is both foreground and background, from recordings of Johnson and as performed on camera by Hammond, David Honeyboy Edwards, and Johnny Shines. -

Feel So Bad

Maurício Barra — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 10:12:58 GMT

Little Milton performs live on the television show "Night Music" in 1989 backed by Robben Ford (guitar), Philippe Saisse (Keyboards), Marcus Miller (bass), and Omar Hakim (drums). Additionally participants include jazz group "The Lounge Lizards" and female singing trio "The Roaches."
In 1988, Little Milton was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and won a W.C. Handy Award. His most final album, "Think of Me", was released in May 2005 on the Telarc imprint, and included writing and guitar on three songs by Peter Shoulder of the UK-based blues-rock trio Winterville. -

Death Letter Blues

Maurício Barra — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 10:11:20 GMT

Blues legend Son House is captured during an exemplary 1960's performance of "Death Letter Blues," a song he originally recorded in 1928. After years of hostility to secular music, as a preacher, and for a few years also as a church pastor, Eddie "Son" House turned to blues performance at the age of 25. He quickly developed a unique style by applying the rhythmic drive, vocal power and emotional intensity of his preaching to the newly learned idiom. In a short career interrupted by a spell in Parchman Farm penitentiary, he developed to the point that Charley Patton, the foremost blues artist of the Mississippi Delta region, invited him to share engagements, and to accompany him to a 1930 recording session for Paramount Records. Issued at the start of The Great Depression, the records did not sell and did not lead to national recognition. Locally, Son remained popular, and in the 1930s, together with Patton's associate, Willie Brown, he was the leading musician of Coahoma County. There he was a formative influence on Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. In 1941 and 1942, House and the members of his band were recorded by Alan Lomax and John W. Work for Library of Congress and Fisk University. The following year, he left the Delta for Rochester, New York and gave up music. In 1964, a group of young white record collectors discovered House, who they knew of from his records issued by Paramount and by the Library of Congress. With their encouragement, he relearned his style and repertoire and enjoyed a career as an entertainer to young white audiences in the coffee houses, folk festivals and concert tours of the American folk music revival billed as a "folk blues" singer. He recorded several albums, and some informally taped concerts have also been issued as albums. Son House passed away in 1988.

Beautiful Lov

Maurício Barra — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 10:07:15 GMT

Crazy He Calls Me ......

Maurício Barra — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 10:06:10 GMT

Amazing Performance

Maurício Barra — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 10:03:42 GMT

Armando Anthony Corea was born on June 12, 1942 in Chelsea, Massachusetts and his father was a trumpet player who performed Dixieland Jazz in the Boston area in the 1930s and ‘40s. Chick began learning piano at the age of four and drums at eight years old. His early Jazz influences included Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Bud Powell among others. Early on in his piano explorations, Corea studied with Salvatore Sullo who introduced him to classical music and composition. Chick also played drums in a Drum and Bugle Corp and its clear this had an impact on the way he approaches the piano. Corea started playing professionally in high school leading a trio that played the music of Horace Silver and also worked with Portuguese band leader Phil Barboza and drummer Bill Fitch. After high school Chick moved to New York and studied music at Columbia University for one month and The Julliard School for six months before deciding that formal education of such kind was not what he needed and he was ready to begin performing full time.
In the 1960s Chick played with Blue Mitchell, Herbie Mann, Sarah Vaughan, Willie Bobo and Mongo Santamaria among others. One of the first albums Corea recorded on was Blue Mitchell’s ‘The Thing to Do’. In 1966 Chick released his first album as a leader entitled ‘Tones for Joan’s Bones’ followed a few years later by the album ‘Now He Sings, Now He Sobs’ with Miroslav Vitous on bass and Roy Haynes on drums. Corea also played with Stan Getz on his album ‘Sweet Rain’ in 1967. In the late 1960s Chick began exploring the avant garde and in 1968 he replaced Herbie Hancock in Miles Davis’ band. Chick can be heard on Davis’ albums ‘Filles de Kilimanjaro’, ‘In a Silent Way’, ‘Bitches Brew’, ‘Black Beauty: Live at the Fillmore West’, ‘Miles Davis at Fillmore: Live at the Fillmore East’ and the famous Isle of Wright concert. Corea left Miles in the early 1970s to form his own group called Circles with Dave Holland, Anthony Braxton and Barry Altschul.
In 1971 Chick formed the incredible band Return to Forever which first featured Flora Purim, Joe Farrell and Airto Moreira. In 1972 he recorded the album ‘Captain Marvel’ with many of his own band’s tunes for an album under Stan Getz’ name with Stanley Clark and Tony Williams. Return to Forever would evolve and become Corea with Clarke, Bill Conners and Lenny White before Al Di Meola replaced Connors on guitar. In 1972 they released the album ‘Light as a Feather’ which featured quite possibly Chick’s most famous tune, Spain. Also in the ‘70s Corea would collaborate on a series of duets with such great musicians as Gary Burton and Herbie Hancock and would perform duos later in his career with Bela Fleck and Hiromi Uehara among others. In the 1980s Chick began moving in a different direction with his bands Akustic Band, Elektric Band and Origins. In 1998 Corea worked with Pat Metheny, Gary Barton, Dave Holland and Roy Haynes for the album ‘Like Minds’. In the late 90s Chick delved into classical music and composed his first piano concerto; an adaptation of Spain for full orchestra and it was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra in 1999. In 2006 Corea won a Grammy for his album ‘Ultimate Adventure’ and in 2008 he reformed Return to Forever with Clarke, White and Al De Meola. Also in 2008 Chick toured internationally with John McLaughlin, Kenny Garrett, Christain McBride and drummers Brian Blade as well as Vinnie Colaiuta.
At sixty nine years old, Chick Corea continues going strong and exploring himself and music. While his legacy is still in the works, Chick is a master Jazz musician and piano player and his influence on this music has been great. Corea also already leaves a legacy as one of the greatest Jazz composers in history. Among his awards received include over ten Grammy awards and many more nominations, has won tons of Jazz polls from Down Beat and many others, the NEA Jazz Masters Award, Award of the Piano Festival Ruhr and many others. Get out and see Chick Corea live and soak up the wisdom and beautiful music of a true Jazz legend.
“The most important lesson I took from Miles was his certainty as an artist. He was criticized in a lot of different ways, as most artists are ... when they try and do something, but he never wavered from continuing to make the kind of music that he really wanted to make. And that was very inspiring to me, ... that spiritual quality of courage and forthrightness.”
“It's very difficult for me to dislike an artist. No matter what he's creating, the fact that he's experiencing the joy of creation makes me feel like we're in a brotherhood of some kind... we're in it together.”
“Art is a subject that is inundated with opinions. In fact, that's all it is about is opinions.”

Don Cherry Interview

Maurício Barra — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 10:01:35 GMT

Lágrimas Negras

Maurício Barra — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 09:56:48 GMT

Cuban pianist, arranger and composer Bebo Valdés, 94, a multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy winner who was one of the last major figures of the golden era of Cuban music, died Friday in Stockholm. The cause was pneumonia, according to Nat Chediak, a producer and author who worked extensively with Valdés and became a close friend.
Valdés, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease in his last years, had retired to the town of Benalmádena in southern Spain, and his son Chucho Valdés, 71, a pianist, bandleader and star in his own right, had moved nearby to care for him. But two weeks ago, Valdés was taken back to Sweden, where he had remarried and started a new family during the 1960s. His second wife, Rose Marie, died last year.
Valdés had already lived a full life and had a stellar career when Cuban saxophonist and clarinetist Paquito D´Rivera lured him out of retirement in 1994. The resulting album, Bebo Rides Again, was the beginning of one of the most extraordinary second acts in music.
“Helping to bring back Bebo after 30-something years and helping start a new life is one my proudest achievements,” said D’Rivera, who was reached backstage at the Arsht Center, where he played Friday night.

ORIGINS OF ‘CUBOP’
“The importance of his contributions to Cuban music is enormous. His piano approach was quintessentially Cuban, but he loved jazz piano so he had the perfect combination. And as an arranger he had a very distinct way of writing for large orchestra. He led one of the great orchestras in Cuban music history. And on top of that, he was a true gentleman.”
Valdés’ revived career gathered momentum after his appearance in Calle 54, a 2000 documentary about Latin jazz by Oscar-winning Spanish filmmaker Fernando Trueba. The collaboration was the start of a remarkably productive relationship.
Trueba and Chediak became the producers of recordings including El Arte del Sabor with Valdes’ old friends Israel “Cachao” López and Patato Valdés (no relation); Lágrimas Negras, a collaboration with flamenco singer Diego el Cigala that became an international hit; Bebo de Cuba, Valdés’ panoramic view of Afro-Cuban music, and the emotional Juntos Para Siempre, a duet recording with son Chucho. Those albums earned Valdés three Grammys and six Latin Grammys.
Valdés appeared in other Trueba films including The Shanghai Spell (2002) and The Miracle of Candeal (2004), in which he had a leading role playing himself. He was the inspiration and provided the music for the Oscar-nominated animated film Chico & Rita (2012), his final work.
Chediak, author of the Diccionario de Jazz Latino (the Latin Jazz Dictionary), pointed to two notable moments in Valdés’ career:
“In 1952 Bebo recorded for [American producer] Norman Granz a descarga, the first Cuban jam session. His song Con Poco Coco was an Afro-Cuban bebop jazz tune, what was then called Cubop. And 50 years later he recorded his magnum opus, The Cuban Suite … which stands as one of the landmark extended compositions in the history of Afro-Cuban jazz.”

AN AMERICAN AFFAIR
Born Ramón Emilio Valdés Amaro in Quivicán, a town near Havana, Valdés had classical conservatory training — and a fascination for American music.
“I’ve always been a lover of American music,” he said in an interview with The Miami Herald. “God gave me some talent, but I owe a lot to Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Tommy Dorsey, Stan Kenton, Glenn Miller, Dizzy Gillespie and all those great musicians. I knew their scores by heart and I adore them even now.’’
His early career included a stint as a music consultant for Havana’s Tropicana club, where he arranged for Cuban artists such as Rita Montaner, Rolando Laserie and Beny Moré
“Bebo was the Quincy Jones of his day,” Chediak said. “If you wanted to be in the jukeboxes you went to Bebo and you were as good as gold and he did it for the cream of the crop in the golden age of Cuban music.”
He also composed memorable pieces such as La rareza del siglo, now an Afro-Cuban standard; created the batanga, a dance style; and accompanied visiting stars such as Nat King Cole.
But as the political climate in Cuba changed in the late 1950s, he found himself “chased’’ from job to job, he said in an interview with The Miami Herald. So in 1959 he organized his own orchestra, the fabled Sabor de Cuba, as a way to leave the island. On Oct. 26, 1960, Valdés left with singer Laserie for Mexico “to fulfill a contract that didn’t actually exist.” He left carrying tapes of the orchestra and enough music for two albums.
“I couldn’t take money out of Cuba, so I took the tapes to sell in Mexico,” he recalled. As for so many Cubans, what began as a temporary departure became a lifetime exile. Valdés never returned to Cuba.
He lived in Mexico City for 18 months, stayed briefly in Spain and toured Europe. On a stop in Stockholm, he met Rose Marie Persson, settled in Sweden and started a new family and a new life. For more than 30 years, Valdés lived in musical obscurity, first touring but, later, as his older son started school, playing hotel lounges. Then came the call, and a dazzling final act.
Survivors include daughters Mayra and Miriam and sons Raul, Jesus “Chucho” and Ramon, born in Cuba, and Raymond and Rickard, who are Swedish.

O Fialho de Évora

Maurício Barra — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 07:48:34 GMT

O recente passamento de Gabriel Fialho, dos três irmãos o que oficiava nos tachos, causa tristeza a quem teve ( e tem ) como referência este templo da gastronomia alentejana no secular burgo eborense. O Fialho, depois de conquistar a freguesia vizinha, foi o farol de Évora que alumiou um caminho de devoção a forasteiros que, logo na primeira visita, se deliciavam deslumbrados com uma mesa de alto gabarito.

Hoje o Fialho não está sozinho. Há o Luar de Janeiro, a Tasquinha do Oliveira, o Quarta-Feira, entre outros, só para falar nos mais conhecidos dentro do casco histórico da cidade. Mas o Fialho continuou sempre a ser o Fialho, incontornável e, sobretudo, a fasquia que media a qualidade das alternativas. Todos beneficiaram. Hoje Évora é um destino de referência gastronómico, um porto acolhedor que nunca desilude.

Em homenagem a Gabriel Fialho, deixo-vos com três receitas que faziam ( fazem ) parte do cardápio do restaurante. Receitas com alma alentejana: de serem tão singelas são tão perfeitas.

PEZINHOS DE PORCO DE COENTRADA

1º Numa panela junte os pezinhos, a cebola cortada em metades com a casca e os cravinhos. Leve ao lume e deixe cozinhar durante uma hora até ficar perfeitamente cozido.

2º Num tacho leve ao lume o azeite e o alho picado. Adicione os pezinhos embocados ou desossados e deixe cozinhar durante 3 minutos. Numa chávena, misture o vinagre com a farinha.

3º Junte o preparado da chávena ao tacho com o azeite mexendo vigorosamente. Adicione os coentros por inteiro.

4º Junte as gemas batidas e mexa rapidamente. Sirva de imediato.

ARROZ DE POMBO COM HORTELÃ

Este prato tradicional é uma das muitas expressões da gastronomia alentejana, tendo sido concorrente às 7 maravilhas da gastronomia portuguesa, na categoria de caça.

Ingredientes:

2 colheres (sopa) de banha

2 colheres (sopa) de vinho branco

2 folhas de louro

4 colheres (sopa) de azeite

4 pombos bravos

400 g de arroz

hortelã q.b.

sal e pimenta q.b.

Confecção:

Estufe os pombos no azeite, juntamente com a banha e o louro. Tempere com sal e pimenta a gosto.

Quando os pombos começarem a ficar tenros, regue-os com o vinho branco, deixando-os cozer bem e apurar. Se necessário, junte um pouco de água.

Quando estiverem cozinhados, retire os pombos do molho e adicione água para cozer o arroz (na proporção de três vezes a quantidade de arroz).

Deixe levantar fervura, rectifique os temperos e junte o arroz, deixando-o cozer.

Quando o arroz estiver quase cozido, envolva os pombos cortados em quartos.

Sirva decorado com pés de hortelã.

foto The CookieShop

TECOLAMECO

Ingredientes

500g de açúcar

250g de miolo de amêndoa (retire a pele e moa no processador, ou use farinha de amêndoas)

25g de manteiga

10g de banha ou margarina de boa qualidade (usei manteiga)

10 gemas de ovo

2 ovos inteiros

3 dl/ 300ml de água

1 pau de canela

canela em pó

Preparação

Leve o açúcar e a água ao lume com o pau de canela e faça ponto de pérola.

Retire e junte a amêndoa (pelada e moída), a manteiga e a banha (gordura de porco) ou margarina. Leve de novo ao lume e deixe engrossar.

Deixe arrefecer e misture os ovos e as gemas (cuidado deve estar sob o frio para as gemas não cozerem) juntar uma pitada de canela a gosto.

Depois de muito bem misturado coloque numa forma de aro muito bem untada e forrada com papel vegetal também untado. Leve ao forno 180 mais ou menos 40 minutos, faça o teste do palito. Depois de desenformado (deve ficar invertida, o fundo do bolo é a parte de cima, como um pudim) pinte com calda de açúcar (apenas polvilhei açúcar de confeiteiro) e enfeite com uma flor.

( receita obtida in The Cookie Shop )

Cabo das Tormentas ou Cabo da Boa Esperança

Maurício Barra — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 06:28:42 GMT

«Pensei que se poderia dar prioridade à consolidação orçamental e à estabilização financeira sem uma transformação estrutural profunda das administrações públicas. Neste momento, é claro que um esforço muito mais concentrado, desde o primeiro dia, na transformação das administrações públicas teria sido mais apropriado», explicou Vítor Gaspar.

"Investir em Portugal tem sido um verdadeiro pesadelo. O que tem sido feito é criar mais impedimentos ao investimento. Queremos agilizar o investimento [porque] é inaceitável que um empresário fique cinco, seis ou sete anos para licenciar um investimento.”, disse o ministro da Economia e do Emprego, Álvaro Santos Pereira.

Salgueiro Maia, antes de sair de Santarém na madrugada do 25 de Abril para liderar o golpe de Estado que nos deu a democracia, disse aos soldados formados na parada que “há Estados para todos os gostos, mas o que eles tinham de resolver era o Estado a que isto chegou”.

Infelizmente, “ O Estado a que isto chegou” continuou, desde então, a ser uma síndroma nacional permanente. Após 1975, com as nacionalizações selvagens de um Conselho da Revolução controlado pelo PC em Março desse ano, posteriormente ratificado com uma Constituição que garantia direitos e privilégios leoninos ao sector público e aos trabalhadores do Estado em detrimento do sector privado, transformando as suas empresas e a maioria dos seus trabalhadores em portugueses de segunda, algemando a sua iniciativa.

O Estado sobredimensionado é o resultado desta disfuncionalidade, com uma nomenklatura sustentada por um projecto ideológico , paga pelo bolso dos portugueses, que nos trouxe ao “ Estado em que acabámos por ficar agora “, a bancarrota.

Bancarrota, que acabou por não o ser sentida até às últimas consequências pelos portugueses, porque entidades financeiras europeias e internacionais subsidiam a nossa recuperação, o que proporcionou a oportunidade de, consolidando o deficit orçamental, reformar o Estado, reduzindo-o para a dimensão apropriada, ou seja, para uma dimensão que, cumprindo a sua função social, respeitasse a carga de impostos que os portugueses poderiam pagar.

Mas, infelizmente, tal como confirmam os Ministros, nada de substancial no deficit estrutural e no investimento foi feito. Este Governo limitou.se a governar as circunstâncias, mas não reestruturou. Secaram as famílias, as empresas e a economia portuguesa dos seus recursos e da sua liquidez com uma dose brutal de impostos, e o Estado sobredimensionado, esse, ficou incólume para continuar a esmagar-nos.

E vai continuar, se o PS antigo, o que andou tantas vezes a toque de caixa da coacção ideológica do PC, BE e da sua esquerda marxista, voltar ao poder. Agravando decisivamente e definitivamente a situação económica e financeira portuguesa. Porque este PS que Mário Soares quer aliado com os partidos antidemocráticos, por motivos ideológicos, prefere o caos ( sair do euro e/ou sair da Europa ) a perder a estrutura de poder que o alimenta e se alimenta da sociedade portuguesa para a controlar.

A reforma do Estado, o corte indispensável na estrutura da despesa pública é o “break even point” do nosso próximo futuro: é o Cabo das Tormentas para os que querem ficar no passado burocratizante, asfixiante e clientelar a caminho da perdição; ou será o Cabo da Boa Esperança para os que querem continuar no Euro, na Europa e com a garantia de que viveremos numa democracia que ofereça estabilidade política, social e de segurança cívica aos seus cidadãos.

Cut You Loose

Maurício Barra — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 11:05:06 GMT

Cool Drink Of Water Blues

Maurício Barra — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 09:52:54 GMT

Houston Stackhouse (guitar and vocal), and Joe Willie Wilkins (2nd guitar) perform Tommy Johnson's "Cool Drink Of Water Blues" in Memphis, Tennessee on January 19th 1976.
Stackhouse was born Houston Goff, in Wesson, Mississippi. Relocating with his family to Crystal Springs, Mississippi, in his teens he became inspired listening to local musicians and by the recordings of Blind Blake, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Lonnie Johnson. By the late 1930s, Stackhouse had played guitar around the Delta states and worked with members of the Mississippi Sheiks as well as Robert Johnson, and Charlie McCoy. He also teamed up with his distant cousin, Robert Nighthawk, whom he taught how to play guitar. Originally a fan of Tommy Johnson, Stackhouse often covered his songs. In 1946, Stackhouse moved to Helena, Arkansas to live near to Nighthawk, and for a time was a member of Nighthawk’s band, playing on KFFA radio.
He split from Nighthawk in 1947 and alongside the drummer James "Peck" Curtis, appeared on KFFA's "King Biscuit Time" program, with the guitar player Joe Willie Wilkins plus pianists Pinetop Perkins and Robert Traylor. Sonny Boy Williamson II then rejoined the show, and that combo performed across the Delta, using their radio presence to advertise their concert performances.
Stackhouse tutored both Jimmy Rogers and Sammy Lawhorn on guitar techniques. Between 1948 and 1954, Stackhouse worked during the day at the Chrysler plant in West Helena, Arkansas, and played the blues in his leisure time. He did not move from the South, unlike many of his contemporaries, and continued to perform locally into the 1960s with Frank Frost, Boyd Gilmore and Baby Face Turner. In May 1965, Sonny Boy Williamson II, who was by then back on "King Biscuit Time", utilised Stackhouse when he was recorded in concert by Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie Records. The recording was issued under Williamson's name, titled King Biscuit Time. Shortly afterwards, Williamson died, but Stackhouse continued briefly on the radio program, back in tandem with Nighthawk. Houston Stackhouse died at age of 69 in Helena, Arkansas on September 23, 1980.

Long Distance Call

Maurício Barra — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 09:50:38 GMT

Diggin' My Potatoes

Maurício Barra — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 09:49:19 GMT

Junker's Blues

Maurício Barra — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 09:47:21 GMT

Champion Jack Dupree performs live at the Montreux Jazz Festival on June 17th 1971 with King Curtis (tenor sax), Cornell Dupree (guitar), Jerry Jemmott (bass), and Oliver Jackson (drums). Filmed two months before King Curtis' tragic death.
Around midnight on August 13, 1971 Curtis Ousley (King Curtis) was lugging an air-conditioning unit toward his brownstone apartment on West 86th Street in New York City when he noticed two substance abusers were using drugs on the steps to his home. When he asked them to leave, an argument started. The argument quickly became heated and turned into a fist fight with one of the men, 26-year old Juan Montanez. Montanez pulled a knife and stabbed Curtis in the chest. Curtis managed to wrest the knife away and stab his assailant four times before collapsing. Montanez staggered away from the scene and Curtis was taken to Roosevelt Hospital, where he died from his wounds less than an hour later.
Montanez was arrested at the same hospital Curtis had been taken to. When police officers investigating the murder discovered that another man had been admitted to Roosevelt hospital with stab wounds around the same time as Curtis, they quickly realized the two events were connected. Montanez was charged with Curtis' murder and subsequently sentenced to a term of imprisonment.
On the day of Curtis' funeral Atlantic Records closed their offices. Jesse Jackson administered the service and as the mourners filed in, Curtis's band "The Kingpins" played "Soul Serenade". Among those attending were Ousley's immediate family including sister Josephine Ousley Allen, other family members, Aretha Franklin, Cissy Houston, Brook Benton and Duane Allman. Franklin sang the closing spiritual "Never Grow Old" and Stevie Wonder performed "Abraham, Martin and John and now King Curtis".
Curtis was subsequently buried in a red granite-fronted wall crypt in the 'West Gallery of Forsythia Court' mausoleum at Pinelawn Memorial Park in Farmingdale, New York, the same cemetery that holds Jazz greats Count Basie and John Coltrane.

Moonshine Man Blues

Maurício Barra — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 09:45:35 GMT

This record was made by Peter Clayton in Chicago on July 1st 1941 accompanied by Blind John Davis (piano), Robert Lockwood (guitar), and unknown (string bass).
Peter Joe Clayton was born April 19, 1898 in Georgia, by most reports, although it has been claimed he was born in Africa and moved to St. Louis with his parents. In St. Louis he married and had four children and was employed as a factory worker. It was there that he started his singing career (he could also play piano and ukelele, though he never did so on record). Clayton recorded six sides for Bluebird Records in 1935, but only two were ever issued. Tragedy struck when Clayton's wife and children died in a house fire in 1937; following this Clayton became an alcoholic and began wearing outsized hats and glasses developing a pattern of drinking and living recklessly that would continue for the rest of his life. Moving to Chicago with Robert Lockwood, he received attention from Decca Records but ultimately returned to Bluebird, recording with them again in 1941-42. He also recorded for Okeh Records at this time. In his book "Big Bill Blues" Big Bill Broonzy reminisced about Clayton with obvious fondness: "Doctor Clayton was a good hearted boy. He wouldn't get a room, he wore tennis shoes in winter time and slept on pool tables and in alleys and basements, anywhere he could, because all the money he made from singing he would drink it up, or lose it in some kind of game.
Among the songs he wrote were "Cheating and Lying Blues", frequently covered by other blues artists; "Pearl Harbor Blues", written after the Pearl Harbor bombing of 1941; and "Moonshine Woman Blues", which became a chart hit for B. B. King under the name "The Woman I Love" in 1968. He recorded again in 1946, recording the tunes "Hold That Train, Conductor" and "I Need My Baby" which were also both covered by King. Most of his later recordings featured Blind John Davis on piano. He was a regional sales success and played regularly in Chicago nightclubs with Lockwood and Sunnyland Slim.
Clayton died of tuberculosis in January 1947, in Chicago, shortly after his second recording session. Big Bill Broonzy and Tampa Red attended his funeral.

Alabama Blues

Maurício Barra — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 09:44:12 GMT

Death Letter

Maurício Barra — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 09:42:17 GMT

Blues legend Son House is captured during an exemplary 1960's performance of "Death Letter Blues," a song he originally recorded in 1928.
After years of hostility to secular music, as a preacher, and for a few years also as a church pastor, Eddie "Son" House turned to blues performance at the age of 25. He quickly developed a unique style by applying the rhythmic drive, vocal power and emotional intensity of his preaching to the newly learned idiom. In a short career interrupted by a spell in Parchman Farm penitentiary, he developed to the point that Charley Patton, the foremost blues artist of the Mississippi Delta region, invited him to share engagements, and to accompany him to a 1930 recording session for Paramount Records.
Issued at the start of The Great Depression, the records did not sell and did not lead to national recognition. Locally, Son remained popular, and in the 1930s, together with Patton's associate, Willie Brown, he was the leading musician of Coahoma County. There he was a formative influence on Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. In 1941 and 1942, House and the members of his band were recorded by Alan Lomax and John W. Work for Library of Congress and Fisk University. The following year, he left the Delta for Rochester, New York and gave up music.
In 1964, a group of young white record collectors discovered House, who they knew of from his records issued by Paramount and by the Library of Congress. With their encouragement, he relearned his style and repertoire and enjoyed a career as an entertainer to young white audiences in the coffee houses, folk festivals and concert tours of the American folk music revival billed as a "folk blues" singer. He recorded several albums, and some informally taped concerts have also been issued as albums. Son House died in 1988.