Milton Nascimento - Ponta De Areia

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Milton Nascimento possesses one of the most immediately
recognizable voices in Brazilian music: high and sweet and
as breathtakingly sublime as that of any soul singer. It
was this voice that the legendary singer Elis Regina fell
in love with in 1967, having heard Milton perform his song
‘Canção do Sal (Sultry Song)’ at a private party in Sao
Paulo. Ellis went on to record the song later that year -
giving Milton his first hit in Brazil and beginning a
career that has spanned 37 years.

In 1976, Milton and his long-term writing partner Fernando Brant teamed up with Argentinean choreographer Oscar Araiz and new contemporary dance company Grupo Corpo to create a ballet based on the composite life story of a slave called Maria. Nascimento wrote music to Brant's lyrics and "Maria Maria" was premiered in the Belo Horizonte Palácio das Artes that year.
Relying on songs without lyrics as well as evocative vocalizing and choruses, Milton experimented heavily with Afro-Brazilian percussion and taped jungle sounds. His composing method for these recordings was highly unconventional: "I wrote the music for ‘Maria Maria’ in a tiny Rio apartment with friends and their kids running around and having fun! I love to be in noisy places, surrounded by people".
The music on ‘Maria Maria’ was performed by an impressive group of young musicians who are today household names in Brazilian music, including Naná Vasconcelos (percussion and effects), Toninho Horta (guitars) and Paulo Moura (sax). Several vocalists including Naná Caymmi, Fafá de Belém, Beto Guedes, and Milton himself, had hits in years to come with reworkings of these songs.
Milton says his compositions follow his visions "like a movie", and he believes that reflects his long love affair with cinema. "I only began composing because of enjoying the movies so much," he says. "I wrote my first song after seeing ‘Jules et Jim’ (the cult 60s French film directed by François Truffaut)".I went early in the morning and watched it four or five times in a row ". The songs also include solo spoken passages set to music, clearly influenced by this style of French art cinema. On the title track, Maria's story is narrated and translated to music through the use of African percussion, drums and metal signifying the field slave tools of the day. ‘Trabalhos (Works)’ runs to work rhythms and whipcracks: no words, just pain. ‘Lília’ documents the beating of the slave woman. After ‘A Chamada (The call)’ and the triumphant ‘Era Rei e Sou Escravo (I was a king now I am a slave’ things begin to turn and Milton employs tropical jungle cries to symbolize freedom. ‘Santos Catolicos x Candomble(Catholic Saints vs Candomble)’ represents the battle between African and European religions through the music of both sides. Milton’s heavenly falsetto pours into ‘Francisco’ and ‘Pai Grande (Great Father)’ and the outstanding ‘Eu Sou uma Preta Velha Aqui Sentada no Sol (I'm an old black lady, sitting under the sun)’ conjures images of an old woman sitting deep in the forest, her memories painted in drums, piano and voices.
With the success of ‘Maria Maria’ behind them the team reunited in 1980 to produce another ballet, ‘Ultimo Trem (Last train)’. This time, they chose to tackle a more contemporarily relevant subject, the impact of the closure of a train line connecting Minas Gerais's towns and cities to the coast. "The military government shut down the route to a particular city in Minas and it was virtually abandoned and began to fade away," explains Milton. "I love train rides" adds the composer, "But today there are almost no trains in Brazil. So when I go to the US, any time I can, I go by train. The longer the journey the better." The title track, ‘Ultimo Trem’ - performed exquisitely by Zezé Mota with a choir and piano - is a mournful lament about the human consequences of the axed line. The ballet brought great media attention to the campaign against closure. "Most of Fernando's lyrics have some political tone," says Milton, "This one helped the area a lot because the politicians grew concerned about the subject."

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