Rio’s carnaval is over. Yes, it went so fast, you barely noticed it, right? Well, do not despair my fellow samba dancers, because as they say, in Brazil carnaval goes year-round. There’s always a good excuse to burn some calories on the dance floor to the rhythm of Brazilian percussion. And if somebody here in the US knows a thing or two about Brazilian percussion is this guy Dende who trained with the bests: he was part of Carlinhos Brown‘s legendary drum-ensemble Timbalada since age 14!
Now Dende is all grown up and has a new album with his band (who are simply named “band”). It’s titled Back To Bahía (the state in north-east Brazil where he’s from) and it’s a 13-song voyage through various rhythms of the African diaspora developed in the Americas. There’s even some merengue!.
In “Como Começou,” however, we have him doing a more laid back Afro-beat-infused romantic song following the boy-meets-girl premise, with the boy asking the girl if she remembers how they met and how it all started. Here you have it as a free download and if you’re anywhere near New York City, you can go see the rest live at the album release party at S.O.B’s on March 2nd! Just bring some confortable shoes because there will be a lot of samba dancing.