Until a week ago, I’d never heard of Marcos Valle, despite being a die-hard fan of musica popular brasileira (MPB). When my Brazilian student told me about him in our last class, and my boss suggested I cover the show, I was hooked. And that’s what I did on Thursday evening, at the Fairmount Theatre, as the concert couldn’t be held at the Tulipe for reasons we all know.
The sold-out show drew a predominantly Brazilian crowd (many of whom we don’t often see at local community concerts), as well as a good number of Brazilian music fans from all generations.
Marcos Valle was accompanied for the occasion by a full band – drums/percussion, bass, keyboards, trumpet. The veteran musician and his colleagues certainly set the Fairmount on fire.
Dressed in an orange shirt, with long hair and a post-hippie air at the top of his 81 years, he settles nonchalantly in front of one of his two keyboards for the evening, and begins a well-paced instrumental song to set the tone for the evening. His keyboard phrasing is fluid and solid, in keeping with the context of his work. At times, he gets up in the middle of a song and stands in front of one of the musicians, watching him draw his solo. Also, he retains the assets of his former life as a charming bossa nova singer.
“I’m happy to be here with you. This American and Canadian tour is to celebrate my 60 years in the music business,” shares the octogenarian between two performances, before opening with Cinzento, a song he composed with the activist rapper Emicida.
His voice has aged a little, but the singer still manages to hold his notes and whisper his rhymes as only he can. But can we really expect perfection from an octogenarian who continues to sell out every venue he visits?
Despite technical problems at the start of the show, this did not detract from the rest of the evening. Patricia Alvo, Marcos Valle’s wife and backing singer, was also able to display her vocal talent… when her microphone was better adjusted by the sound engineer.
His famous song Mentira was a huge hit with the crowd, who rushed to get out their cell phones to immortalize the moment.
“I’m delighted that the new generation continues to listen to my music. It all started with the next song, which is called Crickets Sing For Ana Maria,” he announces. We were then treated to a long drum solo, followed by a version of Rocking You Internally. Marcos Valle also played several tracks from his recent album Túnel Acústico such as Feels so good and Toda Dia Santo (one of his classics on this album), which was well received by the audience.
We went from 60s/70s funk to groovy jazz, with harmonies typical of musica popular brasileira, all performed against a backdrop of samba, jazz, disco, baião and even batucada rhythms. At the end of the program, Patricia Alvi had fun filming the jubilant crowd and delighted musicians, well aware that this international tour may well be one of the last for this great artist… who is nonetheless in exemplary form! The only disappointment was that we didn’t have the pleasure of listening to Samba de Verão (Summer Samba), as I’d hoped during the encore, but instead got the track Bicicleta (Marcos is said to be a bicycle enthusiast), in which the trumpet featured prominently.
One thing’s for sure: it’s every artist’s dream to still be on stage at 81, touring as successfully as Marcos Valle.
