MILTON NASCIMENTO-TRAVESSIA(BRAZIL)

Milton Nascimento is one of the finest singers and musicians of our time. He is quite possibly the single biggest influence on Latin American music. During the late sixties and seventies, he was undoubtedly South America's most popular artiste. He has inspired musicians such as EWF(Earth Wind &Fire), Wayne Shorter(who he made an album with him and a review on that album is coming) and Esperanza Spalding to name a few. His body of work encompasses over thirty albums and he isn't finished yet. It should be noted that Milton has a significant advantage over most other artistes: a voice blessed to him by the Almighty himself. Moving between a falsetto and a bird call,he effortlessly transcends fantastic arrangements to make some of the finest music ever produced. Also, he is accompanied by fantastic musicians such as Lo Borges and Wagner Tiso. This review is just the first in a series of reviews that we  will be doing about this very imporant musician' work.
                                   In many circles, 1967 is a strange year in Brazillian music.'The Girl from Impanema' had just won the Grammy for album of the year,embodying the international success of Bossa Nova. However, the Military dictatoship's encroachment into the music industry creates an atmosphere which young, radical students reject Bossa Nova(as the dictatoship was backed by the United States) as a Brazillian gift to the Americans and music of the elite. It is readily replaced by Tropicalia, a movement led by folk-rock musicians(Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil at the fore) and poets. During this time an album that is so out of the ordinary is released upon an ususpecting public. 'Travessia' is not a Bossa album. It certainly is not a Tropicalia album. Milton and Ricardo Brandt in 1967 created something totally different, a real 'tour-de-force'. It starts off with the title track, a ballad that showcases Milton's undying love for the ballad In it Milton speaks of his traverses in the world of love and his particular love for a young woman and his searches for  the illusive 'bridge of love'.
'Tres Pontas' started particular trend where Milton sang songs for particular regions and places in Brazil. In this particular piece, he sang about the city of Tres Pontas, the city where he grew up. Tres Pontas is not as popular as other cities in Brazil such as Sao Paolo or Rio, so until very recently, it was not the absolute hub of development that these cities. In Milton's day, it remained very rural as expressed in the lyrics:

 Tip sand, period
Bahia-mines, road antural Bahia-mines, road antural
Linking mines to the port, the sea Linking mines to the port, the sea
Railway Railway sent sent boot boot

Old machinist with his bona  Old machinist with his bona
Remember the happy people who came courting Remember the happy people who came courting
Maria, do not smoke Maria sings more, do not smoke sings more

Pras bucks, flowers, windows and backyards Pras bucks, flowers, windows and backyards
In the empty plaza, a cry, a woe In the empty plaza, the cry, the woe
Houses equecidas, vià º vas the portals Houses equecidas, vià vas in portals'

Cancao do Sal is another ballad that has a full orchestra backing the band:

Working the salt is love is sweat I leaves
Vou viver cantando o dia tão quente que faz I will live singing day so hot that makes
Homem ver criança buscando conchinhas no mar Man seeking child see the sea shells
Trabalho o dia inteiro pra vida de gente levar I work all day to life we ​​lead

It should be noted that while Nacimento is a prolific writer, he has had help from several luminaries of Brazilian music such as the seminal band Tamba Trio(famous for a version of Jorge Ben's Mas Que Nada featured during advertisements for the national football team leading up to the 1998 World Cup), Wagner Tiso and Lo Borge, both members of the "Clube da Esquina".

That said, one in exploring the vast discography of this international treasure, should view this album, as great as it is, as the platform to much greater things done by him. Sometimes,music is able to transcend even the most fickle and volatile situations which present itself on a country and at least, bring about some measure of calm and fleeting distraction. Travessia(Crossings) accomplished this(for it is an accomplishment) in 1967 when the dictatorship was starting to show the precedent for the next twenty years