São Demais Os Perigos Desta Vida…

Of the encounters that have contributed to the history of Música Popular Brasileira, few have been so fruitful and enduring as the one that united Toquinho and Vinicius de Moraes. Over 100 joint compositions were born out of this 10-year partnership, and some of the finest from this catalog can be appreciated in “São Demais os Perigos Dessa Vida.” In this album, which is far from being the most famous of the fellow musicians, Toquinho and Vinicius play with the percussive and symbolic universe of Candomblé (an Afro-Brazilian religion that has long been dear to Vinicius) without giving up on “love,” a theme that prevails in all of the musical work of these artists. While love songs can easily fall into cliché, this is rarely the case on this album. Take, for instance, “Regra Três,” a guitar-led, low-profile samba on a relationship getting to its limit: this is one of the all-time hits of the Toquinho-Vinicius partnership. “Pra Viver Um Grande Amor,” likewise, talks of love with a sense of humor and alternates poetry recitation with a melodic chorus. An outstanding track (in terms of arrangement and theme) is “Chorando pra Pixinguinha”, a tribute to Pixinguinha — one of choro music’s founding fathers — that places the guitar as a melodic instrument (something not usual for traditional choro compositions). “Tatamirô,” one of the beautiful Afro-sambas of the album, also breaks arrangement patterns — particularly for its speed changes and the presence of candomblé drums.