Description

The first release on our sub label Day Dreamer Introducing the Orquestra Afro Brasileira.Groundbreaking orchestral jazz rooted in AfroBrazilian rhythms and Yoruba spirituality, Obaluay is one of the most important albums in Brazilian musical history.Little is known about Orquestra AfroBrasileira, and that which is tends towards folklorea. Conducted by maestro Abigail Moura, the group took to the stage around a hundred times between 1942 and 1970, releasing just two records the eponymous 1968 album Orquestra AfroBrasileria and Obaluay, originally released on Todamerica in 1957.A selftaught conductor and arranger, Abigail assembled Orquestra AfroBrasileira in order to tell stories of AfroBrazilian heritage and speak of the dramas and tragedies experienced by my race. The Orquestra celebrated significant dates and influential Black Brazilian historical figures in its performances, with a repertoire that moved between folk tales, Candombl chants and macumbas or invocations of orix the Yoruba deities sent by Olodumare to provide guidance for life on earth.Comprised of around twenty musicians, the Orquestra combined traditional Brazilian and West African percussion instruments such as Agog, Afox, Ganz, Atabaques and Angonaputa, with the sounds of saxophones, trombones, clarinets and the piano from the big band jazz tradition.Inspired by the orix responsible for the balance between disease and cure, Obaluay opens with a sermon, tracing the origins of the rhythms and their drums to the moments of joy, love and resistance that music provided in the horrific daily conditions faced by African slaves.For Abigails protg and percussionist on the groups 1968 album Carlos Negreiros, the power of the message was little short of lifechanging I became aware of what it is to be black, he says, discovering the extraordinary potential of the AfroBrazilian culture in the making of the national ethos.Although overlooked at the time, Orquestra AfroBrasileira inspired a generation of musicians such as Moacir Santos, as well as an array of contemporary devotees, such as hiphop pioneer DJ Nuts and Beastie Boys producer Mario Caldato Jr.. That Caldato Jr. has since tracked Carlos down to record a third Orquestra album is a testament to its lasting importance.Reissued on vinyl for the first time in over sixty years by Day Dreamer Records a new sub label from DirecttoDisc specialists Night Dreamer, Obaluay is described by Carlos as an icon of black music in Latin America. The time has come for Abigail and the Orquestra to receive the recognition they deserve.