STEEN RASMUSSEN
   

It’s not very difficult to befriend a Brazilian. It’s more or less as easy as it is to get hooked on Brazilian music. It kind of just happens. And when the force of nature that is Steen Rasmussen hits you, you will be captivated.

 

From the bossa to the samba, the mpb and all the other sub-genres of this massive country: Steen has absorbed all of it. Unconditionally.

 

He has listened to all the best names, scoping them out: Joao Donato, Tania Maria, Djavan, Joyce, Elis Regina, Toquinho…the lot.

This is why he plays and composes as if he had been born in a flat in one of the side streets of the big boulevard I Leblon in Rio. As if he’d drunk passion fruit juice throughout his childhood, watched loads of dubious soaps, eaten grilled cheese and surfed in tight, light brown swimming trunks with a small gold buckle from the age of eleven.

 

His new album is excellent. It has got everything, and more.

Of course, and as always, it’s super, super well-performed, full of grand gestures and delicious details, a plethora of creativity – not just from him but a bunch of energetic guest names.

 

And man, the tunes are so wild! – or meu Deus as you’d say in Brazil. A complex nature like Jobim’s, an extremely exquisite and refined sadness (tristesa), plus the sophisticated rhythmic drive that is so difficult to handle if you’re not born and raised on bossanova and samba – or called Steen Rasmussen.

 

The fact that all these very inventive compositions are sung by outstanding names like Joyce, Barbara Casini and Leo Minax just makes you pinch yourself even harder.

 

An album which sways like a Rio beach breeze – two to three dashes of melancholy and one deep feeling served with refined ease.

 

I am mad about Brazilian music. My floor is on the verge of collapsing due to the weight of all the LPs from this huge, warm and super-exciting country which fill my shelves.

I am a total freak when it comes to the music from this unique nation. I listen to it all the time and I am constantly discovering not just new artists but old ones who have been lying around hidden…plus original takes on how this music can be interpreted.

 

Today I have made room for yet another album. One that’s built on a love for the Brazilian treasure of music – but nevertheless manages to appear brand new, super-refreshing and totally and utterly unique.

 

Obrigado, Steen Rasmussen. Muito Obrigado.

 

 

Morten Lindberg / Master Fatman