Tim Mahon wrote: >Indeed -- and a miraculous discovery he is too. On a trip to Rio in '98 >I heard a piano bar player indulge his fancy for Nazareth;'s music late >at night -- my introduction to music that has become almost obsessional >for me. I can't hear enough of it, despite the fact that one or two of >my acquaintances dismiss it as "pub music." Popularly-inspired it may be >-- pedestrian it is most certainly not! Absolutely! As I said, Nazareth was very original, I believe he was the inventor of a genre, and his melodies, and rythms, are wonderful. Nazareth straddles the "border" between classical and popular, so some may have a problem placing him... It was with Nazareth that my husband first discovered that musical phrases can almost talk, in the sense that they remind us of the intonations of speech. I always said that to him, but he only got it with Nazareth and another one of my favorite early Brazilian composers, Pixinguinha. From then on he started to develop a more sophisticated taste in music, and now he's into classical too - which is a relief (much less techno-pop in the house). My absolute favorite of his is Odeon, I have a cd with 15 different versions of this song. >Oh -- and welcome to The List, Mariana! Thanks for the excuse to wax >enthusiastically about one of the stars in my own journey of discovery!! Thanks! And thanks for the opportunity to share the enthusiasm. Mariana.