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.