I had to write something about Seu Jorge. My love of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou compels me to. Even just typing the name of that movie cracked me up. Seu Jorge is a dude, first of all, a Brazilian dude who is mad talented and plays such pretty pretty folk songs. In The Life Aquatic, he was a crewmember of the Belafonte who sang David Bowie songs in Portuguese. Yep, random. But amazing. It kind of makes sense… in that entire movie, nothing was what it was. This epic journey to find a jaguar shark was not an aquatic documentary. It was a tale of redemption! Personal struggle, connection, and triumph!

But, back to Seu. Or Jorge? Seu Jorge is a pretty big deal in Brazil and elsewhere, and has appeared on some very high-profile stages: Bonnaroo, a sweaty swamp music mecca, and Austin City Limits, aside from singing “Rebel Rebel” in Portuguese all over the top deck of the Belafonte. He classifies himself as Brazilian samba, or whatever that is. All I can say is, anything that this guy touches sounds amazing. He has a thick, warm voice full of sea turtle secrets, and his songs are infused with that friendly Jack Johnson-ish vibe. It doesn’t matter that you probably won’t understand what he’s saying. Seu Jorge is mad expressive, like an opera. You don’t need to speak German to know what’s going on. Let the sounds wash over you. Go ahead. It’s world culture. You’ll go buy a Deep Forest album after this show.

Expect this show to have a big, full-throated sound. Horns, guitar, whistle, bongo… it’s all fair game. I do think it is excellent that other countries haven’t given up on folk music. I feel like the U.S. approach to folk is to throw an “indie” label on it. Seu Jorge is a worthy import because he is keeping it real. The lyrics may reek of pure corn—“your face is like the sun, the day after the rains, and my coffee field thanks the watery goodness” or whatnot like crazed Spanish ballads (because I do not speak Portuguese, I don’t know!), but It is brave stuff, and really attests to the power of a great voice that can transcend even my suspicions of cheesy South American folk.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010, 8:00 p.m.
Seu Jorge and Almaz
The Troc, 1003 Arch St, Philadelphia PA, 19107
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