''Beat the Donkey'' is an album by percussionist

Cyro Baptista Cyro Baptista (born December 23, 1950) is a Brazilian percussionist in jazz and world music. He creates many of the percussion instruments he plays. Career Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Baptista arrived in the U.S. in 1980 with a scholarship to C ...

, which marked the debut of his rotating percussion and dance ensemble that would become known as Beat the Donkey, which was released on the

Tzadik Tzadik ( he, צַדִּיק , "righteous ne, also ''zadik'', ''ṣaddîq'' or ''sadiq''; pl. ''tzadikim'' ''ṣadiqim'') is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, such as biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The ...

label in 2002.Tzadik Catalogue: Beat the Donkey
accessed January 30, 2014

Reception

Michael G. Nastos of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

said "There is no real core band, but rather a Gypsy circus loose association with Baptista clearly the madcap ringleader. Brazilian music can be the center of Beat the Donkey, but also Balkan sounds, nomadic music, rock and funk, and a festive attitude that surely appeals to summertime outdoor merrymaking".Nastos, M. G
Allmusic Review
accessed January 31, 2014

Track listing

''All compositions by Cyro Baptista except as indicated'' # "Caranguejo Estrela Brilhante" (Cyro Baptista, Erasto Vasconcelos) - 4:44 # "Sapo and the Prince" - 2:29 # "Cyrandeiro" - 4:23 # "Sweet Cuica" - 2:15 # "O Canto da Ema" - 3:46 # "Parar de Fumar" - 4:19 # "Rio de Jakarta" - 5:08 # "Tapping the Stars" - 2:49 # "Anastacia" - 2:38 # "Mr. Bugaloo" - 3:23 # "Ama" - 3:27 # "Funk I"

ideo IDEO () is a design and consulting firm with offices in the U.S., England, Germany, Japan, and China. It was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1991. The company's 700 staff uses a design thinking approach to design products, services, enviro ...

- 8:33

Personnel

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

*Amir Ziv, Cabello Rolim, Kim Tamango, Kristina Kanders,

Max Pollak Max Pollak (born 1970) is percussive dancer and World Music expert. He was born in Vienna, Austria and became known for his work in percussive dance, World Music, tap dance, and choreography. He created "RumbaTap", which merged American Rhythm T ...

, Sabina Ciari, Tim Keiper, Tisza Coelho, Tomer Tzur, Viva de Concini, Ze Mauricio - percussion, vocals, Lisette Santiago-vocals and percussion *

Erik Friedlander Erik Friedlander is an American cellist and composer based in New York City. A veteran of New York City's experimental downtown scene, Friedlander has worked in many contexts, but is perhaps best known for his frequent collaborations with sax ...

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

(tracks 1 & 9) *

Jamie Saft Jamie Saft is an American keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist and composer. He was born in New York City, and studied at Tufts University and the New England Conservatory of Music The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a private mu ...

(track 1), Peter Scherer (track 9) -

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

*Francisco Centeno (track 2), Nilson Matta (track 11) - bass *Kevin Breit (track 10), Romero Lubambo (tracks 2 & 11),

Marc Ribot Marc Ribot (; born May 21, 1954) is an American guitarist and composer. His work has touched on many styles, including no wave, free jazz, rock, and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notably Tom Wait ...

(tracks 3 & 5) -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

*Vanessa Saft (track 11), Luciana Souza (track 2) - vocals *Sergio Brandao - bass, guitar, vocals (tracks 3-6) *

Anat Cohen Anat Cohen ( he, ענת כהן, born 1975) is a New York City-based jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, and bandleader from Tel Aviv, Israel. Biography Cohen began playing clarinet and saxophone. In 1996, she studied at the Berklee College of Mus ...

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

, vocals (track 6) *Jorge Alabe - percussion (tracks 9 & 10) *Toninho Ferragutti -

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

(track 10) *

John Zorn John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jaz ...

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

(track 10)

References

{{Authority control 2002 albums Tzadik Records albums Cyro Baptista albums