''Storytelling'' is an album by the Brazilian musician

Naná Vasconcelos Juvenal de Holanda Vasconcelos, known as Naná Vasconcelos (2 August 1944 – 9 March 2016), was a Brazilian percussionist, vocalist and berimbau player, notable for his work as a solo artist on over two dozen albums, and as a backing musician wi ...

. It was released in 1995.

Production

Recorded in 1992 and 1993, the album was produced in part by Vasconcelos. Many of the songs are about the

Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin ...

; others are semi-autobiographical. Vasconcelos added found sounds to the music. He employed more electronic effects than on previous albums, although he still made use of the

berimbau The berimbau (, borrowed from Kimbundu ''mbirimbau'') is a traditional Angolan musical bow that is commonly used in Brazil. It is also known as ''sekitulege'' among the Baganda and Busoga. It consists of a single-stringed bow attached to a gourd ...

. "Curtain" was cowritten by the

Ambitious Lovers Ambitious Lovers were a musical duo composed of guitarist/singer Arto Lindsay and keyboardist Peter Scherer, active from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. Their music incorporated elements from Brazilian music and funk. Despite strong reviews from ...

' Peter Scherer.

Critical reception

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'' wrote: "There are string quartets, choirs, children's voices, the berimbau, gongs, accordions, talking drums, the works. The atmosphere he evokes is of the street-corner, the forest, cattle in fields. It isn't jazz, but Vasconcelos is an improviser to the tips of his fingers, and understands the impulses of improvisers from whatever roots they spring." The ''

Orange County Register ''The Orange County Register'' is a paid daily List of newspapers in California, newspaper published in California. The ''Register'', published in Orange County, California, is owned by the private equity firm Alden Global Capital via its Digit ...

'' deemed the album "a mesmerizing blend of Afro-Brazilian-jazz-global grooves"; it later named it one of the best albums of 1995. The ''

Omaha World-Herald The ''Omaha World-Herald'' is a daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, the primary newspaper of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. It was locally owned from its founding in 1885 until 2020, when it was sold to the newspaper ...

'' opined that "some samba rhythms provide brief interest, but mostly the music wanders somewhat aimlessly."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

called the music "often sweet and charming, and just as often thoughtful and engaging—never boring, annoying, or mediocre; it's also impossible to pigeonhole." The ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by McClatchy, The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward County, Fl ...

'' labeled ''Storytelling'' "beautiful," writing that "Vasconcelos takes listeners on an ambient journey deep into the Amazon."

Track listing

References

{{Authority control Naná Vasconcelos albums 1995 albums