Two scoops of samba

>> A pair of Brazilian heavyweights import some tropical heat

By ADAM GOLLNER

Just what is the samba? Although the elusive, jelly-spined, rumprollin' dance craze originated in Brazil's favela shanties, it isn't merely some old beat that came down from the hills to give plea-sure seekers some tropical thrills. In his 1968 song "The Answer," Marcos Valle managed to pin the slippery samba down long enough to define it: "The answer to the samba is... love!"

Seeing as love, alongside its co-conspirator spring, is currently blossoming all over the place, this is the ideal time to investigate the samba firsthand, with a double dose of brazilliance featuring Virginia Rodrigues and Marcos Valle. Valle, a living legend (and one of the handful of bossa pioneers who still swings), has chosen Montreal as the sole North American city lucky enough to witness his sambalicious new bossa nova.

"The secret of samba is that it has a sensuality that you can't resist," chuckles Valle from his beachfront thatched hut in Baja de Tijuca, on the outskirts of Rio. His Nova Bossa Nova LP, on London's Far Out imprint, is his first in over a decade (and it's got beats courtesy of co-producers Joe Davis and Roc Hunter). "In the '90s, my music was rediscovered in Europe and Japan. The new generation was not only listening to my music, but also dancing to it in the nightclubs, which surprised me."

Mama Macumba

Virginia Rodrigues, the other prong in the upcoming Brazilian double whammy, also straddles genres in the cross-pollinated jumbalaya that samba has become. Unlike Valle's hip-shaking hard bop, Rodrigues' latest album, Nos, embodies the slower end of the samba spectrum. Her trademark "chamber samba" style comes off like a relaxing ma-gic carpet ride replete with dreamy finger pianos, hypnotizing berimbaus and her unique weeping-walrus vocal stylings.

Despite being highly subdued, Nos takes its cues from the thunderous sound of Bahia's carnivals. The high-speed gyrations and shrieking monkeys have been completely eliminated, with a soporific aura of mystique and discovery permeating the recording instead.

The wild samba rhythms have been toned way down due to Rodrigues' distaste of carnival. "I haven't gone to carnival in years," she admits. "I don't like it. When my parents took me as a child, I always started crying. So they took me home."

The album is intended as an offering to the Orixas, the gods of the Afro-Brazilian Macumba religion. "I believe in the Macumba gods because they help me understand things," says Rodrigues. Invoking ancient voodoo spirits, Nos tells the story of shining cities, sea goddesses and musty secrets defying human knowledge locked away in tribal drums.

Everday magic

"There is a lot of dance, music and percussion involved in Macumba celebrations," says Valle. "People get to participate, which makes it attractive. It's very different from going to a quiet church." However, Valle, unlike Rodrigues, is no Macumba follower. "I don't believe in that sort of magic. For me, magic is when you are in an atmosphere that makes you so happy and you don't know the reason why. Like sometimes you feel so great, so great! So great that you say, 'My god, what has happened to me?' And you don't know why. I say, 'Well, that's magic!'"

Also magical is the fact that Valle's most famous song, "So Nice (Summer Samba)," has been recorded by over 180 different artists. It was heard most recently in Austin Powers alongside Sergio Mendes' smash "Mas Que Nada." Coincidentally, Valle first came to North America in 1965 at Mendes' behest.

"When we arrived, 'Summer Samba' was playing at the airport! I couldn't believe it. I was so happy about it, but at the same time, I was very nervous because I was so young. I thought, 'Oh my God, what I'm gonna do? I've come to this country and they are playing my song in the airport already?'"

This time Valle is accompanied by one of Brazil's premier guitarists, Victor "Bon-Vivant" Biglione. Alongside Rodrigues, these emissaries from the Amazon have come to edify us to the true meaning of the samba: "Don't even bother listening to people who guess. But if they say the samba is love... then the answer is yes!" :

Rodrigues performs at Centre Pierre-Peladeau, Thursday, April 6, 8pm, $28.50. Marcos Valle is at the Corona Theatre on Sunday, April 9, 8pm, $20-25 (press conference on April 5 at the Petit Latin, 2112 St-Denis, 5:30pm)