Dig Deep: Gilberto Gil – Refavela – Philips (1977)

Gilberto Gil – Era Nova
Gilberto Gil – Ilé Ayê
Gilberto Gil – Babá Alapalá

Folks…I’m just now pulling myself out of a number of situations that knocked me entirely out of sharing music here. Gonna be spending most of the next week catching up with traditional end of the year posts, along with exciting new things that have already happened in the new year. When my laptop crashed in late December, it meant that I didn’t get to share my traditional, “last record of the year” Dig Deep. Partially because of what was going in my personal life, the last record I bought ended up being one picked up online, this album from Brazil’s Gilberto Gil. I feel like my knowledge of Brazilian music of the 1960s & 1970s is solid but there are so many holes in my knowledge and this album was a major one. I came across “Era Nova” when the LA DJ Wyldeflower shared it as part of an Instagram story and was floored. My first reaction was “how have I not heard this?” and my second reaction was “please don’t let this be a super rare record!”

Thankfully, at least for my checking account, the album containing “Era Nova” was from later period Gil and despite how much quality there is from the late 1970s in Brasil, the records from the bigger artists tend to be easy to acquire. Re-Favela finds Gil combining elements of Afro-Brasil along with “Black Rio” style Funk, which very seems in line with the theme of the album itself.

In addition to “Era Nova,” I dug the tunes that highlighted more of the African influence on Brazilian music, including “Ilé Ayê,” and ” The straight funk of “Babá Alapalá,” is also a highlight, but for me and my ears, this album is all about “Era Nova.” The easy groove of that slinky bass, drums and electric piano slay me every time I hear. I’m sure someone has sampled it by now, though I haven’t been able to sort that out via google just yet. Even more than the groove, the sentiment of the song is so perfect for this current moment, both personally and globally.

“Era Nova”
Falam tanto numa nova era / They talk so much about a new era
Quase esquecem do eterno é / Almost forget the eternal is
Só você poder me ouvir agora / Only you can hear me now
Já significa que dá pé / Already means that gives foot
Novo tempo sempre se inaugural / New time always starts over
A cada instante que você viver / Every moment you live
O que foi já era, e não há era / What was, has been
Por mais nova que possa trazer de volta / As young as I can bring it back
O tempo que você perdeu, perdeu, não volta / The time you lost, lost, won’t come back
Embora o mundo, o mundo, dê tanta volta / Although the world, the world, turns around so much
Embora olhar o mundo cause tanto medo / Although looking at the world causes so much fear
Ou talvez tanta revolta / Or maybe so much revolt
A verdade sempre está na hora / The truth is always on time
Embora você pense que não é / Although you think it’s not
The hairs of eternity Como seu cabelo cresce agora / Like your hair grows now
Sem que você possa perceber / Without you noticing
Os cabelos da eternidade / The hairs of eternity
São mais longos que os tempos de agora / They are longer than the times now
São mais longos que os tempos de outrora / They are longer than the times of yore
São mais longos que os tempos da era nova / Longer than the times of the new era
Da nova, nova, nova, nova, nova era / Of the new, new, new, new, new era
Da era, era, era, era, era nova / From the era, era, era, era, era new
Da nova, nova, nova, nova, nova era / Of the new, new, new, new, new era
Da era, era, era, era, era nova / From the era, era, era, era, era new
Que sempre esteve e está pra nascer / That has always been and is about to be born
Falam tanto / They talk so much

Though it took me some time to be introduced to this song, since it found it’s way onto my turntable, I’ve been dropping the needle on it repeatedly since it arrived. I could live in this groove for a month or more and never get tired of it. It wasn’t the way I expected the year to end, but having this be the last record I (digitally) dug up was beyond perfect.