Dona Flor e seus dois Maridos

I read this book as an English translation and found it exceedingly humorous. The original Portuguese version is pretty much different. I loved all those 'Brazilian Insults' how I loved Dona Rozilda and her terrible tongue. Although everyone hated her, I loved those insults.
Vadinho sums the book when he as a ghost says, "Tambem do meu amor precisas para ser feliz, desse amor de impurezas, errado e torto, devasso ardente. que faz sofrer" We all have two sides to our selves, and Dona Flor has the need for sex that her very nice husband Teodoro cannot give her the way Vadinho can! but Teodoro, loves her, is an excellent husband. Ironically both save her from depravity.
This book makes us look into our darker side, if you feel you have one! Jorge Amado, also shows us what it is to be a gambler, the hunger for the game, incidentally it is not pleasant to win all of the time as it takes away the edge of the game. Gamblers too have their code !
Amazing how colour of skin is not important in Brazil, in fact the colour black s beautiful. Amazing how this book leads us into so very many unexplored avenues, forcing us to think without prejudice

OSIBISA......whither your sounds

What was I thinking? What made me imagine that things do not change?
But I was caught in a time wrap, a bout of nostalgia for those times when we danced with gay abandon to the pulsating, mesmerizing sounds of the Osibisa.
But sadly for this band, a product of the 1960’s they too seem to be caught in their own time bubble with most of the band members dead and with Teddy Osei the band leader himself not too well. The band seems  to be stuck, dragging out the same old numbers with no verve, no feeling, just a tired old band dragging a meaningless show.
“We are happy and priviledged to celebrate our 40th anniversary in India, where we last performed in 1983 and we have reserved our very best music for the shows in India this year”
No this was not the best they played for us here in India, the only memorable numbers, Miriam Makeba’s Patapata and Raghupati Ragava Rajaram.
A lot of African sounds, particularly bongos, but mediocre keyboard playing, the guitars muted for most of the show, the lead guitarist occasionally heard but most of the times not there. The bassist, just wasn't there, when he decided to make himself heard was when he was introduced by the band leader, Teddy Osei. And the mediocre vocals, what can be said about mediocrity?
When you think of an African Band, you should be plunged into a maelstrom of magical sounds, think ‘Graceland’; oh the sheer pleasure of those guitars, they stroke you with those thrilling sounds, they drag unknown emotions out of you.
That is music Africa. You never, never expect mediocrity from Africa