Africa/Brasil
Jorge Ben
Linda always was super proud. She could also quite loud with the things that she was proud of. Some would say that she was from Jersey. Of course she was, also she would tell yo ass that she was with a boastful pride. The only thing that she would be prouder of was being brazilian and one of the things that represented that pride the most was the music of Brazil. Now, I can see how it might get tiring for some people, but to be honest I would never get tired of learning about brazilian music and the stories behind each song and her translating most of them.
My son was 3 at the time that we left Atlanta moving to Berlin and her oldest daughter was a bit more than a year younger, which means that there were a few times of spending time and getting the kids together and many of those times was her sifting through youtube to give me and whomever else might be around a lesson or 2.
One of my favourites by far though was Jorge Ben. I wanna say Umbabaraumba, or Xica da Silva(which is one of my absolute favourites in all of life right now) but I will stay with the song Taj Mahal. I’m not sure if I felt some sort of just pride coming from the fact that Rod Stewart pretty much used the same riff for his “Don’t You Think I’m Sexy” track and that Jorge won the court case after Rod initially denied it or if the ability to dance and sing with a percussive melody and rhythm which proved to be perfect for mid day dance parties with pre toddlers.
Either way, listening to Taj Mahal will forever remind me of day trips to Marietta before putting the rest of our belongings on a boat with one of my oldest friends and our barely(well compared to now at least) born babies.
Eiliyas is a Macon born, Atlanta bred, Berlin-based artist working with music, sound design, creative writing and conceptual art. He also is host and curator of Mixtape Menage, a platform for becoming familiar with cultural facilitators of the world through sound.
