Pato Fu’s Fernanda Takai Chooses 10 of the Best Songs from Minas Gerais

@whatslater

Belo Horizonte is the third largest city in Brazil (after the giants that are Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro). It’s the capital of Minas Gerais, a state whose names gives some clue as to where the area found it’s wealth. Being such a populous area, we have often wondered why we don’t hear about more music coming from Minas Gerais. In order to fill in some of the gaps we asked Fernanda Takai of one of our favourite MG bands Pato Fu to choose 10 songs that she feels represent the region.

Fernanda is the lead singer and one of the founding members of the band, who formed in 1996. Over the years they have become one of Brazil’s finest alternative rock bands, often taking inventive approaches to their music (culminating in their most recent album Música de Brinquedo where they only used children’s toys and instruments for experimentation) while also showing a certain gift for a keen melody. On her choices Fernanda had this to say: “I think they represent pretty well the way our people feel about love, family, landscapes, loneliness, aging…”

Here are her choices:

Kátia B “Cais” (Milton Nascimento/Ronaldo Bastos)

Clara Nunes “Coisa da Antiga” (Wilson Moreira/Ney Lopes)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2898K2cPQ0M

Skank “Dois Rios” (Samuel Rosa/Lô Borges/Nando Reis)

Beto Guedes “Veveco Panelas & Canelas” (Milton Nascimento/Fernando Brant)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3y3Ckt6Jhc

Sexo Explícito “Faca” (Rubinho Troll)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_wu05eB1M0

Lô Borges “Um Girassol Da Cor de Seu Cabelo” (Lô Borges/Márcio Borges)

Marina Machado “Nuvem Cigana” (Lô Borges/Ronaldo Bastos)

Érika Machado “As Coisas” (Érika Machado/Cecília Silveira)

Plus, you can watch Fernanda Takai performing “As Coisas” acoustically with Érika Machado here.

Rita Ribeiro “Contra o Tempo” (Vander Lee)

Milton Nascimento “Travessia” (Milton Nascimento/Fernando Brant)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9OMDgeUyRI

Listen to “Travessia” with English lyrics here

And it’d be rude if we didn’t return the favour to Fernanda, so here a couple of our favourite Pato Fu songs:

Pato Fu “Antes Que Seja Tarde”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwU8gqh8T08

Pato Fu “Live And Let Die”

You can find out more about Fernanda Takai at fernandatakai.com.br and Pato Fu at patofu.com.br

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