Video: Jorge Ben Live 1972

This is the first installment of contributor John Bohannon's monthly column, The Brazilian Beat . When looking at another country's music through Western ideals, it's hard to get past the conditioned view that most Americans have of what "world" music is. From Barnes and Noble to Best Buy, some of the world's most prestigious artists have been lumped into Latin Café compilations and stereotyped as a whole. Some years ago, the pieces of international music started falling into place, and the rock n' roll mindset of [...]

Because we hardly ever touch on Brazilian music around here... It's about time to give Jorge Ben some shine. He's one of the giants of Brazilian Pop (or Musica Popular Brasiiera, as it's called) and Tropicalia, and he's got a cool name, so there's two pluses right there. And um... that's all I got for ya really. It's Monday morning, foks... what do you want from me? :P Jorge Ben - O Rei Chegou, Viva O Rei [...]