The thoroughly carnivalesque quality of Brazilian life is reflected, among other things, in the preference for triumvirates: Bebeto, Mazinho, Romario at the 1994 World Cup (only real, including baby cheers); Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso and Tom Zé as the triumvirate of Tropicalismo – and then there is Brazilian soul. Its triumvirate consists of Tim Maia, Cassiano and Hyldon, who as such continue to influence modern MPB (Música Popular Brasileira) to this day. Their paths crossed again and again, for example when Cassiano and Hyldon celebrated success together with the group Os Diagonais at the end of the 1960s. At other times, one accompanied the incomparably more legendary Tim Maia here, the other there. What they all have in common is their love of the many facets of soul, and Hyldon in particular is still able to utilise and expand all the possibilities of soul even in his old age, to savour them and give his best.
On »Sabor de Amor« from 1981, his fourth solo album after the temporary break of Os Diagonais, he proves how one can be influenced by tropicalismo, bossa or American funk and soul without being absorbed by them. Instead, Hyldon celebrates his own sound, which he performs with an almost criminal nonchalance. »Leva La Ei« is so smooth that you can only sit in the bathtub with sunglasses on afterwards, »Siga O Teu Caminho« is a Slowburn masterpiece.
Gabor De Amor
