Benjamim Taubkin & Abacai

Benjamim Taubkin & ensembles Abaçaí & Moderna Tradição

Benjamim Taubkin & Núcleo de Música do Abaçaí by Kris Knack
Benjamim Taubkin by Angélica del Nery
Moderna Tradição by Kris Knack

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Benjamim Taubkin | piano
Moderna Tradição: Isaías Bueno de Almeida | bandolim; Israel 7 Cordas | 7-string guitar; Lula Alencar | accordion; Ari Colares | percussion, vocals
Abaçaí musical nucleus: Ari Colares | percussion, vocals; José Sapopemba | drum, vocals; Mazé Cintra | drum, vocals; Neusa de Souza | drum, vocals; Verlúcia Nogueira | drum, vocals; João Taubkin | bass

The piano jack-of-all-trades from São Paolo times two: Benjamin Taubkin’s jazzy interpretation of Brazilian traditions.
Justice does exist. At least if you push it a little. One year ago, the whirling piano player and operator of the Núcleo Contemporaneo label Benjamin Taubkin was invited for Glatt&Verkehrt. Due to line-up changes his performance was restricted to 20 minutes. Not enough, the thrilled audience thought. Not enough, the festival organisers thought as well and invited the jack-of-all-trades of the São Paolo music scene and brother of the singer/songwriter Daniel Taubkin with two band projects to this year’s festival.
In the quintet Moderna Tradião Benjamin Taubkin explores the tradition of the choro, a kind of music that developed from the blending of European social dances like the polka or the waltz with Afro-Brazilian rhythms in the 1870s. His way of doing so is a charming one: the classics by Pixinguinha, Ernesto Nazareth and other saints of the genre sound in airy, bright instrumentation, while Taubkin himself does not deny his jazz piano backgrounds.
On the other hand, the project “Núcleo de música do abacai“, included in the 2006 album “Cantos do nosso chão“ (“Songs from our country”), confronts traditional songs and rhythms from Maranhão in the Northeast of Brazil with cello, accordion and piano sounds. Thus, making his home country’s rich musical repertoire both audible and visible is Benjamin Taubkin’s top priority. To plunge himself into the diversity of Brazilian tradition is to him, he states, the “discovery of a magical universe, often challenging, inviting, religious, and profane”.