MAURICIO MAESTRO FEATURING NANA VASCONCELOS - UPSIDE DOWN

Mauricio Maestro began his career as a member of the vocal quartet Momentoquatro in the late 60s, before he and Nana Vasconcelos became friends as members of Luiz Eça's band Sagrada Familia. The pair also formed part of Milton Nascimento's Clube De Esquina scene along with Joyce and Marcos Valle on his legendary Clube De Esquina album series. Having arranged for Brazil's top artists from an early age Mauricio Maestro lent his masterful bass playing to Joyce's classic early albums, The Holy Family, played on and produced Visions of Dawn and founded Boca Livre in 1979 - one of the most successful groups ever to emerge from Brazil. Nana Vasconcelos has released more than thirty albums over an epic forty year career that took in spell playing with legendary folk-prog band A Tribo. Vasconcelos is a vocalist and berimbau player of immense quality and displays his percussion skills that saw him named best drummer in the world for eight straight years by U.S. magazine Downbeat.

Now Mauricio Maestro and Nana Vasconcelos finally reconnect on the second part of their four decade psychedelic folk trilogy. Following on from Visions of Dawn – the 1976 acid-folk lost classic – Upside Down stirs up a time when people dared to make remarkable liberated records like this. Nana and guest vocalist Kay Lyra – who completes the present day folk trio – combine floating harmonies and delicate string-led psychedelia. Maestro's moving compositions melt together hypnotising strings with his own darting acoustic guitar and wonderfully languid vocals. The master of percussion Nana Vasconcelos brings an endless concoction of exotic instrumentation to stirring life as mind-bending vocals move in and out of focus. Nana and Mauricio reunite on this modern acoustic masterwork full of simple pleasures.

This is a contemporary set, but one that's unlike any other recent Brazilian recording we can think of – given the very unique vibe that Mauricio Maestro is going for. The sound here has deep rhythms and folksy touches – a warm acoustic mode, but topped with some slight electricity and larger arrangements – a bit like some of the more creative sounds in the Brazilian underground during the post-Tropicalia years – yet with a richness that takes it much farther too! Maestro handled the arrangements, and he brings in a jazz-tinged quality that's not unlike the Milton Nascimento generation – yet the overall approach is earthier too, and vocals are handled by Mauricio, percussionist Nana Vasconcelos, and Kay Lyra – swirled up with a bit of light string backings that really help the record soar to the skies! We'd rank this one right up there with classics from the 70s by Joyce or Edu Lobo – but we also recognize that it's very much it's own record too. Titles include "Jungle Bells", "Agua Clara", "Canto Do Paje", "Todos Os Santos", "Ciclo Da Vida", and "Ouvindo Estrelas."