First, a disclaimer.

I'm no super-expert, but I have been listening to Brazilian music since the late 1970s, and I know what I like. Although some Brazilian music is incredible, a lot of it really sucks. So what I've set out to do is to steer people towards records I think are good -- and warn them about some that I think are...*ahem*... not so good. I've tried to be as thorough as possible, providing discographies for several well-known artists and reviewing as many albums as I could lay my hands on, and I plan to expand this site regularly, as I hear more records.

You might not agree with or like everything you read here. For one thing, my criteria are primarily musical, not literary. If I like the way something sounds musically, I'll recommend it. If the music sounds cheesy, I'll say so. This means I include plenty of negative reviews as well as positive ones, which may seem odd at first, but believe me -- if you can manage to avoid the lame albums, you'll enjoy the great ones even more. My apologies to fans of the Portuguese language who feel that the lyrics are everything when it comes to Brazilian music. I can see your point, but there are still some records that are more fun to listen to than others, and that's the approach I'm taking on this site.

Also, because of the unpredictability of internet software and browsers, different fonts and platforms and junk like that (and because writing HTML can be such a pain in the ass), I've decided to leave out all the diacritical marks -- schwas and accent marks and such -- that are integral to written Portuguese. I know that's completely lame, but I don't want some of you out there to wind up reading text that's full of squares and squiggles and quotation marks where vowels should be. Purists may avert their eyes.

I hope this site is useful for you... I've had a lot of fun putting it together! It is my hope that as more people get interested in Brazilian music, the more readily available it will become, and the happier all our lives will become. I welcome any feedback, criticism, pointers or accolades that you would care to offer -- especially suggestions for albums you think I might like to check out. As ever, your recommendations are always welcome.

[PS - in January, 2003, I reluctantly added a short list of my favorite Brazilian albums, for those of you 24/7 type-A types who need the 411 ASAP. Hope it helps! ]

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