Songs by Humberto Gessinger have existential questions diluted in the forrozeiro tone of the album 'Nordestina highway'

Image of the cover of the album 'Nordestina highway'
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♫ ALBUM REVIEW
Title: Nordestina highway
Artists: Beto Brito, Cezzinha, Del Feliz, Lucy Alves, Sandra Belê, Santanna, o Cantador and Xand Avião
Quote: ★ ★ ★
♬ Almost never valued by critical in the dimension of the great contribution he made to Brazilian rock in the 1980s and 1990s as mentor, vocalist and main composer of the band Engenheiros do Hawaii from Rio Grande do Sul, Humberto Gessinger built work based on existential and philosophical questions as a pop thinker who wrote lyrics full of literary references.
Some anxieties and reflections in the Porto Alegre artist's lyrics are diluted in the journey that takes seven songs from Gessinger to forró on a route that starts from the south of Brazil to the northeast of the country, precisely in Paraíba. Transporting the composer's work to the forró universe is the intention of the album "Nordestina highway", recorded at Peixe-Boi Estúdio, in João Pessoa (PB), with musical production by Marcelinho Macedo, and scheduled to be released on June 25th.
Before, on Wednesday, June 17th, the single "Eu que não amo você" arrives on digital players with an agitated approach by Lucy Alves, interpreter of the song released by the group Engenheiros do Hawaii on the album "Tchau radar!" (1999). The track is a good calling card for the album "Nordestina highway" because Lucy's singing carries a certain anxiety consistent with the lyrics in which Gessinger portrays the despair and denial of the lyrical self sunk in the dark well of unresolved passion.
On the other hand, the singer Cezzinha - whose accordion is heard in six of the seven tracks on the album - overly softens "Um dia de casa" (2019), dissolving the meaning of verses that preach resilience in the daily grind that intersperses agonies and pleasures.
Song from Humberto Gessinger's solo discography, "Um dia de casa" became a forró pé-de-serra in tempo close to the cadence of the xote with which the singer from Ceará Santanna takes "Land of Giants" (1987) in a recording that, although boosted with verses by the repentista João Paraibano (1952 - 2014), seems to let the feeling of youthful disenchantment in the face of the coldness of the adult world escape on the road.
Musically, forró becomes more sophisticated with the singing of "Somos Quem Podemos Ser" (1988) by the Bahian artist Del Feliz. The track flows well, but leaves the impression - recurring throughout the album - that Gessinger's reflection on the search for an identity in the face of the daily clash of reality is drowned out in the enticing rhythm of forró, a term that in itself denotes fun and lightness.
In this light, it is worth highlighting the interpretation of the singer and cordelist from Piauí Beto Brito, who evokes the prosody of Zé Ramalho in the interpretation of "Revolta dos dândis I" (1987), seeking to enhance the feeling of inadequacy of the title song of the band Engenheiros do Hawaii's second album. "The northeastern road is the path that leads to the heart", improvises Brito in the final verse of a track that sounds appropriate within the "Nordestina highway" set.
In contrast, Xand Avião seems to sing "Refrão de bolero" (1987) without thinking about the anguish printed in the lyrics of this ballad, transformed by the singer from Ceará into a mix of samba and forró in an arrangement that harmonizes Cezzinha's accordion with Potyzinho Lucena's cavaco.
Music by the duo Pouca Vogal, formed by Humberto Gessinger with Duca Leindecker, "After the curve" makes more sense in the voice of the singer from Paraíba Sandra Belê in a xote cadence. In a sensitive recording, Belê expresses in song the feeling of hope and overcoming that drives Gessinger's verses.
Anyway, between successes and setbacks along the road, the album "Nordestina highway" narrowly escapes being a merely curious phonographic tribute by transporting Humberto Gessinger's existentialist songbook to the danceable and more laid-back universe of forró.
Album cover 'Nordestina highway'
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Source: G1