Brazilian music is famous worldwide — from bossa nova, to choro, to samba.
Bossa is cool, choro is amazing, but my favorite things about samba is that despite being “pop music” it still has complex rhythms and harmonies.
My top favorite thing is the prevalence of the 7 stringed guitar and their use of counterpoints (i.e., parallel melodies).
I love how what (I think) started as guitarists just playing harmonies, turned into them improvising bass lines and counterpoints every once in a while, which eventually became them doing MOSTLY counterpoints and bass lines and barely playing the harmony lmao.
These bass lines and counterpoints, from what I understand, are often times arpeggiations of the chords and so forth, but they add such an amazing effect to the music.
Examples:
- This guy solo playing over a recording.
- This solo guitar + singer.
- Most music by Cartola which features the absolute timeless 7 stringed legend Dino. This one is a classic.
I’ll give you two:
First, what I call “shitty punk rock” (no offense to the performers). I consider it a form of folk music as it is played by people who may or may not be talented or skilled but, they play it anyway. They have something to express and they choose to express it and passionately express it with such a low level of self-judgement that I envy. Years ago, I’d be in the pit but, I’m not cut out for it anymore. I’ll still support em as I can though.
My favorite though, absolutely has to be folk-punk. Whether singing originals or covers or punkified trad or tradified punk, I absolutely love it. Some recommendations would be Days’n’Daze, Defiance Ohio, and The Dreadnoughts.