Caetano Veloso & David Byrne: Digital Booklet - Live at Carnegie Hall

8/2/2019 Caetano Veloso & David Byrne: Digital Booklet - Live at Carnegie Hall

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L i v e a tC a r n e g i e

H a l l

C a e t a n o

V e l o s oa n dD a v i d

B y r n e


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When I got the invitation to curate a program for Carnegie Halls Perspec-

tives series, I brought from Brazil the band Afroreggae, the then-new female

samba genius Mart'nlia, and the unique Virginia Rodrigues. The one

American artist I was sure I wanted to invite was David Byrne. I met David

in the 1980s, at a film festival in Rio, when he and I were presenting our first

feature films; we met as filmmakers. But music was our business, and David

impressed me by showing a very lively ear to whatever was on Brazilian radio.

From our first conversation I noticed David was the first rock musician who

could really feel the essence of Brazilian music. He was open to enjoying

the savvy within the nave, and vice versa, to understand what Brazilians can

make with their repertoire of styles drawn from Global music. Global, as

everybody knows, means basically American: whatever the world can make

of the trends that started in the USA. David was capable of grasping not

just the ways a given people can mix their own traditions with an American-

Global idiom, but the reinventions that a provincial perspective can generate

even when departing from the mere desire to imitate. He could see creation

beyond the exotic and beyond the rejection of the exotic. I immediately saw

this fresh curiosity would lead him to things that are dear to me even the

difficult aspects of the work done by my closest colleagues in the 1960s.

He opened the worlds ears to Tom Zs boldest developments of our experi-

mental drive. And, before that, he gave the world a glimpse of the environ-

ment where such things could be conceived, releasing through his label a

sample of Brazilian oddities. This was the man whose work I had loved since

I first heard Talking Heads. Back then, even his brusque stage moves inspired

my writing. Seeing Stop Making Sensein the movie house was a deeply aes-

thetic experience. Seeing the subsequent concerts he did under his own name

confirmed his exquisite taste. For years I have been sure that David is the

most chic of all rockers. His liner notes for the Stop Making Senselive album

read like Gertrude Stein (I told him so when we met, and he laughed). David

is younger than I am, but he is American, and so I knew about his work well

before he knew about mine. So, when I had to go on stage with him, I was

not nervous, but I was very shy. Youve got to be Brazilian (or something of

the like) to know how awesome (I mean AWEsome) it is to sing side by side

with David Byrne.

Caetano Veloso

2012


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In Mr. Carnegies Hall

For a number of years, Carnegie Hall has been doing a series program called

Perspectives in which an artist is chosen to be Carnegie Halls in-residence

performer. When chosen, the artist can invite along other musicians to join

them as guests. It is an extraordinary series, as the artist chosen is encouraged

to pull from all sorts of genres that inspire and interest them. Kronos Quar-

tet did an adventurous program, but it was Caetano Veloso who was the first

nonclassical artist to be invited to curate one of these programs. I remember,

as part of his program, Virginia Rodrigues did a show at Zankel Hall, and

Caetano asked me to join him for a concert in Stern Auditorium the big hall.

Wed actually done a concert together previously, during the San Sebastian

Film Festival. Despite being in a velodrome (which might have seemed ap-

propriate, for me at least), it worked. The combination of the two of us seemed

to be very unexpected (and pleasantly surprising) for the audience though

it was not for us. Wed been in touch for a while and had even written a song

together. He had recently recorded one of my songs and I had performed one

of his on a tour of mine. So, we knew one anothers work fairly well. The idea

of doing a concert together seemed obvious to us.

Id been a Caetano fan since the late 80s, when Id fallen headlong down the

rabbit hole of Brazilian music. If I had to name some musicians (composer is

the word that is used in Brazil) to whom I would look to as a guide to what

is possible those musicians who have managed to sustain a creative and

interesting life in music Caetano would be among the top few. I wont try

and describe what Caetano does because his work is incredibly varied and not

easy to compare with anyone in North America or Europe. If youre unfamil-

iar with his work you might want to try more than one record, as they can be

very different from one another.

The concert we did was very stripped down and acoustic. Although at other

times I have brought a full band into Carnegie Hall, the acoustics in there

really favor small acoustic ensembles (you almost dont need microphones), so

thats what we went with. Jaques Morelenbaum augmented us on cello and

Mauro Refosco on percussion the arrangements stayed pretty sparse and

minimal in order to better emphasize the songs themselves. I was incredibly

nervous, and I remember having flubbed on a chord or two (some of those

remain on this recording, Im afraid)but of course it was Caetano, and

Carnegie Hall, so I was also incredibly thrilled and flattered.

DB

Western Chelsea

2012


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Produced by Caetano Veloso and David Byrne

Recorded April 17, 2004, at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY

Recorded and Mixed by Tom Lazarus

Mastered by Robert C. Ludwig at Gateway Mastering Studios, Portland, ME

Design by John Gall

Photography by Chris Lee

Executive Producer: Robert Hurwitz

www.nonesuch.com

Nonesuch Records Inc., a Warner Music Group Company, 1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104.

& 2012 Nonesuch Records Inc. for the United States and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of

the United States and Latin America. Warning: Unauthorized reproduction of this recording is prohibited by

Federal law and subject to criminal prosecution.

Caetano Veloso & David Byrne: Digital Booklet - Live at Carnegie Hall

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