DVD of the Month - "Sylvia Telles, J.T. Meirelles & Edu Lobo"

DVD of the Month
"Legends of Folklore Argentino, Flamenco & Música do Brasil" (Tropical Music) 2009

A stunning DVD set compiled, produced & edited by Claus Schreiner for his German label Tropical Music, with original television and film recordings made and licensed by SWF (now SWR). All in b&w, but with excellent sound & image quality, fully restored from the original sources. Total Time: 158 minutes! Distributed in Germany by Sony-BMG Entertainment.
Includes a beautiful 50-page-plus booklet with extensive notes, rare pics, bios and detailed info about the famous festivals organized by concert producers Fritz Rau & Horst Lippman.
The highlight is Video #2m "Folklore & Bossa Nova do Brasil" (43m26s), a concert co-produced by Joachim Ernst Berendt and filmed during a 1966 tour which reunited Sylvia Telles, Rosinha de Valença, J.T. Meirelles, Edu Lobo (invited at the last minute to replace Dorival Caymmi), Dom Salvador, Sergio Barroso, Chico Batera, Jorge Arena, Rubens Bassini and fantastic dancer/coreographer Marly Tavares (then married to Ronnie Mesquita). It's really a very moving experience to watch this video! Titles include Jobim's "Samba Torto" & "Samba de Uma Nota Só" (both performed by Sylvia Telles), Baden Powell's "Consolação" and Dorival Caymmi's "Acalanto" (by Rosinha de Valença), nice performances led by J.T. Meirelles on flute or tenor sax on "O Barquinho," "Não Tenho Lágrimas" and "O Orvalho Vem Caindo", Edu Lobo singing his owns "Reza" and "Upa, Neguinho", some intense and fiery percussion-macumba pieces, wondrous dance numbers by Marly Tavares and the famous Haroldo Lobo/Niltinho's samba "Tristeza" sung by all the artists, including a constrained Edu Lobo pretending to be dancing dressed in a tuxedo.
(Berendt also took the opportunity to produce an album for MPS with the same artists and a similar repertoire)
The Festival Flamenco Gitano is from 1965 and features work by La Singla, Ramon Moreno, Diego Vargas, Toni El Pelao, and Jose Salazar. Argentine work is represented in the Musica Folklorica Argentina festival from 1967, with footage of Ariel Ramirez, Mercedes Sosa, Los Fronterizos, and Chito Zeballos -- all on individual tunes, and a performance of the "Misa Criolla". 158 minutes, black and white, with English subtitles. This is a PAL format, All Region DVD.