The follow-up album to Brazilian singer, songwriter, and musician Marcos Valle’s 1970’s self-titled long player, Garra
continues to express a socially aware stance combined with a playful
hodge-podge of samba, bossa nova, baião (a rhythmic beat from the rural
northeast of Brazil), black American music, and psychedelic rock. Marcos
and lyricist brother Paulo Sergio recorded the disc with some of
Brazil’s top studio musicians and created the pair’s most overtly
political statement. Recorded amongst sessions for a steady stream of
popular TV novella soundtracks—a side gig for the sun-kissed
composer—the results tested the military led government’s hand picked
sensors, looking over the country’s art and music with sharp eyes for
critical or objectionable content. Unfortunately, some of Valle’s peers
didn’t’ fare as well and were either exiled (like Tropicália movement
icons Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso in 1969) or fled the country for
the United States or Europe Light In The Attic
