"Had Caetano Veloso just aged gracefully, it would have been enough," says The New Yorker ahead of Veloso's NYC Cê tour stops. "Had he merely written thirty or so perfect songs, it would have been enough. Had he only recorded Cê, one of the most striking and least indulgent rock records of 2007, it would have been enough. But on top of all that there’s the fact that when he comes to New York, he gets to play to his crowd."
In this week's issue of The New Yorker, music critic Sasha Frere-Jones previews Caetano Veloso's upcoming shows at New York's Nokia Theatre, November 19–20, part of a nationwide tour in support of his new record, Cê. Frere-Jones has this to say about the incomparable Brazilian singer/songwriter:
Had Caetano Veloso just aged gracefully, it would have been enough. Had he merely written thirty or so perfect songs, it would have been enough. Had he only recorded Cê, one of the most striking and least indulgent rock records of 2007, it would have been enough. But on top of all that there’s the fact that when he comes to New York, he gets to play to his crowd ... When Veloso performs older songs like “Sampa” or the gorgeous “O Homem Velho,” the air will fill with the sound of a thousand voices singing along in Portuguese. If anyone’s bothered to sit down, they’ll soon be back on their feet...
Earlier this year, Frere-Jones reviewed the album in The New Yorker, calling Veloso both "a singer of almost paralyzing grace and sweetness" and "a high-minded rebel." And of Cê, he writes, "The music can only loosely be described as rock. As with almost any genre that Veloso tackles, he has transformed it ..."
To read more of what Frere-Jones has to say about Caetano's Cê tour, visit newyorker.com.
For tour dates and locations, click here.
