Smiling today?

Mondays are always welcome when they’re at the start a holiday week. Yep, most of us will put in a hard couple of days at work (researching Black Friday bargains on line?) then we’ll sneak out after lunch on Wednesday for the Thanksgiving weekend.

But here, our staff has a lot to before thoughts of roasted Turkey gets the best of us: getting our annual ‘Brazilian Christmas’ webcast channel up and running for its Thursday debut, plus slashing prices and getting our specials ready for our own Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.

Watch for ‘em in your e-mail box on these two days – plus a bunch of ‘Twitter-Only’ offers, too. If you haven’t signed up with us yet, why not do it now? Here’s our email link and here’s our Twitter link.

I can tell you right now that we’ll be giving away Brazilian books, CDs and DVD’s to lucky winners on both days, plus you’ll also be automatically registered to win pairs of tickets to Bebel Gilberto’s coast-to-coast US concert tour – and also for The Sounds of Brazil ‘Extended’ Channel!

Who else does these kinds of things for Brazilian music fans?

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Today is Brazilian singer, songwriter and producer Carlinhos Brown’s birthday. He got his start as a percussionist and songwriter with Caetano Veloso, then became internationally recognized while heading the group Timbalada in Bahia’ and then hooked up with Sergio Mendes for the Bossa legend’s Grammy-winning ‘Brasileiro’ album. Billboard magazine named him the ‘Best Record Producer’ in Latin American and he’s also worked with MPB singer Marisa Monte to form the super group Tribalistas in 2006.

I’ll be playing a few of my favorite songs by Brown today on The Sounds of Brazil ‘Extended’ Channel – hope you can catch them. Feliz Anniversario!

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We’ve been putting lots of extended hours into our ‘Extended’ webcast channel these past few weeks – basically reinventing it from the ground up – and this weekend we began putting the finishing touches on the upgrade. Spend some time with it and tell me what you think? I’d love to hear from you with feedback and suggestions. Thanks in advance.

My Brazilian Music ‘Pick of the Day’

And in honor of the birthday boy… here’s the story behind his 1996 debut album as a solo performer:

We’re not quite sure how to say “The hardest working man in show business” in Portuguese, but Carlinhos Brown is surely it. ‘Alfagamabetizado’ is a masterwork, where African rhythms, Brazilian Candomble’ chants and the latest sampling technology blend together.

Recorded in Rio, Salvador and Paris, ‘Alfagamabetizado’ is an adventure to unite cultures through music in its most innovative forms. Brown marries traditional with futuristic, frenzied rhythms with soft melodies, big band swing with electric fuzz guitar. This isn’t ‘The Girl from Ipanema;. More like The Girl from Ipanema Goes Night Clubbing.

Or is it? Check out “Frases Ventias” with it’s gentle water drums and breezy melody. Marisa Monte and saxophonist Leo Gandelman deliver a delightful cha-cha on “Seo Ze’,” and “Quixabeira” reunites Veloso, Gil, Costa and Maria Bethania.

The ensuing years have shown his solo recordings to be uneven, but through it all, Carlinhos Brown has maintained his sense of purpose: ”Brazil synthesizes Africa and Hollywood. My pleasure is to blend all this music into one.”

In our opinion, ‘Alfagamabetizado’ has stood well the test of time, making it one of his best recordings from beginning to end. As a result, it has also become something of a collector’s item, as copies of this recording can be difficult to find.

Get to know more about Carlinhos Brown and his debut album here.