Newark Star Ledger: "An irresistible sense of fun"
By Marty Lipp
July 11, 2008
When an experiment really works, you don't think about process, but just enjoy the results. So it is with Nation Beat, which takes Brazil's northeastern forro music as its starting point.
American drummer Scott Kettner studied Brazil's rural forro and put a band together, occasionally marrying it to rural music from the American South. Hank Williams never swung like this.
Adding the earthy alto of Liliana Araoujo perfected the formula. Now the incredibly versatile band jumps from forro to funk to rock - even to klezmer with The Klezmatics. Whatever it does, the members do with hard-swinging rhythms and an irresistible sense of fun.
Download this: "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry