INFLUÊNCIAS

Well, my dear friends, this is my first review for progarchives; although there is a long time I appreciate opinions made available here. What a large amount of bands I´ve been listening due to this site recomendations !

As being a brasilian, this first review is for the álbun and the musician whose in my honest opinion I consider the best product in our progressive music. Although Bacamarte´s "Depois Do Fim" is a must, "Influências" by Marco Antonio Araújo is even of higher quality; and not only for just one reason.

First of all, MAA has the cultural profile of those fantastic progressive musicians. He has a strong classical trainment, which appears clearly in his work (albun like "Entre Um Silêncio E Outro" - Between One Silence And The Other). Also he was a intense "flower power generation" guy, fascinated by "The Beatles and The Rolling Stones"; and these two lines forms the essence of the ideas that led to progressive movement. Second, MAA kept in his music strong elements of brasilian folk music (a very interesting kind of music); bulking this in a melting pot with classical and "roquenrou" (rock´n´roll); having as a result something strongly different from anything anyone has done prior to him. And third of all, he is a master composer, creating incredible melody lines; as for example the main theme (played by flute), of "Abertura n 2" one of the best melodic line that I ever heard in my life !!

So, I leave here a strong recomendation of a careful listening in order to really judge if "Influências" as the best effort of brasilian progressive music; by our best progressive musician. And after all, these commented qualities performs a strong reason for achieving here five stars

Antonio Giacomin