This is my second of two posts from Trio Irakitan. Andorinha Preta (Black Swallow) may be the most hypnotic record the Trio ever recorded. Andorinha Preta is listed as a Toada record, which is a style occasionally recorded by forró artists. The most famous version of Andorinha Preta was recorded in English with a somewhat generic title, Brazilian Love Song, by Nat King Cole backed by Trio Irakitan in 1959. Although Cole's recording is fine, I find the full Portuguese versions to be superior. There are two versions of Andorinha Preta by Trio Irakitan that predate Cole's. The first recording, featured here, was a 78rpm recording by the group from 1956. A second version was recorded for a film called Rio Fantasia with Eliana Macedo on lead vocals with the Trio backing her. Interestingly, the 1956 78rpm and Rio Fantasia versions do not seem to appear on any Trio Irakitan reissues, which are numerous. Thankfully, folks have uploaded the 1956 versions on YouTube.
My recording comes from a super clean copy of a US LP called Carnival Week In Rio from 1957. The LP jacket boldly claims "Portable equipment was used to capture the true sounds of celebration, and from more than 30 hours of tape-recorded action the unique Capitol record of "Carnival Week in Rio" was finally - after judicious editing - accomplished." What they should have said is "Capitol Records took existing songs recorded in professional studios by the Brazilian artists and added some crowd noise." I don't know why they would have needed 30 hours of noise. Perhaps a lucky Capitol exec got a free trip to Rio. Interestingly, the crowd noise is kind of nice. Since the original 78rpm is rare, this may be the most hifi version of the original version of Andorinha Preta available.
Trio Irakitan - Andorinha Preta (Toada) from Odeon 78 rpm (1955) Carnival Week In Rio (1957)
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| Trio Irakitan - Andorinha Preta (Toada) from Odeon 78 rpm (1956) Carnival Week In Rio (1957) |
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