Músicas Para Churrasco is Seu Jorge's idea of a party album. It is a cliché and a national stereotype to say it, but there are very few safer bets than a party album by a Brazilian artist, and Seu Jorge could not possibly disappoint on that matter. From the opening shout of the irresistible single "A Doida" to the smooth closer "Quem Não Quer Sou Eu," this short album turns on the funk, puts the meat on the grill, unloads the beer, and calls on all neighbors and friends to join the barbecue party mentioned in the title. Seu Jorge's characters are typically male rascals from suburban Rio, with a chauvinist mind and a sole preoccupation: women. All of them, a crazy girlfriend, a new neighbor, an exotic Japanese beauty, the wife's best friend, all are a headache and all are fair game. The music may hint here and there at the samba or the pagode -- in the use of cavaquinho or Brazilian percussion instruments -- but the cold fact is that Músicas Para Churrasco is nothing but an unrepentant old-school funk album, of the Brazilian variety. Seu Jorge continues to be obsessed with the 1970s, and this one sounds as if Parliament/Funkadelic went on a vacation south of the Equator, carrying all their horns, monster glasses, and wigs. Fun and brief, it is impossible not to enjoy Músicas Para Churrasco. At the same time, it is also one of Seu Jorge's most boisterous efforts, so it may frustrate listeners expecting the sensitive crooner persona of The Life Aquatic.
© Mariano Prunes /TiVo