Bola Sete :: Ocean

“Bola Sete’s music comes from everywhere and nowhere. The subconscious really is universal. Bola Sete’s music is the best reminder of this that I have ever heard. He is a man of great spirit and great depth.”   John Fahey, Guitar Player, February 1976

bola sete oceanThe above inscription rests on the back cover of Brazilian guitarist Bola Sete’s Ocean, a record of solitary guitar recorded by and released on Fahey’s Takoma imprint via the Windham Hill label.

Sete’s previous records (dating back to the late ’50s) were predominately informed by the sounds of bossa nova, samba and jazz (Dizzy Gillespie invited him on-stage at the 1962 Monterey Jazz Festival and his collaborations with Vince Guaraldi are stunning and timeless). However, and likely thanks in no small part to his friendship and collaboration with Fahey, Sete underwent an artistic transformation with Ocean, a collection of greater atmosphere and ambience, and like its title intimates — aquatic, serene and vast.

Album opener “Vira Mundo Penba,” a Brazilian folk song arranged by Sete, stretches across new sonic terrains populated with a gentle, reflective openness,  without shedding the style and timbre of its geographical roots. The guitar — solitary and searching — is led by Sete into these unfamiliar vistas with deft and visionary movement. “Guitar Lamento” has the subtle tension and desert aura of a western, while tracks like “Let Go” and “Macumba” exude a moody, noir ruggedness while effusing hints of Latin American exotica. “Inn of the Beginning, Cotati” and the rambling “Xengo Xengo Xerengo” are pure folk numbers, works of primitive guitar that show Sete’s incredible finger picking ability, and perhaps best illustrate Fahey’s influence.

“Ocean Waves” — the Side B zenith — takes its time in revealing its majestic beauty and depth — an oceanic paradise and an apex of solo acoustic guitar. words / c depasquale

Bola Sete :: Ocean Waves

3 thoughts on “Bola Sete :: Ocean

  1. Phenomenal guitar playing. This and Shambhala Moon are next level… Windspell, a loose compilation released in 2008 is in a similar vein, but does not capture his magic like this album. I’ll never forget the first time I heard Ocean.

Comments are closed.