Bagunca, Paulo -& E A Tropa Maldita-
Paulo Bagunca E A Tropa Maldita
In 1974 the Continental label released a rare album, with the name of the band very big over the cover -Paulo Bagunça e a Tropa Maldita- that left a strong impression on a small underground portion of Brazilian youth. The band name was deliberately provoking: "Bagunça" means mess or confusion (big scandal), while "Tropa Maldita" means damned, or wicked soldiers. The media at the time were not creative - they called this sort of music "electric pop," an uninspired tag for an inspired album. The record contains different styles of songs, some with a special conception like 'Grinfa Louca' with its hallucination-inducing Afro beat. The record was futuristic for the era, mixing different influences, ranging from Jorge Ben to Traffic (if they had Afro percussion!), with jazz touches and elements of the funky sounds of the era. In a 1972 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Bagunça said he considered his music "something that comes from deep inside, from the heart, from my caverns, dreams and nightmares."