The photo (copyright Doug Spencer) was taken, in a state of astonishment, this week, near Subiaco Railway Station, Western Australia.
A suitable caption: Do Not Believe Your Eyes!
I could scarcely believe what I was looking at on the morning of the last day of March 2020.
Here, as in many other nations, most people are mostly staying at home, and nobody is embarking on holiday travels.
Was I really looking at a travel agency with doors open?
Yes, I was!
Was this business what it seemed to be – a Brazil specialist?
Alas, no.
Next door, but encroaching on their neighbour’s shop window, was a business whose business had waned.
In fact, the current pandemic had prompted the self-styled “Clinic” to shut its doors.
The waxing “clinicians” next door were self-styled “Brazilian Specialists”.
A world without their kind of “Brazilian” would, I think, be a better one.
The best Brazilian music is, however, one of our world’s lovelier things.
Monica Salmaso is certainly not the world’s most famous living Brazilian female vocalist.
Arguably, however, she is the most consistently rewarding, artistically.
Not every great singer manages to make great records.
Salmaso does, and no two of her records are too much alike.
Discover more here, and be aware that Monica Salmaso has more than a few excellent 21st century videos, online.
Today’s musical selection is from her 1995 duo album with guitarist Paulo Bellinati.
Their Afro-Sambas offered exquisite, fresh versions of all the songs from Baden Powell and Vinícius de Moraes’ landmark 1966 album of almost the same name.
This song addresses an Orisha (deity/spirit), regarded by her adherents as protector of women and primary deity of waters and oceans.
Click this to discover more about her.