Jorge Ben

Stav desky: NM
- jako nová, téměř nehraná

Stav obalu: EX
- stopy běžného používání

Pozn.: znaménko + nebo - upřesňuje stav desky, obalu

made in Brazil

Genre  MPB, samba rock, psychedelic pop

A Tábua De Esmeralda is the eleventh studio album by Brazilian musician Jorge Ben, released in 1974 on Philips Records. The album showcases Ben's interest in theosophy, mysticism, and, above all, alchemy.Its title refers to the Emerald Tablet, a cryptic piece of Hermetica reputed to contain the secret of the prima materia and its transmutation; and its artwork incorporates drawings from Nicholas Flamel, who was historically immortalized as a great alchemist for his work on the philosopher’s stone.

Considered Ben's masterpiece, it was ranked by Rolling Stone Brazil as the sixth greatest Brazilian album of all time, and has been included in Tom Moon's 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.



A1  Os Alquimistas Estão Chegando Os Alquimistas  3:16
A2  O Homem Da Gravata Florida (A Gravata Florida De Paracelso)  3:06
A3  Errare Humanum Est  4:55
A4  Menina Mulher Da Pele Preta  2:56
A5  Eu Vou Torcer  3:13
A6  Magnólia  3:13
B1  Minha Teimosia, Uma Arma Pra Te Conquistar  2:43
B2  Zumbi  3:29
B3  Brother  2:54
B4  O Namorado Da Viúva  2:02
B5  Hermes Trismegisto E Sua Celeste Tábua De Esmeraldas (Tratado Hermético Escrito Pelo Faraó Egpicio Hermes Trimegisto E Traduzido Por Fulcanelli)  5:28
B6  Cinco Minutos (5 Minutos)  2:57



    Arranged By – Darcy De Paulo, Hugo Bellard, Osmar Milito
    Artwork – Aldo Luiz
    Engineer – João Moreira, Luigi
    Lacquer Cut By – Joaquim Figueira
    Photography By – Mario Luiz
    Producer – Paulinho Tapajós
    Written-By – Jorge Ben
    Written-By [Co-writer] – Fulcanelli (tracks: B5 Only)




    Manufactured By – Companhia Brasileira De Discos Phonogram
    Recorded At – CIA Brasiliera De Discos Phonogram Rio De Janeiro


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Jorge Ben, like James Brown or the Fall is one of these artists that makes music a certain super-formulaic way (as John Peel said of the fall, 'always different, always the same'). Its like the speakers are given the instruction 'run program: Jorge Ben' and the hallmarks tumble out: tropical beats, angelic background vocals, Portuguese lyrics about barnyard animals and alchemy sung in Jorge's two voices: the boisterous troubadour and the cartoon version of the boisterous troubadour.
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It's impossible to resist to songs like "Errare Humanun Est", "Eu Vou Torcer", "Minha Teimosia, uma Arma Prá Te Conquistar" or "Zumbi".

Listen them and you'll find yourself with a huge need to shake your ass, to dance, to have a dive in Copacabana beach, to drink some "água de côco", and so on...

I repeat, it's impossible to resist this.

There's one stupid song: "Brother". It's kind of nice, but the lyrics are  silly! "Djisas Chráisti is mái lórde, djisas chráisti is mái friéndji". Nevertheless, it also makes you wanna dance with "djisas chráisti" and listen to some "gudi miúsiki, gudi miúkisi"
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What the fuck is "Errare Humanum Est" if not the best ballad ever written?
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While my limited Portuguese does not allow me to properly understand Tábua de Esmeralda, it affords me the ability to listen to it completely removed from context.

This is perhaps the most organic album I've ever experienced, and among those select few records by which 'experience' is a more accurate verb than 'listen'. 

The beginning, in which I imagine Jorge is gently hushing is crowd, sets the tone for a record so evocative of a rainforest jam (without any overt cliches - there isn't a tribal drum to be heard) that it nearly goes without saying.  Subject matter ranges from stories of love and stories of appreciation of nature to a single song of worship - the only English track, "Brother".  "Brother" is distinct in that its chord progression, as sung by the back-up choir, is almost bluesy in a tropical sort of way.  However, it does not sound contrived nor inappropriate.  Rather, it's a beautiful addition to the album, and contains some of the record's various highlights. 

The production is a bit thicker than on other Jorge records, but is never over the top; the occasional reverb and delay give his vocals an expansive timbre that blends with the bossa-nova guitar incredibly well.  Back-up choirs chime in at well-timed intervals, lending to the musical notion of an organic music of the people.  Flutes and the occasional other wind instruments, as well as a very rare electric guitar, are used sparingly and appropriately.  All the sounds used supplement one another and the result is an enchanting album that listeners will feel they have very fortunately stumbled upon.  And if you're anything like me, you'll want to make sure you share your discovery with everyone you can.
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Burrows underneath your skin, nestles down between your nerves, and starts pulsating.  Can't keep still.  5 minutes is only 3 minutes.
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Ooh man, those strings in "Errare Humanum Est" are basically my favorite thing in the world right now.

One of the greatest existential crisis-smitin' albums of all time. Gonna have to listen to more MPB now... this is fucking incredible. Side one is basically flawless (the highlights are the aforementioned "Errare" plus the bouncy fun of "O Homem da Gravata Florida" and the gorgeous "Magnolia"), and side two Americanizes itself quite nicely with "Minha Teimosia," uma Arma pra te Conquistar" and the psychedelic, bluesy "Brother." It's pretty telling when the merely good "Zumbi" comes off as an ENORMOUS letdown, despite its groovy percussion, fun group vocals, and great string arrangement. Basically, this is an incredible counterweight to the sad bastard music I'm so used to.
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a must-listen of brazilian music. it's always interesting, lighthearted, magic. i think i like every song here. when i hear the intro "os alquimistas estão chegando" I still get excited even if it's the hundredth time i've listened to it.
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This has rocketed close to the top of my MBP/Tropicalia favorites in a very short time.  Just enough psychedelia to make it slightly trippy, very melodic and with great rhythmic drive and variation between songs.  Ben's singing is great and, though I'd love to know what he's saying, the music is so good it doesn't really detract that I don't!  Although África Brasil has a slight edge on this one for me right now, it's probably just because I've listened to it more.  The only track I could do without is the Jesus-y one, though it does have a catchy tune.  Wrote a much longer review here.
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Wow, beautiful, organic, soulful, and poetic.

I'll tell you, I'm very new to Brazilian pop or MPB as it is called, and I've been so impressed by the songwriting chops of Mr. Ben, along with other luminaries such as Marcos Valle and Os Mutantes, and this is absolutely on par or better than what was coming from American and European songwriters in the early '70s.

Just listen to the lyrics of the powerful "Zumbi"  (in Portuguese)

Angola,
Congo, Benguela
Monjolo, Capinda, Nina
Quiloa, Rebolo
Aqui onde estão os homens
Há um grande leilão
Dizem que nele há uma princesa à venda
Que veio junto com seus súditos
Acorrentados em carros de boi

Eu quero ver
Eu quero ver
Eu quero ver
Eu quero ver

Angola,
Congo, Benguela
Monjolo, Capinda, Nina
Quiloa, Rebolo

Pois aqui onde estão os homens
Dum lado, cana-de-açúcar
Do outro lado, um imenso cafezal
Ao centro, senhores sentados
Vendo a colheita do algodão branco
Sendo colhidos por mãos negras

Eu quero ver
Eu quero ver
Eu quero ver

Eu quero ver quando Zumbi chegar
Eu quero ver o que vai acontecer

Zumbi é senhor das guerras
Zumbi é senhor das demandas
Quando Zumbi chega,
é Zumbi quem manda
Zumbi é senhor das guerras
Zumbi é senhor das demandas
Quando Zumbi chega,
é Zumbi quem manda

Eu quero ver
Eu quero ver
Eu quero ver
Eu quero ver

Angola,
Congo,
Benguela, Monjolo,
Capinda, Nina
Quiloa, Rebolo

Angola,
Congo,
Benguela, Monjolo,
Capinda, Nina
Quiloa, Rebolo

                                                                           "Zumbi" (In English)

Angola,
Congo, Benguela
Monjo, Capinda, Nina
Quiloa, Rebolo

So here’s a meat market for men
An auction of Africans
Up on the block there is a princess up for sale
Captured with all her kin and all her tribe
Chained in carts and just barely alive

I want to see
I want to see
I want to see
I want to see

Angola,
Congo, Benguela
Monjo, Capinda, Nina
Quiloa, Rebolo

Here come the slave plantation men
On one side, kings of sugarcane
The other side is the coffee overlords
you sit in the middle, watch the pain
See them unloading the cotton in big bales
Cut down by blacks who work under the sword

I want to see
I want to see
I want to see
I want to see

To see just what happens
When Zumbi comes for vengeance
Zumbi’s the Lord of Terror
The Dictator of Disaster
When Zumbi comes at last then
Zumbi will be their master
Zumbi’s the Lord of Terror
The Dictator of Disaster
When Zumbi comes at last then
Zumbi will be their master

I want to see
I want to see

When Zumbi comes
When Zumbi comes 

Angola, (I want to see, I want to see)
Congo, (I want to see, I want to see)
Benguela (I want to see, I want to see)
Monjolo, (I want to see, I want to see)
Capinda, (I want to see, I want to see)
Nina (I want to see, I want to see)
Quiloa, (I want to see, I want to see)
Rebolo (I want to see, I want to see)

Angola,
Congo,
Benguela
Monjolo,
Capinda,
Nina
Quiloa,
Rebolo

Who will run when Zumbi comes?
Who will run when Zumbi comes?

Wow.

My Favorites:

"Zumbi" "Brother" "Minha Teimosia, Uma Arma Pra Te Conquistar" "Eu Vou Torcer"
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Imagine yourself being in contact with a beautiful album where the only thing preventing you from completely understanding it is a language you’re not familiar with. Well that’s exactly my relation with Jorge Ben’s samba-rock masterpiece, “A Tábua de Esmeralda,” an album which, on its own, seems to me as a pretty valid reason to learn Portuguese. I don’t know much about the topics discussed on it, but I do know from my experiences listening to it that this album contains extremely touching and impressive music.

With happy and soothed moods, “A Tábua de Esmeralda” is a perfect and very pleasant soundtrack to a sunny and hot morning. The Brazilian musician includes a wide variation of instruments and sounds in his arrangements which mostly manage to be funky while remaining chilled out. Jorge’s voice, the prominence of his acoustic guitar, and the background choir are present throughout the 40 minutes and highly contribute to the quality of the music. Songs like “Os Alquimistas Estão Chegando,” “Minha Teimosia, Uma Arma Pra Te Conquistar,” and “Zumbi” are simply breathtaking. I sincerely don’t think there’s a single bad song on the album, although I’ve noticed a lot of people dislike “Brother,”; I think it’s great, but then again I don’t understand Portuguese. One thing is sure about the lyrics and that is that Jorge Ben sings them extremely well and with passion. Another important aspect of this album is the use of elements from multiple genres, such as soul, funk, pop, folk, rock, samba, and Spanish music. This will lead to it often being categorized as Tropicália, or Música Popular Brasileira which is obviously more based on its country of origin than the actual music.

Beautiful might be an overused term when talking about good music but it simply is the right word to use towards Benjor’s exotic classic. “A Tábua de Esmeralda” is a charming album by the incredible musician that Jorge Ben Jor is, and the language used here should not keep you away from listening to it. The only ability you need to enjoy this masterpiece is the sense of audition.
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I find it so intriguing that my favorite Jorge Ben album comes as late in his career as 1974.  Keep in mind that I am still learning here, but to my ears all of my other favorites who emerged in the Tropicalia boom had great debuts, but all of them except Caetano were seemingly unable to deliver the goods like Jorge Ben did.  He seemed to be able to deliver these goods yearly.  And though I have discovered my snobby distaste for the decade as it gets closer to the end of the 70s - '74, you haven't even hit halfway yet, ya know, and already I am suspicious.  Oh well.  I know that half the stuff on here makes little sense, and since we are discussing something as subjective as art I feel that I always need to put a little bit of flowery bullshit up in this piece.   Ya know, in tribute to Rousseau

For me this album was a grower, what a wonderful sound of the beautifully strummed nylon-strung guitar with soft effective bass and percussion... and those strings!  Well, its all about the arrangements, isn't it?  I mean the strings are all over the song Magnólia for instance, except at the end.  Notable because the backing group is recorded so well, and just like on every other song so dedicated to the groove

My favorite track is Zumbi, which for me sounds like the perfect combination of tolerable MacDonald's commercials from the mid-80s and Van Morrison doing Purple Heather.  Umm... something like that.  Anyway, what really made me realize that this album was a cut above, a five star album, was that the first side was all first class.  Love the vocalizing on the third and fourth tracks, Jorge Ben Jor crunkin' the outros, so sweet!  Swingin'.  Actually, the third track is one of my favorite productions, Errare Humanum Est.  Its a wonderful mix of psychedelic effects over a beat that could've been on What's Goin' On.  Brother on side two is another one of those tracks that I don't particularly believe in because it is all about the sweet lord, but this also has some convincing vocals.  Put this on your Jesus comp between Stevie's "Have a Talk with God" and Al Green's "Jesus is Waiting" and you will see my dilemma ~ sometimes there is good jebusmusic

Sorry.  I have nothing but respect for my man and you if you have got religion, its just that the only lyrics that I can understand on the album are the English ones where he's singing passionately "Thank You, Jesus..."   You know how it is :(  Wish I had a secret language decoder ring aka Brazilian girlfriend to explain what the rest of the lyrics are saying.  And then I would like to go back to Brazil in a time tardis to understand why they were significant.  Umm, sorry - now I must apologize to those of you who don't like it when reviewers complain about those who don't understand the lyrics due to language barriers - ya ya ya i get it sorry sorry

Would also like to say that I agreed with the folks on this site that complained about the cover.  Its not my favorite, but that's probably because I don't know what it means.  I wish this had the same cover as Forca Brutal.  That cover rules.  Anyway, I am into this album - and oh yes, it ends very well too.   A Tábua de Esmeralda: a smooth ride with an ugly cover
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