{image1} Monday may be the new Saturday in Riverwest for DJ nights but Do Samba at Club Timbuktu every Friday night is worth getting the good shoes shined for the weekends again.
When D. Soto and Marcus Garvey walked into the newly opened Club Timbuktu they were just looking for another weeknight gig. The pair -- they host Sagittarius Rising every Thursday at the Roots Cellar and bring world beat to your boom box every Monday on WMSE -- was surprised but prepared when the owner suggested a weekly Friday night samba spin.
For reinforcement they called in Tom Noble, DJ and co-owner of Lotus Land, whose Brazilian collection is known from Montreal to Sao Paolo and points between.
Noble started DJing house parties in 1995 with his brother Andy and a single turntable. The Super Noble Bros. took their career to the next level in the last hours of 1997 -- Wild Kingdom singer Paul Finger had double booked his New Year's Eve so he called in the Nobles to play The Nomad for him.
Known locally and internationally as a funk heavyweight, Noble's taste in music is diverse and his collection of late '70s to early/mid-'80s Brazilian music is the result of a lot of networking. During record-buying excursions to Sao Paolo and frequent gigs in Montreal, Noble formed a web of friends and like-minded collectors.
"Mad people have and still continue to hook me up with stuff I've never heard before," says Noble. "Currently, my number one source of good stuff comes from Sean Marquand, a founding DJ of the killer Brazilian night "Brazil Beat" in Williamsburg (Brooklyn)."
In addition to Marquand who is "schooling me at the time present," Noble says, there's his Sao Paolo hookup Marcio and his father -- both send and recommend the records that now rock the Timbuktu dance floor on Friday nights.
Resist the pull of Mad Planet's ubiquitous "'80s Night" and cross the street to Timbuktu for a different side of that decade, one clearly enjoyed by the people dancing salsa, soul, grinding and grooving to the sounds of the three DJs.
When Noble is on the ones and twos the sound is going to mainly be samba-rock which he explains, "is a Brazilian term for samba soul." Samba-rock "geared around the rhythms of samba mixed with '70s soul and black American arrangements, was a large dance craze for a long time in Brazil."
One can see why, the batucada beats and horns flirt with funk and the vocals are jazzy, mod-ish and sultry. Along with Garvey and Soto, Noble is committed to bringing this style, undiluted, to Milwaukee groovers and movers. "The musical mission of the night is to keep the Brazilian style pure," Noble says, "instead of mixing in other related Latin styles, we will be dissecting many different styles of Brazilian music."
There's plenty of material to work with: samba and bossa nova, batucada, samba rock, and Brazil funk are all genres rich in their own grooves or as Noble says, "many different beats to dance to."
In the future they're going to have guests, including Marquand direct, from the BKNY, rehearsing capoeira classes and the occasional guest percussionist. But as Noble -- and he should know -- points out, "the music of Brazil has enough sides to keep surprising you forever."
Right now there are three great DJs, five hours of slammin' samba, Timbuktu's Somali tea and no reason not to head on over.
Tom Noble's current Do Samba faves:
MARKU: "Zamba Ben" -- 1982 samba rock classic here! Sound is heavy percussion, groovy-creepy organ feel and a sick jazz vocal solo.
Sivuca: "Ain't No Sunshine" -- Stunning bossa treatment of this Bill Withers classic. Currently killing it on the floors of Timbuktu.
Trio Mocoto: "Nao Adianta" -- A heart wrenching vocal (and I don't even speak Portuguese!), icy strings and a solid samba drop make this tune a winner time and time again.
Elis Regina: "Jogo De Roda" -- A truly face-melting female bossa tune here. A strong jazzy dancer with a truly belting vocal. Sounds great in a club people.
Editor's note: Due to a conflict between the DJs and club management, the future of Do Samba night is in question.
