So when I listen to compilation of Brazilian music that Jennifer sent me, I don't hear the words, just the rhythms. And the rhythms kill.

When I first started listening to the CD, I wasn't all to pleased. I really looking forward to some rocking Samba music to liven up the fale, and this was mostly bossa nova and other genres.

But the more I listened, the more the songs grew on me. They are sweet and sexy. When I put the disc in, it gives me so much energy. I forget for a few precious minutes that I'm in Samoa and I'm transported back to Rio. I remember all the reasons I love Rio and want to get back there as soon as possible.

If only I understood Portuguese. I'd really have something.

Here is the blurb from the liner notes:

Throughout its history, Brazil has been a land of diversity and paradox, as a European Portuguese influence struggled to mesh with a West African culture. The soft sounds of the bassa nova versus the pulsating rhythms of the carnival samba. The untamed Amazon river juxtaposed with five-star beach resorts. A free-spirited people alternately controlled by a colonial power, an emperor, and a military dictatorship. The music of Brazil is the perfect foil to the country's unique and amazing history. Brazil's Euroean, African and native Indian roots are incorporated into the sounds of samba, choro, bossa nova, forro-music which tells the story of this land and its people.