{"product_id":"leaf-playing-in-quito-1960-1965","title":"Leaf Playing In Quito, 1960-1965","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe out-of-this-world recordings of Dilson de Souza, leading a kind of tropical chamber jazz on leaves from a ficus tree.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDilson was from Barra do Pirai, in the Brazilian countryside; moving to Rio as a young man, where he worked in construction. He recorded his first record in 1954, for RCA Victor. He travelled to Quito around 1957, soon hooking up with Benitez \u0026amp; Valencia, who introduced him to the CAIFE label.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDilson played the leaf open, resting on his tongue, hands free, with his mouth as the resonator. Though a leaf can also be played rolled or folded in half, this method allowed for more precision, a tethered brilliance. A picked ficus leaf stays fresh, crisp and clean-toned for around ten hours. He could play eight compositions, four at each end, before it was spent.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBiluka plays trills and vibratos effortlessly, with utterly pure pitch, acrobatically sliding into notes and changing tone on the fly. In Manuco, he leads Los Caníbales into a mysterious landscape on a rope pulled from an Andean spaghetti western, and corrals and teases them into a dialogue. A leaf, a harp, a xylophone, and a rondador — joined in Bailando Me Despido (Dancing As I Say Goodbye) by a saucy organ, doing sloshed call-and-response. In Anacu de Mi Guambra, Biluka shows his full range of antics, hiccuping melodically over a set of magic tricks. His expressiveness was boundless.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe eucalyptus leaf is popular among Aboriginal Australians. In China, they’ve played leaves for 10,000 years. In Cambodia, people play the slek, a leaf plucked from either the sakrom or the khnoung tree. But ain’t nobody like Biluka, ever.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAstounding music.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Honest Jons","offers":[{"title":"Black | LP | x2","offer_id":50416700784971,"sku":"1161845","price":26.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/32b60066-d7e1-4040-94be-95338b5c7ddc_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726708769","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/products\/leaf-playing-in-quito-1960-1965","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}