Ramiro Pinheiro & Rodrigo Balduino: “Moon River”

No matter how much of an “instant classic” it may have been when it first dropped, after a half century of air play, most people feel like they’ve heard certain songs ad nauseam. That is until you hear a fresh take on it. And we’re not just talking about slapping some drums or a new verse on it and calling it a remix. No, we’re talking about someone from a different cultural background who, without ever having been bogged down by it the way we were, is able to breathe new life into tunes that’ve been around for more than half a century.

Enter Ramiro Pinheiro, a singer-guitarist-composer hailing out of São Paulo. Pinheiro calls Barcelona home these days, but as chamas of Brazilian tradition – be it jazz, bossa, or samba – still burn through his fingers and onto pretty much anything he touches, no matter the music’s origin. Case in point: his second collaborative single of the year “Moon River”.

Recorded alongside fellow Paulistano Rodrigo Balduino, this version of “Moon River” isn’t just a ripple off that mid-’60s flood of Western pop renditions in a bossa nova style. No, there’s intimate honesty to the raw recording of this Breakfast at Tiffany’s triumph that channels the delicate acoustic passion of Jobim or Gilberto, string squeaks, breaths, close quarters instrumentation, and all. And even without translating Johnny Mercer’s lyrics into Portuguese, Pinheiro’s accent alone enchants with an exotic charm, gracing this Henry Mancini mainstay with a new set of legs that’ll last another fifty years, at least.

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