Txai is an album by the Brazilian musician Milton Nascimento, released in 1990 in Brazil and in 1991 in the United States.[1][2] It is dedicated to Aliança dos Povos da Floresta, a Brazilian environmental organization.[1] The album title translates roughly to "comrade" in the Kashinawa language.[3] Nascimento supported the album with a North American tour.[4]Txai peaked at No. 1 on Billboard's World Albums chart.[5] It was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best World Music Album".[6]
Production
The album was inspired by an 18-day expedition Nascimento made in the Amazon rainforest, along the Juruá River.[7][8] He included field recordings of indigenous Amazonian music, and ensured that royalties were sent to the appropriate tribes.[9][10] "Nozani Na" was composed by Heitor Villa-Lobos.[11]River Phoenix provided a spoken word piece on "Curi Curi".[12]
The Washington Post wrote that "nearly all of [the songs] are lushly produced and equipped with hummable melodies that often belie the grave concern for the equatorial region that Nascimento expresses through his Portuguese lyrics."[16]Entertainment Weekly determined that "musically and conceptually, Txai wanders more than it should."[12] The Chicago Tribune deemed Txai "sort of a travelogue of the Amazon rainforest."[17] The Edmonton Journal concluded that Nascimento's "voice—all alone, in reverberating harmonies, polyphony, or in traditional chants—makes for the overwhelming feel of the record."[18] The Calgary Herald dismissed the album as "fake folk."[13] The San Antonio Express-News stated that the album "melds Nascimento's refined melodies with the living sounds of the rain forest and the musical and poetic images of its indigenous peoples."[19]
