Atkingani Chico Buarque’s second effort is a natural and suitable follow-up to his 1st album: music and lyrics are a continuation of what was heard before: conventional bossa nova merged with traditional samba sealed with romantic poetry of the highest quality. However one more concerned hearer could notice Buarque embarking yet timidly in a journey which should soon bring him to a serious confrontation with the severe censorship, the ‘cultural’ arm of the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from 1964 until 1985 and later a direct fight with the imposed and illegitimate powers. Lyrics display a significant cluster of social criticism directed to the way the common men was losing their identity through the influence of media, propaganda, repression or simply fear. This social criticism would further give room to a more forceful political criticism. One interesting feature of this album is the presence at the backing vocals of the popular trio named Os 3 Morais, a kind of Brazilian Peter, Paul & Mary. Seeing from the present perspective this presence gives a special charm to some of the tracks, notably ‘Com açúcar, com afeto’ where Jane Morais, the trio’s female singer does the solo part – Chico Buarque later admitted not feeling then comfortable singing a ‘feminine’ song (although he composed it!). Other feature is the absence of fillers which gave this album a much more balanced and homogeneous signature. Together with the abovementioned ‘Com açúcar, com afeto’, songs like ‘Quem te viu, quem te vê’, ‘Noite dos mascarados’ and ‘Fica’ are now considered ‘classics’ of Brazil’s musical scenario. I’d like also spot other enjoyable tracks like ‘A televisão’, ‘Realejo’ and specially the pristine ‘Lua cheia’, with its magnificent lyrics. Being a plus when compared to Buarque’s first this Volume 2 deserves clearly an additional star.