{{Infobox album | name = Txai | type = studio | artist = Milton Nascimento | cover = Txai.jpg | alt = | released = 1990 | recorded = | venue = | studio = | genre = Latin | length = 35:50 | label = Columbia | producer = Marcio Ferreira, Mazzola | prev_title = Canção da America | prev_year = 1990 | next_title = Noticias do Brasil | next_year = 1992 }} '''''Txai''''' is an album by the Brazilian musician Milton Nascimento, released in 1990 in Brazil and in 1991 in the United States.<ref name=SS/><ref>{{cite news |title=Brazilian Beat |work=Austin American-Statesman |date=21 Feb 1991 |department=Onward |page=17}}</ref> It is dedicated to Aliança dos Povos da Floresta, a Brazilian environmental organization.<ref name=SS>{{cite news |last1=Lannert |first1=John |title=Rains Forests Comes First with Singer |work=Sun Sentinel |date=8 June 1990 |department=Features Showtime |page=22}}</ref> The album title translates roughly to "comrade" in the Kashinawa language.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Rohter |first1=Larry |title=For Nascimento, a Leap to Mass Popularity |work=The New York Times |date=4 Apr 1991 |page=C15}}</ref> Nascimento supported the album with a North American tour.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Holden |first1=Stephen |title=Sounds Around Town |work=The New York Times |date=5 Apr 1991 |page=C15}}</ref> ''Txai'' peaked at No. 1 on ''Billboard'''s World Albums chart.<ref>{{cite web |title=Milton Nascimento |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/milton-nascimento/chart-history/jls/ |website=Billboard |access-date=28 September 2023}}</ref> It was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best World Music Album".<ref>{{cite web |title=Milton Nascimento |url=https://www.grammy.com/artists/milton-nascimento/4781 |website=Recording Academy |access-date=28 September 2023}}</ref>
==Production== The album was inspired by an 18-day expedition Nascimento made in the Amazon rainforest, along the Juruá River.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Knox |first1=Paul |title=Music |work=The Globe and Mail |date=16 June 1990 |page=C3}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Mackie |first1=John |title=Songs from the heart speak in every language |work=Vancouver Sun |date=25 Apr 1991 |page=F5}}</ref> He included field recordings of indigenous Amazonian music, and ensured that royalties were sent to the appropriate tribes.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gonzalez |first1=Fernando |title=Music with a Message |work=The Boston Globe |date=4 Apr 1991}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Preston |first1=Julia |title=The Songs of the Forest |work=The Washington Post |date=14 Apr 1991 |page=G1}}</ref> "Nozani Na" was composed by Heitor Villa-Lobos.<ref name=AM/> River Phoenix provided a spoken word piece on "Curi Curi".<ref name=EW/>
==Critical reception== {{music ratings |rev1 = AllMusic |rev1score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref name="AM">{{cite web |title=Txai Review by Richard S. Ginell |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/txai-mw0000262614 |website=AllMusic |access-date=28 September 2023}}</ref> |rev2 = ''Calgary Herald'' |rev2score = C<ref name="CH">{{cite news |last1=Brennan |first1=Brian |title=Jazz Discs |work=Calgary Herald |date=27 July 1991 |page=H7}}</ref> |rev3 = ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' |rev3score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2011 |publisher=Omnibus Press}}</ref> |rev4 = ''Entertainment Weekly'' |rev4score = B<ref name="EW">{{cite magazine |last1=Burr |first1=Ty |title=Txai |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=April 12, 1991 |url=https://ew.com/article/1991/04/12/txai/}}</ref> |rev5 = ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'' |rev5score = {{rating|4|5}}<ref name="RS">{{cite book |title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |date=1992 |publisher=Random House |pages=495, 496}}</ref> }} ''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."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Joyce |first1=Mike |title=Nascimento's 'Txai' Has Native Appeal |work=The Washington Post |date=12 Apr 1991 |page=N15}}</ref> ''Entertainment Weekly'' determined that "musically and conceptually, ''Txai'' wanders more than it should."<ref name=EW/> The ''Chicago Tribune'' deemed ''Txai'' "sort of a travelogue of the Amazon rainforest."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kot |first1=Greg |title=Rock really comes rolling into Chicago |work=Chicago Tribune |date=2 May 1991 |department=Tempo |page=1}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Levesque |first1=Roger |title=Amazon inspires master's spare work |work=Edmonton Journal |date=5 May 1991 |page=D4}}</ref> The ''Calgary Herald'' dismissed the album as "fake folk."<ref name=CH/> 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."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ragland |first1=Cathy |title=Nascimento |work=San Antonio Express-News |date=23 Oct 1992 |page=20H}}</ref>
''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'' called "Yanomami e Nós" "hauntingly emotional."<ref name=RS/>
==Track listing== {{Track listing | all_writing = | title1 = Abertura | length1 = | title2 = Txai | length2 = | title3 = Baü Mētóro | length3 = | title4 = Coisas de Vida (That's Life) | length4 = | title5 = Hoeiepereiga | length5 = | title6 = Estórias da Floresta (Stories of the Forest) | length6 = | title7 = Yanomami e Nós – Pacto de Vida (Yanomami and Us – Pact of Life) | length7 = | title8 = Awasi | length8 = | title9 = A Tercera Margen do Rio (The Third Edge of the Water) | length9 = | title10 = Benke | length10 = | title11 = Sertão das Águas (Hinterlands of the Waters) | length11 = | title12 = Que Virá dessa Escuridão? (What Will Come Out of This Darkness?) | length12 = | title13 = Curi Curi | length13 = | title14 = Nozani Na | length14 = | title15 = Baridjumokô | length15 = }}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Milton Nascimento}} {{Authority control}} Category:Milton Nascimento albums Category:1990 albums Category:Columbia Records albums