Fundo de Quintal, the founding fathers of the rootsy style of samba called pagode, will make a rare Southern California appearance on Sunday, October 9th at the Samba Brazilian Steak House in Redondo Beach, a beach town in the greater Los Angeles area. The musicianship of these veteran sambistas is formidable and the samba they play is not to be confused with the contemporary romantic pop samba also called pagode. For more information, call Brazilian Nites Productions at (818) 566-1111 or see the links at the bottom of this blog.
Here is an excerpt about the group from The Brazilian Sound: Samba, Bossa Nova and the Popular Music of Brazil, which I co-authored with Ricardo Pessanha:
It all started in the mid-1970s, when a group of musicians
associated with the Carnaval bloco Cacique de Ramos started getting together
for a pagode, a party where people
played samba. Every Wednesday night, Bira, Ubirany, Sereno, Almir Guineto,
Neoci, Jorge Aragão, and various other talented musicians united for beer,
appetizers, and samba in the bloco’s rehearsal space. The atmosphere was
informal, the mood collective. The music, often based in the old partido alto style, featured improvising
by the singer and the singing of the refrain by everyone else. It was more like
being back at Tia Ciata’s house, a musical gathering of friends. There was no
distinction between players and audience.
In addition, the samba being made in Ramos added some new
instrumental twists. Sereno introduced the tan-tan,
a type of atabaque, which replaced the larger and heavier surdo. This was more
practical for spontaneous samba get-togethers, as the tan-tan could be carried
more easily on buses, the mode of transportation for Rio’s working class. Almir
Guineto added a banjo, which was louder than a cavaquinho and better for
open-air gatherings. Ubirany started playing a hand-held repique, called a repique de mão, and dispensed with the
customary use of drum sticks. And Bira played the pandeiro in unusual ways. The
sound was intimate and earthy, with new percussive textures. Their lyrics were
unpretentious, focusing on situations from their daily life.
They changed the sonority of samba, they brought back the
‘batuque,’ the instrument played with the hands,” said Beth Carvalho. Brazil’s top samba record producer Rildo Hora told us, “Beth
invited me to go to Cacique to listen to the songs and the different percussion
that they were playing there. I liked what I saw and heard so much that I
talked to Beth and we decided to do something that changed the way people sang
and played samba in Rio: we invited those Cacique percussionists to play on
Beth’s next album.”
The albums De Pé no Chão
(Feet on the Ground, 1978) and Beth
Carvalho no Pagode (1979) brought the compositions and playing of the Ramos
musicians to the Brazilian public for the first time. Several of those
musicians formed the Grupo Fundo de Quintal (Backyard Group), which—with
Carvalho’s help—secured a recording contract with RGE and released their debut
album Samba é no Fundo de Quintal in
1980.
The Ramos composers helped to revitalize the partido alto style of samba. Hora told us that in the pagode get-togethers, “everyone sings a lot of partido
alto because it’s a samba that has a repeated refrain. In between the refrains,
there is musical play, improvised verses. It’s inviting.” The style, also employed by Martinho da Vila, became closely identified with
the pagodeiros, although they
explored other types of samba as well.
Many big names started recording songs by Fundo de Quintal
composers, whose sambas had catchy melodies and strong rhythms, and the record
companies and press started calling their music pagode. Carvalho popularized
their compositions on her albums, and the Grupo Fundo de Quintal’s sales
increased with each new release. Early on, Almir Guineto and Jorge Aragão left
the group to pursue solo careers; they were replaced by Walter Sete Cordas and
Arlindo Cruz. Arlindo played with them until 1993, and became a notable musician
(on cavaquinho, banjo, and the hybrid “banjo-cavaco”) and a prolific songwriter
in his own right.
Fundo de Quintal's lineup of musicians has changed, but the group has continued to release bestselling albums of quality music and to win Brazilian music-industry awards for their work. Their album Só Felicidade was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award for Best Samba/Pagode Album in 2015.
The leading guide to Brazilian music in the English language is available worldwide in paperback (above) and as a Kindle ebook with color photos (below).
Revealing conversations with iconic and important figures in Brazilian music such as Antonio Carlos Jobim, Carlos Lyra, Milton Nascimento, Airto Moreira, Dori Caymmi, Laurindo Almeida, Antonio Adolfo, Djavan, Ivan Lins, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Cristina Braga, Jovino Santos Neto, Luciana Souza and Lenine.
"Leny Andrade… does scat singing with an agility that approaches Ella Fitzgerald." —John S. Wilson, The New York Times
Leny Andrade is a female vocalist associated with the bossa
nova and jazz shows in the legendary Beco das Garrafas in Copacabana. Her
lively, passionate, jazz-inflected style has brought her critical praise and a
long career. Hers is one of Brazil's most virtuosic and distinctive voices in
samba, jazz and bossa nova.
Leny
de Andrade Lima was born on January 25, 1943 and grew up in Meier, a
neighborhood in Rio's Zona Norte near the samba stronghold of Vila Isabel.
"My mother is a professor of piano. In the beginning I was singing and
playing piano. I studied piano from age six to fourteen," Andrade
recalled. "The influence of jazz came through my knowledge of piano. A
singer who plays an instrument sings in a different way and searches more for
rich harmonies. I can't manage to sing a simple little song harmonically; it
has to have a rich harmony."
She
became a professional singer while only fifteen, making her debut with the
orchestra of Maestro Perminio Goncalves. "When you sing as a
crooner at bailes (dances), you learn
a lot. You have to sing in other idioms, various rhythms. I did this for three
years, between fifteen and eighteen. My father went with me because I was a
minor in age."
Then
came bossa nova, which Andrade was performing at the end of the 1950s and start
of the '60s, still underage in her first shows. "Bossa nova was beginning.
I sang with the Sérgio Mendes Trio—Mendes, Edson Machado, and Sebastião Neto—in
Bottles Bar, one of four small nightclubs in the Beco das Garrafas [a small
alley off Rua Duvivier in Rio]. It was mostly jazz and bossa nova there. Sérgio
played his first samba with me. He didn't like to play samba; he only played
jazz. He used to say that without wanting to, in order to continue playing in
this club, he had to play samba with me, so he ended up becoming a millionaire.
"I
sang both samba and jazz equally. It was a very interesting time. The Beco das
Garrafas was a place with the best musicians: Luis Eça, Edson Frederico, Durval
Ferreira, Mauricio Einhorn, Nara Leão, Tamba Trio, Carlos Lyra. It was a
meeting every night of great musicians.
"And
in the middle of this was Lennie Dale [1934-1994], an American who was very
important in Brazilian music. He changed many things in the style of Brazilian
music. He helped Elis [Regina] very much with his marvelous ideas, with putting
on shows. He was a dancer and had an academy of dance in Brazil."
Leny Andrade sings "Batida Diferente"
(composed by Durval Ferreira
and Mauricio Einhorn)
Leny
added, "I was singing 'Estamos Ai.' He heard it in rehearsal and said,
'Why not do it like this?' He helped singers and helped with the choreography,
with the fantastic musicality that he had. I adore him. He has a talent that
doesn't end."
She
continues, "In 1960, I recorded my first disc, A Sensação Leny Andrade [released the next year]. It was bossa
nova, improvisations, some samba-cancões, and it gained prizes. In the '60s, I
did many things. I did Gemini 5 [a
musical show] with Otávio Bailey, Pery Ribeiro, Luiz Carlos Vinhas, Ronie
Mesquita; it was first big show of bossa nova made in Brazil, and played for
one year. Then I went to Mexico and played for one year there. In 1964 I sang
in Buenos Aires in La Noche Club." Andrade lived in Mexico from 1966 to
1972, becoming well known on television and in musical theater.
In
her lengthy career, Leny has appeared at New York's Birdland, the Blue Note, and Town
Hall, the Smithsonian Institution, the Hollywood Bowl, Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club
in London, and numerous European and American jazz festivals. She has performed
with artists such as Paquito D'Rivera, Luiz Eça, Dick Farney, João Donato,
Eumir Deodato, Cesar Camargo Mariano, Romero Lubambo, and Francis
Hime, along with others mentioned above.
Leny Andrade sings "Estamos Ai"
(Mauricio Einhorn - Durval Ferreira)
Luz Neon, produced by Antonio Duncan,
was released in 1989 and its repertoire ranges from Gonzaguina ("É")
to Antonio Carlos Jobim ("Wave") to Aldir Blanc and Moacyr Luz
("Aquário") to Dizzy Gillespie ("Night in Tunisia").
"We recorded the album in six hours. I like to record like that. That way
it has the emotion I want to communicate to the public. It isn't cold like many
Brazilian records that I listen to. So I put the group in the studio and
directed them. I had rehearsals before, and then made the record directly. It
has the warmth, the spontaneity, like live music, that I like. I like to
improvise."
Leny sings "A Night in Tunisia"
About
her singing, she observed, "I almost always change my style." While
she can improvise and scat with the best of jazz singers, Leny said, "I
will never stop doing songs that are as Brazilian as they are. There already
exist fantastic American singers like Carmen [McRae], Sarah [Vaughan] and Ella
[Fitzgerald]. You are never going to see a Brazilian pianist play like Oscar
Peterson. Foolishness. You have to bring new, beautiful, well-done things from
your country, or you don't need to come."
In
2007, Leny shared a Latin Grammy Award with Cesar Camargo Mariano for Best MPB
Album for their Ao Vivo album.
The quotes in the above profile come from an interview I conducted with Leny
Andrade.
_______
Leny Andrade Select Discography
A
Sensação. RCA Victor, 1961. A Arte Maior de Leny Andrade. Polydor, 1963.
Gemini V—Show na Boate Porão 73. Odeon, 1965. Estamos
Aí.
Odeon, 1965. GeminiCinco Anos Depois. Pery Ribeiro &
Leny Andrade. Odeon, 1972. Alvoroço. Odeon, 1973. Expo-Som
73,Ao Vivo. Odeon, 1973. Leny
Andrade. Odeon, 1973. Registro. Columbia,
1979. Leny
Andrade. CBS, 1979. Presença
de Leny Andrade e Os Cariocas. CBS, 1979. Leny
Andrade. Pointer, 1984. Cartola
80 anos. CBS, 1988. Luz
Neon. Eldorado, 1989. Eu
Quero Ver. Eldorado, 1990. Bossa
Nova. Eldorado, 1991. Embraceable
You.
Som Livre, 1993. Nós (with Cesar
Camargo Mariano). Velas, 1994. Maiden
Voyage. Chesky Records, 1994. Coisa
Fina (with Romero Lubambo). Perfil Música, 1994. Antonio
Carlos Jobim, Letra e Música (with
Cristóvão Bastos). Lumiar Discos, 1995. Luz
Negra—Nelson Cavaquinho por Leny Andrade. Velas, 1995.
"After
bossa nova and Tropicália, there was a strong northeastern movement. It didn't
have a name, but I think it was as important."—Geraldo Azevedo
Geraldo Azevedo, like his colleague Alceu Valença, was part
of the "northeastern wave" that enriched MPB in the 1970s. Azevedo—a
singer, songwriter and guitarist—interprets regional styles with a bossa nova
sensibility and sophistication. His light, clear songs center on his voice and
guitar, often acoustic. Geraldo's lyrics evoke earthy romantic love and the
beaches, jangadas, and coconut
trees of the northeastern coast.
Geraldo
Azevedo de Amorim was born on January 11, 1945 in Petrolina, Pernambuco, on the
banks of the São Francisco River. Geraldo grew up in a musical household where
everyone played instruments or sang. "The folklore of the region—maracatu,
coco, repentistas—it's in all of us without our perceiving it," Azevedo
told me.He was a self-taught
musician and started playing the guitar at age twelve. As a teenager, he
listened to Luiz Gonzaga and Jackson do Pandeiro, as well as such diverse
musicians as Johann Sebastian Bach, classical guitarist Andrés Segovia, bossa
guitarist Baden Powell, and romantic crooner Nelson Gonçalves. But it was the
bossa nova singer João Gilberto who inspired Geraldo to become a professional
musician. "He made me more serious about looking into harmony. We didn't
have those [bossa nova] harmonies in Petrolina."
He
began playing with the group Sambossa as a teenager and at eighteen he traveled
to Recife to attend college. While there he joined Grupo Construção, which
included percussionist Naná Vasconcelos, singer Teca Calazans, and two future
members of Quinteto Violado – Toinho Alves (bass) and Marcelo Melo (guitar).
Geraldo Azevedo, "Moça Bonita"
In
1967, Azevedo moved to Rio and formed the group Quarteto Livre (Free Quartet)
with Vasconcelos, guitarist Nelson Ângelo, and flutist Franklin da Flauta
(Franklin Correa da Silva Neto). They accompanied singer-songwriter Geraldo
Vandré in various shows and on his famed protest anthem "Pra Não Dizer Que
Não Falei de Flores" (Not to Say I Didn't Speak of Flowers"), also
known as "Caminhando," which was censored for ten years after its
debut in 1968. Vandré was a hero of the 1960s song festivals who sang protest
lyrics against social injustices and Brazil's military dictatorship. Azevedo
and Vandré wrote "Canção da Despedida" (Goodbye Song) together and
the government banned it for twelve years until it was recorded by Elba
Ramalho.
The
notorious Institutional Act No. 5 of December 13, 1968 clamped down hard on
dissent in Brazil and made it impossible for Vandré and Quarteto Livre to
record. Vandré left the country and Azevedo went to prison. Azevedo was not
politically militant, but his friendship with loudly dissenting musicians and
artists caused him to be clandestinely seized and placed under arrest in 1969.
When he came out of prison, after staying for forty-one days, he felt depressed
and beaten down and almost gave up music for good. The next year was a bleak
year for Azevedo, but near its end he re-encountered Alceu Valença, who gave
Geraldo "a force, a strong push" and helped him regain his enthusiasm
for music. The two teamed together for a while, co-writing songs (such as the
hit "78 Rotações") and entering the musical festivals together
They
made their recording debut in 1972 with the joint album Alceu Valença e Geraldo Azevedo: Quadrafônico. It had many
memorable songs, including "Talismã" (written by the two of them),
and the haunting "Novena," a toada
written by Azevedo and Marcus Vinícius. In it, Azevedo poetically evoked the
intense Catholicism of his childhood.The
two also later collaborated in the O
Grande Encontro series, but their styles are generally quite different.
"Novena" from Alceu Valença and Geraldo Azevedo's Quadrafônico
Alceu is a fiery musical alchemist who attempts to be theatrical and mythical,
and Geraldo in general is mellow and down to earth. Valença fuses northeastern
styles with rock and blues, while Azevedo mixes the region's idioms with bossa
nova harmonies and vocal influences and the occasional light pop touch. Both
often favor the northeastern xote
rhythm, which has an affinity with reggae. Azevedo's lilting "Taxi
Lunar" (co-written with Valença and Zé Ramalho) and tender "Moça
Bonita" are based in xote; and his "Petrolina e Juazeiro,"
written with Moraes Moreira, and "Dona da Minha Cabeça" mix xote with
reggae.
Azevedo
placed songs on numerous television novelas over the next few years, which
brought him a great deal of attention. In 1977, he released his first solo LP, Geraldo Azevedo, which had the evocative
Azevedo-Valença tune "Caravana" (Caravan); it was included on the
soundtrack for the Gabriela TV
novela.
After
that, Azevedo recorded albums such as Bicho
de Sete Cabeças (Seven-Headed Animal), De
Outra Maneira (Another Way), and Eterno
Presente (Eternal Present).
Geraldo Azevedo, "Caravana"
Other hits include "Dia Branco"
(White Day), "Arraial
dos Tucanos" (used by the series Sítio
do Pica-pau Amarelo), "Juritis e Borboletas," "Barcarola do
Rio São Francisco," "Chorando e Cantando" (Crying and Singing),
and "Talvez Seja Real" (It Might Be Real). His 1981 album Inclinações
Musicais (Musical
Inclinations) with arrangements by Dori Caymmi and the participation of Sivuca
and Jackson do Pandeiro, included his signature song "Moça
Bonita."
Beautiful
girl, your kiss can
Kill
me without compassion
I
don't know if it's so
Or
it's pure imagination
To
find out, you give me
This
assassin kiss
As
I lie in your woman's arms
In 1984, Azevedo traveled with the late Tancredo Neves,
participating in the Direitas movement for democratic presidential elections in
Brazil. That same year, he was part of the group show Cantoria with Elomar,
Vital Farias and Xangai, a great showcase of northeastern musical traditions
from four of the region's finest musicians. The show resulted in the Cantoria I album, which was followed by Cantoria II four years later.
Alceu Valença, Elba Ramalho, Geraldo
Azevedo and Zé Ramalho's O Grande Encontro
In 1985,
he released the acoustic A Luz do Solo,
which is a great retrospective of his standards up to that point. In the next
decade, he joined Alceu Valença, Elba Ramalho, and Zé Ramalho for the three
well-received O Grande Encontro
albums, between 1996 and 2000. Salve São
Francisco (Save the San Francisco), released in 2010, is a thematic album
devoted to the great San Francisco River, which Geraldo grew up beside and
which is under threat today from dams and diversions of its water.
I interviewed Azevedo at the BMG/Ariola recording studio in Copacabana, when he was laying down vocal and guitar tracks
for "Bossa Tropical," the title song for an upcoming album. Azevedo was
dressed in a green and purple sweatshirt and chewing ginger root because of
a bad cold. He was very friendly and relaxed.
Chris: What have you been up to?
Geraldo: I've
been traveling a lot internationally. In February 1990, I have a show in Paris.
Chris: You have a
growing audience in Europe.
Geraldo: I did the Montreux Jazz
Festival in 1985 and it was very well received. I played with Djavan and Tania
Maria, who were better known, but I did very well.
Chris: You have a
unique fusion of northeastern music with many other types of music. What
musical elements are in your songs?
Geraldo: My work
has a lot of mixing. On the new album, for example, there's a song called
"Sexo Vinte," a pun on seculo
vinte (20th century). It is a mix of xote, which is very related
to reggae, and the Beatles. "Talismã" perhaps originated from the
Gypsies. The songs are inspired and you don't always know what the influences
are.
Chris: Did you have a musical childhood?
Geraldo: In my
house, music was always naturally a part of things. My mother sings
marvelously. My father plays guitar. My brothers all play music. In school, I
always sang at the different parties and festivals. I couldn't enter the
university because I always had shows that interfered with my taking the
entrance exam.
Chris: What were some of your biggest influences?
Geraldo: Bossa
nova and João Gilberto. João Gilberto made me turn professional. He made me
more serious about looking into harmony. We didn't have those [bossa nova]
harmonies in Petrolina. Also [Dorival] Caymmi, Milton [Nascimento], Jobim,
jazz. The Northeast is so much a part of me – Jackson do Pandeiro and Luiz
Gonzaga. The folklore of the region—maracatú, coco, repentistas—is in all of us
without our perceiving it, instinctively. Later, I turned to jazz, the Beatles.
Chris: You
recorded your first album with Alceu Valença, but you had already been in Rio
awhile. How did you career start once you got down there?
Geraldo: I came to Rio before Alceu.
I played with Quarteto Livre, with Naná Vasconcelos and others. We never
recorded an album.
Chris: The military
essentially broke up the group and sent Vandré into exile and you into prison.
You also couldn't record "Canção da Despedida," written with Vandré,
until much later.
Geraldo: My song
"Canção da Despedida" was censored for a long time. At that time, artists
were suffocated. There was cultural chaos. People had to leave the country.
Chris: And you
were thrown into jail.
Geraldo: I was
imprisoned twice. In 1969 for forty-one days and in 1975 for eleven days. The
first time in prison, I was very depressed and beaten down. But I was young and
I could recover.
Chris: Alceu
Valença helped you get back into music.
Geraldo: Alceu
met me in Rio. Alceu gave me a force, a strong push. It was a new musical
movement. I recorded my first record, Alceu Valença and Geraldo Azevedo, in 1971 [it was released the
next year].
Chris: What happened the second time the military imprisoned you?
Geraldo: The
second time, six years later, was more violent. I was blindfolded, tortured. My
jailers asked me to play for them, but I refused. I wasn't going to play for my
torturers. I was never tried. My work didn't have political connotations.It was humanistic, more to the positive
than to the nihilistic, and more to the constructive than the destructive. But
any person looking into cultural and humanistic subjects was persecuted. Some
people died innocently. But, happily, I came through all that. The second time,
I had a very strong spirit, and I left feeling strong, even though my time in
jail was very violent. After I left I decided I would become famous and I
accelerated my work and recorded my first solo album, Geraldo Azevedo, for Som Livre in 1976. Ironically, [President]
Geisel took my album to Germany as being representative of Brazilian culture.
Chris: What do
you think was the impact of the dictatorship and the repression on Brazilian
music?
Geraldo: I think
the dictatorship interrupted a Brazilian cultural cycle and we still haven't
managed to recover. We are still asleep. I think my success has come about
because people sense something more profund and poetic in my music. They have a
lack of cultural inheritance. Rock is empty, alienated. The system presents
alienated music, with the exception of some artists like Cazuza, Lobão, and
Renato Russo.
Chris: There was
exceptional music, by Geraldo Vandré, Edu Lobo, Chico Buarque and so many
others, presented at the great Brazilian music festivals of the 1960s. And then
the military dictatorship stepped in and censored a lot of it.
Geraldo: At the
festivals, there came out such a force. We don't have this now. I think we'll
never recover what we lost, but we can have a new movement with much sweat and
heart.
Chris: You are
one who survived, and have large following, even though you have released a
relatively small number of albums in your four-decade career.
Geraldo: Today I
have a bigger public, especially in the Northeast. Now I select and choose what
I want to do. I'm not so worried about TV appearances, etc. I tried to do a
real commercial album with Mazzola. PolyGram wanted me to do that, and it was
completely unsuccessful and is no longer in the catalog. So, I have to do it
from my heart.
Chris: The music
that was created by you and Alceu Valença and your peers from the Northeast was
a really vital part of MPB.
Geraldo: After
bossa nova and Tropicália, there was a strong northeastern movement. It didn't
have a name, but I think it was as important. Alceu, myself, Zé Ramalho,
Belchior, Elba Ramalho, Fagner, and others.
Chris: Did you
ever imagine being where you are today and having such a long and successful career?
Geraldo: I never thought about being
a musician. Music just carried me away.
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