Brazzil
July-August 2001
Music
Maracatu de baque virado, maracatu de baque solto, frevo, coco, ciranda, forró, cavalo marinho, caboclinho, xote, baião, mangue beat, samba, afoxé, samba-reggae, maculelê, punk rock, hip-hop, drum n’ bass, electronica, funk, metal, rock n’ roll... there is only one state that I know of in all of Brazil that offers this quantity of traditional and modern music. Clearly, music that is native to a certain region will be retained and performed by the local mestres of that music.
Yet when a city can also adopt so many other grooves and keep them fresh, alongside their own catalogue of regional music, you have found yourself a legitimate music center. Unfortunately, national and international music press are not always the first to pick up on these sorts of cultural movements. As a matter of fact, long standing myths can often lead people to believe that they’re hearing about the "real deal" instead of actually doing the homework required to find the "real deal," musically speaking.
There exists a myth, for example, that in order to find the "soul" of Brazilian music there is one and only one city that will show you the light, as it were. I’m referring to Salvador da Bahia, of course. Any and everybody who gives a music recommendation inevitably cites the Northeast as the place to go. After spending about six months in the Brazilian Northeast, I feel qualified to say that I would give the exact same advice. However, exactly where to go is the question that is never asked. It is assumed that Bahia is the one and only place to search for the soul of modern Brazilian music.
May I suggest, no insist, that this assumption is not only false, but may dangerously deceive you into believing you have found some hip new Brazilian sound amidst the absurd axé, pagode, or pseudo-"funk" music clogging the streets of Bahia?! Now first, and for the record—much respect to the blocos afro of Bahia: Ilê Aiyê, Male Debale, Filhos de Ghandy, Olodum (sans their weak axé side), Muzenza, etc. They are the "real deal," no doubt about that. These groups are also, however, the vast minority in Bahia and are constantly being pushed more and more to the margins of modern Bahian Carnaval.
But companheiros, there exists a city in the northeast that not only offers considerably more than Salvador, but actually leaves her commercialized, techno pop music scene in the dust. As a matter of fact, after having experienced Carnavals in both cities, allow me to be bold enough to say that I would never again attend Carnaval in Bahia if I had to do so outside of one of the aforementioned blocos afro. My point? I present to you the new music capital of Brazil: Recife, Pernambuco. Manguetown, in the words of the late great Chico Science.
I recently returned from a three-month thesis research project/musical vision quest/percussionist paradise in Recife. What I witnessed during those three months changed my perceptions about making music and what a music scene can be. It was such an intense experience that I felt obligated to start the process of debunking this Bahia myth once and for all. It’s the least I can do for the dozens of musicians, journalists, producers, DJs, and amigos I met while in Recife, all struggling like mad to even compete in a Brazilian music market infested by axé, pagode, Rio style "funk," pop, and cheap North American rock.
Recife not only boasts a musical diversity rarely tasted in a modern city anywhere in the world, but a quality in her bands and performances that has spoiled her citizens into only accepting what is "the best," as Recifenses always say, in English even. Despite serious financial problems, the city is quite simply bursting at the seams with an inspiring spirit of creativity and the vontade to simply play good music. It is a place to go to find out how a modern music scene can and should be.
The friendliness and openness of the people involved in Recife’s music and arts scene makes the all too common rockstar arrogance and separation even more absurd. Of course, this betrays the big problems that have left Recife out in the cold when compared to neighboring Bahia—a serious lack of local radio and market support, lack of corporate assistan¢e ($), complete confusion and misdirection by major record labels, and a degree of isolation in the national and international spotlight.
Recife has had its moments recently. The rise of Chico Science & Nação Zumbi and mundo livre S. A. in the early 1990s opened the door for dozens of other Recifense artists and landed them in the national and international spotlight for a brief period. The early death of Chico Science in a 1997 car accident dimmed that spotlight considerably, and should be considered one of the greatest losses to the music of our generation. I would compare his death to that of a name as huge as Jimi Hendrix in terms of the potential lost, the far too short career of a young artist with the talent and charisma to completely redefine what is "contemporary music."
The circumstances were quite different, of course, which makes Chico’s loss even more tragic and sad. Yet this event also had the paradoxical effect of creating a legend in Recife, an easy point of reference for modern Recife. Many overzealously go so far as to create a more than human aura around Chico. Having seen how hard those who were closest to him are fighting to keep his memory a human memory, if you follow me, I don’t want to participate in any more myth making.
But I would suggest that figures such as Chico Science were and are the result of an environment created by Pernambuco’s rich musical heritage combined with an exceptionally open-minded approach towards international sounds. It allowed the special talent of Chico to blossom. The resulting mix has opened the door for people to take a much closer look at the wealth that Pernambuco has to offer the world.
Chico Science was by no means alone "searching for the perfect beat." Let me make some suggestions—the still amazing Nação Zumbi and mundo livre, Cascabulho, Cordel do Fogo Encantado, Sheik Tosado, Monica Feijó, Via Sat, Otto, Querosene Jacaré, Lenine, Mestre Ambrosio, Eddie, Devotos, Chão e Chinela, DJ Dolores, Faces do Subúrbio, Spider e Incognita Rap… and these are just some of the contemporary bands.
Then you have the legends such as Jackson do Pandeiro, Luis Gonzaga, Alceu Valença, Lia de Itamaracá, Mestre Salu, Selma do Coco, Bezerra da Silva, not to mention all the Carnaval blocos. The incredible mangue scene is a result of, and could only have been brewed in Pernambuco’s rich cultural cauldron. I’m not sure there exists any other region in Brazil that has so much to offer to the world of music, and I would unequivocally recommend to those interested in discovering Brazil’s modern "musical soul" that they plan an extended trip to Recife and Olinda, Pernambuco. It’s time that the spotlight refocused itself on the swamp city—"Rios, pontes, e overdrives, impresionantes estruturas de lama… mangue, mangue, mangue!"
Let me elaborate. During Carnaval 2001 in Recife and Olinda, Pernambuco, I witnessed multiple live performances of almost every one of the musical styles I listed in the first paragraph. Every dawn I went home in awe of what I had witnessed the previous night. It was a stark contrast from last year in Bahia when, most days, I left wondering where the hell the drums were that they talk so much about. Bunda (butt) has replaced the beats in Bahia.
This is, of course, a picky drummer speaking. I think I recognize percussive fluff when I see it. Looking back on it now, in comparison to what I saw this year in Manguetown, Bahia was about 75% fluff, and 25% absolutely amazing. Pernambuco was about the exact opposite. Anything you want, you will encounter in the Carnaval of Recife and Olinda. While Olinda has become somewhat commercialized itself, a mere five km away lies downtown Recife with the best underground Carnaval in Brazil.
There even exist stages set up solely for rock concerts right in the middle of the festa. You can quite literally walk from one block to the next in downtown Recife and see maracatu, then samba, then frevo, then afoxé, and then end up in mosh pit during the Rec-Beat rock festival. You might even end up playing in a bloco yourself. I did. The options are overwhelming. You don’t need to search in vain for a rare bloco afro and some mind blowing drumming. You don’t need to wait until 2:30 am to see some samba-reggae. You don’t need to pay absurd tourist prices to get in on the goods.
The traditional Pernambucan maracatu drums (called alfaias) have a low end that will shake the ground as deep as a samba squad. The famous Noite dos Tambores Silenciosos starts early and runs late. The Encontro dos Bois in Olinda on Ash Wednesday is spectacular. And perhaps more importantly, you don’t need to wade through throngs of people to enjoy the mad music erupting all around you.
I certainly hope that Recife never ends up like Salvador, it’s far too amazing as it is. But we Brazil buffs in the northland need to know what is going on down there. Recife has a lot to teach us. And what I referred to above is merely Carnaval, during the rest of the year there exists festivals, concerts, presentations, rehearsals, and a constant crowd of cool cats ever eager to rap with foreigners hip to what they’re up to down there in the mud. It’s a scene waiting for the world to catch up to it. My adventures started by meeting Elcy at CD Rock, located on the Conde Da Boa Vista by the bridge. He knows everybody and everything that’s going on in town. Tell him I sent you.
Bahia has much to offer, no doubt about it. Ilê Aiyê will leave you speechless. The capoeira is legendary. You could spend your entire trip there. You will definitely find some major Afro-Brazilian soul if you can run far enough away from the trio elétricos. The city will probably change any North American’s perspectives on a lot of things. But for God’s sake, if you really want to find the new music capital of Brazil and rearrange your concept of what can be done with modern music, head north out of the bays and into the swamps. Tune your antennae into the spectacular diversity being offered to the world by the bands of caranguejos roaming around the lama of Manguetown.
A quick glossary:
Mangue—Mangrove swamp. The ecosystem that covers Recife. The musical movement that began in Pernambuco in the early 1990s.
Manguetown - Recife & Olinda, Pernambuco. Coined by Chico Science & Nação Zumbi.
Caranguejo—Crab. Sometimes signifies a person from Recife or Olinda.
Lama—Mud. Something from "the mud" is something from Recife or Olinda, or something cool.
Some Pernambucan music/culture sites:
Jeff Duneman is finishing his Masters in Latin American Studies at the University of New Mexico. He is a musician (drummer) and full-time music fanatic. 28 years old, hailing from the Midwest, temporarily transplanted to New Mexico, he has lived and traveled extensively in Mexico as well as visiting other parts of Spanish Latin America. Currently beginning what is sure to be a long-term romance with Brazil. You can reach the author jduneman@yahoo.com
The New Music Factory
Pernambuco is the land of frevo, of maracatu,
of the singing viola players in the markets, streets,
and festivals; it is the land of the coco dance,
of the ciranda and of the forró. For every type
of music, a facet of her people is represented.Kirsten Weinoldt
Dear Kirsten,
I’ll try to give you my best information about Pernambuco’s music! You know the people from Brazil love music and have this in their blood, and the people from Pernambuco are no different.
In PE, the abbreviation for Pernambuco, people from rich families in the past used to study piano, violin, and other musical instruments, and it was fashionable to invite people, who played different instruments for a sarau, a soirée where each person would perform in turn.
I remember from that time, perhaps the 50’s, the great conductor, Nelson Ferreira. He had composed some very famous frevos, our samba, because this music is for playing and dancing at Carnaval time, but it is really very different from samba. The Negro Manuel Augusto was very famous. In reality he was a baiano, but he lived all his life in Recife since his return from Europe, where he played for the Russian Czar! He died in the 60’s, more than 80 years old. His rival, the conductor Valdemar de Almeida, also very famous, had a son—a very famous violinist—who is still alive and has an orchestra called the Armorial Orchestra, which specializes in baroque music. At the same time there was a conductor by the name of Capiba, who composed both classical and popular music. When you’re at my house, I’ll play a waltz for you called The Green Waltz.
As you know, all of Brazil has had African influence, and of course Pernambuco as well. Here you may find the coco, a kind of dance and music that reminds us of the time of Negroes at senzala. Today, Dona Selma do Coco is the best interpreter of this music. I have one of her CD’s and will play it for you.
In the month of June we have the festas juninas, when we dance the forró. People say that forró is an abbreviation of "for all." The music is a kind of country music with the accordion and percussion instruments. It is funny, because usually the lyrics have a double meaning. I don’t think I have anything here, but it’s easy to find in the stores. These are some of the best interpreters of forró: Alcimar Monteiro de Altinho, Flávio José, Cireno e Cirino, Elifas Junior, Azulão. In Caruaru, where my parents live, there is a Banda Quenga de Coco that plays forró.
The Banda Capim com Mel (grass with honey) is from Recife and plays and sings modern music. We have a special voice of the Northeast, and that’s Alceu Valença, who has given a lot to our musical tradition. Reginaldo Rossi, another man, now perhaps 55, and his compositions have been recorded by many artists. And finally, with a gold key, the very famous king of baião, LUIZ GONZAGA. He came from our land and became famous all over the world. His son, Gonzaguinha, was born in Rio and has written many beautiful songs. Please let me know if I can get any music for you.
Beijos, Chico
P.S. I forgot to write about some very special musicians, os repentistas. Often, these people are without education, can’t read or write, but they are very clever at constructing verses by improvising. Usually a person will say a word, and they will develop the verses. There are generally two musicians, each one with a guitar, called a viola.
Thus started my research into the rich musical tradition that exists in Pernambuco. An email to my pernambucano friend, Chico, who lives in Rio, resulted in his enthusiastic response and material, when I arrived at his house.
Música Pernambucana
One of the states in the Northeast is Pernambuco. Part of it is located in the sertão, the arid area where rain is a rarity, and the people are tough. Probably because of the tough life the area has to offer its inhabitants, a strong mythology and tradition have sprung up helping the hard working people of the region cope with their circumstances. The main city of Pernambuco is Recife on the coast, now a popular tourist destination. Brazilian Sound by Chris McGowan and Ricardo Pessanha has this to say:
The sertão has a mostly poor, illiterate population who tend their own small plots of land or work for powerful landowners who rule their communities in a feudal manner. Much of the sertão is covered with thorny scrub called caatinga, which is a vivid green when it rains and a gray thicket during dry times.
No doubt these conditions lead to the locals being tough and resilient. Life expectancy is shorter than in other parts of Brazil—which may explain why there is a strong need for myths and musical tradition to make life a little easier. One of the pernambucanos’ (as the people are called) attributes is a strong sense of hospitality—likely borne from the need for help from neighbors in an emergency situation. Guests are welcomed with food and a place to sleep.
Another strong source of strength in the harsh climate is religion. Catholicism, of course, is strong, but with the Afro-Brazilian religion often mixed in along with it. The conditions of living require much comforting on a spiritual level. For some, religion was not enough, and they took to robbery and theft to solve their poverty. These so-called cangaceiros got around on horseback and raided villages and farms. The leader of one of these groups of cangaceiros was the legendary Lampião (1898-1934). He is famous for his ruthlessness, audacity, generosity, and musical ability. He was a singer and accordion player, which came in handy at late-night parties, at which he also popularized the xaxado dance. Even today, so many years after his death, his life is depicted in books, music, movies, and plays.
Rodger Collins of wwoz.org says about the fertile cultural climate of the Northeast in general and Pernambuco in particular:
The Northeast of Brazil is where the journey starts. Always a lively and fertile breeding ground for music, this coast that looks toward Africa has given birth to many individual styles, often associated with particular cities such as Recife, Belém, and Salvador. The Brazilian music scene has always been a lively mix based on the fact that Brazil is a true melting pot. We, Americans, like to say that our country is that, but not like Brazil. While it would certainly not be accurate to suggest that racial discrimination does not exist in Brazil, its basis is different from the experience of North America, tending to be more class-oriented than biological. The melting starts with the Portuguese colonists, who brought their Euro-Iberian sensibilities to their life in the New World, where they mixed freely with natives and then slaves.
This accounts for the mutual influence between the races. African slaves influenced the European music with their rhythms and were, in turn, influenced by the European culture and Portuguese traditional music. Many of the classical composers and musicians in the Northeast were of African descent, and many "whites" went on to compose and play music with a distinct African flavor to the point where, today, the music is not "black" or "white," but rather Brazilian—loved by all Brazilians and many others around the world.
Terminology
Baião: The term came from the ‘baiano,’ a popular Northeast Dance. It was already known at the end of the 19thcentury, generally performed on accordion in the sertão, always in unison with a slow 2-beat. The baião, which became known from 1946, thanks to Luiz Gonzaga and others of the genre, was already influenced by the samba and other urban carioca rhythms.
Bumba-meu-boi: The bumba-meu-boi is a very popular and widespread comic-dramatic dance, which tells the story of the death and resurrection of an ox. It started at the end of the 18thcentury in the coastal sugar plantations and cattle ranches of the Northeast and spread to the North and South. Its name comes from the verb bumbar, meaning to beat up or against, and the expression is chanted by the crowd as an invitation for the ox (the men in the ox costume) to charge against them. It is a parade of human and animal characters and fantastic creatures from Brazilian Indian mythology, such as the caipora, to the sounds of music and singing.
It takes place during the Christmas season. There is usually a group of singers and the "chamador" or caller, who introduces the characters with different songs. The instruments used are the acoustic guitar, pandeiro, and accordion. The bumba-meu-boi appears in northern Brazil as boi-bumbá and on the island of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil as boi-de-mamão. Mamão is the Portuguese word for papaya. It is believed that originally a green papaya was used as the ox head, and that’s where the name apparently comes from.
Ciranda: Children’s round dance of Portuguese origin but known in all of Brazil. In the times of Rádio Nacional, thanks to the productions of João de Barro, interpretations of artists of the cast of radio theater and arrangements of Radamés Gnattali, many of his ballads were recorded. Ciranda designates, also, a type of paulista dance—the finale of the rural dance of fandango with the men inside the circle and women on the outside.
Coco: Popular Northeast dance. The main singer leads with the verses, and the group replies with a chorus. The choreography has distinct African influence. More common on the beaches and in the sertão, but there was a time when it was danced in the salons of society in Alagoas and Paraíba under the guise of samba, pagode, and zambé. It is a circular dance in a fast tempo and intriguing syncopation. The singers and dancers form a circle inside which sometimes solo dancers perform.
Desafio—the challenge: This is one of the best known and most interesting forms of Brazilian popular music—a poetic, musical dispute between two vocalists. It is a fact that the genre came from Portugal, with the same spirit, and spread to all of Brazil. In the North, the desafios are accompanied only by viola and rabeca, a kind of viola used in the interior; in the South also guitar and accordion. The melody and lyrics are improvised. The "duel" consists of provocations, questions, and insults one vocalist puts to the other in front of a small audience, usually on the street. The audience applauds at the end of each verse. The songs are spoken more than sung, much like rap. The rhythm is kept with a pandeiro, and sometimes desafios can go well into the night. These "repentistas" are often illiterate but intelligent artists, who can think and improvise on their feet, a talent they use to break the concentration of their opponent and leave him unable to reply, thus losing the challenge. After the performance, they pass the hat among the audience.
Embolada: It is the term for an improvisational singing style common in the Northeast sertão and beaches. There is typically a refrain followed by a series of sextilhas, a number of sentences forming a poem, performed by the singer. It is very similar to the coco, in fact, some consider it a more sophisticated coco. Generally, it is accompanied by a pandeiro and a ganzá—a tubular metal shaker or a wooden or metal square with cymbals. It plays on at a rapid tempo, often for a long time, and usually employs complex lyrics. There are set refrains, giving the performer the opportunity to consider his next improvisational segment. Often tongue twisting lyrics are used in the humorous or satirical poetry. The tempo gradually speeds up until the words get mixed together—an aspect that gave name to the style embolada. Manezinho Araújo from Pernambuco was one of the best known artists of this genre and frequently performed on the radio and recorded from the 30’s until the 50’s.
Frevo—The great contribution of Pernambuco to Brazil’s popular music, whether a dance in the street or the salon, the frevo is a vibrant, frenetic, syncopated march, which is the most vivid and frequent sound of the Carnavals of Recife, Olinda, and other cities of the state. The name seems to stem from "ferver" or "frever," an allusion to the fervor with which the people deliver its crazy choreography. It is probable that the frevo originated with Captain José Lourenço da Silva, a.k.a. Zuzinha, who directed the Pernambuco Military Brigade band. He had the idea of heightening the syncopation and increasing the tempo of the polka-marcha, thus creating the frevo. It was first played in Recife during the 1917 Carnaval. The dance is generally performed by a multitude of people. It appears that the style has been accepted in the salons since the 1920’s. A slower form, performed through singing and known as frevo-canção, is also popular. Mestre Capiba and Nelson Ferreira were the best known frevo performers.
Maracatu: It coexists with the frevo in the street Carnaval of Pernambuco. There are groups or blocos that parade in the streets accompanied by drums, chocalhos—wooden or metal shakers in the shape of a double cone united at the base—, agogô’s—a double cow bell struck with a stick—, and various other percussion instruments. There is no specific choreography, as with the frevos. The members of the groups have the custom of responding in chorus to the improvisation of the tirador de loas, lead singer, who "sings a joke" to be answered by the other participants.
Xaxado: dance of the high sertão and the interior of Bahia, where it is said to first have been brought to light by Lampião and his cangaceiros. Exclusively for men, it was danced in a circle, single file. The right leg moves ahead and provides most of the momentum of the movement, with the right foot slightly touching the floor. The left foot slides and taps the accompanying rhythm. The lyrics of the songs are generally warlike and satirical. The genre was also popularized by Luiz Gonzaga on radio and TV in Rio from about the 1950’s.
Xerém: Northeastern dance accompanied by accordion, similar to the polka and the xote. In Piauí, in addition to accordion, the dance and song are accompanied in three parts, chanted by men and women.
Xiba: A type of northern response to the samba or the cateretê (a rural dance, probably of Amerindian origin performed by couples accompanied by a singer and 2 violas). It is a country dance with instrumental accompaniment of guitar, steel viola, and cavaquinho—always outdoors. It is of Portuguese origin but popularized by Afro-Brazilians.
Xote, xotis: Northeastern dance very similar to the polka. Its name in reality comes from the German "schottishe," an aristocratic ballroom dance, which arrived in Brazil during imperial times. The Northeastern accordion players assimilated and modified it, making it more lively in its 2/4 rhythm, transforming it into music that Luiz Gonzaga would help popularize in the South.
Caboclinhos: Folk dance of primarily Northeastern Brazil where the dancers simulate Indian war dances.
Joaquim Nabuco
One pernambucano, not related in any way to music, should be mentioned because of his profound, though indirect, effect on the social structure of Pernambuco and of Brazil: Joaquim Nabuco, an abolitionist native to this state, whose book Minha Formação (My Formation) written a century ago, has been re-issued, and his thoughts on and fight against slavery brought to the forefront of today’s Brazil a little more than 100 years after slavery was abolished (1888).
Creativity and its expression depend much on the circumstances of the artists. Slavery as an institution in Brazil and the United States determined the direction the artistic expression of freed slaves would take. The approach to slavery in Brazil and the United States took almost diametrically opposed directions. In Brazil slaves were often kept with people from their own region of Africa, preserving the spiritual and linguistic tradition of the Africans, while in the United States slaves were torn from their families and scattered across the South with people who did not speak their language or share their culture.
Another significant difference was the fact that the Portuguese settlers were mostly men, who had come alone to the new world and therefore looked for wives among the Indians and Africans. Thus, a racial mixture became the rule in Brazil and segregation as well as the rape of many women the rule in the U.S. The malady of slavery, of course, can never be remedied by the treatment of those slaves.
Says Joaquim Nabuco about the relationship between owners and slaves:
"I see something very detrimental in the mixture of one race, developmentally behind, with a race, much more advanced, which acts with great brutality. The combination of the submissiveness of the Negro with the brutality of the white man was something which could only create a weak and negative national formation."
But he also says something beautiful:
"A great part of the servile attitude of the black man demonstrates a human and moral superiority, which borders on the sublime."
Ironically, this quality that Joaquim Nabuco saw in the black man caused the ardent abolitionist to say that he longed for the slaves—a very ambivalent statement. In his book, he quotes an English thinker, who said that the blacks of the United States would never arrive at true happiness. But he saw a great possibility of that for the blacks in Brazil, in the future, because of the absence of that separation.
Caetano Veloso, the great baiano singer and composer, was so moved by the reading of the book that he took a quote from it and made it the title of his latest CD Noites do Norte (Nights of the North). He even went as far as putting music to a piece of prose from Nabuco’s book, and the result could not have been more profound if he had written the lyric for the music. The excerpt that so inspired Caetano is the following:
"A escravidão permanecerá por muito tempo como a característica nacional do Brasil. Ela espalhou por nossas vastas solidões uma grande suavidade; seu contato foi a primeira forma que recebeu a natureza virgem do país—e foi a que ele guardou; ela povoou-o como se fosse uma religião natural e viva, com os seus mitos, suas legendas, seus encantamentos; insuflou-lhe sua alma infantil, suas tristezas sem pesar, suas lágrimas sem amargor, seu silêncio sem concentração, suas alegrias sem causa, sua felicidade sem dia seguinte… É ela o suspiro indefinível que exalam ao luar as nossas noites do Norte."
"Slavery will remain for a long time the national characteristic of Brazil. It scattered to our vast isolation a great softness; its contact was the first form, which received the country’s virgin nature—and was what was saved. It populated the country as if it were a religion, natural and alive, with its myths, its legends, its enchantments; instilled in it its child-like soul, its sorrows without grief, its tears without bitterness, its silence without concentration, its joys without cause, its happiness without a day after… It is the indefinable sigh that escapes at the moonlight, our nights of the North."
In the words of a pernambucano da gema* living in Rio, about the music so close to his heart:
Da manga rosa quero gosto e o sumo,
Melão maduro, sapoti, juá,
Jaboticaba teu olhar noturno,
Beijo travoso de umbu cajá,
Pele macia, ai carne de caju,
Saliva doce, doce mel, mel de uruçu,
Linda morena, fruto de vez temporana,
Caldo de cana caiana vou lhe desfrutar.
I want all rose mango taste and juice,
Ripe water melon, sapoti, juá,
Your jaboticaba’s nightly look,
Acid kiss of umbu cajá,
Soft skin, oh! Cashew fruit meat,
Sweet breath, sweet honey, uruçu honey
Lovely brunette, new unripe fruit,
Caiana sugar cane juice, I’ll taste you.
…from a song by Alceu Valença
Pernambuco has a long history. Since the time of the hereditary authorities, it was one of the two regions, which prospered most in that era. The land was invaded by the Dutch, and there was no refuge, and with them came Jews and other Europeans, who contributed to the ethnic integration with Portuguese, Indians, and Africans. From this mixture originated a people with a tradition for music and dance and with veins full of hot blood but at the same time with a tender and quiet behavior. The land is the home to many famous people and accustomed to host artists of all kinds.
From way out in the sertão, where the landscape and the life shows in the faces of its suffering people, but where the people in their hearts keep a quixotic hope, to the seafront, where the inhabitants are more casual and with the frevo in their veins, there stretches Pernambuco. It is the land of frevo, of maracatu, of the singing viola players in the markets, streets, and festivals; it is the land of the coco dance, of the ciranda and of the forró. For every type of music, a facet of her people is represented.
Now the criticism shows up, just as Pasquino in ancient Rome, the viola players with their repentes, (improvisational songs) the funny, dubious lyrics of the forró’s passing for romantic genres and for frevos and maracatus, which shake up the people in the streets, during Carnaval festivities. For me, pernambucano from the sertão, far from my homeland but with her in my breast, Alceu Valença in his verses best describes the music of Pernambuco: Color, strong flavor and characteristic of the land, sensuality and…. spirit.
Francisco Timoteo Bezerra, attorney and lover of Pernambuco’s music.
* Dyed-in-wool Pernambucan
ARTISTS OF PERNAMBUCO
Luiz Gonzaga, the king of baião! 1912-1989
He is without a doubt the most famous and significant of the musicians from Pernambuco. He became known as the king of baião, and his genre of Northeastern music has become the most successful around the country.
He was born on December 13, 1912 on the Caiçara ranch near the town of Exu in the sertão. Luiz Gonzaga do Nascimento was the son of a farm worker, Januário, well known for his accordion playing. He helped his father in the fields since he was very young. He learned to play the accordion and accompanied his father to festivals, parties, and dances, where he practiced his father’s chosen instrument and several others. His childhood heroes were the cangaceiros, whom he admired for their free spirits and lifestyle. Lampião, who was at the height of his fame, was his idol. At 18, he joined the army, where he remained until 1939. He played cornet in the band while studying the accordion with Domingos Ambrósio, who also taught him the music of the Southwest.
He traveled to Rio where he tried his hand at becoming a professional musician, playing at clubs and bordellos. His breakthrough came almost by accident after someone requested that he play music from his home state. On Ary Barroso’s radio program he played Vira e Mexe, which won first prize. After that, he recorded two 78’s, and his career was well on its way. His repertoire consisted of a variety of styles, some of European origin, in an attempt at trying to please the tastes of the day.
But in 1946, his new recording revolutionized the music scene. The title was Baião and gave name to a whole new genre. It was written in partnership with Humberto Teixeira from Ceará. The inspiration for the song was a folkloric tune, a baiano, a Northeast dance of African background. In the pernambucano sertão, the dance was performed in connection with a desafio, challenge, a contest between two country singers. It became the signature music of Luiz Gonzaga, which he performed dressed in the leather garb of the cangaceiros, his childhood heroes.
Luiz Gonzaga deserves to be recognized for his role in the musical scene of Brazil, then and even today. It is true that Luiz Gonzaga always wanted to share his laurels with two partners, Zé Dantas and Humberto Teixeira. But the truth is that the most important player was Gonzaga with his accordion, his black voice, his Northeast sentiment, the painful tone in certain songs, which he composed, or the grace of some of the lyrics he wrote.
Luiz himself defined very well the style of his two partners, Zé Dantas, most authentically Northeastern; Humberto Teixeira a chiseler of the rough stones of his creations. In an interview for Rádio Jornal do Brasil from July 1983, Luiz Gonzaga said: "Humberto is most meshed with the city, with the asphalt, and Zé came from the hard sertão. I used to say that I could sense the smell of goat on him."
Luiz Gonzaga, unlike Zé Dantas, who died forgotten, or Humberto Teixeira, who is barely remembered today, lived until his last years in the limelight. After baião went out of fashion, he faded from the headlines, but praise from Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil brought him back to the fame he deserved. His Asa Branca (White Wing) became a classic. Paraíba, Baião de Dois (Baião for Two), Mangaratiba, Juazeiro, Meu Pé de Serra (My Foothill), Açum Preto, Que nem Jiló, are important titles in a body of work of more than 600 compositions, which encompass two distinct hallmarks that are his own: The playing of lament, sad, suffering, at some moments bordering on the tragic; and in others the social, alternating with happier pieces, cheerful forrós, village juninas, and festivals of the interior, from which Gonzaga never stayed away. Naturally, the baião had other devotees at the time of Luiz Gonzaga on the Rádio Nacional. There were composers and interpreters who dedicated themselves to the genre with success, even without the master. Among the composers worth remembering are Jackson do Pandeiro, Zé do Norte, Miguel Lima, and the mineiro (from Minas Gerais) Hervê Cordovil. Among the interpreters was at least one brilliant female figure: Carmélia Alves.
The influence of Luiz Gonzaga in popular music was such that years later representatives of the Bahian vanguard, Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, confessed that they were very close disciples of the creator of Asa Branca, which Caetano recorded in London. Gilberto Gil recorded Vem Morena (Come, Dark Woman) in 1984 and it was also recorded by Gonzaga and Fagner in 1988.
Toward the end of his life, Luiz Gonzaga found himself a musical legend in Brazil. This was illustrated clearly during an incident, which parallels the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s of the American South, the two Pernambuco families Sampaio and Alencar had had a feud that stretched over 20 years. In 1978, a member of the Sampaio family killed Zito Alencar, mayor of Exu, Gonzaga’s home town, re-igniting the war. Gonzaga returned to Exu for the first time in many years and, armed only with his accordion, managed to calm the warring factions. He had, in fact, attained a status similar to that of Lampião, his childhood hero.
Asa Branca:
Today, many miles away
In sad solitude
I wait for the rain to fall again
For me to return to my sertãoLia de Itamaracá
José Teles of Jornal do Comércio, one of Pernambuco’s newspapers, writes in an article called "Damas de Ouro da Música Pernambucana" (Golden Ladies of Pernambucan music:
In 1962, Terezinha Calazans, a young singer, rooted in Recife, decided to learn about the ciranda, an obscure rhythm, and spent 20 days on the remote Ilha de Itamaracá. Her teacher was a young woman of 19, born and raised there, Maria Madalena Gomes do Nascimento, known as Lia.
In addition to putting together a plentiful collection of music, Teca—as Terezinha was called—in partnership with Lia composed a song that became a virtual hymn: "Who gave me this ciranda." It has the famous lines: "This ciranda, who gave it to me was Lia/who lives on the island of Itamaracá." The song soon became so widely known that other singers took it to be public domain and recorded it without permission.
Born to a farmer and a domestic help, Lia had no family tradition of artists. "I was born with this knack," she says. It is a knack which has been polished with other cirandeiros (people who practice the ciranda) and which has led to her repertoire, part public domain, part her own material.
She recorded an LP, Lia de Itamaracá, a Rainha da Ciranda, for which she did not receive any pay or royalties, and about which she felt used and cheated. Lia has spent much of her life ignored by official cultural institutions. Once she was invited to sing at an official function, but the microphone did not work.
She has started working with impresario Beto Hees, also a pernambucano, who had spent ten years in Europe producing music. Today he is in charge of Lia’s career. Their first project together was called Ciranda de Ritmos. He planned the debut of the partnership at Casa de Cultura, Praça do Carmo in Olinda and Jaguaribe, center of the island. The title is Ciranda de Ritmos because Lia does not restrict herself to cirandas but also sings cocos and maracatus, both Northeastern styles of music. The idea was to revive the success the ciranda had in the 70’s, when it became the chic rhythm of the Recife middle class.
After the wave withdrew, the cirandeiros returned to their ordinary lives. Lia was a cook in the restaurant Sargaço, on Itamaracá, where Saturdays were often spent with ciranda events, which she encouraged. The bar, in which she worked, closed, and she went on to do other work. Later she was responsible for the food service at the school of Jaguaribe. Since the end of the 70’s she became bitter because of what she saw as ostracism, which not even later appearances on TV Globo could make up for. Her re-discovery happened at a performance in Abril Pro Rock, in 1998.
She started performing regularly, at an average of 15 shows a month, usually for $1,000 per performance. She says: "But depending on the locale and whatever, people often perform for free." The tours have been fairly constant. Rio and São Paulo are the cities where she has the greatest successes. "There are people there who didn’t believe I even existed, or think that I had already died." A second CD was recorded live at a show at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, in Rio with four more cuts recorded in the studio. She admits that things are getting better.
At almost 6 feet tall at 55, with the carriage of an African queen, Maria Madalena Gomes do Nascimento has not gained much more from the ciranda than happiness. Just as she did not inherit an artistic vein from her parents, she will not leave heirs. Married for 23 years, though not on paper, Lia does not have children. "At the hour when God calls me, there is no-one to take my place." She is wrong about that. When the inevitable happens, in her place will be the legend, and there will always be someone to sing the verses created almost four decades ago: "This ciranda who gave it to me was Lia/ who lives on the Ilha de Itamaracá."
Alceu Valença
Born in 1946, in São Bento do Una in the countryside of Pernambuco. Studied law, but his vocation was always music. Recorded his first album with Geraldo Azevedo, in 1972. Made his national breakthrough in 1975 at the Festival Abertura on TV Globo with a song, which fuses Northeastern roots with rock. A carnavalesco (someone intimately involved with Carnaval), he lives in the focus of the festivities, in Olinda, and customarily organizes great celebrations singing from the balcony of his house. He grew up in a middle class family, his father was a lawyer, and when he was nine his family moved to Recife. A few years later he started playing the guitar.
He absorbed all the musical traditions of the area, living on a busy street, Rua dos Palmares, he witnessed traditional parades and was inspired, though that type of music was not played on the radio. His musical role models were Luiz Gonzaga and Jackson do Pandeiro, whose clownish ways he adopted and often performs in a court jester outfit. His grandfather, too was a musical influence in his life. And although he preferred the musical traditions of Pernambuco, a couple of American musicians gave him inspirations. He listened eagerly to Ray Charles’ "I Can’t stop loving you" and "Hit the road, Jack" as well as Elvis Presley’s early albums.
He started his career in Recife where he played traditional Northeastern music with his friends, rebelling against the rejection of the baião by the middle class. At college he attained a law degree but was not interested in pursuing a career as an attorney. His debut as a solo artist was on the album Molhado de Suor (Wet with Sweat), in 1974. It was chosen by critics as one of the year’s top three albums. His mixture of blues, rock, and Northeastern styles began to attract attention. Another album from 1978, Agalopado, showed his fiery soul:
I sing the pain, the love, the disillusion
And the infinite sadness of lovers
Don Quixote free of Cervantes
I discover that the windmills are real
Between beasts, owls, jackals
I turn to stone in the middle of the road
I turn into a rose, path of spines
I ignite these glacial times.In 1982, he issued an album, that went on to platinum sales, Cavalo de Pau (Stick Horse) and the same year he made an appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. In Brazilian Sound his music is described thus:
"Mixing Luiz Gonzaga and Elvis Presley, maracatu with synthesizers, coco with electric guitar, Alceu concocts exhilarating musical blends. Atop them, he sings his idiosyncratic stories using ‘a hybrid language, urban and rural.’ In concert, Valença strives for an ‘almost operatic’ climate in which he improvises a great deal and assumes many roles. He commented, "I have the clown side and the more cool side. I have various persons inside me, faces, masks, and my music is this—frevo to maracatu to something totally romantic."
Alcides Leão
Born February 19, 1916 in Campina Grande, state of Paraíba, he adopted Recife, with which he fell in love and which he called his "cidade maravilhosa," (marvelous city, the nickname of Rio de Janeiro). He was a trumpet player, bandleader, and arranger playing in the Bando Acadêmico. He became known for the frevos-de-rua, street frevos. On several occasions he won competitions for Carnaval songs, for the pure and genuinely pernambucano style, which dominated his frevos. Of his frevo work, the following songs stand out: Mordido (Bitten) (1975); Tiririca, (1975); Parada dura (Tough Situation) (1959); Dose pra Leão (Too Much) (1974); and Envenenado (Poisoned) (1962). Died in the 1970’s.
Antonio Maria
Araújo de MoraesBorn in Recife in 1921 and died in 1964. He was a chronicler, poet, lyricist and started his artistic life on the Rádio Clube of Pernambuco. He worked in partnership with Vinicius de Moraes and Luís Bonfá. Author of several popular music successes: "Ninguém me ama" (Nobody Loves Me), "O amor e a Rosa" (Love and the Rose), "Manhã de Carnaval" (Morning of Carnaval), Frevos number 1, 2, and 3 of Recife, etc.
Badia
Maria de Lourdes Silva, born in 1915 and died in 1991, granddaughter of Africans. She was born on Rua Augusta, in the neighborhood of São José and moved, while still a child, to the house at Pátio do Terço, which she made the headquarters of her Carnaval festivities, and of her religiosity. In her house was founded the Clube Carnavalesco the Coroas de São José, in 1977, which parades on Thursday of the pre-Carnaval week, continuing the tradition. She was honored on numerous occasions for her involvement in agremiações—clubs or groups of people involved in cultural and musical expression. Some of those were Vassourinhas in 1986, Lenhadores, 1990, and Bloco Saberé in 1986, among others.
Capiba
Born October 28, 1904, in Surubim, in Pernambuco, Lourenço da Fonseca Barbosa, known as Capiba, the nickname of his maternal grandfather. In 1912, he was already part of the band Lira da Borborema, run by his father, Severino Athanásio. In 1921, he organized his first orchestra, the Jazz Band Campinense. One of his first compositions was the waltz, "Meu Destino" (My Destiny). In 1918, he composed the Suíte Nordestina for piano. He was the great Pernambucan author of Carnaval songs, known as Frevos-canção, having composed hundreds of them. He wrote Frevos-de-bloco, maracatus, frevos-de-rua, sambas, chorinhos, and others. The great interpreter of his work is without a doubt the singer Claudionor Germano. His best known frevos are: É de Amargar (Bitter state of Mind) (1934), Manda embora essa Tristeza (Send this Sadness Away) (1936), Casinha Pequenina (Tiny little House) (1939), Morena da cor de Canela (The Dark Woman the Color of Cinnamon) (1948), É Frevo, meu Bem (It is Frevo, my Dear) (1951); A Pisada é Essa (The Footstep is That) (1953), Madeira que cupim não rói (1963) and more: Oh Bela (Oh Beautiful), Juventude Dourada (Golden Youth), Só pensa naquilo (You only think of that), etc.
Carlos Fernando
Born in Caruaru, in the countryside of the state, he had his first success in Aquela Rosa (That Rose), winner of the Festival de Música Nordestina, in 1969. Creator of a series of albums Asas de América (Wings of America), which reunited the principal names of Brazilian music, recording new and old songs from the Carnaval of Pernambuco. Participated with Alceu Valença, J. Michilles, and Geraldo Azevedo in a group of musicians responsible for the revitalization of the frevo-canção.
Claudionor Germano
The principal interpreter of Pernambuco’s Carnaval, he began as a singer of romantic music. In 1960, he recorded the potpourris of Capiba and Nelson Ferreira, who were part of the history of Pernambucan music and connected for all times his name with frevo. He is also the singer who takes the Frevioca, a tram adapted with a frevo orchestra, through the streets of Recife. His son Nonô followed him and is already a great success at the Carnaval of Pernambuco.
Dominguinhos
Born in 1941 in Garanhuns, Pernambuco, Dominguinhos began his career at the age of seven playing at backlands street fairs and in the doorways of local hotels. A big, jolly man with a mischievous smile like Harpo Marx, a seemingly effortless playing style and a mellifluous baritone voice, he first played Northeastern root music—xote, xaxado, and baiões—and then expanded his repertoire to include more contemporary compositions after he moved south to Rio in the mid-sixties and formed a songwriting duo with Anastácia. Noted for his beautiful ballads, he has performed with dozens of Brazil’s best contemporary performers. Perhaps more than any singer/songwriter, Dominguinhos is responsible for communicating the breadth and sophistication of forró to a modern urban audience. His success, especially live, owes a lot to the fact that he is clearly having so much fun, grinning from ear to ear, as he paints himself "Querubim," "like a satisfied cherub without explanation."
Dona Santa
Maria Júlia do Nascimento, born on March 5, 1877, in Pátio da Santa Cruz, in Boa Vista. Became Queen of Maracatu of Nação Leão Coroado, where she married João Vitorino. When her husband was chosen as King of Nação Elefante, she abdicated her throne, to follow him. The coronation took place in February of 1947. Daughter and granddaughter of Africans, Dona Santa had in her blood the rhythm of baque-virado, a musical style of maracatu, and of zabumba and gonguê, two different kinds of drums.
Getúlio Cavalcanti
Born in the midst of Carnaval on February 10, 1942, in Camutanga, Pernambuco, began his involvement in music at the age of 8, playing soprano saxophone in the Banda Musical da Sociedade Beneficente Monsenhor Uchoa, in his native land. In 1962, signed on as singer of the romantic genre by the Rádio Clube de Pernambuco, Getúlio Cavalcanti met Maestro Nelson Ferreira, recording on Rozenblit his first frevo-canção, "Você gostou de mim" (You Liked Me). From then on, he recorded great successes in the frevo-de-bloco genre, such songs as: "O Bom Sebastião" (The Good Sebastian), "Cantigas de Roda" (Kids Ballads), "Último regresso" (Last return), and others. Later composed for various Carnaval groups of Recife such as Banhistas do Pina, Bloco das Ilusões, Eu quero mais, Aurora de Amor, Bloco do Amor, and the famous Bloco da Saudade.
Irmãos Valença
(The Valença Brothers)João Vitor do Rego Valença and Raul do Rego Valença were born in 1890 and 1894, respectively. The Valença family cultivated the tradition of putting on performances at Nativity scenes for Christmas. The Valença Brothers, as they were known, published about 30 works in addition to others not issued. In 1930 they composed their first music for Carnaval, the march "Mulata," in which, two years later Lamartine Babo introduced some modifications, principally in the lyrics, transforming it to "Teu Cabelo Não Nega" (Your Hair Does Not Deny). Three times they were champions at the Carnaval of Recife, with the maracatu "Ô, Já Vou" (Oh, I’m Already Going), the marches "Nós Dois" (The Two of Us) and "Foi Você" (It Was You). Other compositions: Um Sonho que Durou Três Dias (A Dream that Lasted Three Days), "Pisa Baiana," "Cocorocó." They also composed marches and frevos for the clubs Lenhadores and Vassourinhas.
J. Michilles
Began his career as a composer very early on, winning the contest Uma Canção Para o Recife (A Song for Recife). Today he is responsible for some of the major successes of the Pernambucan Carnaval, many of which have been recorded by Alceu Valença.
João Santiago dos Reis
Born in Recife in 1928 and died in 1985. Composer and researcher of the Carnaval of Pernambuco, he was the founder of Secção de Pernambuco da Ordem dos Músicos do Brasil, organization for musicians and Comissão Pernambucana de Folclore (Pernambucan Commission of Folklore). Composer of more than 50 parade marches and frevos, he participated in a variety of cultural Carnaval clubs, among them Batutas de São José, Inocentes do Rosarinho, and Flor de Lira.
José Menezes
Born in Nazaré da Mata on April 12, 1923, the maestro came to Recife in 1943, starting out his musical career as a saxophonist and clarinetist of the Jazz Band Acadêmica. In 1949 he integrated the cast of the Rádio Clube de Pernambuco. He formed his own orchestra in 1961, having dominated the Carnavals of Pernambuco’s clubs for 31 years, principally the Português and the Internacional. On several occasions he took the Brazilian music to the exterior. His major successes are the frevos "Freios a óleo" (Sudden Stop) (1950), "Boneca" (Doll) (1953), "Terceiro Dia" (Third Day) (1960), "Tá Faltando Alguém" (Someone is Missing) (1961). The most recent is the frevo "Bico Doce" (Sweet Mouth), champion of VIII Recifrevo, in 1996.
Levino Ferreira
Born in Bom Jardim, Pernambuco, on December 2, 1890, Levino Ferreira began early in the art of music, playing horn in Maestro Tadeu Ferreira’s band. At 22 years of age, he began his career as a conductor. At 45, he came to Recife, having participated in the orchestra of Rádio Clube de Pernambuco and the Orquestra Sinfônica do Recife, the OSR, where he played bassoon under the leadership of Maestro Vincente Fittipaldi. Died in Recife on January 9 of 1970, leaving behind an extensive body of work, among which are frevos, maracatus, folkloric and religious plays. Among his great frevos-de-rua are: "Último Dia" (Last Day), "Diabinho de saia" (Little devil in a skirt), "Lá vai tempo" (There goes Time), "Lágrimas de folião," (Tears of the Feast).
Maestro Duda
Arranger, musician, and conductor, he was born in Goiana, Pernambuco, where, at 8 he began playing in the Banda Saboeira. Composed his first song—the frevo "Furacão" (Hurricane) at 12. When he was 15, he was already contributing, in Recife, in the Jazz Band Acadêmica and the Orquestra Paraguari of Rádio Jornal do Comércio. After some years of intensive arranging, playing, and composing in the south of Brazil, he returned to Recife where he became a member of the Orquestra Sinfônica and acted as professor-arranger of the Conservatório Pernambucano de Música.
The maestro continued as conductor and arranger as well as musician of the Orquestra Paraibana de Música Popular. Their most recent successes are the frevos-de-rua "Estação do Frevo" (Season of Frevo), "Cidadão Frevo" (Citizen Frevo) and Marcela, not to mention his already famous symphonic play, "Fantasia Carnavalesca," recorded for the Orquestra Sinfônica do Recife and Coral Ernani Braga.
Nelson Ferreira
Nelson Heráclito Alves Ferreira was born in Bonito, Pernambuco, on December 9, 1902 and died in Recife on December 21, 1976. Son of a family which cultivated the art of music, he became while still a child, a distinguished pianist, playing from the age of 15 in the Orquestra do Cine Royal, in Rua Nova. In 1916, composed his first song, the waltz "Vitória." His first successful waltz "Milusinha," was composed about 1920, when he filled in as pianist in the orchestra of Maestro Zuzinha, in the Cine Moderno, where he substituted for the maestro shortly after, thus becoming the most admired and well known conductor of Recife, of all time.
Accompanying the evolution of the rhythms and musical idioms, he composed frevos-de-rua, frevos-de-bloco, and frevos-canção, which until today enchant his legions of admirers. Among the most famous frevos-de-rua of Nelson Ferreira are the trilogy "Gostosinho," "Gostosão," and "Gostosura," (A Little Bit Likable, Very Likable, and Likeability); "Come e Dorme," (Eat and Sleep); "Isquenta Muié," (Lusty Woman); "Frevo no Bairro de São José e Casá," (Frevo in the Neighborhood of São José and Casá)—hymn of the Sport Club do Recife. His most important frevos-de-bloco are the ones of the series of "Evocações" (seven) (Evocations) and "O Bloco da Vitória" (The Bloco of Vitória). Of the frevos-canção, his first Carnaval marches were: "Borboleta não é Ave" (The Butterfly is not a Bird), "Não Puxa Maroca" (Shut up, Maroca), "Dedé," and "Veneza Americana" (American Venice) (with Ziul Matos).
Chico Science and
the Mangue Beatmangue: a mangrove swamp
Imagine a style of music that comes with its own manifesto! Not since Tropicalismo of the 1960’s has Brazil seen such a thing. Chico Science, Francisco de Assis França, the innovative and creative pernambucano, was the father of this concept and worked at developing it until his tragic and much too early death in 1997 at the age of 30. It was truly a great loss when his light was extinguished on a Pernambuco highway, as he was on his way to Olinda.
The manifesto of Mangue Beat by Fred Zero Quatro (04) is as follows:
Estuary—Final section of a river or lake. Portion of a river with brackish water. In its margins you find the "manguezais," communities of subtropical and tropical plants inundated with movements from the seas. By the exchange of organic material between fresh and salt water, the swamps are among the most productive ecosystems in the world.
It is estimated that two thousand species of micro-organisms as well as vertebrates and invertebrates are associated with the vegetation of the swamp. The estuaries furnish areas for spawning and creation for two thirds of the annual production of fish in the entire world. At least eighty commercially important species depend on the coastal swamps.
It is not by coincidence that the swamps are considered a basic link of the marine food chain. In spite of the bugs, mosquitoes, and flies, enemies of housewives, for the scientists the mangues are held as the symbols of fertility, diversity and richness.
Manguetown—the city—The coastal plain, where the city of Recife was founded, is cut by six rivers. After the expulsion of the Dutch, in the XVII century, the ex-maurícia* city grew inordinately at the cost of indiscriminate land reclamation and the destruction of its mangrove swamps.
On the other hand, the irresistible madness of a cynical notion of progress, which elevated the city to the status of the "metropolis of the North East," did not delay the revelation of its fragility.
Sufficient were the changes in the "winds" of history that the first signals of economic sclerosis were manifesting themselves at the beginning of the 60’s. In the last 30 years, the syndrome of stagnation, allied with the permanence of the myth of the "metropolis," has only accelerated the aggravation of the picture of misery and urban chaos. Recife today has the highest unemployment in the country. More than half of its inhabitants live in favelas and floating houses. According to a study of the institute of population studies in Washington, Recife is today the fourth worst city in the world to live in.
* Maurício de Nassau (Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen), colonial manager, who ruled Pernambuco for seven years during the Dutch occupation. Sometimes, Recife has been called "cidade ex-maurícia," as a nickname.
Mangue—the scene—Emergency! A quick shock, or Recife dies of a heart attack! It is not necessary to be a doctor to know that the simplest way to stop the heart of a subject is to obstruct its veins. The quickest way, also, to choke and empty the soul of a city like Recife is to kill her rivers and cover up her estuaries. What is to be done not to deepen the chronic depression, which paralyzes the citizens? How do you give back the courage and de-lobotomize and recharge the batteries of a city? Simple! It is enough to inject a little energy into the mud and stimulate what remains of the fertility in the veins of Recife.
In the middle of 1991, a nucleus of research and production of pop ideas began to be generated and articulated, in various points of the city. The objective was to dream up an "energetic circuit," capable of connecting the good vibrations of the mangues, with a worldwide network of circulation of pop concepts. A symbolic image, a parabolic antenna strung together in the mud.
The mangueboys and manguegirls are individuals, who are interested in: comic strips, interactive TV, anti-psychiatry, Bezerra da Silva, Hip Hop, medidiocy, artism, street music, John Coltrane, coincidence, non-virtual sex, ethnic conflicts and all the advances chemistry applied on the ground of the alteration and expansion of the consciousness.
Manguebeat—One of the metaphors of the concept of mangue is the parallel between the richness of this ecosystem and the diversity of the musical scene of Recife.
The Utopia of succeeding in equalizing those parallels… The legend has it that in June of 1991 a group of guys were drinking in a place called Cantinho das Graças in Recife. Among them was Francisco França, known in the area as Chico Science.
He had discovered the Lamento Negro (Black Lament) a samba-reggae group. After one of the jam sessions with them, Chico was impressed with the energy of Lamento Negro, and afterwards called two friends from Loustal, his old Hip Hop and Funk band, then formed Chico Science and Lamento Negro, with the objective of blending the black international music with regional rhythms like the maracatu. That band was later called Chico Science and Nação Zumbi*. And the rhythm was the Mangue.
Among the drinking buddies of Chico Science were several journalists, graphic artists, and musicians. They had in common an appreciation of the Punk ideology of Cash From Chaos by Malcolm Maclaren, the man who, through bold marketing launched the Sex Pistols and NeverMind The Bollocks to success. From this meeting emerged the idea of turning Mangue into a movement.
In 1993, after several shows, the group began recording Caranguejos com Cérebro (Crabs with Brains), which was the first collection of the mangue songs, which would reunite, in addition to Chico Science and Nação Zumbi, mundo livre S.A., and Loustal along with a composition by Vinicius. Enter, an acquaintance of Science.
The project of Caranguejos com Cérebro was interrupted after a tour with three shows of Chico Science and Nação Zumbi and mundo livre by São Paulo and Belo Horizonte.
* Zumbi refers to the runaway slave, who with a large group of followers escaped from their owners and formed a colony called a quilombo. This one was named Quilombo dos Palmares, and Zumbi has forever remained a symbol of freedom of the oppressed.
Three shows resulted in a great success and various praises in the media. After the show, Chico Science and Nação Zumbi signed a contract by the label Chaos, a division of Sony dedicated to "alternative" bands. They issued in ’94 the CD Da Lama ao Caos (From Mud to Chaos), produced by Liminha. mundo livre S.A. had at the same time their Samba Esquema Noise produced by Carlos Eduardo Miranda of Banguela.
After those, several other bands emerged in Recife, including the most diverse rhythms from forró, Mestre Ambrósio for example, to Pesado and Cru Punk/Hard Core, devotees of Hate. mundo livre S.A. recorded Guentando a Ôia and participated in several festivals such as Humaitá. Chico Science then recorded Afrociberdelia, their second album, and participated in Hollywood Rock 96 and prepared for their second world tour spreading mangue to the world.
Sadly, on February 3, 1997, as Chico was preparing for the pernambucan Carnaval, an accident took his life and left a hole in the hearts of pernambucans and principally in the pernambucan culture.
Naná Vasconcelos
Naná Vasconcelos was born in Recife, and even after having played around the world and lived outside Brazil, his roots are still apparent in everything he plays. When he was 12 years old, he began playing with his father, a guitarist, and in the city’s marching band. He had an incurable curiosity, which led him to listen to all forms of music from Brazilian classical composer Villa Lobos to Jimi Hendrix. He learned all the Brazilian percussion instruments and eventually specialized in the berimbau, the one-stringed instrument used commonly in capoeira. He has taken this instrument far beyond its traditional uses and is acknowledged as its foremost player.
After playing in every kind of context, such as symphonic orchestras and street bands, Naná moved to Rio and began playing with Milton Nascimento. In 1970, Argentine tenor player Gato Barbieri invited him to play in his band. They played in New York, then toured Europe, where Naná caused a sensation at the Montreux Jazz Festival. After the tour, he decided to stay in Paris. It was here that he made his first recording, África Deus. Naná returned to Brazil for the recording of his second album, Amazonas, and began working with guitarist Egberto Gismonti, which lasted eight years and produced three albums of duets.
In New York he formed Cocona with Don Cherry and Collin Walcott, as well as touring and recording with Pat Metheny’s band. Since 1975 he has recorded with everyone from B.B. King to Jean Luc Ponty to Talking Heads. Generally, his work goes above and beyond that of most percussionists. While he was working with Gismonti, he recorded his third album, Saudades (Longing) on which he is accompanied by a symphony orchestra. In 1983 he released Zumbi, an album on which he highlighted his work with voices and "body percussion," sounds he makes by slapping his body.
Also in 1983, he started working with drum machines after being inspired by the break dancing scene. He toured Europe with a group of break dancers from the South Bronx. His very original use of the drum machine is distinguished by an unusually careful tuning that makes it sound almost organic and by his ability to play it live, typing out polyrhythms instead of programming them layer by layer. In 1986, he returned to Brazil for the first time in six years, and his solo tour was enthusiastically received by enormous crowds who came to see him. He continued to extend the field of his collaborations, being featured on soundtracks for films by Susan Seidelman and Jim Jarmusch. He has continued to play with a variety of bands, who vie for his innovative musical expression.
His own projects, however, remain of the greatest importance to him. His group, Bushdance, recorded for Antilles and worked extensively in Europe, and he has developed a unique solo performance, a theatrically staged piece that explores the full, fascinating range of sounds and songs that lie at the heart of his music, and which is based around his unique rapport with his audience. A further dimension of his work lies in his continuing commitment to his work with children and people with learning difficulties through workshops in the UK and Italy and now in Brazil. (Biography by Saudades Tourneen).
Lenine
One of the rising stars in recent years, born in Pernambuco, is Lenine. True to his roots, his music is influenced by the traditions of his Northeastern state. He has managed to integrate the sounds of maracatu and the Carnaval music into his modern Brazilian music. He left his home in Recife at the age of 18 and went to Rio, where he began to make an impact on the music scene. Struggling for acceptance at first, his innovations have since been adopted by a generation of pop artists, and it is now common to hear maracatu percussion in Brazilian telenovelas (soap operas) soundtracks and advertising jingles.
In the 90’s, Lenine has modulated his populist approach to incorporate the digital revolution sweeping popular music, fine-tuning it to suit his own needs. With O Dia em Que Faremos Contato (The Day We are Going to Get in Touch) and the more recent Na Pressão (Under Pressure) he weaves samples from film and other diverse sources into his fantastical vision, which includes anything from images of bridges and ships to Martian fortresses. In addition to playing guitar and singing, Lenine is also famous for his unique "mouth percussion" technique, which imparts a distinctiveness to his music. (Dan Grunebaum for Tokyo Classified).
Mestre Ambrósio
When the members of the group Mestre Ambrósio moved from Recife to São Paulo, they perceived that something was wrong with the house they were renting in the São Paulo neighborhood of Aclimação. The neighbors appeared to be spying on them and whispering about them during the move. A reporter parked in front of the house, taking notes and then disappeared without explanation. One day, when they were cleaning up, the musicians discovered the solution to the mystery: In the garden they found a plaque that read: School of Basic Child Education.
Without knowing it, Mestre Ambrósio had established their new headquarters in a house, which used to be a school—the scene of accusations of sexual abuse of children. Thus was the introduction of the pernambucano group to the city of São Paulo, its new home. The group moved to the big city with the objective of conquering a new audience for the sound of the band. While the majority of current Brazilian groups play pop with regional elements, the group from Recife is taking the opposite direction: they play baião, coco, maracatu, cavalo-marinho, and other Northeastern rhythms with a couple of pinches of pop.
With its first CD, named Mestre Ambrósio, the group became one of the principal names of the mangue scene of Recife next to mundo livre S.A., and Chico Science & Nação Zumbi. The band also has two songs on the soundtrack of the film Baile Perfumado (Perfumed Dance). The members of the group are Siba, the founder and lyricist who plays rabeca, electric guitar, and sings; Hélder Vasconcelos, bellows with eight basses, percussion, and vocals; Éder "O" Rocha, zabumba; Sérgio Cassiano, percussion and vocals; Mazinho Lima, bass, triangle, and vocals; and Maurício Alves, percussion. The spoke of their move to São Paulo in Jornal da Tarde.
Jornal da Tarde: With the move to São Paulo, are you afraid that you may disconnect yourselves from the rhythms and themes that inspired your music?
Siba: No, because we brought that with us in the baggage. Clearly, the environment will influence the music, and we will seek new things but without renouncing our principles.
Jornal da Tarde: Have you always been interested in regional music?
Siba: My father was a repentista, my uncle performed coco. In the Northeast, everybody has a local reference.
Jornal da Tarde: Is your music much influenced by Arab music?
Siba: Yes. The rabeca was brought to the Northeast by the Arabs who came from the Iberian Peninsula. The desafio and the improvised poetry could also be considered an Arab heritage.
Jornal da Tarde: How did you realize the fusion of Northeastern music with other elements of sound?
Sérgio: For us, that fusion is natural. People try to let in some elements from the outside. Each one has an influence, but the idea is to seek a balance.
Éder: We have to synthesize what we know so as not to confuse the ideas, so that everything may appear with clarity.
Jornal da Tarde: But the Northeastern music continues as the principal base?
Siba: Our music has a Northeastern face, but it is modern music for the next century.
Éder: As Fred Zero Quatro (mundo livre S.A.) says, we are connected to the satellites.
Siba: The baião is the rhythm that permeates our music, it is the thread that connects all that we do. In truth, what we do is accelerate the baião, something very close to the cavalo-marinho (sea horse).
Jornal da Tarde: What is the cavalo-marinho?
Siba: It is a folguedo, a kind of festival from the forest zone of Pernambuco, a game of the street, which involves music, theater, and poetry. It has a ritual function—almost without musical preparation.
Jornal da Tarde: Is Mestre Ambrósio part of the mangue beat movement?
Siba: There doesn’t exist an esthetic movement, a musical standard that unites the bands. Yes, there’s a strong and diverse cultural scene spread about several ghettos. The mangue beat came to create a confluence among them.
The music critic, Ricardo Calazans described the group as follows:
"Six hairy guys, singing and dancing like demons on stage and playing forró as if it were punk rock. Mestre Ambrósio, appointed by the critics as one of the major musical revelations of last year, perform today at Canoa their impressive collections of forrós, maracatus and other Northeastern rhythms, and which gathers followers where they go." "We don’t make music solely for one age group or one specific tribe. It’s even funny to see the mixture of people who make up the audiences at our shows," says Siba, rabeca player and vocalist of the group.
Cascabulho
The website worldmusicportal.com says this: Cascabulho reflects the authentic regional rhythms and culture of Pernambuco. Their music is often considered forró and shows extraordinary technical spontaneity. This sextet is a party, full of dance and music and a gathering of friends, all rolled into one. Cascabulho’s earliest efforts consisted largely of new arrangements of the work of Jackson do Pandeiro, but since its inception Cascabulho has evolved, cultivating its own repertoire and distinctive style. In 1997, Cascabulho came to national attention in Brazil when they were acclaimed the popular and critical highlight of the Abril Pro Rock festival. This was the first time that the Brazilian press had encountered the band. Later the same year, they performed in Central Park in New York and at Rio’s annual Free Jazz Festival.
These performances led to a recording contract. The first CD, Fome dá dor de cabeça (Hunger Gives a Headache), includes three songs from Jackson do Pandeiro’s repertoire, two by other composers and nine songs by Silvério Pessoa, the lead singer and primary composer in the band. The range of Cascabulho’s creative energy is represented in a repertoire that includes diverse styles such as the traditional forró pé-de-serra, batuque de terreiro*, maracatu, xangô, coco de roda, and coco de terreiro. A project firmly rooted in the traditions and cultural expression of Pernambuco, the cover art of the CD includes paintings and sculpture by six regional artists.
* terreiro: a house of worship for umbanda and candomblé.
Books and films about
the music and culture
of PernambucoJosé Teles from Pernambuco has written a book called Do Frevo ao Manguebeat, (From Frevo to Manguebeat). The (also) journalist who already collaborated on O Pasquim, cultural magazine of the late 60’s and early 70’s, and who currently writes about music for Jornal do Commércio, gives us what seems to be the definitive way of writing "manguebeat," "manguebit," or even "mang-bit," among other variations. He presents an x-ray of the sound—in his own backyard and the rest of Brazil—of Pernambucan music from the 70’s until the present. With Chico Science on the cover, it is one of the best selling books in Pernambuco, demonstrating the marketing strength of the movement, which injected modernity into the typical Northeast regionalism.
José Teles does not try to reinvent the wheel. He complains of how according to the cultural czars things only happen in Rio and São Paulo, but reminds us of how rock did not even sell in the 70’s—a fact that aborted several projects—some very interesting, and that in the 90’s the strength of manguebeat turned out to be capable of seducing even those in the hub of music production. Exciting things happened because of guys like Chico Science and Fred Zero Quatro. "In the 70’s, rock was marginal. And the big problem is that in addition to this, everything was poorly documented. Some bands didn’t even record because during this period, the rhythm didn’t sell."
Among the things you find in the core of the book is Naná Vasconcelos, who in 1966 played drums for Quarteto Yansã, several recordings by Lourenço da Fonseca Barbosa, Capiba; a copy of the card the family of Chico Science distributed on the day of his 7th-day mass. These were typical scenes from Pernambuco, which according to Teles could not happen elsewhere. "Minas Gerais is a rich state, which can easily develop a music circuit of 15 cities. With Pernambuco, it’s different. Therefore, documentation is so difficult."
He makes the comparison as he notes that the festivals happening in the Northeast today are a curse. "Alceu Valença, for example, hasn’t performed in a show in a theater for five years. He comes here just to participate in the festivals. That leaves people unaccustomed to that kind of thing," he says. "This is prejudicial," he says, leaving it clear that the book also has a tone of complaint and denouncement. But he is not a fanatic. He does not deny, for example, the importance of Abril Pro Rock Festival, which is ready to have a paulista version after gaining fame in Sampa (São Paulo) and Rio.
The photo of Chico Science on the cover was chosen by the publisher. But Teles agreed. "Keith Richards used to say that England used to operate in black and white until rock’n’roll emerged. Then the country became colorized. It’s the same with manguebeat in relation to Pernambuco," says the author—a long time fan of the Stones. In the midst of this color, the only disagreeable stain he sees is the lack of integration that exists between the younger and older generations. "The younger are very connected to the computer culture. Chico Science was an antenna for this. It made all the difference at the time of the formation of the design of the generation. On the other hand, the radios don’t play the most traditional of the Northeast musicians of yesteryear. And if people don’t hear it on the radio, it’s difficult for the information to come across."
Baile Perfumado
(Perfumed Ball)Produced and directed by Lírio Ferreira and Paulo Caldas, it explores the colors without the characteristic of Cinema Novo (A style of Brazilian filmmaking, whose most famous representative was Glauber Rocha). Lírio and Paulo are 36, and their partner, Marcelo Luna, is 32. The three received strong influence from mangue beat, which swept Recife in the 90’s. They were friends of Chico Science, the composer, who fertilized his creations with the hummus of the Recife mangue, adding up tradition and modernization, tempering everything with the nutritious ideas of Josué de Castro (1908-1969). The scientist from Pernambuco, it is worth remembering, moved the world, and served as a mold for the esthetic of Glauberian hunger (refers to Glauber Rocha)—with his ideas reunited in the books, Geografia da Fome (Geography of Hunger) (1946) and Geopolítica da Fome (Geopolitics of Hunger) (1951).
The musical nucleus of Recife won the Pernambucan scene and, afterwards, the Brazilian scene with Chico Science e Nação Zumbi. Fred Zero Quatro e mundo livre S.A., Siba and Mestre Ambrósio. When Lírio and Paulo conceived the Northeastern Baile Perfumado, film and music came together. "The gang from mangue beat was with us since the first moment," they remember.
The track of the movie, which put Pernambucan cinema back on the map and gave notoriety to the arid movie, became one of its basic ingredients. Chico Science, who would die prematurely in a car accident, did not see Baile Perfumado finished. But his musical work, especially the composition Sangue de Bairro (Blood of the Neighborhood)—ended up accompanying the most famous and emblematic sequence of the film. In it was seen—in a detached aerial panorama (lisérgica panorâmica aérea—lisérgica being an allusion to LSD)—the canyon of Rio São Francisco, with its generous waters being contained by the inaccessible rocks, while the sound track provides the rhythm, pulsation, and beat. It is curious to note that another aerial panorama above the landscape (urban in this case) wrapped in the music, gave fame to Rap do Pequeno Príncipe contra as Almas Sebosas (Rap of the Little Prince against the Annoying Souls). It was just that instead of the mangue beat, the voice that was heard was that of paulista (from São Paulo) rapper Mano Brown (of the group Racionais). He enumerates the names of the principal peripheral neighborhoods of São Paulo (Capão Redondo, Jardim Ângela…..) in a rap protest ("Salve") of rare bluntness.
Rap do Pequeno Príncipe
Contra as Almas SebosasPeripheries—The documentary by Caldas and Luna summed up sounds and images of the forgotten peripheries of the great cities and showed that they are, in a climate of civil war, advancing over the narrow straits of the well born, be it in Recife or São Paulo. It is impossible to remain indifferent to the message of the documentary filmmakers and of the rappers. Mano Brown and Garnizé share the screen with Helinho, the convicted justiceiro, (a kind of vigilante, often a member of the Polícia Militar, who murders for hire or out of "concern" for society. Usually, the victims are young, black men in the wrong place at the wrong time) who died, assassinated in Recife, months after the film was exhibited in Venice.
Luna says that great panorama was made in Recife, but in a way, which, with the outcry of the paulistano verses of Mano Brown, the spectator sees—not the capital of Pernambuco in particular—"but all the great Brazilian metropolises, which segregate the social outcasts in miserable peripheries." In the process—Marcelo Luna got to know the mangue beat when he directed a radio program on a Recife FM station. Some time later, he would know the rap of Mano Brown. When, in partnership with Paulo Caldas, he debuted in full length features, he insisted on using the verses which cry out from the periphery. "The rap," he says with conviction—"Is the chronic ‘heavy’ of Brazil forgotten by the media."
Mapas Urbanos
(Urban Maps)Pernambuco of high tech and the embolada. It is not necessary to know Brazilian music, much less regional music to pay attention to and appreciate Mapas Urbanos 2—Recife dos Poetas e Compositores (Urban Maps 2—Recife of the poets and composers) documentary shown on Brazilian TV. The only demand is to have curiosity about what is familiar but less known in the south of the country: the strange aspects of pernambucan culture—"Pernambuco, land of 10 lyrics which nobody repeats," as the composer, Lenine, says.
Mapas Urbanos, production of Grifa Cinematográfica, already portrayed the cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Salvador. Directed by Daniel Augusto, the program now dives deeply and without any nuisance into the Pernambucan cultural production, through its composers, poets, and musicians.
There are interviews with artists like Lenine, Otto, Antonio Nóbrega (of the Project Brincante), Fred Zero Quatro, Siba, Jorge Dü Peixe (Nação Zumbi) and poets like Jorge Wanderley and Sebastião Uchoa Leite, that give flavor to the documentary. Deeply knowledgeable of the strength of the history of their state, musicians and poets outline the relations between the culture produced here, under the influence of its own socio-political structure of the cities. As Silvério Pessoa, of the band Cascabulho says: "Recife is totally surrounded by forts, which on their own create in the people the willingness to resist. And they established these bridges (another mark of the city) cut by rivers until it gets to the seashore, between the history and the land, the people it creates are capable of producing great culture."
Kirsten Weinoldt was born in Denmark and came to the U.S. in 1969. She fell in love with Brazil after seeing Black Orpheus many years ago and has lived immersed in Brazilian culture ever since. Her e-mail: kwracing@erols.com