Today again a ‘normal’ BMoF, rather than the ‘on the road’ installments of the last two weeks. I must say however that it was a very pleasant surprise to hear from a number of people at the APA in San Francisco that they are fans of Brazilian music in general and of BMoF in particular. This definitely boosts my enthusiasm for this weekly commitment!
Today I want to post a couple of songs by Cartola (Portuguese for top hat). Cartola is widely recognized as one of the greatest samba musicians and composers of all times (together with others such as Noel Rosa and Paulinho da Viola). He was born at the beginning of the 20th century, and led a rather eventful life. A typical bohemian, he was one of the founders of the Mangueira samba school in Rio, and lived most of his life in the Mangueira favela (shantytown). In the 1930s he was a widely recognized and successful musician, but in the 1940s his life took the wrong turn due to illness and other infortunes. Little is known about what exactly happened to him then, but he simply ‘disappeared’ from the musical scene, taking up the odd job as car washer or construction worker. He was ‘rediscovered’ in 1957 by a then-famous journalist (Sergio Porto), who began to promote Cartola again as a musician and composer. However, it was only in the 1970s, when Cartola was past 60 years old, that he became again a true musical institution, recording his very first album in 1974 and composing many of the songs he is famous for. He died in 1980, but since then his songs are among the best known classics of Brazilian folk music, and are regularly recorded by all kinds of high-profile singers (including numerous tribute albums).
It is difficult to choose just a few songs by Cartola to post, as there are so many beautiful ones to choose from, and in which versions. So here are four of them: ‘Preciso me encontrar’ sung by Cartola himself (it is in fact not one of his own compositions, but it’s one my husband’s favorite songs, so here it is for him!); ‘O mundo é um moinho’ sung by Ney Mattogrosso (a fantastic male singer with a distinctive high voice); ‘As rosas não falam’ sung by Cartola again; and ‘Ensaboa’ in the Marisa Monte version of the early 1990s.
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