the one that got away... Camunguelo

I would like to dedicate my first "official" post relating to my research to Cláudio Lopes dos Santos.

Camunguelo (as he was widely known among circles of aficionados, night owls, and bohemians of Rio's samba scene) passed away on December 24th of 2007.

I was quite sad to hear the news. I did not know him, but I remember seeing him at many sambas during the previous years that I had been doing research in Rio. I began to wonder, and even mentioned to some friends, that I had not seen him around since I arrived in Rio in September 2007. I had no idea that his health had taken such a turn. At the risk of sounding like a selfish researcher, I regret not trying to get an interview with him when I saw him last year. I put it off thinking that I would catch him on my next visit to Brazil...

Camunguelo was a towering figure that stood over 6 feet tall. He was never seen without his trademark white hat. He was an amazing self-taught flautist, as well as one of a dying breed of dueling samba improvisors, partideiros. His parents were some of the original inhabitants of the mythical "Little Africa" district in Praça Onze where urban samba was born among the parties hosted by the tias baianas (Bahian Aunts). He made his own plastic flutes when he was a kid and claimed that he could usually learn and play a song faster than someone who could read the music for it!

Camunguelo also wrote (along with then virtually unknown Zeca Pagodinho) one of my favorite sambas of all time. "Amarguras" is from the 1981 album, Samba é no Fundo de Quintal - Vol. 2 by Fundo de Quintal. In my personal opinion, one of the best samba albums of all time.


"Amarguras" (Camunguelo e Zeca Pagodinho)
from Samba é no Fundo de Quintal - Vol. 2 (1981) by Fundo de Quintal

Amarguras
De que vale a vida se eu não tenho a sorte
Se a alma é fraca pra que corpo forte
E pra que sorrir se não há esperança
De se ver surgir o dia da bonança
Do ferir da carne vê-se a cor do sangue
E sentir-se como um barco atolado em um mangue
A poeira pura a me sufocar
E ainda vem você pra me mandar calar
Chove chuva, traz o vento
Ressabiando a maré
Pra acabar com a dor do mundo
E dor de quem em Deus tem fé
E a chuva com o vento vem pra me fortalecer
E faz as amarguras esquecer

Bitterness*
What good is life if I don’t have luck?
If the soul is weak, why a strong body?
And why smile if there is no hope
Of seeing the dawn of serenity?
From the flesh wounds, see the color of blood
And feel like a shipwreck in a swamp
The pure dust to suffocate me
And then for you to tell me to shut up
Bring the rain, bring the wind
Deceive the tide
To end the pain of the world
And the pain of who has faith in God
And the rain with the wind come to strengthen me
And make me forget the bitterness

*The exact translation of amarguras would be "bitter things" meaning bad memories or tribulations. Poetic license for the translator, please.

Photo by Paulo Eduardo Neves (2001) was "borrowed" from the Agenda do Samba e Choro. Obrigado Paulo, espero que você não se importe!