Riachão, samba from Bahia

I was just reading Mestre Nei Lopes' blog and was saddened to hear about the tragedy that has struck the legendary Bahian sambista Riachão. On January 8th a car accident here in Rio took the lives of his wife Dona Dalva, his 25-year-old daughter and her spouse. His 29-year-old son is said to be in critical condition, while his fiancé also died in the crash. Clementino Rodrigues, known affectionately as Riachão, was born in 1921 in Salvador. He is said to be in his home town of Salvador, deeply depressed by the tragic event. Although he is not well known outside of his home town and is not a household name like many of his contemporaries, he is a beloved local legend.


"Vou chegando" by Riachão


"Cada macaco no seu galho" by Riachão

Cada macaco no seu galho, xô xuá
Eu não me canso de falar, xô xuá
O meu galho é na Bahia, xô xuá
O seu é em outro lugar, xô xuá
Não se aborreça moço da cabeça grande
Você vem não sei de onde
Fica aqui não vai pra lá
Esse negócio da mãe preta ser leiteira
Já encheu sua mamadeira
Vá mamar noutro lugar
xô xuá...

Each monkey on his own branch, (shoo away?)
I can't say it enough
My branch is in Bahia
Yours is somewhere else
Don't be down, big-headed young man
You come from who-knows-where
Stay here don't go there
This thing about the black wet nurse mother
You've filled your baby bottle
Now go nurse somewhere else
xô xuá!

Both selections are from the album Sambas da Bahia (1973), which also features songs by fellow baianos Batatinha and Panela. The following example is Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil's version of "Cada macaco no seu galho":


"Cada macaco no seu galho" (Riachão) by Caetano Veloso and Giberto Gil, from the album Tropicália 2 (1993)

My heart goes out to Mestre Riachão...

Elton Medeiros records memoirs at M.I.S.

This morning I received a newsletter stating that Elton Medeiros would be giving his "depoimento" at the Museu da Imagem e Som. Luckily the event was a few hours later at 2pm. I arrived barely on time only to find Mr. Medeiros at the gate of the archive/museum waiting to be let in. I introduced myself and he was nice, but seemed slightly uninterested. I once again tried to talk to him later during a break (he talked for 5 hours!) and told him that I was good friends with Mauro, the son of one of his close friends, Regina Werneck. Regina sang in the group Quarteto em Cy in the late 60s and also recorded and co-wrote with Elton. I have been meaning to ask her to introduce me to him. Elton said "Oh, he lives in the U.S..." and then turned away to talk to some people he actually knew...

I'll be back. He's not rid of me yet..

At the event slightly late and part of the panel was his old partner Paulinho da Viola, one of Brazil's most beloved samba artists. I was thrilled to see them both in a room of about 30 people. Unfortunately I was not persistent enough to try and talk to Paulinho (especially after 5 hours of Elton's talk), but I feel that I will catch him again later soon enough. Rio and the samba world is especially small at times...

So, for a quick post I would like to introduce one of Elton's compositions. Elton, by the way, has also co-authored several memorable songs with the late, great Cartola (see recent post). His best and longest lasting partnership has been with Paulinho da Viola. I would like to feature one of my favorite songs by Elton that he co-authored with Zé Kéti (1921-1999) and recorded with the legendary group A Voz do Morro in 1965. A Voz do Morro was a short-lived group that featured several musicians that went on to individual fame including Elton Medeiros, Paulinho da Viola, Zé Kéti, Nelson Sargento, Anescarzinho, José da Cruz, Jair Costa, Cartola and Nelson Cavaquinho. The last two did not actually record with the group but were part of an early incarnation of the group, according to Elton.




"Mascarada" (Elton Medeiros e Zé Kéti) by A Voz do Morro
from the 1965 album Roda de Samba

Vejo agora esse teu lindo olhar
Olhar que eu sonhei e sonhei conquistar
E que num dia afinal conquistei, enfim
Findou-se o carnaval e só nos carnavais
Encontrava-te sem
Encontrar este teu lindo olhar, porque
O poeta era eu cujas rimas eram compostas
Na esperança de que tirasses essa máscara
Que sempre me fez mal
Mal que findou só depois do carnaval

The lyrics are quite beautiful, but for lack of time (and for fear of another translation compromising the beauty of such poetry) I will only provide the brief story behind the song as told by Elton today. The idea of the song was from Zé Kéti. Kéti was romancing a woman whom he had only seen during several Carnaval celebrations. Every year they would meet and disappear together, remembers Elton. However, she was always wearing a mask, which she never once took off for poor Zé Kéti to see her face. Thus, in the song he laments only being able to see her through the mask. The stuff of legend, no?

Pagode do Nézio e Negão (Guanabara) - video

"Canto das Três Raças" (Mauro Duarte e Paulo César Pinheiro)

Pagode do Nézio e Negão - Clube Guanabara

So these cats have one of the best pagodes in town for the last five years. Nézio Simões and Negão da Abolição are the organizers of the event that happens every Wednesday night at the Clube Guanabara in Botafogo. I first started going to this samba about four years ago and have been a card-carrying member ever since.

This week I also thought I would start publishing some of my own photos, and adding to my log with still images (not just those "borrowed" from the internet!). I would also like to do a series on my favorite pagodes. Since this pagode was one of the first that I participated in when I began my fieldwork on the subject, I though I should start here.

To the right is Sinval on the cavaco-banjo, Roberto Chama on guitar and Bruno on the pandeiro (in the blur of the shallow depth-of-field - anyone remember my photo talks at UCLA?). The cavaco-banjo is a hybrid creation by the early pagodeiros that sparked the style known today as pagode. Many people still deny that pagode is a distinct style of samba, but I think most people at this particular pagode would disagree. This style of samba is more aggressive and percussive.

The pandeiro playing in pagode is certainly more aggressive, with a good percussionist playing extremely loud and with incredible skill. Bruno, on the left here is one of the baddest pandeiro players I have ever seen. I will post a video for you to see as well.

Below and to the right we have a couple of other typical instruments that were introduced with the pagode generation. Adão Jorge on the left is playing the tantã, a hand-held bass drum formerly called a tambora that was borrowed from the bolero groups of he 1960s. Renato (in yellow and black) is playing a xequebalde, a bucket fashioned with loose rivets to be played somewhat like the Yoruban xequerê (or shekere in other parts of Latin America).

Also played are instruments that have been popular in samba since long before the pagode generation include the surdo bass drum (played by Bruno Sales), the cuíca (Pedrinho da Cuíca), the ganzá (Winter), the traditional cavaco (Serginho), and the tamborim (Rogério).































I'm not sure I like the staggered blog entry... Trial and error.

finding Nei Lopes and Fabiana Cozza in SP

I finally caught up to Nei Lopes in São Paulo last Thursday. I have already mentioned him in an earlier post about partido alto. I have been trying to meet him at a few shows here in Rio but he always slips out quickly before I can catch him! So I went to the release of his new book Dicionário Literário Afro-Brasileiro (Pallas 2008) and was able to purchase a couple of his other books and get my copy of Logunedé (Pallas 2007, 2nd ed.) signed! I still hope to get an interview with him, so more posts will be forthcoming. At the book signing I also ran into Fabiana Cozza, a young singer from SP that is getting high marks for her second album. She was very nice and also told me she would be happy to let me interview her soon. More to come...

In the meantime I thought I could share some music from both of these artists.

Nei Lopes not only writes extensively on samba and Afro-Brazilian themes, but is also an activist, composer and recording artist. The first track is an ode to the Afro-Cuban deity Eleguá, known as Exú in Brazil. The album nods beautifully to the historical affinities between the two countries and their African heritage.




"Samba de Eleguá" (Nei Lopes)
from the album Partido ao Cubo (2004)

The second track is one of Nei Lopes' biggest hits from his partnership with Wilson Moreira, recorded by Beth Carvalho on her 1978 album De pé no chão. This album is significant in its importance in launching the so-called "pagode" movement that exploded on commercial airwaves in the 1980s, launching a whole new crew of samba artists. I posted a song by the pioneers of that era, Fundo de Quintal, in an earlier post here. Many of the members of this group are featured on this recording as studio musicians a few years before they launched their debut album (you can see them on the cover in the background). I will post more on this later.




"Goiabada-cascão" (Nei Lopes e Wilson Moreira) by Beth Carvalho
from the album De pé no chão (1978)

Finally, I would like to post one from Fabiana Cozza's second album Quando o céu clarear (2007). Fabiana has been highly praised by Nei Lopes (who also contributed a song to her album) as one of the great revelations of the São Paulo samba scene.




"Incensa" (Roque Ferreira) by Fabiana Cozza
from the album Quando o céu clarear (2007)

Enjoy.

listening to Cartola

"Cartola didn't exist. He was a dream we had" - Nelson Sargento
(written on the wall at the Centro Cultural Cartola in Mangueira)

I recently finished reading Cartola, os tempos idos (Gryphus, 2003) by Marília Trindade Barboza and Arthur de Oliveira Filho. I was inspired to post something about this amazing sambista known simply as Cartola ("top hat" in Portuguese).

One of the original founders of the Mangueira samba school, Angenor de Oliveira, Cartola (1908-1980), lived much of his life in relative poverty, his famous compositions earning him more esteem than financial gain. He finally recorded his debut album in 1974, at the age of 66.

In the late 1960s, Cartola and his wife Zica ran one of the most legendary samba houses in Rio. Known as Zicartola, the bar/restaurant/bohemian nightspot hosted some after hours sambas that have become legend. Frequented by a host of carioca musicians, composers, and intellectuals, Zicartola unfortunately suffered from mismanagement. Thus, the lack of financial prudence on part of its owners led to Zicartola's eventual shutdown.

I can hardly do justice to the genius of Cartola's poetry, but here are some of Cartola's most famous songs. I also want to highlight another pioneer, Horondino José da Silva (1918-2006), known as Dino 7 Cordas (7-String Dino), whose recordings with Cartola (and also with Jacob do Bandolim) have become something of a textbook for aspiring 7-string guitar players. Dino is almost single-handedly responsible for the instrument's widespread use in samba and choro, and "wrote the book" on technique and phrasing that is today the "language" of the 7-string guitar. The 7-string guitar has an added bass string, tuned to a low C. The baixaria (bass lines) of the instrument can be heard especially well on "Preciso Me Encontrar" below.




"O Mundo é um Moinho" (Cartola)

In the song "The World is a Windmill" the narrator is warning a young lady about heading into the world on her own, and the impending heartaches and disillusion of life.


"As Rosas Não Falam" (Cartola)

This is considered by many to be one of Cartola's most beautiful compositions, and regarded by literary critics, as well as musicians, to be the epitome of classic samba poetry. Please forgive my attempt at translating such an amazing work of art. English also does not do the words justice.

Bate outra vez com esperanças o meu coração
Pois já vai terminando o verão, enfim
Volto ao jardim com a certeza que devo chorar
Pois bem sei que não queres voltar, para mim
Queixo-me às rosas, mas que bobagem as rosas não falam
Simplesmente as rosas exalam
O perfume que roubam de ti
Devias vir para ver os meus olhos tristonhos
E, quem sabe, sonhava meus sonhos, por fim

("The Roses Don't Speak")
Beat once more with hopes, my heart
For the end of summer is near, at last
I return to the garden with the certainty that I must cry
For I know that you won't return to me
I protest to the roses, but it's silly the roses can't speak
They simply exhale the perfume stolen from you
You should come to see my sad eyes
And, perhaps, dream my dreams, at last


"Preciso Me Encontrar" (Candeia)

This song was featured in the film City of God during one of the most intense scenes. The bassoon is an interesting addition, not typical of samba at all. But Dino's playing is especially incredible in this piece. Also note that the song is written by Candeia, of recent posts past... another nod to Mestre Candeia... "I Need to Find Myself" is also typical of Candeia's deeply reflective work. All three songs are from Cartola's second self-titled album from 1976.

The photos were "mined" from the internet and I have no information on the photographers.

breaking the rules in Carnaval

The samba school São Clemente was penalized a half point during the Carnaval pageant at the Sambódromo for Viviane Castro's tapa sexo ("sex cover") being too small... Apparently 4cm is just not enough for squeamish judges... (that's 1.57 inches for you non-metric folk). They had to measure to get the final ruling! The so-called "cover" was glued on with super bonder. Ouch.

By the way, I made the edits myself, lest anyone accuse me of blogging nudity... Exposed breasts are quite normal for Carnaval and were not a factor in the judges' decision. Only the southern part...

I think the picture is quite stunning and beautiful. You can view the unedited photo here and read the story (in Portuguese) here. Photo by Antônio Lacerda/EFE.

***

My friends, Katherine and Theresa, from DC also paraded in the pageant with the same samba school. They were adequately covered up, by the way...

one more from Mestre Candeia

Since I'm in a Candeia mood, and following our partido alto theme, I wanted to add one more selection. This is a medley of classic songs featuring the repique de anél played by Doutor. The rhythm is also in classic partido alto format.




"Seleção de Partido Alto" from the album Samba de Roda (1975)

• Samba na tendinha (Candeia)
• Já clareou (Dewett Cardoso)
• Não tem veneno (Candeia-Wilson Moreira)
• Eskindôlelê (Candeia)
• Olha hora Maria (Folclore-Adpt. Candeia)

Candeia Part 2 - Partido Alto (1978?)

The Leon Hirszman film Partido Alto in its entirety (22 minutes). Featuring Candeia, Paulinho da Viola, Wilson Moreira, Tantinho da Mangueira, Velha, Casquinha and all the cats from the Partido em 5 recordings, among others. It's an amazing documentary about partido alto, explained by none other than the legendary Candeia and his cohorts. Also includes some narration by Paulinho da Viola. It's wonderful to see these cats playing in their own backyard. Some nice dance steps in this one as well. Check out Wilson Moreira doing the "miudinho" and Tantinho da Mangueira doing the "amoladinho"!

The film was made just before Candeia's death in 1978, I believe. A film database lists the film as being released in 1982.

Partido Alto (1982? [1978])
directed by Leon Hirszman (1937-87)
Embrafilme

Mestre Candeia... Axé!

I was just listening to some old recordings by Candeia, the legendary guerreiro (warrior) and tireless defender of traditional samba. I thought I should post more about this mythical figure. I have already posted several entries relating to Candeia. He was one of the original members of the Mensageiros do Samba along with Mestre Casquinha and you can catch up on that post here. I also posted something from Partido em 5 here which featured Candeia with the percussionist Doutor.

Candeia (Antônio Candeia Filho 1935-1978) was born into a family of sambistas. He was one of those cats that had a big voice, but sang in a way that was almost slightly out of tune, yet his compositions and melodies were amazing and his lyrics often heartbreakingly beautiful. The lyrics he wrote later in life (in the 1970s) reflected the painful reality of his paralysis and seemed to predict his impending death. In the 1960s, with the Mensageiros do Samba, mentioned above, he was still walking.

Candeia was a big man. He was a police officer, and a notoriously mean one at that. Something that caused some of his friends to distance themselves from him. He got caught in a shootout which severed his spinal cord, putting him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Legend has it that the shooting happened because of a curse put on him by a prostitute that he had slapped around. The very next day he was shot.



The album Axé! (1975) is considered by samba aficionados to be mandatory listening. Therefore if you want to go any further in this blog, you must listen!


"Dia de Graça" from the album Axé! (1975)

Hoje é manhã de carnaval (ao esplendor)
As escolas vão desfilar (garbosamente)
Aquela gente de cor com a imponência de um rei,
vai pisar na passarela (salve a Portela)
Vamos esquecer os desenganos (que passamos)
Viver alegria que sonhamos (durante o ano)
Damos o nosso coração, alegria e amor a todos sem distinção de cor
Mas depois da ilusão, coitado
Negro volta ao humilde barracão
Negro acorda é hora de acordar
Não negue a raça
Torne toda manhã dia de graça
Negro não humilhe nem se humilhe a ninguém
Todas as raças já foram escravas também
E deixa de ser rei só na folia e faça da sua Maria
uma rainha todos os dias
E cante o samba na universidade
E verás que seu filho será príncipe de verdade
Aí então jamais tu voltarás ao barracão

Axé!!!

partido alto 101

This video clip, filmed just before Christmas last year, shows a group of young composers at Beco do Rato in Lapa. These cats are keeping alive the old tradition of improvisational samba duels, known as partido alto. Watching these guys play is like a live comedy skit, each of them poking fun at the other, or sometimes someone in attendance, always bringing in current events and popular culture into their “rap.”

The first singer in the white hat and striped shirt is Baiaco. The second guy João Martins (in black shirt) even brought me into the fold, improvising a verse and pointing at the "cameraman" telling me to document the tongue-lashing that he is about to give the guy in white (with the Santa hat). The Santa guy is known as "Bananada." I have heard that his nickname refers to the fact that he used to sell banana candies on the city buses when he was a kid. He would improvise verses while making his pitch to sell his candies. He's one of the most animated figures at this particular pagode. I hope to feature more biographical information about all these cats as my interviews yield more information.

I won't translate all that was said, but there was mention of Viagra, Santa (Papai Noel), bin Laden, George Bush and even Saddam Hussein...

The partido alto has been around for quite some time, which is why it is so amazing to see young guys dedicating to the art form. It is becoming increasingly rare to see people that can improvise like this.

Nei Lopes noted that the partido alto began in the early 20th century in the port district of Rio de Janeiro, where dockworkers would get together and sing, in dueling improvisations. These early rodas de samba would often end in games that resembled the Brazilian martial art capoeira, where participants would attempt to knock each other down with surprise leg sweeps. The population around Rio at this time was made up of migrants from all over the country, bringing various forms of music (and other forms of improvisation duels such as the northeastern embolada) that helped to format partido alto and samba as we know it today.

You can read a review that I wrote of Nei Lopes’ book Partido alto: Samba de bamba (Pallas, 2005) in Pacific Review of Ethnomusicology.

The basic format of the partido alto is to establish the refrain, which is then sung in chorus by all the participants in attendance. The recurring refrain is the main “theme” that is repeated several times before the group provides an aural “break” to allow the improvisers to enter. The improvisers, known as partideiros, will then take turns singing while maintaining the rhythmic swing and poetic structure of the song. After a few verses the group comes back in strong, singing the refrain, and later again bringing down the volume a bit for the improvisers to be heard for the next round.

The partideiros have to think quick, but they often use what Lopes calls “crutches” – standard verses that have been passed down through generations but somewhat modified in different contexts. These crutches that he mentions are short phrases or common sayings, that get reworked and rhymed with new improvisations. You can gauge their talent by their use of current events, or what is happening in the roda (circle) at that very moment (such as me holding a video camera).

what's with the name? (Part 2) - P.S.

I also wanted to "tip my hat" to the legendary percussionist known only by Doutor (his real name escapes me at this time, but more on this in later posts).

The late Doutor was a composer and the inventor of the repique de anél, a double-headed hand drum that he introduced into samba in the 1970s. The repique de anél is played with the use of "rings" on one hand that taps on the shell of the drum while both hands play combinations of open and muffled tones on the skins.

Listen to the following track "Lá vai viola" from the 1975 album Partido em 5. Doutor enters with the repique immediately following the surdo intro. Notice how Mestre Candeia calls out "fala, doutor!" to the percussionist just before he begins playing:


"Lá vai viola" (Candeia)
from the album Partido em 5 (1975)

This album featured several samba luminaries such as Candeia, Wilson Moreira, Casquinha, Velha, Anézio, Joãozinho da Pecadora, Zeca da Cuíca. The repique de anél was used prominently in many samba recordings after the legendary Partido em 5 series. In the 1980s, with the explosion of the pagode generation a new series of percussion instruments became popularized and the repique de anél fell out of favor for a while. The instrument has appeared in the last few years again, as people are beginning to return to the older form of samba, prior to the pagode boom of the 1980s.

Here's another song featuring Doutor, with João Bosco (who I hope to interview soon!!! He's one of my favorite guitar players):


"Incompatibilidade de gênios" (João Bosco e Aldir Blanc)
from the album Galos de Briga (1976) by João Bosco

what's with the name?

So I've gotten a few questions from 2 or 3 (of the half a dozen) people that read my blog asking about my nickname. So I thought I should explain myself.

The tile of the blog itself is also a play on my nickname. "Fala, doutor!" is like saying "What's up, Doc?" So, dotô is a wordplay on how doutor is pronounced. Thus, Beto Dotô, was sort of given to me by my dear friend Jean Pierre (a.k.a. Jotapê, as in J.P. in Portuguese!) when we were playing music together.

No, I'm not pretending to be a Dr. or precipitate my eventual Ph.D. (nor would I ever want anyone to call me with the Dr. title, even though Dr. Beto sounds kind of cool...). Brazilians, who just love titles and nicknames by the way, will often call people capitão, or doutor, etc. simply as a sign of respect. Doutor was used in years past to refer to people with university degrees, even if not necessarily a doctorate or a medical degree. A few friends sometimes say "fala, doutor!" when they see me, so I thought the whole darn thing was just peachy keen.

How you like that?

You'll probably notice throughout this blog that most musicians take on nicknames, usually attaching the name of the instrument that they are (or once were) associated with. As I have said before, though, you have to have some mad skills for people to start calling you with an instrument as a surname! Nicknames, on the other hand, are as common here as curse words... Even our President Lula goes by a nickname (actually one of his middle names but sounds like a nickname). The national soccer team (all soccer teams for that matter) all use nicknames or first names on their team uniforms, and even university professors go by their first name, rather than their last name... People will also often use tia (aunt), or mestre as a sign of respect for elders that have paved the way the younger generation of musicians.

Fat Tuesday... finally!

Fat Tuesday. The supposed last day to get your rocks off. Frankly, I can hardly wait for it to be over. I know, most people have been surprised to hear me say that I didn't really like the experience of living in Rio during Carnaval. I didn't get to see the "big show" at the Sambódromo, where the incredible, world-famous pageant takes place, and the street groups (blocos) just leave me wanting to stay home...

Some people, especially my carioca friends, wonder why I haven't been participating in all the folia (folly? for lack of a better term...). I just can't really deal with the crowds, the excessive drinking, the incredibly loud mobile speaker systems, the wet muddy streets and sidewalks (mostly rain and beer, among other liquids)... This is where I differ from my brethren. I must admit that I'm amazed at the energy and liveliness of cariocas when it comes to celebrating Carnaval. They never seem to get tired or sick of it all. I suppose that's what Ash Wednesday is for... to sleep it all off.

The little video is just one minute of a bloco passing by my apartment window. There were many others all around the city. It's been quite a noisy place since Friday the 1st of February. It looks like fun, but after 3 days of this, right outside my apartment, and I'm sure you can understand my weariness...