Paulinho da Viola
Phew – Friday at last! It’s been a busy couple of weeks hence the paucity of posts, and after yesterday’s slightly ‘dense’ offering, I thought I’d follow up today with something a little lighter.
On my way to work this morning I was sharing a bus with one of those people who play music through the speaker on their phone. Oh man, who doesn’t hate that?
Anyway, it turns out I was the winner because this guy’s selfish behaviour prompted me to play my own music (through headphones, claro) and I stumbled across a joyous piece of music by this man:
Paulinho da Viola. Doesn’t he just look like a really nice guy? I know they say it’s wrong to judge people by appearances, but it doesn’t seem so bad when you’re making a positive judgement, right?
From an early age, Paulinho was surrounded by legends of Brazilian music such as Pixinguinha and Jacob do Bandolim. In turn Paulinho went on to become a legend in his own right, famed for his sophisticated melodies and gentle singing voice. His career as a Sambista, composer and musician has spanned 50 years and during this time he has released 27 albums and toured worldwide. On top of all that, by all accounts he is a really good guy.
OK, so back to that song that cheered me on my way to work. It’s a simple, cheerful tune though, somewhat typically of Brazilian music, the lyrics tell a rather sad tale of a guy who has decided he won’t play his guitar anymore because someone has made him unhappy. Well, the words might be sad, but listening to this makes me happy! I hope you like it too – have a great weekend.
If you’re in Rio next month you’ll have the chance to see Paulinho playing a retrospective show – details here!
Paulinho da Viola is one of my mom’s favorites!
I think your mom has great taste in music! And how could anyone not like Paulinho da Viola? He seems like such a sweet guy :)
Paulinho da Viola is one of my grandma’s favorites (do you notice a pattern Tom?). :-)
Only joshing. Lovely song so manyobrigados for displaying it, and I wish you a bomfimdesemanasemmarmite.
Ha ha! Yes, I thought the same thing! I’m still struggling to really enjoy Roberto Carlos, so it seems there is hope for me yet. Right, I’m off to listen to some young people’s music. I heard there’s this amazing new band called U2 that all the cool kids are listening too… ;)
I just left a comment on your post about the cachaça song in which I mentioned Roberto Carlos.
When I lived in Brazil in my early 20s (late 1960s) he was the heart-throb of the day, but I could never appreciate his music. However, I ran across an album of his songs sung in Spanish by Maria Bethania —and it was really good. In fact, I listened to it, then bought it in an Ipanema music store in 2011. I listened to it and loved it before I realized it was Roberto Carlos music. Without his 60s pop sound, I didn’t recognize it. The gift was for a friend’s husband. He is from Chile. My friend is American, but met her husband when they both lived in São Paulo (for about 20 years.) I had no idea that Maria Bethania was one of his favorite singers (I had never heard of her before) so I chose the perfect gift for him, simply by chance.
After sending my previous comment, I found 2 Roberto Carlos songs in Portuguese by Maria Bethania here:
http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/Bethania+Canta+Roberto+Carlos/6858314
You might change your mind about R. Carlos music when you hear her singing it.
Hi again Carolina :) Thanks for that link – it’s lovely! I think I probably just need to listen to more of Roberto Carlos and then I’ll fall in to line! Everyone seems to love him, so I’m sure it’s me who will change eventually!
Great post about Paulinho, I love his songs! As for Roberto Carlos, “As Curvas da Estrada de Santos” is a classic and should be very accessible to most listeners. I first heard the song in the film “O Caminho das Nuvens,” and liked it right off the bat. The version in the link below is the original from 1969, not one of the later, live recordings:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPVQE2NrW5E
This particular copy has all the scratches of an old LP, as well as the album cover featuring Roberto wearing bell-bottom jeans as he sits looking somewhat wistful on the beach.
Elis Regina also recorded it, and if it was good enough for Elis, it’s good enough for me.
Hey Phil! Sorry, not sure how I missed this – it’s been mad-busy at work recently :(
This is great! Interesting that the top comment for that video comments on how much Roberto Carlos has changed since those early days. I’m not expert at all, but I must say there seems a big difference between the man singing in this video with the crooner we see today. Maybe I’m way off here, but it seems he seriously mellowed as he got older (which of course is totally fair enough!).