Luiz Gonzaga
“São João Quente”
1971 on RCA Camden (107.0097)
1 Fuga da África
(Luiz Gonzaga)
2 De Juazeiro a Pirapora
(Luiz Gonzaga)
3 São João do Arraiá
(Zé Dantas)
4 O xote das meninas
(Luiz Gonzaga, Zé Dantas)
5 Macapá
(Luiz Gonzaga, Humberto Teixeira)
6 Impertinente
(Luiz Gonzaga)
7 Vira e mexe
(Luiz Gonzaga)
8 O coreto da pracinha
(Risério Valente, Altamiro Carrilho)
9 Ovo de codorna
(Severino Ramos)
10 Dia de São João
(Rildo Hora)
11 Coronel Pedro do Norte
(Nelson Valença)
12 Lulu vaqueiro
(Nelson Valença)
13 O urubu é um triste
(Nelson Valença)
Vinyl RCA-Camden (107.0097) -> Pro-Ject RM-5SE turntable (with Sumiko Blue Point 2 cartridge, Speedbox power supply) > Creek Audio OBH-15 -> M-Audio Audiophile 2496 Soundcard -> Adobe Audition 3.0 at 24-bits 96khz -> Click Repair light settings, additional clicks and pops removed in Audition -> dithered and resampled using iZotope RX Advanced -> ID Tags done in foobar2000 v.1.0.1 and Tag & Rename.
A São João party record from the king of baião, this might be a minor entry in his vast discography if not for a few curiosities. The entire first side (tracks 1 – 7 here) is one long instrumental, fifteen-minute jam where Gonzaga reminds us he’s equally adept at xôte, valsas, quadrilhas, and just showing off his instrumental prowess on the difficult 8-button sanfona (accordion). It’s pretty entertaining, and he makes it a point to touch on some of his successes like ‘O xote das meninas’ and ‘São João do Arraiá’, but it all lacks his booming, commanding voice. This is rectified on the second side of the LP which is split into individual compositions. Aside from Rildo Hora’s “Dia de São João” (which sounds an awful lot like a certain composition by Gonzaga’s protege, Dominguinhos), the rest of these tunes are fairly unknown. And the particular surprise comes at the end: Gonzaga, known for his famous parternships with Zé Dantas and Humberto Teixeira, chose to record not just one but *three* songs from an unknown Pernambucan composer, and put them all together at the end of the LP. Nelson Valença, who seems to have been born, lived, and died in the town of Pesqueira in the agreste of Pernambuco, never had much of a professional career in music, and his biggest claim to fame is having these compositions (and a precious few more that would follow in years to come) recorded by Gonzagão. The first of the them “Coronel Pedro do Norte” is a light satire of the archetypical ‘coronel’ of an interior town, a guy with a big mustache who seems to own everything and everyone, and who just can’t come to terms with the ‘new generation’ and its shaggy-haired youths, and is particularly flustered when his own daughter pays a visit home and steps off the train holding hands with one of these hairy delinquents (cabeludos). “Lulu Vaqueiro” is quite a beautiful ballad, and “Um urubu é um triste” brings us back in that particularly northeastern territory where humor and profundity mix with infectious dance-ability. It is quite a homage to have three of your compositions close out an album by the great Gonzagão, and I would like to find out more someday about the back story on what let up to this – chance encounter, friendship, or whatever. Whatever the case may be, this album must have got a lot of spins in Pesqueira, and these tunes rescue what is otherwise a bit of a bland album from the master.
(*note that in the fielset I have mistakenly dated this album as 1972 thanks to not paying attention to the actual label on the vinyl… sorry about that).
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