Toquinho e Vinicius – O Poeta e o Violão (1975)

O POETA E O VIOLÃO (1975)
TOQUINHO E VINICIUS
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RGE (303.0032)

1 Tristeza
(Haroldo Lobo, Niltinho)
2 Marcha da quarta-feira de cinzas
(Carlos Lyra, Vinicius de Moraes)
3 Morena flor
(Toquinho, Vinicius de Moraes)
4 Chega de saudade
(Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes)
5 Dora
(Dorival Caymmi)
6 Canto de Ossanha
(Baden Powell, Vinicius de Moraes)
7 Rosa desfolhada
(Toquinho, Vinicius de Moraes)
8 Berimbau
(Baden Powell, Vinicius de Moraes)
Consolação (Baden Powell-Vinicius de Moraes)
9 Januária
(Chico Buarque)
10 Insensatez
(Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes)
11 Apelo
(Baden Powell, Vinicius de Moraes)
12 Garota de Ipanema
(Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes)
13 O velho e a flor
(Bacalov, Toquinho, Vinicius de Moraes)
14 Nature Boy
(Eden, Ahbez)

Toquinho (Antônio Pecci Filho) – guitar and vocal
Vinicius de Moraes – vocal

Luis Enríquez Bacalov – piano on “O velho e a flor”

TRANSCRIPTION INFO

Vinyl -> 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. No EQ or compression.

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It’s a simple enough idea, and it works beautifully. Take these two masters, these two entities incorporating the bohemian culmination of seventeen years of the bossa nova lifestyle known as Vinicius and Toquinho, and put them in a room with nothing but a guitar and some microphones and have them play for four hours. This album plays like we are listening in on a rehearsal or a casual backstage jam session with all the tunes spun off the cuff, but if you listen carefully the sheen of spontaneity dims a little as you realize there is no way that these two — especially the old lush, Vinicius – could have nailed all these tracks so angelically in one take. On their earliest collaborations, Toquinho and Vinicius didn’t always sound this confident in their vocals and often brought in one or another chanteuse to fill the spotlight (Maria Bethania, Maria Cruesa, Miucha). The tracklist is a leisurely stroll through the bossa nova songbook, and the in-between song banter makes it sound like they are deciding on the repetoire right there on the spot. But, again, I ain’t buying it. The song choices, sequence, and arrangments are just too damn perfect – but this is a compliment and not a complaint. The only slightly false step is `Chega de saudade`, to which they add a whole lot of nothing special. Among the other song interpretations that do NOT have the name of Vinicius in the credits, is a respectable version of Chico Buarque’s “Januária”, jazz standard, Nat King Cole hit and touchstone of the bossa nova crowd “Nature Boy,” and a tune from Caymmi, “Dora.” The latter is one of Dorival Caymmi’s rare compositions that is *not* about Bahia but instead is an homage to the city of Recife. The remainder of the tunes dip into all of Vinicius’ famous writing partnerships – Tom Jobim, Carlos Lyra, and especiallY Baden Powell. Toquinho’s guitar playing may not have had the mercurial energy and vision of Powell, but he has a great sense of dynamics and a lovely voice that blends excellently with Vinicius, giving an urgency and excitement to ‘Canto de Ossanha” and “Berimbau” that do justice to everyone involved, and in the case of “Apelo” make the song particularly suited to the style of this duo.

It pays to remember that in 1975, there were not yet thousands of coffee shops, restaurants, airports and the like with some poor sap paid to sit on a stool plunking away at “Garota de Ipanema.” I sometimes feel empathy for these poor souls, unless they have decided to accompany themselves with a drum machine or sequencer, in which case I silently curse them and all of their offspring for seven generations. But I digress. Even without the official designation of this song to background restaurant dinner music (which, in fact, most likely had already occurred by 1975), there is just not a lot of room to make this song terribly interesting beyond the first, initial burst of recordings by singers and jazz-bossa combos. But Toquinho and Vinicius manage to give it a bit of a nudge back into relevance and remind us that we are, after all, listening to masters of the genre. Last but not least, the songs that Toquinho and Vinicius actually composed together are likely to lose place to their more famous brethren on this record, and there are only three selections out of fourteen songs represented here. But those three demonstrate that not only could they hold their own in the company of ‘the classics’ but that their partnership was really onto something during the first half of the 1970s. “Morena flor” featuring heavily their interwoven vocal harmonies; “Rosa desfolhada” is more of a solo vehicle for Toquinho and had heavy overtones of Chico; the penultimate track on the album “O velho e a flor” is one of the most interesting, as it also features Argentinian composer and arranger Luis Bacalov on the piano. (The casual between song banter becomes rather tongue-in-cheek here as Bacalov just *happens* to be hanging around the studio, and with a piano, to help them out…)

This album was recorded in Milan, Italy. As per the back cover:
“This album was recorded in 4 hours of studio time in Milan with the special participation of mestres Bacalov and Bardotti, in a climate of total amusement.”

16-bit 44.1 khz

 24bit

 

password: vibes

Chico Buarque – MPB Especial TV Cultura 1973 (2010)

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Chico Buarque
MPB Especial
produced by TV Cultura 1973
Released on DVD via Biscioto Fino 2010
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Este MPB Especial foi gravado em 1973, poucos anos depois do retorno de Chico Buarque do auto-exílio na Itália, ainda na Ditadura Militar. E, por meio de um relato sobre sua produção artística da época, registrou-se um documento significativo não somente para a compreensão da obra do autor, mas também por expor faces e nuances de seu processo de criação.
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Tatuagem
Meu Refrão – Citação
Amanhã Ninguém Sabe – Citação
Deus Lhe Pague
Desalento
Ela Desatinou / Construção – Citação
Samba De Orly
Ilmo Sr. Ciro Monteiro – Citação
Hino Do Politheama
Cuidado Com A Outra
Bom Conselho
Cotidiano
Caçada
Soneto – Citação
Olê, Olá
Boi Voador Não Pode – Citação
Flor Da Idade

What a wonderful surprise and delight when I walked into my favorite record/bookstore and saw this DVD on the shelf. It is a brand new release of an old classic program — MPB Especial on TV Cultura, the program where you never hear the questions, just the answers. I don’t know why they did it that way, and it kind of drives me insane, but that was their “thing” and there is nothing we can do about it now… In fact the result in the case of this particular program is that we get to watch Chico smoke a lot of cigarettes while he listens to the long-winded questions of the interviewer that the audience never hears…

This interview/performance sees Chico at a fascinating point in his career. Recently returned from his self-imposed exile in Europe, he is recently or currently involved in some of his most important albums — the pivotal masterwork, Construção (1971), the soundtrack for Caça Dieges’s film ‘Quando o Carnaval Chegar’ (1972), and the album Chico Canta (1973) which would contain a great deal of songs from the theatrical piece ‘Calabar’ written with Ruy Guerra, and which would have been its soundtrack album. “Calabar” was banned by the military government from opening as a theatre piece — and not only that, but it was prohibited to TELL anybody that it had been censured and banned!! At the time of this filming, Chico is still working on the play with Guerra and none of the bad stuff as happened yet… Or, perhaps I am wrong and it has — three of the songs that suffered the most from censorship, “Cala Boca Bárbara”, “Anna de Amisterdam” e “Vence na Vida Quem Diz Sim” (these last two were treated like Milton Nascimento had done with Milagre dos Peixas — removing the lyrics entirely and making them into instrumentals..) — do not appear at all in this interview. Of course, they could have been edited out subsequently to the filming. In between these two albums Chico had also issued collaborative efforts for the soundtrack to the Carlos Diegues film “Quando o Carnaval Chegar” and a live album shared with Caetano Veloso.

Some of the more revelatory things about the interview is the fact that, a) Chico doesn”t remember a lot of his own songs.. In something that might be called the stance of a ‘true artist’, he focuses all his energy on a piece until it is done being written and recorded, and then he lets it go and moves on to the next thing. The result here is seeing him start playing a lot of tunes (at the request of the invisible interviewer) and stopping saying, ‘I don’t remember the rest” or “I don’t remember anything.” I find this fascinating because, unlike, say, Alice Cooper being too drunk to remember his own songs, this is Chico f’ing Buarque, the sober intellectual, and his fans probably remember these songs better than he does. Other wonderful moments are b) listening to him talk about the writing process, and the fact that he didn’t write lyrics before the music — which is contrary to what I had always thought about him. In fact he claims he *can’t* write the words until the music is there — and I am not sure if I believe him about this! He is also asked to give an opinion about his friend and partner Vinicius de Moraes, to which he gives kind of a hilarious response beginning with “A gente não tem opinão do Vinicius…”, which along with what follows amounts to saying in English, “You don’t have an’opinion’ about Vinicius. Vinicius just IS.” He goes on to talk about their ‘confused but beautiful’ relationship, having known each other via Vinicius’ friendship with his father, famed historian and intellectual Sergio Buarque de Hollanda (whose book ‘Raizes do Brazil’ is still required reading, by the way). Later, we learn that c) Chico spent a fair amount of his time in Italy bored out of his mind and occupying his time by designing imaginary cities and inventing a board game based on Monopoly but involving football (soccer).

More reflections about the bizarre format of the invisible and unheard interviewer… It appears that the working method of TV Cultura was to have the interviewer in another room and giving his questions via a feedback monitor speaker, probably placed on the ground or on a wall. This is deduced by the fact that Chico frequently can’t hear the questions very well and has to ask them to be repeated (O que??), something that I have noticed in other interviews for this program. I guess they didn’t want anybody else in the camera shot, or disturbing the intimate performances? There is also a really beautiful woman hanging around inside the room taking photos of him, so perhaps he simply gets distracted. Also the absence of the questions can really and truly be frustrating — towards the end of the program the subject matter seems to veer from Chico’s opinions on God, literature, and Ruy Barbosa, with little for us (the audience) to hang onto in terms of a thread of continuity. I have a new theory about this weird way of presenting the material: because of the fact that everything had to be passed before draconic Brazilian censors during the dictatorship — song lyrics, television scripts, jouranlistm — perhaps TV Cultura was deliberately protecting itself by making the QUESTIONS unavailable? Thus, since it was anybody’s guess what Chico was responding to, there is no chance for a censor to say “You can’t ask that question.” … This is pure speculation on my part, perhaps someone who actually knows things can fill me in.

The musical performances and part-performances are wonderful, charming, and make me understand how even heterosexual men would make an exception for Chico. The guy is just too cool and beautiful. At one point he is asked (something?) about Nelson Cavaquinho, who had apparently claimed to be Chico’s godfather (in jest or symbolically, it seems), and Chico refuses to single out any favorite composition from Nelson, saying he loves them all, and then begins to play “Cuidado com a outra” only to stumble after the second phrase and end it. He says to the camera, smiling, “vou aprender… na próxima vez vou aprender as músicas para tocar no seu programa” (L’ll learn it. Next time, I’ll learn the songs to play on your show..” Who else but Chico Buarque could say this and not appear aloof or arrogant but rather candid and utterly sincere? “Show business” or even “performing” were never what it was all about for this guy. Shortly therafter, he rips into an incredible reading of one of his most evocative songs, “Cotidiano” from the album Construção. Hearing him play it here, just violão and voice, once again leaves me with only clichés to describe my reaction: goosebumps. A tingling down my spine to hear such a perfect matching of word, timbre, voice, and guitar, all of it acting together in complete unity, a unity inclusive of the dissonant guitar chords that he drops in the progression belying the ‘normality’ of life during the ‘Brazilian Miracle’ of the early 70s…

As proven by at least two recent boxsets which include DVDs and also Chico’s massive multi-DVD project from a few years ago, there is a lot of video available about Chico Buarque. And it is only fitting — he is the most important living songwriter in Brazil, period. But the ‘vintage’ of this performance, and the fact of it only being released now after so many years, makes this a must for any fan of Chico, and for historians or scholars of Brazilian intellectual history, music, or popular culture.

MKV file (playable in any media player worth its salt) missing the main menus but including subtitles in Portuguese and English

*note: this file seems to make some media players freak out. I highly recommend VLC Media Player, the open-source Swiss Army Nice of video, which plays it fine. Meanwhile, another format is on its way here, stay tuned

Full DVD in ISO format: part 1 // part 2 // part 3 // part 4

note: you MUST have all 3 files present on the same drive in order to unzip these

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Chico Buarque & Ennio Morricone – Per Un Pugno Di Samba (1970)

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Chico Buarque & Ennio Morricone
Per Un Pugno Di Samba
Originally released as RCA VICOR (LSP 34085), 1970
Reeissue 1993, BMG/RCA (74321945712)

01 – Rotativa
02 – Samba E Amore
03 – Sogno Di Un Carnevale
04 – Lei No, Lei Sta Ballando
05 – Il Nome Di Maria
06 – Funerale Di Un Contadino
07 – In Te
08 – Queste E Quelle
09 – Tu Sei Una Di Noi
10 – Nicanor
11 – In Memoria Di Un Congiurato
12 – Ed Ora Dico Sul Serio

Produced by Sergio Bardotti

I believe the first time I heard this record was due to my friend Justin Thyme over at his blog. I was very charmed by it and after blogging about Chico’s debut LP the other day, I felt like I wanted to draw some attention to this gem. It was recorded by Chico during his self-imposed exile in Italy, and witnesses a kind of dream-pairing with famed arranger and composer Ennio Morricone. The new orchestrations and arrangements by Morricone add a deeply baroque element to the songs, with several featuring a pipe organ — possibly the last instrument I would expect from a Buarque album from this period, second only to a blazing distorted guitar solo. Along with lush choral harmonies and Buarque`s lyrics sung in Italian (translated by producer Sergio Bardotti), all these elements lend themselves to making this one of the most curious items in Chico’s vast discography. But as interesting as these tracks are to listen to for the person already familiar with the originals, none of them possess the emotional weight of the those original recordings, giving the whole album a feeling of an elaborate, well-intentioned experiment. The careful crafting of the music by these respective masters prevents the album from drifting into merely a “novelty”, but I can also understand why the album is not one of Chico’s better-known works from this period. Sometimes the arrangements become cloying and overbearing, like in Funerale Di Un Contadino (Funeral de um lavrador), in other instances they are delightfully different (Sogno Di Un Carnavale / Sonho de um carnaval). This latter tracks segues beautifully into Lei No, Lei Sta Ballando (Ela Desatinou), which is probably the most avant-garde moment of the whole album, with a lone female voice in the left channel singing a counter melody that transforms the track and lends a dissonance not found on other Chico Buarque albums until his momumental Construção.

The liner notes are ample but unfortunatley in Italian, which I don’t read, so I can’t tell you much about them. It is unfortunate that the record label did not provide a Portuguese translation (at least from the lavish boxset from which this edition comes). Fans of either Chico or Ennio will definitely want this album and it is well worth tracking down. Neophytes to either of them would be best served by exploring other areas of their discographies before delving into this one. It is beautiful, immensely creative, and is not to missed, but its cumulative power depends in large part on a familiarity with the original records from Chico Buarque.

in 320 kbs em pee tree

in FLAC LOSSLESS AUDIO

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Chico Buarque – Chico Buarque de Hollanda (1966)

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CHICO BUARQUE DE HOLLANDA
1966 RGE XRLP-5.303

1 A banda
2 Tem mais samba
3 A Rita
4 Ela e sua janela
5 Madalena foi pro mar
6 Pedro Pedreiro
7 Amanhã, ninguém sabe
8 Você não ouviu
9 Juca
10 Olê Olá
11 Meu refrão
12 Sonho de um carnaval

Two things happened in the last 48 hours or so: Flabbergasted Vibes surpassed 250,000 visits (that’s a quarter-million, y’all), and Chico Buarque won a very important award for his novel “Leite derramado” (Spilt Milk). Francisco won R$100,000 as part of the deal, and he announced yesterday that he plans to donate 50% to Flabbergasted Vibes so we can continue our humanitarian efforts of planetary enlightenment. I haven’t read the book yet, but at least now I will have the extra spending money to pick up a copy.

I had actually planned a completely different post in honor of Chico, but it departs from the usual formula here and requires a bit of different preparation on my part so it will have to wait for the time being. In lieu of that, why not revisit the first recording by Brazil’s greatest living songwriter? Playing this again yesterday I was once more awestruck of how such a young person bursts into the music world so fully-formed and mature, truly brilliant, not only writing all the material but performing it as if he popped out of the womb singing samba. And there IS a fair amount of genuine samba here too. It’s a flawless record, extremely short and leaving you with the desire to play it again or, in the case of us beings from the future, play ‘Volume 2’. “A banda”, “Tem Mais Samba” and “Pedro Pedreiro” are probably the most famous songs on this one, the latter two making it clear that Brazil had a new lyrical genius on its hands, but I am also very fond of “Você não ouviu” and “Sonho de um carnaval.” It is people like Chico Buarque, who accomplished all this at the age of 22, that made me quit writing and playing music… what’s the point, I am old and past my prime!

An interesting bit of trivia about this album: Although Chico had been on some TV presentations prior to its release, the album cover caused a lot of people to believe it was recorded by a pair of twins (both named Chico). Concert promoters began to complain when Chico showed up alone to perform, and in many cases only paid him half the promised amount, declaring indignantly “we asked for both of you!”

RGE records found a solution to this dilemma by quickly reissuing the album with a different cover in order to leave no doubts that Chico was in fact only one person, albeit with the talent of two men:

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Chico Buarque & João Cabral de Melo Neto – Morte e Vida Severina (1966)

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Day 4 of the Revolutionary Music Experiment at Flabbergasted Vibes

Morte e Vida Severina
João Cabral de Melo Neto
with music by Chico Buarque
Presented and performed by T.U.C.A
(Teatro da Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo)

Recorded in 1965, released in Philips in 1966, (P 632 900) MONO

Vinyl -> 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 -> dithered and resampled using iZotope RX Advanced

Unfortunately I deposited this album in The Vault on a recent trip to my Kayman Islands tax and fallout shelter, and apparently neglected to photograph the front and back covers. This is a shame, as scouring the internet turned up nothing but a few low-resolution thumbnails. Anyone with something better please contact me. If I’m not mistaken the back cover mostly had a little biographical information on João Cabral and Chico and then a review of the theatrical performance from a newspaper.

This record is an important historical document, a recording of a theatrical piece performed by T.U.C.A. that sprung from a collaboration between Pernambucan poet João Cabral de Melo Neto and composer/singer Chico Buarque based around a poem Cabral had written ten years previously. But your mileage may vary with the album as a listening experience. If you lack knowledge of the Portuguese language, you are likely to hear a lot of over-acting interspersed with occasional music. If you are a fluent Portuguese speaker, you are likely to hear a lot of over-acting interspersed with occasional music. The crucial part of this is that the text is from one of the most important poets of the modern Portuguese language, João Cabral de Melo Neto. Delving profoundly into the stark inequalities in Brazil’s most unequal region, it is almost as if Josué de Castro’s “Geography of Hunger” was converted into poetry and set to music. It’s suffused with the struggles of landless peasants and retirantes driven from their lands by drought or insufferable labor conditions, with references to the capitol of Recife, of a land dominated by coronelismo and the sugar latifundia through which Brazil secured itself a place in the world system on the backs of slave labor. I am no literary critic, and too much has been written about João Cabral de Melo Neto for me to say anything that wouldn’t make me look stupid.

I wish I could tell you more about the record itself, since that’s what is really under discussion here. I can tell you that Chico Buarque only composed two pieces of music, one of which “Funeral de um lavrador” is an eternal classic and has been recorded by a number of people, Nara Leão probably most famously. Only at the beginning of his recording career, being asked by a poet of João Cabral de Melo Neto’ stature to collaborate was an honor that can’t be overstated. However, Chico does not play or sing anywhere on this record, and his name likely appears in such large letters in order to sell units. As the various reports I pulled together from some web research will show, this theatre piece was received by the public as a huge success and taken to Europe were it also received critical acclaim. It is somewhat incredible that this could happen in the midst of Brazil’s repressive military dictatorship, but the ball got rolling before the regime passed Institutional Act No.5, after which the repression became much more repressive. In fact during my skimming of rocks on the waves of the interwebs, I was surprised to find a photo of none other than the screaming-banshee known as Elba Ramalho, on the set of a production of Morte e Vida Severino from 1972 or 1973, which would have put them right in the middle of the worst, most violent years of the “anos do chumbo” during the Medíci regime. It is probably testament to the fact that João Cabral and Chico were such “respected” literary figures that the production was able to continue. It’s worth noting that Chico, while being a very frequent target for censorship by the military regime, was from a powerful literary family himself and was never kicked out of the country like some of his contemporaries, although he did “self-exile” himself to Europe in solidarity.

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1. De sua formosura
(João Cabral de Melo Neto – Airton Barbosa)
2. Severino – O rio
(J.C. de Melo Neto – Airton Barbosa)
• Notícias do Alto Sertão (Airton Barbosa-J.C. de Melo Neto)
3. Mulher na janela
(J.C. de Melo Neto – Airton Barbosa – Chico Buarque)
4. Homens de pedra
(J.C. de Melo Neto – Airton Barbosa)
5. Todo o céu e a terra
(J.C. de Melo Neto – Airton Barbosa)
6. Encontro com o canavial
(J.C. de Melo Neto – Airton Barbosa)
7. Funeral de um lavrador
(J.C. de Melo Neto – Chico Buarque)
8. Chegada ao Recife
(J.C. de Melo Neto – Airton Barbosa)
9. As ciganas
(J.C. de Melo Neto – Airton Barbosa)
10. Despedida do agreste
(J.C. de Melo Neto – Airton Barbosa)
11. O outro Recife
(J.C. de Melo Neto – Airton Barbosa)
12. Fala do Mestre Carpina
(J.C. de Melo Neto – Airton Barbosa)

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I – Caminho ou Fuga da Morte

1. (Monólogo) – O retirante explica ao leitor quem é e a que vai.
2.(Diálogo) – Encontra dois homens carregando um defunto numa rede, aos gritos de: “ó irmãos das almas! irmãos das almas! não fui eu que matei não!”
3. (Monólogo) – O retirante tem medo de se extraviar porque seu guia, o rio Capibaribe, cortou com o verão.
4. (Diálogo) – Na casa a que o retirante chega estão cantando excelências para um defunto, enquanto um homem, do lado de fora, vai parodiando as palavras dos cantadores.
5. (Monólogo) – Cansado da viagem o retirante pensa interrompê-la por uns instantes e procurar trabalho ali onde se encontra.
6. (Diálogo) – Dirige-se à mulher na janela que depois descobre tratar-se de quem se saberá.
7. (Monólogo) – O retirante chega à Zona da Mata , que o faz pensar, outra vez, em interromper a viagem.
8. (Diálogo) – Assiste ao enterro de um trabalhador de eito e ouve o que dizem do morto os amigos que o levaram ao cemitério.
9. (Monólogo) – O retirante resolve apressar os passos para chegar logo ao Recife.
10. (Diálogo) – Chegando ao Recife, o retirante senta-se para descansar ao pé de um muro alto e caiado e ouve, sem ser notado, a conversa de dois coveiros.
11. (Monólogo) – O retirante aproxima-se de um dos cais do Capibaribe.
12. (Diálogo) – Aproxima-se do retirante o morador de um dos mocambos que existem entre o cais e a água do rio.

II – O Presépio ou O Encontro com a Vida

13. (Presépio) – Uma mulher, da porta de onde saiu o homem, anuncia-lhe o que se verá.
14. (Presépio) – Aparecem e se aproximam, da casa do homem, vizinhos, amigos,
duas ciganas, etc.
15. (Presépio) – Começam a chegar pessoas trazendo presentes para o recém-nascido.
16. (Presépio) – Falam as duas ciganas que haviam aparecido com os vizinhos.
17. (Presépio) – Falam os vizinhos, amigos, pessoas que vieram com presentes, etc.
18. (Conclusão da Peça) – O carpina fala com o retirante que esteve de fora, sem tomar parte em nada.

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Gravação ao vivo do espetáculo “Morte e Vida Severina” – Auto de Natal Pernambucano – texto do poeta João Cabral de Melo Neto, encenado pelo elenco do Teatro da Universidade Católica de São Paulo, o TUCA. Foi consagrado no Festival Mundial de Teatro de Nancy (França, 1966), e recebida como revolucionária produção estética. É muito comum blogs musicais confundirem este disco com o álbum “MORTE E VIDA SEVERINA” (Airton Barbosa, Marcus Pereira-1977), trilha sonora do filme “Morte e Vida Severina” (direção de Zelito Viana, Embrafilme-1977).

O texto é escrito em 1955, sob encomenda de Maria Clara Machado, que não ousa encená-lo naquele momento. O poema ganha alta estatura no panorama da literatura brasileira, tendo o crítico Décio de Almeida Prado, na crítica ao espetáculo, afirmado que o poema “tende a tornar-se rapidamente para o nosso século aquilo que O Navio Negreiro foi para o século dezenove”.

A escolha do texto pelo TUCA, com o intuito de realizar um trabalho mobilizatório, com a coordenação cultural de Roberto Freire, atende a um duplo objetivo: um texto de alta qualidade artística aliado a um tema que permita que sejam explorados seus aspectos sociais. Na fábula, o retirante Severino desce o rio Capibaribe em busca do mar e da cidade do Recife, cruzando, em seu percurso, com diversas paisagens marcadas pela morte e a miséria. Ao chegar à cidade, nos manguezais periféricos, assiste a um parto, onde a vizinhança traz seus presentes ao bebê, novas demonstrações da pobreza, rebatida pelo pai da criança com a única esperança: o próprio ato de nascer um novo ser humano.

A precariedade material é assumida pela concepção da encenação, assinada por Silnei Siqueira, e pela cenografia de José Ferrara. A construção da cena parte do trabalho dos atores: com movimentos ondulantes de braços, imitam o canavial batido pelo vento; dois atores, com os braços abertos, figuram a casa e a janela onde a personagem dialoga; procissões, levando redes e ferramentas de trabalho, cruzam todo o tempo o espaço cênico – um pequeno praticável sinuoso recoberto com sacos de estopa. A iluminação tira partido das sombras, projetadas no ciclorama. Muito do encanto da montagem provém da música de Chico Buarque, que ressalta a dureza dos versos do autor ou a pulsação rítmica e melódica com que estão construídos.

Após bem-sucedida carreira em São Paulo e outras cidades, o espetáculo parte para a França, em 1966, obtendo o primeiro lugar no Festival de Nancy. A encenação recebe verdadeira aclamação, deslocando-se em seguida para o Théâtre des Nations, Paris, estendendo-se por mais 50 dias. Porto e Lisboa, em Portugal, são igualmente visitadas, aumentando o prestígio do espetáculo e do grupo realizador, que é convidado a encenar outro espetáculo para o Festival, resultando em O&A, mimodrama de Roberto Freire, apresentado no ano seguinte.

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O Teatro Universitário e “Morte e Vida Severina”

Em abril de 1965, cartazes espalhados pelo campus da PUC anunciavam: “O TUCA vem aí”. E a idéia de teatro universitário com função conscientizadora foi assumida pelo Departamento Cultural do Diretório Central dos Estudantes, que fez três contratações: Roberto Freire seria o diretor-geral do grupo de teatro, Silnei Siqueira, vindo da Record, seria diretor de atores e José Armando Ferrara responderia pela cenografia.

Depois de um contrato de liberação de verba com a Secretaria de Estado, estava formado o Teatro dos Universitários da Católica. Foram feitos testes para a seleção de atores e o texto “Morte e Vida Severina”, de João Cabral de Melo Neto, foi escolhido. Ele reunia muitas razões a seu favor: seu autor era brasileiro, tratava de um tema da realidade social, ia ao encontro da ideologia estudantil e poderia congregar um grande número de atores.

A montagem da peça envolveu vários setores da universidade. Alunos de Geografia, Direito, Letras e Psicologia, por exemplo, contribuíram substancialmente com seus conhecimentos em cada uma das áreas. O espetáculo foi musicado por Chico Buarque, que na época era estudante da Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da USP e participava com freqüência dos ensaios do TUCA.

No dia 11 de setembro de 1965, o Auditório Tibiriçá foi inaugurado com a estréia de “Morte e Vida Severina”. Aplaudido de pé durante 10 minutos, reverenciado pelo público e pela crítica especializada, seria o grupo que emprestaria, a partir de então, seu nome ao teatro.

Os Limites da Censura

As idéias de renovação da cultura iriam chocar-se com as barreiras estabelecidas a partir de 1968. Com a declaração do Ato Institucional Nº 5, a repressão atingiu seu patamar mais alto, que se manteria até por volta de 1975.

A cassação dos direitos políticos, a censura e o exílio de grande número de intelectuais, foram fatores que interferiram na produção artística e cultural. Os teatros universitários eram prejudicados também pela desagregação do Movimento Estudantil.

Entre 1969 e 1974, o espaço voltou-se à apresentação de trabalhos de artistas de alto nível, que contribuíram para a educação e para a abertura de novos caminhos no campo artístico. Espetáculos musicais e teatrais expressivos fizeram parte da programação do Teatro, levando ao palco artistas como Elis Regina, Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, Vinícius de Moraes, Gianfrancesco Guarnieri e Fernanda Montenegro, que em muitas ocasiões enfrentaram a censura.

Entre 1977 e 1984, a programação organizada pelo Instituto de Estudos Especiais, fez com que o Teatro fosse lembrado também por seu alto significado político. Era um palco privilegiado para simpósios, encontros, debates e atos públicos. Nele, o debate sempre foi possível, as idéias expressas claramente, assegurando às palavras sua força de resistência.

taken from
http://www.teatrotuca.com.br/historia2.html

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Esta cova grande em que estás com palmos medida/É a conta menor que tiraste em vida/É de bom tamanho nem largo nem fundo/É a parte que te cabe neste latifúndio”. Este é um dos trechos mais famosos do poema Funeral de um lavrador, da peça Morte e Vida Severina, de João Cabral de Melo Neto. Em homenagem aos 40 anos de estréia dessa peça, o Tuca, teatro da Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP), faz uma apresentação especial gratuita do espetáculo, no dia 22 de setembro. As comemorações também contam com exposições, vídeos e uma instalação virtual.

“Esta cova grande em que estás com palmos medida/É a conta menor que tiraste em vida/É de bom tamanho nem largo nem fundo/É a parte que te cabe neste latifúndio”. Este é um dos trechos mais famosos do poema Funeral de um lavrador, da peça Morte e Vida Severina, de João Cabral de Melo Neto. Em homenagem aos 40 anos de estréia dessa peça, o Tuca, teatro da Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP), faz uma apresentação especial gratuita do espetáculo, no dia 22 de setembro. As comemorações também contam com exposições, vídeos e uma instalação virtual.

Musicada pelo cantor e compositor Chico Buarque de Holanda, a premiada peça foi encenada pela primeira vez em 11 de setembro de 1965, no próprio Tuca. Foi um enorme sucesso na época, o público aplaudiu de pé a história da viagem do retirante nordestino Severino que abandona o sertão em direção ao Recife, em busca de melhores condições de vida. A estréia marcou um efervescente momento histórico, político e cultural do país, no qual a arte foi usada como instrumento de manifestação política contra a repressão iniciada no golpe militar do ano anterior.

“A peça fez com que o estudante universitário acordasse para a sua participação cultural e encontrasse no teatro um veículo de comunicação veemente e interativo. Ele é tão persuasivo que continua até hoje”, diz a professora Lucrecia D’Alessio Ferrara, da PUC-SP, doutora em Literatura, que participou da montagem da peça na época. Segundo ela, Morte e Vida Severina despertou o estudante universitário para a poesia de João Cabral de Melo Neto, que passou a fazer parte do currículo do ensino médio e dos vestibulares.

Na época, para colocar o projeto em prática, o Diretório Central dos Estudantes (DCE) da PUC-SP convidou o psiquiatra e escritor Roberto Freire (diretor-geral do grupo), Silnei Siqueira (diretor de atores) e José Armando Ferrara (cenógrafo). O espetáculo só foi possível, porque contou com o apoio financeiro de muitos estudantes e artistas. Chico Buarque, na época cursando a Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da USP, chegou a vender seu fusca velho, apelidado de Clóvis, para investir no espetáculo. Roberto Freire rifou a linha telefônica e o artista plástico Aldemir Martins doou seus quadros. Foi até criado um diploma simbólico, pelo publicitário Carlito Maia, chamado “Ordem do Tucano”, para distinguir aqueles que colaboravam. Ao final das apresentações, havia “canjas musicais” com grandes nomes como Elis Regina, Dorival Caymmi e Geraldo Vandré.

A peça foi apresentada em várias regiões do país. A repercussão junto ao público e à crítica foi tão grande que o espetáculo viajou para a França, onde recebeu o prêmio do 4º Festival Universitário em Nancy, em maio de 1966. Morte e Vida Severina excursionou também pelas cidades de Lisboa, Coimbra e Porto, em Portugal. Na volta da turnê internacional, o grupo teatral foi recebido no aeroporto de Congonhas por muitos estudantes e seguiu em carro aberto para o Tuca.

“Com o endurecimento do regime militar, aos poucos o grupo acabou se dispersando. O teatro universitário não deslanchou para a sociedade brasileira, os movimentos de valorização à cultura popular foram dissipados pela ditadura e desde então a PUC-SP não teve um projeto cultural daquela envergadura”, diz o professor de teologia e jornalismo dessa universidade, Jorge Cláudio Ribeiro, responsável pela pesquisa e elaboração do site em homenagem aos 40 anos.

in 320kbs em pee tree

in FLAC LOSSLESS AUDIO

Photobucket
João Cabral de Melo Neto, with what appears to be a Photoshopped pair of eyeglasses propped up against his chin…
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Nara Leão, Chico Buarque, Maria Bethania – Quando o Carnaval Chegar (1972)

nara chico

Nara Leão, Chico Buarque, and Maria Bethania
“Quando o Carnaval Chegar”
Original film soundtrack
released in 1972
This pressing Universal/Mercury 04228264112

1 Mambembe (Instrumental)
(Chico Buarque)

2 Baioque (Chico Buarque)
Interpretação: Maria Bethânia

3 Caçada (Chico Buarque)
Interpretação: Chico Buarque

4 Mais uma estrela

(Bonfiglio de Oliveira – Herivelto Martins)
Interpretação: Nara Leão

5 Quando o carnaval chegar (Chico Buarque)
Interpretação: Chico Buarque

6 Minha embaixada chegou (Assis Valente)
Interpretação: Maria Bethânia / Nara Leão

7 Soneto (Instrumental)
(Chico Buarque)

8 Mambembe (Chico Buarque)
Interpretação: Chico Buarque

9 Soneto (Chico Buarque)
Interpretação: Nara Leão

10 Partido alto
(Chico Buarque)
Interpretação: MPB-4

11 Bom conselho (Chico Buarque)
Interpretação: Maria Bethânia

12 Frevo (Tom Jobim – Vinicius de Moraes)
Interpretação: Chico Buarque

13 Formosa
(J.Rui – Nássara)
Interpretação: Maria Bethânia / Nara Leão

14 Cantores de rádio (Alberto Ribeiro – João de Barro – Lamartine Babo)
Interpretação: Chico Buarque / Maria Bethânia / Nara Leão

Film Credits

Ficha Técnica:
Título Original: Quando o Carnaval Chegar
Gênero: Musical
Duração: 98 min.
Lançamento (Brasil): 1972
Distribuição: Livio Bruni
Direção: Cacá Diegues
Roteiro: Cacá Diegues, Hugo Carvana e Chico Buarque
Produção: Cacá Diegues, Zelito Viana e Mapa Filmes
Música: Chico Buarque
Fotografia: Dib Lutfi
Figurino: Fernando Bede
Edição: Eduardo Escorel

Elenco:
Chico Buarque de Hollanda (Paulo)
Nara Leão (Mimi)
Maria Bethânia (Rosa)
Hugo Carvana (Lourival)
Antonio Pitanga (Cuíca)
Ana Maria Magalhães (Virgínia)
José Lewgoy (Anjo)
Elke Maravilha
Wilson Grey
Luiz Alves
Odete Lara
Vera Manhães
Scarlet Moon
Joaquim Mota
Zeni Pereira
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I don’t know much about this film, or the involvement of Nara, Chico, and Maria in it. I do know that Nara Leão was married to Carlos Diegues during this time. They all acted it in, and there were appearances by other notables like Odette Lara. Chico is credited with helping out on the script (he’s a renowned novelist too at this point, for those who don’t know). In fact this is essentially a Chico Buarque record. It contains other material released elsewhere. Particularly noteworthy is the unbelievably catchy “Partido Alto” which is the stand-out track for me, the one that sticks in your memory. Performed by the group MPB-4, it was in fact written by Buarque.

I did, however, find this synopsis of the film:
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O empresário de um grupo de cantores sem sucesso, lhes consegue um contrato para que se apresentem em homenagem a um rei que chegará à cidade para o Carnaval. Discussões internas, romances inesperados e defecções impedem que o espetáculo se realize. Mas os artistas voltam a se juntar, apresentando-se em shows mambembes.

Flabber translation:

The manager of a group of unsuccessful singers secures a contract for them to present a show in homage to a king when he arrives to the city for Carnaval. Internal debates, unexpected romances, dissent and defections impede the realization of the show. But the artists come together and join as one, and put on spectacular minstrel shows.

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Hmmm…. Haven’t seen this film, but it sounds like it belongs to a long tradition of films with great soundtracks (Superfly, The Harder They Come, Shaft, any Quinten Tarantino film): the music is the high point, and perhaps the only reason to see it.. I could be wrong though, maybe someone who has seen it can correct me. But one thing is certain, it seems like they were having a good time on the set…

Meet Chico Buarque, international man of letters…
chico dude

*Flabbergasted Vibes does not condone the use of illicit mind-altering substances.

Nara, Chico, and Maria – Quando o Carnaval Chegar (1972) in 320kbs

Nara, Chico and Maria – Quando o Carnaval Chegar (1972) in FLAC LOSSLESS AUDIO

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