1944

Composer, singer, poet and writer, Chico Buarque has become a mandatory reference for any quotation on Brazilian music ever since the 60s. His influence is definitive in almost everything that happened in music in Brazil for the past 35 years, due to the melodic, harmonic and poetic sophistication presented in his songs. Son of scholar Sergio Buarque de Hollanda, Chico lived in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Rome in his childhood. Early in life he’d had contact with eminent Brazilian personalities like Vinícius de Moraes (who would later become his songwriting pal), Baden Powell and Oscar Castro Neves, friends of his parents or his older sister, Miúcha, also a singer and guitarist. In 1964 he started playing gigs at schools and festivals, and in the following year, RGE released his first single, featuring \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Pedro Pedreiro\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" and \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Sonho de um Carnaval\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". He kept on singing and performing, having shots at music festivals and appearing on TV shows. Still in ’65, he wrote the music for \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Morte e Vida Severina\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", a poem by João Cabral de Melo Neto, hitting the top of the charts in Brazil and in France, touring and getting rave reviews. He grew famous all over the country when \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"A Banda\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", sung by Nara Leão, was placed first in a 1966 contest. Chico’s participating in music contests and festivals was ultimately important to consolidate his career. He enjoyed success with songs like \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Roda Viva\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Carolina\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" and \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Sabiá\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". Buarque released LPs by the end of the 60s, touring France and Italy, where he lived for about a year. Back in Brazil, he wrote songs for movies and made one of his most triumphant albums, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Construção\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". Many of his songs and plays faced censorship problems within the military government, causing him to adopt a pseudonym, Julinho de Adelaide, who signed for songs such as \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Acorda, Amor\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". For the theater, he wrote the play \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"A Gota D’Água\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" with Paulo Pontes, as well as \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"A Ópera do Malandro\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". As a writer, Chico Buarque released the novel \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Estorvo\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" in 1991 and, four years later, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Benjamin\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". After that, he took up on his music, releasing \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Paratodos\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" in 1993 and \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"as cidades\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" in 1999, both backed up by extensive tours in Brazil and abroad. In 1998 he was the theme and inspiration for Mangueira Samba School, who happened to win that year’s Carnival parade.