Baião

Do the dance with Luiz Gonzaga



"Eu vou mostrar pra vocês
como se dança o baião
e quem quiser aprender
é favor prestar atenção"

"I am going to show you
how to do the baião
and if you wanna learn
please, pay attention"

(Baião, Luiz Gonzaga/ Humberto Teixeira, 1946)

Like other Brazilian styles, baião started out within festive dance meetings. Folklore specialist Câmara Cascudo breaks the name in "baiano" (from Bahia) and "rojão" (sky rocket); the latter also used to designate short viola (Brazilian type of acoustic guitar) phrases played in between sang desafios (rap-like, rhyming improvisation; literally, "challenges").

As a poor immigrant from Pernambuco (NE) in the early 40s, accordionist Luiz Gonzaga do Nascimento (1912-1989), would play waltzes, sambas and romantic hits in the red light district of Rio. Stimulated by northeastern fellows, he added a few original countryside numbers to his set, baião being one of them. Gonzaga also attributed a more urban (and therefore pop) format to the style, gathering highly educated composers among his partners, and carefully planning the national launching of baião, as well as other northeastern styles.

The binary rhythm, blended with sad, minor key melodies, was promptly customized and softened by the accordionist for the urban taste. Other attempts had been made before his by Lauro Maia (Teles, 1912-1950), whose hit Trem de Ferro was recorded by João Gilberto.

Gonzaga’s success, though, was big enough to disturb the Brazilian Popular Music (BPM) scenes in Brazil through the 40s and into the 50s. Prior to that, the music market had been filled with sambas, marchinhas, choros, and other products from the country’s cultural center, i.e., Rio de Janeiro. With one smash hit after the other, Gonzaga managed to put the northeast into the BPM map (sales-wise, too). At the peak of his career, the machines at RCA (currently BMG) worked almost exclusively to print his albums.

Kingdom
New composers were popping up everywhere: João do Vale (Maranhão, NE), Luís Vieira (Pernambuco, NE), Hervê Cordovil (São Paulo, SE), Guio de Moraes (Ceará, NE); Armando Cavalcanti and Klecius Caldas (Rio de Janeiro, SE). Besides king Gonzaga’s countless male competitors, there were also a baião queen (Carmélia Alves) and princess (Claudette Soares). The ruler had a protégé from Pernambuco, Inês Caetano de Oliveira, a.k.a. Marinês e sua Gente.

The instrumental synthesis imagined by Gonzaga to follow the rhythm – sanfona (or accordion), zabumba (a bass drum working as bass) and triangle – became endemic. The heavy quality of the accordion was appealing, and various top BPM artists like João Donato, Eumir Deodato, Edu Lobo and Milton Nascimento had started in music playing the instrument. Others, like minimalist João Gilberto (Bimbom/ é só isso o meu baião) and Lúcio Alves (Baião de Copacabana), freshened the style, as did Tom Jobim, in his post-bossa phase.

By the late 50s, baião began to fall, but Gonzaga’s image was kept by fans like Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Gal Costa, all of whom eager to re-create his music. Such reverence would go on in the 70s, with new artists like Fagner and rocker Raul Seixas.

Influence in America
The king of Baião’s adoptive son, Luiz Gonzaga Jr., wrote a few numbers for his father’s repertoire, but pursued different musical paths. Gonzaga appointed Dominguinhos (José Domingos de Morais, from Pernambuco) as his artistic heir, and the latter went further within the style, generating an ephemeral by-product: the late 60s modern tune, that was practiced by Antonio Adolfo & Tibério Gaspar (Sá Marina, Juliana, Teletema), Danilo Caymmi, Paulinho Tapajós and Edmundo Souto (Andança). When Burt Bacarach visited Brazil with Marlene Dietrich in the 50s, also he incorporated the style in the hits Walk on By and Do You Know The Way to San Jose.

Baião was and is the source of modernist interventions by Hermeto Pascoal, Edu Lobo, Egberto Gismonti, Guinga and many other musicians. In the 90s, the style remains inspirational for newer composers like Chico Cesar, Lenine, Zeca Baleiro and Rita Ribeiro.

The manguebeat generation also produced a tribute album in 1999, Baião de Viramundo.

 

Songs 

Baião (Luiz Gonzaga/ Humberto Teixeira) – Luiz Gonzaga
Asa Branca (Luiz Gonzaga/ Humberto Teixeira) – Caetano Veloso
Paraíba (Luiz Gonzaga/ Humberto Teixeira) – Emilinha Borba
Juazeiro (Luiz Gonzaga/ Humberto Teixeira) – Os Cariocas
Vem Morena ( Luiz Gonzaga/ Zé Dantas) – Alceu Valença
Respeita Januário (Luiz Gonzaga/ Humberto Teixeira) – Luiz Gonzaga
Kalu (Humberto Teixeira) – Dalva de Oliveira
A Dança da Moda (Luiz Gonzaga/ Zé Dantas) – Luiz Gonzaga
Sabiá (Luiz Gonzaga/ Zé Dantas) – Luiz Gonzaga
A Letra I (Luiz Gonzaga/ Zé Dantas) – Elba Ramalho
Cabeça Inchada (Hervê Cordovil) – Carmélia Alves
Macaco Véio" (João do Vale/ J.B. de Aquino) – Marinês e Sua Gente
Delicado (Waldir Azevedo) – Waldir Azevedo
Carcará (João do Vale/ José Candido) – Maria Bethânia
O Ovo (Hermeto Pascoal/ Geraldo Vandré) – Quarteto Novo
Fica Mal Com Deus (Geraldo Vandré) – Geraldo Vandré
Louvação (Gilberto Gil) – Gilberto Gil
Ponteio (Edu Lobo/ Capinam) – Edu Lobo e Marília Medalha
Baião Malandro (Egberto Gismonti) – Egberto Gismonti
Baião de Lacan (Guinga/ Aldir Blanc) – Leila Pinheiro