Pagode
It’s on the dictionary (look up pagoda): Asian pagan temple. But in Brazil, the word pagode is also used to describe a type of party "with food and drinks and an air of intimacy". In any good party, though, uplifting music is a must – and then samba is a natural choice. The latter transformed pagode into one of the strongest traditions in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. A backyard with a few trees to provide the shade, some packs of beer, knickknacks, a cavaquinho (a tiny, four-string acoustic guitar), tables beat on... and there is the set for singers and instrumentalists to show off their skills, for passers-by to do the samba and let the afternoon go into the evening and the evening into the night. All along the 70s, when emerging samba musicians were facing radio and samba school exile (due to a commerce-driven carnival), the pagodes became the best option to have their songs heard and promoted.
One of the most celebrated samba singers of her time (along with Alcione and Clara Nunes), Beth Carvalho decided to check out the Cacique de Ramos pagode and enlisted some of the (then) unknown composers to play on her 1978 album, De Pé no Chão. From then on, the rest of the country learned about acts like Fundo de Quintal (the band of songwriters Arlindo Cruz and Sombrinha, from whom she recorded Vou Festejar), Jorge Aragão (Coisinha do Pai), Zeca Pagodinho (Camarão que Dorme a Onda Leva), Jovelina Pérola Negra and Luiz Carlos da Vila (Por um Dia de Graça), among others. The stars of the new samba who headed for the future with solid bases from the past would later be the leaders of one of the most commercially successful movements in Brazilian music history: the pagode. For media and marketing reasons, the party lent its name to the music style that used to spice it up.
The group Fundo de Quintal was responsible for harmonic and instrumental innovations that pagode brought in relation to samba. To reinforce the cavaquinho, Almir Guineto introduced the banjo. To replace the heavy floor tom, Ubirani introduced the light and versatile hand repinique (a tiny tambourine with no rattles, played with plastic drumsticks). Jorge Aragão brought in the elaborate harmonies from samba. While at first these artists were promoted by Beth Carvalho and other big names of samba, they would soon be standing on their own feet.
New names on the charts
As a solo artist, Guineto was extremely successful in the 80s, with songs like Caxambu, Mel na Boca, Jibóia and Conselho. Jovelina Pérola Negra, a former house maid revealed in 1985 on the LP Raça Brasileira (along with Zeca Pagodinho, Elaine Machado, Mauro Diniz and Pedrinho da Flor), smashed the hits Feirinha da Pavuna, Brincadeira Tem Hora and O Bragaço da Laranja. Former coco singer Bezerra da Silva was equally successful with irreverent sambas filled with social criticism such as Defunto Caguete, Malandragem Dá Um Tempo and Bicho Feroz, all of which collected among favela composers. Zeca Pagodinho, in his turn, became popular with songs like S.P.C., Casal Sem Vergonha, Judia de Mim and Coração em Desalinho.
In the midst of a brief moment of consumers’ euphoria in 1986, the pagodeiros (pagode musicians, composers and followers) proved to be excellent record sellers, with over 100 thousand copies sold of every new release, and they took over the media, being on the radio and on the television day and night. From an exclusively suburban routine, they became fashionable among more elitist areas of Rio, as well as in every other corner of Brazil. But the impulse softened little by little, as the purchasing power of the least favored classes (their major audiences) decreased. Soon enough, a new type of samba, a lot more commercial and less rootsy, would be known as pagode. In São Paulo, in the early 90s, a more pop and samba-rock version of it appeared in songs by the groups Raça Negra and Negritude Junior.
Assembly line
This type of swinging pagode was a hit along the decade, with easy choruses and lame romanticism (usually made by appointment by professional hitmakers), electronic instruments and bad choreography. As if they were coming out of an assembly line, pagode groups infested the country: Só Pra Contrariar (whose name was taken from a Fundo de Quintal song; selling 3 million copies in 1998), Cravo e Canela, Ginga Pura, Razão Brasileira, Molejo, Exalta Samba, Soweto, Malícia, Os Morenos, Ki Loucura, Katinguelê, Art Popular, Karametade, Só No Sapatinho, Sensação, Toke Divinal and others. In Bahia, that type of pagode received local rhythmic tints, like samba-reggae, from bands like Gera Samba (which would later become É O Tchan) and Terra Samba.
But the so-called roots samba, present in the early days of pagode, had its moment on the second half of the 90s, with Zeca Pagodinho, Martinho da Vila, Beth Carvalho and Bezerra da Silva, who had already been turned into a cult object for rock and hip hop bands – Barão Vermelho and Planet Hemp recorded versions of Malandragem Dá Um Tempo and O Rappa recorded Candidato Caô Caô. The tradition of samba was secured with the late discovery of Walter Alfaiate, Wilson das Neves and the samba schools’ old schools (especially Mangueira and Portela, the latter having had their album produced by Marisa Monte). New names for the old samba also appeared: Dudu Nobre, Marquinhos de Oswaldo Cruz, Marquinho China and Renatinho da Abolição.
Songs
Coisinha do Pai (Jorge Aragão) – Beth Carvalho
Caxambu – Almir Guineto
Só Pra Contrariar (Arlindo Cruz, Sombrinha e Almir Guineto) – Fundo de Quintal
Feirinha da Pavuna – Jovelina Pérola Negra
S.P.C. (Zeca Pagodinho e Arlindo Cruz) – Zeca Pagodinho
Malandragem Dá um Tempo (Popular P., Adelzonilton e Moacyr Bombeiro) – Bezerra da Silva
Essa Tal Liberdade – Só Pra Contrariar
Posso Até Me Apaixonar (Dudu Nobre) – Zeca Pagodinho
Homepage: www.pagode-cia.com.br
One of the most celebrated samba singers of her time (along with Alcione and Clara Nunes), Beth Carvalho decided to check out the Cacique de Ramos pagode and enlisted some of the (then) unknown composers to play on her 1978 album, De Pé no Chão. From then on, the rest of the country learned about acts like Fundo de Quintal (the band of songwriters Arlindo Cruz and Sombrinha, from whom she recorded Vou Festejar), Jorge Aragão (Coisinha do Pai), Zeca Pagodinho (Camarão que Dorme a Onda Leva), Jovelina Pérola Negra and Luiz Carlos da Vila (Por um Dia de Graça), among others. The stars of the new samba who headed for the future with solid bases from the past would later be the leaders of one of the most commercially successful movements in Brazilian music history: the pagode. For media and marketing reasons, the party lent its name to the music style that used to spice it up.
The group Fundo de Quintal was responsible for harmonic and instrumental innovations that pagode brought in relation to samba. To reinforce the cavaquinho, Almir Guineto introduced the banjo. To replace the heavy floor tom, Ubirani introduced the light and versatile hand repinique (a tiny tambourine with no rattles, played with plastic drumsticks). Jorge Aragão brought in the elaborate harmonies from samba. While at first these artists were promoted by Beth Carvalho and other big names of samba, they would soon be standing on their own feet.
New names on the charts
As a solo artist, Guineto was extremely successful in the 80s, with songs like Caxambu, Mel na Boca, Jibóia and Conselho. Jovelina Pérola Negra, a former house maid revealed in 1985 on the LP Raça Brasileira (along with Zeca Pagodinho, Elaine Machado, Mauro Diniz and Pedrinho da Flor), smashed the hits Feirinha da Pavuna, Brincadeira Tem Hora and O Bragaço da Laranja. Former coco singer Bezerra da Silva was equally successful with irreverent sambas filled with social criticism such as Defunto Caguete, Malandragem Dá Um Tempo and Bicho Feroz, all of which collected among favela composers. Zeca Pagodinho, in his turn, became popular with songs like S.P.C., Casal Sem Vergonha, Judia de Mim and Coração em Desalinho.
In the midst of a brief moment of consumers’ euphoria in 1986, the pagodeiros (pagode musicians, composers and followers) proved to be excellent record sellers, with over 100 thousand copies sold of every new release, and they took over the media, being on the radio and on the television day and night. From an exclusively suburban routine, they became fashionable among more elitist areas of Rio, as well as in every other corner of Brazil. But the impulse softened little by little, as the purchasing power of the least favored classes (their major audiences) decreased. Soon enough, a new type of samba, a lot more commercial and less rootsy, would be known as pagode. In São Paulo, in the early 90s, a more pop and samba-rock version of it appeared in songs by the groups Raça Negra and Negritude Junior.
Assembly line
This type of swinging pagode was a hit along the decade, with easy choruses and lame romanticism (usually made by appointment by professional hitmakers), electronic instruments and bad choreography. As if they were coming out of an assembly line, pagode groups infested the country: Só Pra Contrariar (whose name was taken from a Fundo de Quintal song; selling 3 million copies in 1998), Cravo e Canela, Ginga Pura, Razão Brasileira, Molejo, Exalta Samba, Soweto, Malícia, Os Morenos, Ki Loucura, Katinguelê, Art Popular, Karametade, Só No Sapatinho, Sensação, Toke Divinal and others. In Bahia, that type of pagode received local rhythmic tints, like samba-reggae, from bands like Gera Samba (which would later become É O Tchan) and Terra Samba.
But the so-called roots samba, present in the early days of pagode, had its moment on the second half of the 90s, with Zeca Pagodinho, Martinho da Vila, Beth Carvalho and Bezerra da Silva, who had already been turned into a cult object for rock and hip hop bands – Barão Vermelho and Planet Hemp recorded versions of Malandragem Dá Um Tempo and O Rappa recorded Candidato Caô Caô. The tradition of samba was secured with the late discovery of Walter Alfaiate, Wilson das Neves and the samba schools’ old schools (especially Mangueira and Portela, the latter having had their album produced by Marisa Monte). New names for the old samba also appeared: Dudu Nobre, Marquinhos de Oswaldo Cruz, Marquinho China and Renatinho da Abolição.
Songs
Coisinha do Pai (Jorge Aragão) – Beth Carvalho
Caxambu – Almir Guineto
Só Pra Contrariar (Arlindo Cruz, Sombrinha e Almir Guineto) – Fundo de Quintal
Feirinha da Pavuna – Jovelina Pérola Negra
S.P.C. (Zeca Pagodinho e Arlindo Cruz) – Zeca Pagodinho
Malandragem Dá um Tempo (Popular P., Adelzonilton e Moacyr Bombeiro) – Bezerra da Silva
Essa Tal Liberdade – Só Pra Contrariar
Posso Até Me Apaixonar (Dudu Nobre) – Zeca Pagodinho
Homepage: www.pagode-cia.com.br
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