Jamelão
Brazilian music giant Jamelão looms large in the evolution and continued relevance of samba. The foremost interpreter of dor de cotovelo, a romantic, profoundly melodramatic style exploring the anguish of the human experience, he also composed standards including "Deixa Amanhecer," "Um Dia Hás de Pagar," and "Ela Me Convidou," and for five decades remained a fixture of Rio de Janeiro's annual Carnival Parade. Born José Bispo Clementino dos Santos in Rio's São Cristóvão district on May 12, 1913, he shined shoes as a child, later toiling as a newspaper delivery boy and textile factory worker -- only during the early '30s did he pursue a career as a singer, adopting the cavaquinho (a small, four-stringed guitar central to samba tradition) and performing in the dancehalls of north Rio. With his booming, richly expressive voice he quickly emerged as a crowd favorite, earning his famous alias from a nightclub announcer who, unsure of the singer's name, introduced him as "Jamelão" (i.e. a sweet-tasting fruit with a dark skin). The name stuck, and in 1947 Jamelão rose to national prominence when he claimed first prize in a Rio amateur competition. Two years later, he was appointed the primary singer of the city's premier samba school, Mangueira, and in 1952 he toured France as the official crooner in front of Brazil's Tabajara orchestra. That same year, Jamelão made his first appearance on Mangueira's Carnival Parade float, an honor he reprised each year for more than half-a-century, with his signature white suit, panama hat, and walking stick, he would become one of the most recognizable exponents of the festival experience.
Jamelão's recording career spanned nearly two-dozen LPs and close to 70 years, during which time he scored a series of samba classics including "Mora No Assunto," "Matriz ou Filial," "Exaltação à Mangueira," "Seu Deputado," and "Fechei a Porta." Critics frequently cite his recordings with Severino Araújo's Orquestra Tabajara as the apex of his studio career as well as a pivotal turning point in the maturation of the modern samba sound. A perennial favorite of composers including Cartola, Ze Keti, Billy Blanco, and Ary Barroso, Jamelão nevertheless remains most closely aligned with southern writer Lupicinio Rodrigues, recording definitive renditions of sambas-canção like "Ela Disse-me Assim," "Torre de Babel," "Esses Moços," and "Quem Há de Dizer." Throughout his life, Jamelão gravitated to songs of lost love, betrayal and desperation, dubbing his operatic approach "romantic samba." Offstage, he was a famously combative man, notorious for walking out of press interviews and openly scornful of record executives, blaming them for discriminating against black musicians. A stroke forced Jamelão to relinquish his Estacion Primera de Mangueira duties in 2005, and during the final years of his life he also suffered from diabetes and hypertension. Jamelão died June 14, 2008 at the age of 95 -- following his death, Rio's governor Sergio Cabral declared three days of mourning, and his funeral took place at the city's famed Sambódromo da Marquês de Sapucaí, where samba schools including Mangueira compete each year during Carnival.
© Jason Ankeny /TiVo
-
Mestres da MPB
MPB - Lançado por WM Brazil em 22/01/2013
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Noventa Anos do Samba
Samba - Lançado por Tumi Music Ltd em 01/01/2005
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Enciclopédia Musical Brasileira
MPB - Lançado por WM Brazil em 17/01/2012
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
A Voz Do Samba (Disco 03)
MPB - Lançado por WM Brazil em 30/10/2002
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Minhas Andanças
World - Lançado por Som Livre em 30/03/1993
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dona Divergência
MPB - Lançado por WM Brazil em 07/02/1994
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Voz Do Samba (Disco 02)
MPB - Lançado por WM Brazil em 30/11/2002
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mestres da MPB - Vol. 2
MPB - Lançado por WM Brazil em 08/03/2012
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jamelão
MPB - Lançado por Sony Music Entertainment em 08/11/2019
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cuidado Moço
Pop - Lançado por RCA Records Label em 15/10/2001
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Voz Do Samba (Disco 01)
MPB - Lançado por WM Brazil em 30/11/2002
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
O Eterno Mangueirense
Brazil - Lançado por Mauricio World Music em 01/01/2004
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nightingale
World - Lançado por oldies and hits for future em 14/05/2019
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sua Melhor Época
Pagode - Lançado por E. N Digital em 01/12/2021
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Be With Me
World - Lançado por obligat music em 27/11/2015
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Aguas Passadas
Brazil - Lançado por Amor Indiano em 02/06/2023
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Canta Para Enamorados (Remastered)
Bossa Nova - Lançado por RevOla em 15/05/2019
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Winter Dreams
Pop - Lançado por Winter Dreams em 06/10/2022
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -