ElisaBandolim

Lola, Elisa, Bibi and Luperce Miranda's book at the Choro das 3's motorhome in St. Louis, MO. 2023.

It's just past Halloween as I write this. The trees look beautiful with the the colors of autumn - especially for Brazilians that don't have trees like these. I'm sitting here in my motorhome with my dogs Lola and Bibi, ready to continue telling the story of Luperce Miranda. If you haven't read the first part you can do so here. A book called Luperce Miranda - o Paganini do bandolim by Marília Trindade Barboza was very helpful as a reference to write these articles. Marília Trindade Barboza is a former president of the MIS (Sound and Image Museum). This book was gifted to me by Mr.Paulo Fasanaro who was so happy when it was published.

We pick up from my previous article, starting now where Luperce finally arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1928. It was a very auspicious timing. Brazil's record label Odeon was established the year before in 1927. The first album recorded with their new technology was by the famous Francisco Alves, where he sang the march "Albertina" on side A and "Passarinho do má" on the flipside. Both compositions were by Antonio de Amorim Diniz, popularly know as the Duque, a big advertiser of maxixe in Paris and a dancer.



The recording "Passarinho do Má" is a personal favorite. It is very funny. "Passarinho do Má" translates literally to "bad little bird" meaning "bad luck." The chorus says "the bad little bird was here (with me) and there was no way to send it away." So it tells all the things that went wrong for him, for example "my corn plantation dried out," "the money in my pocket disappeared," and my favorite: "my mother-in-law who was far away, came back," and on and on it goes.

Brazil was lead by Getúlio Vargas during the 2nd World War. At this time, Luprece saw the birth of the first "escolas de samba" (schools of samba), the first carnival parades, and the moment in 1935 when Rio's mayor Pedro Ernesto Batista included carnival in the official calendar.

His arrival in Rio de Janeiro was his first exposure to a style of music very popular there at the time. Luprece was not very familiar with Choro then, but he would soon become known as one of the masters of it. For a history of choro see my earlier blog on the subject.

Luperce was warmly welcomed in Rio de Janeiro. He arrived on the crest of a wave. Many of his compositions were recorded by the ensemble "Turunas da Mauricéia," and were very successful. His composition "Pinião" with collaboration from Augusto Calheiros was the hit from of carnival that year. He released this recording in November of 1927, and carnival usually falls in February.

Besides brand new recording technology, something very important appeared at the same time: radio! The first radio transmission in Brazil was in September 7, 1922 as part of the celebration of 100 years of Brazil's independence.

During the 1920s, radio stations would only play classical music from pre-recorded albums, mostly borrowed from private collectors! Only occasionally they would have artists to perform live. When Luperce arrived in Rio de Janeiro, it was the artistic center of the country (and the capital of Brazil). Radio was evolving into the most important way that Brazilian popular music and its artists spread, turning the artists into real superstars and idols to the nation.

To top it off, this was also a moment where the "música nordestina" (Northeastern music) had arrived in the south, becoming very popular. Luperce had a very dear friend from home (who had transplanted himself to Rio de Janeiro) named João Teixeira Guimarães. He is more commonly known as "João Pernambuco." João founded an ensemble in 1914 called "Grupo Caxangá," consisting of João Pernambuco himself, Jacob Palmieri, Donga, Caninha, Pixinguinha, Henrique Manoel de Souza, Manuel da Costa and Osmundo Pinto.

Above, 1914 - Grupo do Caxangá at carnaval. Pixinguinha, Jacob Palmieri, Vidraça, China, João Pernambuco, Raul Palmieri, caninha, Nola, others

After Grupo Caxangá dominated the carnaval of 1914, northeastern music grew in popularty in Rio, and started to spread to the rest of the country. Thus was João Pernambuco very influential. He seemed to know all the musicians in Rio and in Pernambuco, so he helped to connect the music scenes of these two places together. All of these factors really helped make Rio perfectly ready Luprece and his music.

João Pernambuco

João Pernambuco was a remarkable composer for solo guitar, if you like guitar you should definitely check it out. Jacob do Bandolim adapted one of his pieces for guitar to the mandolin and choro ensemble called "Graúna" (the name of a black bird):



Another masterpiece by João Pernambuco is "Sons de Carrilhões" something like "the sounds of Carrilons, grandpa's clock sounds," also composed for guitar. My sister Lia and I adapted for 7th string guitar and mandolin:



Luperce brought his ensemble "Voz do sertão" along to Rio. This group had several stand-out musicians. One particularly noteworthy person was Jaime Florence. He was known as Meira, a player of the 6-string guitar, and he also came from Pernambuco. Meira is not popular with minstream listeners in Brazil, but among choro musicians he is one of the "Gods." He was half of the legendary 6 and 7-string guitar duo "Dino and Meira." These two created the very language for duets between 6 and 7-string guitars. Meira was also a remarkable teacher. Many of his students became important artists in Brazilian music. Baden Powell and Raphael Rabello are two of his most famous students.

The ensemble "A Voz do Sertão."

To finish off, here is a Fox Charleston called "Buliçoso" (stirring, agile, active) composed and performed by Luperce Miranda and the ensemble "Voz do Sertão." This was recorded on the October 10, 1928; and released in March of 1929. The piece starts out very cheerful with a steady rhythmic mandolin, giving a sort of Brazilian Bluegrass vibe. At 1:04 in the track, you can hear the guitar solo with Luperce chopping chords. He then takes his lead and weaves fast arpeggios and runs - his musical signature. At 2:30 on this recording, he jumps to the top of the neck of the mandolin. This was another noted signature of his playing. Mr. Paulo used to say "He would play on the top of the neck and not even look at it."



I hope you liked today's article. Let me know what you think on the comments below. Obrigada and Happy Thanksgiving!

Elisa Meyer Ferreira