Zeca Baleiro
Singer, composer and producer. He was born in the city of Arari, in Maranhão, in the year of 1966. He earned the nickname “Baleiro” when he attended university, because he liked to eat sweets a lot during class and in Portuguese candy means literally “bullet”. Before dedicating himself exclusively to music, he even started opening a candy, pie and homemade sweets’ store, called “Fazdocinhá”, name taken from a traditional children music. He moved to São Paulo in 1991, when he began acting in bars and in the nightlife of São Paulo. By this time, he met Chico César through an ordinary friend, the poet Celso Borges. They made music, shows and presentations in bars and nightclubs in the city of São Paulo. He founded the musical label Saravá Discos, for which he released several CDs, among them “Baião de nós” (Tiago Araripe), Chico Lobo, Antônio Vieira, “Cruel” and “Sinceramente”, both by Sérgio Sampaio, Including his, he ended up producing more than 16 albums. He launched the books “Bala na agulha” and “Vida”, the latter by the Publisher of the Federal University of Goiás, with graphic design by Roger Mello.
Song: Salão de Beleza
Caetano Veloso
Singer, musician, composer, producer, arranger and writer. He was born on August 7, 1942, in Santo Amaro da Purificação, Bahia. As a boy, he showed an interest in music, painting and then in movies. In 1959, he met the work of João Gilberto through the LP “Chega de saudade”, presented by a friend of his gym. This would be the musician who would most influence his artistic trajectory. He learned to play the guitar and sang with his sister Maria Bethânia in bars in Salvador. He joined the Faculty of Philosophy, of the Federal University of Bahia, in 1963. Later this year, he met and became friends with the idol he already knew on TV, Gilberto Gil, presented to him by the producer Roberto Santana. He also met Gal Costa and Tom Zé. Caetano Veloso is considered one of the most influential Brazilian artists since the 1960s. In 2004, he was considered one of the most respected and productive Latin American musicians in the world, having more than fifty albums released and songs in movie soundtracks such as Hable With Ella, by Pedro Almodovar and Frida by Julie Taymor. He is one of the most important figures of Brazilian popular music and is considered internationally one of the best composers of the twentieth century, compared to names such as Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
Song: Alegria, Alegria
Gilberto Gil
Brazilian composer, singer and instrumentalist. Born in Salvador, Bahia in 1942. In 1952 he attended the Regina Academy, where he took lessons in accordion. He studied the instrument for four years, having in this period formed the group Bando Alegre with colleagues of the school Nossa Senhora da Vitória, where he studied. Later, he also formed the group the Desafinados. He attended programs at Excelsior Radio, where accordionists from the Northeastern region met. There he met Sivuca and Hermeto Pascoal. In 1961, he was presented by his mother with a guitar, an instrument that he came to play with a lot of personality. It had as musical influence the typical songs of the Bahian sertão, like the songs of the blind and fairs’ violeiros and the double ones played by bands in religious festivals. Later, he also started listening to Garoto, Johnny Alf, Lúcio Alves, and João Gilberto, a watershed in the musical life of many of MPB’s (Brazilian popular music) greats. His debut album was in 1962 at the beginning of his artistic career, still in Salvador, he appeared in the radio and television programs. It was through these programs that he gained the admiration of Caetano Veloso, who later became his partner and great friend. Also known for his musical innovation and for being a Grammy and Latin Grammy Award winner. Gil was UN ambassador for agriculture and food and former Minister of Culture of Brazil (2003-2008). In more than fifty albums released, he incorporated the eclectic range of his influences, including rock, typically Brazilian genres, African music and reggae, for example.
Song: Aquele Abraço
Maria Bethânia
Singer and composer. She was born in Santo Amaro da Purificação, Bahia, in 1946. She participated in her youth as a playwright alongside her brother, singer Caetano Veloso and other prominent singers of the time. In 1965, she moved to Rio de Janeiro, where she began his musical career, replacing singer Nara Leão in the show Opinion. In the same year, she signed the RCA label and released her self-titled debut album. In 1978, Bethânia became the first Brazilian singer to sell more than one million copies of a single disc, with the album Alibi. Having released 50 studio albums in her 47-year career, she is among the top 10 artists with the highest number of albums sold in Brazil, with more than 29 million copies sold. Bethânia was elected the 5th Greatest Voice of Brazilian Music, of all time, by the renowned magazine Rolling Stone Brazil. Leaving behind only four deceased singers, that is, Bethânia would be currently the biggest voice in Brazil.
Song: Reconvexo
Gal Costa
Singer, born in Salvador in the year 1945, was because of her father, that she began to like music. In her teens she played a little guitar and sang at parties. She met Caetano Veloso and his sister Maria Bethania in 1963, and with them, Gilberto Gil and Tom Zé set up the musical show “Nós, por exemplo” (1964). The following year the group went to São Paulo, where, each one followed their solo career. Gal recorded the first compact in 1965, with “Eu Vim da Bahia” (Gilberto Gil) and “Yes, It Was You” (Caetano Veloso). She participated in the First International Festival of Song in 1966, the year in which her manager Guilherme Araújo convinced her to adopt the artistic name Gal, and no longer Maria da Graça. In 1979 the album “Gal Tropical” inaugurated a new phase in her career, more popular and commercial, for a more mature audience. She went through the 80’s as an absolute greatness of Brazilian popular music, coming to be considered by some as the greatest singer in Brazil. In the 90’s she continued to be one of the most sold singers in Brazil.
Song: Vapor Barato
Source: http://www.dicionariompb.com.br/