Friday 24 March 2023

Cizinha Moura's 'Brotinho Lili'

Cizinha Moura was one of the many young singers who came into prominence in the mid-to-late 1950s. After singing as crooner of bands or orchestras in night clubs, radio & TV, Miss Moura finally got to record a 78 rpm single for Chantecler in late 1958: 'Fim de ano', a lively waltz to celebrate the end of the year b/w 'Meu barquinho' which was none other that 'My bonnie lies over the ocean' translated by the guitar player Paulo Barreiros.

In 1959, with rock'n'roll already firmly established in the whole country  by the likes of Celly Campello and Carlos Gonzaga, Cizinha recorded her second and last 78 rpm for Chantecler which ended up being a valuable collector's item: 'Viver a sonhar', a rock-ballad b/w 'Brotinho Lili' which is seen in retrospect as her greatest hit.

In the latter part of 1959, Cizinha managed to associate herself with The Beverlys, the very first Black Brazilian do-wop group who had just recorded two singles for the Young label. Cizinha would sing on TV Paulista and other stations accompanied by The Beverlys during this period.

Revista do Radio, 22nd March 1958, publishes a 2-page article about Cizinha Moura and her musical career. Cizinha was born on 15 September 1933, in São Paulo. Started singing professionally at night-club Lido. Next she moved to Campos de Jordão-SP where she was signed by Radio Emissora Campos de Jordão. After a long stint there Cizinha became the crooner of Nancy Montez Orchestra having toured São Paulo state and Northern Paraná stopping at Curitiba-PR.

In Curitiba she performed at night-club Blue Sky where she met composer Ataulpho Alves who invited her to become part of his group of 'cabrochas' (young Black ladies who sang and dance as part of Ataulpho's act) when they would next perform at Hotel Comodoro's night-club in São Paulo and Radio & TV Record. She ended up learning a lot about her trade with Ataulpho and his group. She stayed with them for 3 months - from December 1956 to February 1957

Cizinha then decided it was time for her to resume her solo career and signed with night-club Caprice and at the same time appeared at 'Variedades Orniex' on TV Tupi, channel 3. Cizinha took part in the competition to elect the Queen of the Musicians (Rainha dos Músicos) in São Paulo which was won by Luely Figueiró but with Cizinha having got herself a good position. 

Now, as of March 1958, Cizinha sings at night-club African which is one of the best in São Paulo and sings at Radio Record's 'Alegria dos Bairros' and 'Programa Blota Júnior'. 

As 1958 was approaching its end Cizinha's fate took a turn to the bright side when she was signed by Chantecler Records, an independent Brazilian label located in São Paulo which was growing at a breakneck pace being in fierce competition with established multinacionals such as RCA, Columbia, EMI-Odeon. In November 1958, Cizinha recorded two sides of a 78 rpm single. A side contained 'Fim de ano' (Valter Melo) b/w 'Meu barquinho' (My bonnie lies over the ocean) an English traditional tune translated by guitar-player Paulo Barreiros. Both songs had a fair amount of air-play even though it didn't get to be a Top 10. 

Revista do Radio, 22nd March 1958, says former Ataulpho Alves' pupil has almost been crowned a queen concerning her Rainha dos Músicos de São Paulo contest.  
Cizinha shows her legs...

Discography of Cizinha Moura at Chantecler

074 - Fim de ano (Valter Melo) / Meu barquinho (My bonnie lies over the ocean) translated by Paulo Barreiros - December 1958
132 - Cinzas do passado / Meu primeiro beijo  -  Claudio de Barros  -  June 1959
134 - Viver a sonhar (José Nomonio Santos-Venâncio) / Brotinho Lili (Alberto Roy-Domingos Paulo Mamoni) .
23 October 1960 - Adults-only Cine Aurea premieres 'Sexo e vida', according to OESP (Estadão) is only a sensacionalist 'local production' looking for a fast-buck. Cizinha Moura a young rock singer who had a mid-sized hit called 'Brotinho Lili' appears as 'who knows what' in this pre-pornography flick.

from Carlus Maximus to Ricardo Santos: Imagina que encontrei anúncio de filme nacional chamado 'Sexo e vida', e tendo Cizinha Moura no elenco. Fiquei cabreiro! Haveria duas Cizinhas nesse mundo? Depois achei outra citação assim: Cizinha Moura (Brotinho Lili)... Agora, eu não sei o que a 'brotinho Lili' estava fazendo nessa espécie de filme!

from Ricardo Santos to Carlus Maximus: Ihhh, não acho estranho, não. A Cizinha era lindona. E aí nesse filme ela só aparece cantando 'Brotinho Lili' numa cena de baile. As outras 'atrizes' é que são suspeitas, tudo vedetinha, ops, coristas... rs. Outra coisa: pelas suas pesquisas dos anos 1959 a 1962, você deve estar vendo muita coisa com 'strip-tease', não é? Eu e Gabriel Gonzaga até já conversamos sobre a quantidade de shows e filmes que tinham a ver com esse tema. Foi uma onda de uns 2 anos e passou. Hoje (2014) seriam classificados de burlescos. O Brasil entrou tarde nisso, coisa lá dos anos 1910-1920 em Paris ou Berlin.

from Carlus Maximus to Ricardo Santos: Nossa, só Você teria sabido de todas essas coisas. Então, você, de certa maneira, salvou a reputação da Cizinha Moura... rs. 

Olha o que eu achei no Estadão de 1 Janeiro 1961:

Cizinha Moura sings accompanied by The Beverlys 
Cizinha Moura & The Beverlys, a do-wop vocal group.

Friday 28 October 2022

Neil Sedaka at Coney Island in the summer of 1959

These are a few photos of young singer-song-writer Neil Sedaka and his steady girl-friend Leba Strassberg and their outing on the Coney Island Park in the summer of 1959. You see, Sedaka had met Leba when he played played piano at Miss Strassberg's Esther Hotel in Monticello, N.Y. Leba was the daughter of the couple who owned the resort hotel. Leba & Neil started going steady in 1958. Now, it was time for Leba to visit Neil at his parents' home on Coney Island Avenue in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.

One might ask why this Coney Island affair is posted at a Brazilian Rock blog. Well, I guess it has to do with what Neil Sedaka would do in the next 3 or 4 months after those pictures were taken. Sedaka would fly down to Rio in December 1959 to sing professionally in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. That would be his very first foreign tour as a rock'n'roll singer for Sedaka's only claim to fame so far was as a songwriter of 'Stupid cupid' sung by Connie Francis (#14 at Billboard on 4 August 1958) and 'The diary' sung by himself (#14 at Billboard on 28 December 1958).

In Brazil, Sedaka had the chance to get used to the sensation of being a true 'teen idol' having been mobbed by crowds of teenagers since he stepped out of the airplane that flew him there. In late December, still in Rio de Janeiro, Sedaka would receive news from the USA saying his 'Oh! Carol' single for RCA records had climbed to #9 at Billboard on 7 December 1959. Neil Sedaka had finally arrived. 

young fans find out Neil Sedaka is loose at Coney Island Park; summer 1959.
Neil Sedaka & Leba Strassberg.
Are you ready to go to Coney Island Park?
Just a minute! I need to answer a call before we go...
Let's kiss Mother Eleanor goodbye!
another shot of of Mummy's kissing...
Ready, steady, go!
one Frankfurter for you and one for me!
Have a taste of my Frankfurter...
getting tickets for the Cyclone Coaster at Coney Island... 
Neil and singer Armundo Sorrento. 
Leba, Neil & Armundo being very tuneful...
Neil & his Father...

Neil Sedaka in 2004

Singer-composer-producer Neil Sedaka is a man on a mission. He wants to gladden the hearts of his multitude of fans for many more years to come. “It’s been an incredible journey of 48 years of singing and over 50 years of songwriting,” says the father of two. I’ve written over 1,000 songs, and I’m proud to say that some of the greatest singers have recorded my work—from Frank Sinatra to Elvis Presley. I’m one of the major songwriters in Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), which means that every time a song of mine is played on the radio, it’s logged and recorded and thank God it will keep my wife Leba in the style to which she has become accustomed.”

This legendary singer is a well-known “family man” and enjoys talking about his roots. “My paternal grandparents were born in IstanbulTurkey, and came to New York around 1910. My father, born on the Lower East Side, drove a taxi for over 30 years in order to put me through The Juilliard School of Music.

“Although my upbringing was not Orthodox in nature, nonetheless the feeling within the home was that of a Jewish family with Jewish traditions. As a cohesive family unit, my wife and children attend the High Holidays in New York and it’s an event we look forward to each and every year. I have a great love for Jewish culture, as does my 88-year-old mother Eleanor, who lives and enjoys life in Fort LauderdaleFlorida. A few months ago they featured my biography on A&E and Mom was interviewed, which was a great thrill for all of us.

“I am probably one of the more well-known American singers in Israel. In the ’60s, I made several appearances in kibbutzim, as well as in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa and I made a few records in Hebrew. To this day, if I go into a cab and the driver is Israeli, they stare at me for a minute or so and say, ‘You look familiar,’ and when I tell them that my name is Neil Sedaka, they tell me, ‘Do you know you are the top singer in Israel?’ And that is always something wonderful to hear! The last time I visited Israel with my wife, my mother and aunt eight years ago, we made many stops in all the major cities.

“I am extremely proud to be Jewish. Wherever I go, people tell me that my name, Sedaka, means ‘charity’ in Hebrew and I affirm this to them and tell them of the wonderful feelings I have for my surname. As much as I love Israel and its people, I don’t usually get involved with the politics. However, I feel strongly that this is a time when one should be supportive of Israel. I’m strictly an artist, a creator, a musician. Financially I am a supporter of many Jewish charities and organizations, and I’ve planted many trees in honor of loved ones.”

“Recently, I produced an album of Yiddish songs which I loved doing and which I find so exciting. And because I always think in musical terms, I came up with these wonderful old Jewish songs that are disappearing from our wonderful culture. These songs are called Brighton Beach Memories – Sedaka sings Yiddish. There are 13 songs such as “Exodus,” “My Yiddishe Mama,” “Mein Shtetele Belz,” “Sunrise, Sunset,” “Ich Hob Dich Tzufil Lieb,” “Bei mir bist du schoen,” as well as many others that invoke wonderful memories for me.

“When I was growing up in Brighton Beach, my mother used to play these Yiddish songs performed by the Barry Sisters. I did a record with a klezmer group which was a labor of love. I made a couple of hundred just to send to my friends and family and, all of a sudden, it has taken on a life of its own. I’m getting so many calls from record labels, from concert halls and theaters asking about this Yiddish album. There is a very big movement of people who love this music. As far as my albums go, we are selling many of them at my concerts and at my appearances.

“Once a year I visit Brighton Beach where I go swimming at Bay 3. I make it a point to visit my street sign (Neil Sedaka Way) on the boardwalk on Coney Island Avenue. Then I treat myself to a Nathan’s frankfurter and go on the Cyclone to see if I can still take those drops. I always remember how happy the entire family was when they attended my bar mitzvah at Temple Beth El in the Manhattan Beach area of Brooklyn.

“Recently, I was honored by the Friars Club in New York and Borough President Marty Markowitz came up and gave me a special Brooklyn award. I remember when I was crowned King of Brooklyn in 1994; my mother and my sister came in to see me accept the crown. It was a wonderful event that the borough president sponsored each year with all Brooklyn personalities coming home to visit their place of birth.”

Much of Sedaka’s life has centered around Brighton Beach and its environs. In the late 1950s, Sedaka could have been any teenager cruising around Kings Highway, driving his Chevy Impala convertible with the radio blaring. But, unlike most youngsters, Sedaka wasn’t just listening to music, he was writing it, and often it was one of his songs which was being played. “I would be listening to the radio and then a song like ‘Oh, Carol’ would come on. I wrote that for Carole Klein, who was a girlfriend of mine at the time and, as most people now know, she went on to become Carole King, a wonderful, wonderful singer.”

Sedaka, who began composing in 1952 at age 13, recalls his childhood as a mixture of love, affection and some unhappiness in school. “But pop music became my means of acceptance and my way in with the ‘in crowd.’”

Almost all his early songs were collaborations between himself and his best friend, Howie Greenfield, who lived in the same apartment house at 3260 Coney Island Avenue. (Sadly Sedaka confides that Greenfield has since passed away.) “Our first song, “My Life’s Devotion,” was pretty good considering it was done by two kids aged 13 and 16.” Sedaka and Greenfield turned out many hits, among them “Where the boys are,” “Breaking up is hard to do” and “Happy birthday sweet sixteen.”

Back in the ’60s, Sedaka, who was earning more than $250,000 a year, quickly adjusted to his newfound fame and wealth. “I had to pinch myself to believe it,” he reminisces. And although he now had the wherewithal to live anywhere, still he chose to stay in Brooklyn.”

Born in Brooklyn’s Madison Hospital on 13 March 1939, he tells about his early life in Brooklyn.

“My family lived on Coney Island Avenue, right on the ocean. To this day, I’m partial to the ocean and whenever I visit relatives living in Brooklyn, I make it a point to take a swim in the cold ocean water. When my kids, Marc and Dara, were growing up, Leba and I wanted a home in the Brighton Beach area. We were lucky, we found a lovely place at The Seacoast Towers right on the waterfront. I think it is still called that. We took two apartments, broke down the walls and ended up with a wonderful 10-room residence. At that time the rent was $500 per month. Today, I don’t think you could touch it for less than thousands.”

And although Sedaka enjoys the accoutrements of fame—homes in Manhattan and California, the trips abroad and the adulation of a loyal and vast public—he still prefers the joys of family life to attending cocktail parties and making small talk “with people who hang around ‘winners.’ A quiet dinner with family and friends is my favorite way to spend an evening.”

By choice, Sedaka would give only five or six appearances a year while the children were still young. Dara Sedaka was born on 26 June 1963, in New York City, Marc Sedaka was born in 1967. “This way I got to spend precious time with the family, something I enjoyed very much. I am a very lucky man: I have my own music company and a wonderful, loving family.”

Always the proud father, Sedaka speaks of Dara, “who sings jingles for radio commercials” and Marc, “who is writing for movies and television and is currently working on two projects: one a Broadway show based on Neil Sedaka songs with a story, and the other for PBS which is still in development. He is working with Ken Levine trying to develop a show called Papa Neil’s Penthouse, which is a Mr. Rogers type of show.

“Marc is married to a wonderful girl from Sheepshead Bay, Samantha Parker, and they have given us two wonderful granddaughters, twins, Amanda and Charlotte. The twins are fraternal and they live in Studio City, California.

Sedaka is currently enjoying a renaissance — a rebirth at an age when most performers are looking to retire. Never one to rest on his laurels, Sedaka keeps a hectic schedule. He still tours constantly, performing concerts all over the world.

At this time, Sedaka who loves performing, has no intention of leaving the public arena. When asked what he would like to be remembered for when and if he does retire, he quickly answers: “I would like to be remembered foremost as a Jew, and also as a composer and singer, a person who contributed to the American scene as a worthwhile entertainer. I love this country and feel proud to have been part of its musical growth!”

On Thursday, 3rd June 2004, Sedaka will be performing selections from Brighton Beach Memories at a gala fund-raiser for the Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre at Carnegie Hall. He will be joined by the world’s most renowned klezmer band, The Klezmatics, and the New Yiddish Chorale, conducted by Zalmen Mlotek. He looks forward to doing the show, as he feels a great need to preserve Jewish culture through its music and theater.

Neil Sedaka, the kosher Carol singer

by Jenni Frazer, 23 March 2006

One of popular music’s greatest singer-songwriters, Neil Sedaka's many enduring hits include a serenade to a famous girlfriend and fellow musician, and who is about to tour the UK

Neil Sedaka’s new album improbably offers the opportunity to make some of his best-known songs into a ringtone for your mobile phone. On purchase of “The show goes on,” fans will be able to download “Breaking up is hard to do,” or “Happy birthday, sweet sixteen.”

We meet just after Sedaka, the quintessential singer-songwriter, has celebrated a birthday — not a 16th but his own 67th - 13 March 2006, in Palm BeachFlorida, with his wife and family. An indefatigable performer, Sedaka was appearing locally in a couple of concerts and doubtless paying a filial visit to his 89-year-old mother, Eleanor, who lives in Sedaka-funded splendour in Fort Lauderdale, just up the road. It is, says Sedaka, “wonderful to be able to call your mother your best friend.” Yes, he is an avowed and proud mama’s boy.

His astonishingly long career owes a lot to women: Eleanor, of course, who took a part-time job in a department store in order to pay for a second-hand upright piano for her prodigy son; his famous girlfriend, Carol King, née Klein, for whom “Oh, Carol” was written; and his wife of 44 years, Leba Strassberg, whom he met in the Catskills and who became his inspiration and his manager.

These days, Sedaka, who is about to set off on a UK tour, lives in some style on Park AvenueManhattan. But life in 1940s Brighton BeachBrooklyn, where he grew up, was very different. “My father, Mac, was born on the Lower East Side to parents who had immigrated to the States from Istanbul,” he tells me. “He became a taxi driver, and my mother (until her decision to go out to work) was a housewife.” The Sedakas’ two-room apartment was “very crowded.” Indeed it was containing, as it did, Sedaka, his sister, their parents, his paternal grandparents, and no less than five aunts.

“It’s always said that my parents were musical,” Sedaka says, “but that wasn’t so. My grandmother, on my mother’s side” — Eleanor Appel came from a Polish-Russian family — “was said to have played the piano but she died when she was 26, so there was no way of knowing if I inherited that. But my mother’s father, so the family story goes, had some sort of a vaudeville act, where he sang — and he’s also believed to have written songs. We were told that he’d written a song called ‘Let a smile be your umbrella on a rainy day,’ but that he’d sold it for just $50. Actually, we looked up the song but someone else has the writing credit. Anyway, it’s a nice story — and it is a very nice song.”

Even if his parents weren’t musical, Sedaka had a musical barmitzvah. “I sang the haftorah so well that there wasn’t a dry eye in the temple,” he recalls. “All the rabbis said I should become a cantor, but my parents had other ideas.”

By the time he was barmitzvah, at Manhattan Beach’s Temple Beth El, Sedaka was attending classes at the prestigious Juilliard School of Music, and, he says, had suddenly realised that he was able to write songs. Although he was practising piano five or six hours a day, he didn’t resent not being out on the streets with his friends.

“I loved it,” he insists. “Besides, playing piano got me invited to all the parties… well, it was fun going to the parties but being able to write songs, that was special. And I realised,” he says without irony or undue modesty, “that I had a natural, remarkable voice, and that I wanted to be a singer-songwriter” — something which hardly existed in 1952.

Mrs Sedaka, whose friends were making their children become doctors and lawyers and dentists, determined that her son should become a concert pianist, an ambition strengthened by his being picked out by the classical musician, Artur Rubenstein, to play on a programme on New York’s classical radio station, WQRX.

Sedaka ultimately studied at Juilliard for 12 years. Rubenstein described him as “one of the finest classical pianists in New York,” but a chance introduction by his mother — typically, Sedaka remembers the date, 11 October 1952, to Howard Greenfield, the 16-year-old son of a neighbour, changed his direction forever.

Greenfield, says Sedaka, “was a poet.” At any rate, he provided the lyrics to Sedaka’s music, and, between 1959 and 1963, records by Sedaka and Greenfield sold more than 25 million copies. Greenfield stayed as his lyricist partner until 1972. It was a heady time, not least because Sedaka’s friends and neighbours appear to have thrown themselves wholeheartedly into the same enterprise. “We were the New York City group,” he says now, reeling off a list of young Jewish friends and acquaintances who went into the music industry. “Neil Diamond lived across the street… I knew songwriters Barry and Cynthia Mann from Brooklyn… I went to school with Mort Shuman, who wrote for Elvis… there was Carole Klein, whom I dated in high school, there was Barbra Streisand, there was little Paul Simon…”

Why were so many of the successful singers and writers in the industry Jewish? “Maybe it was something in the water. But, at home, I was certainly inspired by Jewish music. We listened to the Barry Sisters whose greatest hit was “Bei Mir Bist du Schein” and, in fact, Claire Barry joined me on stage in Florida recently.”

By the time he was 19, in 1958, Sedaka had made so much money from his songs — $42,000 in royalties — that he was able to mollify his mother by buying her a mink stole. Eleanor, apparently, described this as her “Hadassah tallit.”

It was in that same year that he met Leba. Her parents, Esther and Irving Strassberg, owned a kosher hotel in the Catskills resort town of Monticello, the Esther Manor, and Sedaka was part of the lavish after-dinner entertainment.

Four years later, the pair were married — at the Manor — and have been together ever since, proud parents and grandparents. His daughter, Dara, duets with him from time to time and, although Sedaka says she won’t appear live because of stage fright, the father-and-daughter combo had a hit with “Should’ve Never Let You Go” in 1980. His son Marc, a successful Hollywood screenwriter, is also involved in the family business, producing all the technical video material for Sedaka’s stage shows.

Sedaka’s other “children” — as he refers to his greatest hits — provided a constant soundtrack of “sha-la-la” during the ’60s. From “Happy birthday sweet sixteen,” “Oh Carol,” “Calendar girl,” “Breaking up is hard to do,” he had a stream of hits, while providing hits for many other artists. The first song that he sold, “Stupid cupid,” was a hit for Connie Francis, and Sedaka songs have been recorded by everyone from Elvis to Tom Jones, with ’60s icons like Frankie Avalon and Clyde McPhatter in between. In those days, Sedaka clocked in at the legendary Brill Building song factory, locked himself in his office and wrote every day.

When the Beatles burst upon a startled world in 1964, Sedaka’s career took something of a dip. But, with the help of Elton John, he relaunched himself and in 1974, he produced two monster hits, Laughter in the rain and “Love will keep us together” in 1975.  He even wrote, for Tony Christie, last summer’s surprise revival hit, “(Is This The Way to) Amarillo,” which became the biggest selling single of 2005. Altogether he has written more than 1,000 songs.

Sedaka has been loaded with honours throughout his career - there’s even a Sedaka's Way in Brooklyn, and, as one might expect, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. There’s a waxwork Sedaka at the Las Vegas branch of Madame Tussaud’s, and “Breaking up is hard to do” has been listed as one of the 50 most performed songs of the 20th century.

Sedaka - which, as he is quick to point out, is derived from the Hebrew, tsedakacharity — is the most “out” Jewish performer of his generation. Although his father’s family were Sephardi, and spoke Ladino, it was Yiddish that he heard in the streets, and Yiddish music and rhythms, with its plaintive minor keys, which influenced him. Last year, to raise money for New York’s Yiddish Theatre, Sedaka took to the stage at Carnegie Hall with a remarkable all-Yiddish concert, together with the renowned group, the Klezmatics. It was a sell-out event (and made half-a-million dollars) and the resulting album, “Brighton Beach MemoriesNeil Sedaka Sings Yiddish,” made even the singer himself cry. “I’m a very proud Jew,” Sedaka says. “When I went on family picnics, on the bus we would sing these songs with a kazoo and a ukulele. They bring back wonderful memories for me.

“I can’t exactly say I speak Yiddish today but I can sing it very well phonetically, and I’ve had lots of help from my wife.”

I’m moved to ask, given that uber-producer Rick Rubin is doing wonders to rescue the formerly cheesy Neil Diamond from the dairy farm of his career, whether Sedaka might be ready to be Rubin-ed. “Yes,” he replies, “I would be interested if someone approached me. In the end, it all depends on the record company and how they’re prepared to market you.”

Now, if you’ll excuse him, Neil Sedaka has a tour to prepare. And he offers me his lifetime tips for preserving his voice: “Never go into a loud room where you have to shout to be heard. Don’t drink iced drinks. Don’t sit in front of an air-conditioning unit. Get lots of sleep. And you must have a positive attitude. That’s the most important thing.”

Neil Sedaka and his bride-to-be Leba Strassberg at Mrs Sedaka living room. Neil would change his shirt before he went out with Leba to have fun at the Coney Island Park. Summer 1959
Do you want some candy floss? 
Map of Eastern New Jersey with Newark in the North, Staten Island, Manhattan and Brooklyn with Coney Island and Brighton Beach on the right... 
Brighton Beach at Coney Island in Brooklyn... 
Coney Island Avenue circled by a red pen on the right. and Luna Park at Coney Island on the left... 

Tuesday 28 June 2022

Betinho aka Alberto Barros, forerunner of rock'n'roll in Brazil

Rock'n'roll started in the USA around 1955. The term 'rock and roll' was actually coined by New York WINS DJ Alan Freed to call rhythm'n'blues done by white boys... so Rock music was not new... it was plain Rhythm'n'blues with another name. 
  
Alberto Borges de Barros aka Betinho was born in Salvador, Bahia, in 1918. His father Josué de Barros was a guitar player by profession and moved to Rio de Janeiro-DF circa 1928, where he used to have his meals at Carmen Miranda's mother's pension on Rua do Commercio. Josué thought he had bumped into an exceptional talented young lady, started rehearsing her and in 1929, took her to Brunswick Records which had just set up shop in Brazil, where she recorded her first single. By 1930, Carmen Miranda was number one at the charts with 'Thaí' (P'ra você gostar de mim).

In 1933, Josué accompanied Miss Miranda and her sister Aurora on tours to Argentina. Josué used to take Betinho along on these trips. Betinho who had been taught to play the guitar by his virtuoso father had the chance to meet jazz musicians who played in bands at local night clubs. He fell in love with American music and  decided to stay in Buenos Aires for as long as he could. 
Betinho plays the guitar at Rudy Ayala's jazz combo in the 1940s, in Buenos Aires. Ayala's real name Alcides Irineo Ayala, native of Uruguay. 
Betinho with the guitar accompanies legenday Argentine blues singer Blackie in the 1940s
Argentine journalist Isaac Krasnoff writes about Alberto Barros for 'Sincopa y Ritmo' in the 1940s. The title 'El negrito Barros' refers to Betinho being in a combo who accompanied Argentine jazz singer Blackie

El negrito Barros by Isaac Krasnoff

Entre los pequeños conjuntos de 'hot-jazz' que con mas cariño y orgullo recuerdan los aficionados argentinos, se destaca el de Blackie and her Boys. Y alientan aun muchos la esperanza de que vuelva a constituirze con aquellos mismos elementos: Blackie, Jordán, Mastro y Barros, cuatro ases de parejo valor que, asesorados por la autoridad indiscutible de su creador, el infatigable Dr. León Klimovsky, tantas satisfacciones nos brindaran.
 
La proficua obra en prol del jazz de este 'pioneer', el más pródigo en felices iniciativas comprende valiosisimos descubrimientos de interpretes, pero ninguno reviste caracteres tan notables como el caso del gran guitarrista Alberto Barros. Entregado de lleno a la música brasileña, el pibe ni soñaba en invadir los terrenos de la síncopa, cuando, sin apercibirse casi de su incursión, improvisó cierta vez sobre temas negros, ante el asombro de Klimovsky, quien vislumbrando grandes posibilidades, le encauzó en la ruta de los éxitos.

Su dominio del instrumento, su gran intuición, sus improvisaciones, tanto en la guitarra como en sus personalísimos 'scats', convirtiéndolo de la noche a la mañana en una de las figuras más solicitadas y simpáticas del ambiente.
 
La personalidad es su mayor mérito. Sí en algún momento sus admiradores (y conste que sus colegas guitarristas son los más fervientes) luego de escuchar uno de sus magníficos solos han asociado su nombre al del formidable Eddie Lang, no han querido significar con ello que Barros lo imita, sino como un homenage espontáneo y unánime al mejor guitarrista argentino de jazz. Y digo argentino porque sua arte y sua simpatia conquistaron a esta tierra que vió iniciar y cimentar sua fama de jazzman. 

- Cuando llegó a Buenos Aires, Barros? 

En 1933, cuando sólo contaba 15 años de edad y en forma por demás improvisada, y que hasta un cuarto de hora antes de zarpar del vapor, no sabía aún si me embarcaba o no.
 
- 'Cuente como fué eso'

- Haré un poco de historia. Aunque mi padre es un gran músico, el aprendizaje de la guitarra lo hize por mi cuenta, de oído. Sin embargo, malgrado mi natural pereza (laziness), que aún persiste, llegué a construirme en el acompañante obligado de mi padre, en sus jiras artística por todo el Brasil. Cuando el diário 'A Nação' de Rio de Janeiro, proclamó vencedores de su concurso a Carmen Miranda y Josué Barros como los mejores cancionista y guitarrista, respectivamente, con premios consistentes en 3 contos de reís, contracto para actuar en Buenos Aires, con viaje de 1a y estadía de un mes gratis cada uno, puse en juego todas mis argucias de 'guri' traveso hasta lograr que los donantes me costearan también a mí el medio pasage

- No había sido tan perezoso (lazy) el muchacho.
 
- Actuamos con gran éxito en Radio Excelsior y en el Cine Broadway y finalizado el contrato, mientras Carmencita retornaba, nosostros decidimos permanecer otra temporadita que se prolonga indefinidamente.
 
- Y cuando le picó el mosquito del jazz?

- A los pocos días de estar aquí. En mi búsqueda de connacionales, conocí a varios componentes de la jazz brasileña 'Los Dados Negros' a quienes fuí a visitar varias veces en Radio Stentor, para escuchar la música de mi tierra que intercalaban en su repertorio, haciendo oídos sordos a sus ejecuciones de fox-trot. Cierto día llevé conmigo la guitarra y ubicado frente a un altoparlante, en el hall, me distraía acompañando la orquesta y improvisando variaciones. Continuaron luego con algunos fox-trots y, para no hastiarme, seguí también yo con mis variaciones, aventurandome por primera vez en esa música. Luego después de 'Sweet Sue, just you', oí a mis espaldas unos aplausos tan frenéticos que más parecían provenientes de una claque numerosa que de un sólo par de manos. Era Klimovsky, quien entusiasmado me ofreció una plaza en el conjunto Blackie and her Boys que estaba organizando. 

- Y Vd. aceptó de inmediato?

- No me animé sino después de una serie de clases de jazz que me ofreció, ilustradas con las mejores joyas de su discoteca, en especial algunos discos de Louis Armstrong, cuyos sobreagudos me dajaron maravillado. 

- Creo que Satchmo, con sus discos, posee el record mundial en la conquista de prosélitos para la música negra y se explica, porque Armstrong es pura esencia del jazz.

- En efecto.
 
- Vd. debe conservar gratos recuerdos de aquella época. Le agradaría que se volviera a constituir ese conjunto? 

- Imagínase. Allí se hacía el más puro 'hot jazz' y llegamos a tal grado de mutura comprensión que generalmente improvisábamos ante el micrófono. En mis posteriores actuaciones, integrando las orquestas de Cóspito, Ayala, Dixie Pals, hube de atenerse a los arreglos preparados, los ensayos, la voluntad del director. Sí no fuera posible era resurrección, formaria muy en breve un conjunto de cuerdas para producir 'swing' improvisado. 

- Podría adelantarnos quiénes do integrarían?

- Como no. Los hermanos Gavinovich en violin y bajo, Ahmed Mike, guitarras, mi primo Milton, como base rítmica en guitarra, y you, también en guitarra y en algunos 'scats'.

- Qué podría decirnos del jazz en Brasil, con relación al nuestro?

- Que aquí está mucho más adelantado y arraigado. Los brasileños por razones de raza, tienen quizá más desarrollado el sentido del ritmo por lo cual cuentan con mayor número de discretos guitarristas, drummers y contrabajistas; pero en instrumentos de viento no hay valores destacables. En Buenos Aires, en cambio, se podrían formar muchas orquestas de categoría, con excelentes solistas en cada una de ellas. 

- Qué orquesta de jazz porteña le gusta más?

- Mi opinión a ese respecto varía con frequencia, y no porque sea veleta. La inconstancia de los músicos que por distintas causas cambian de orquesta como de camisa, conspira no sólo contra el perfecto afiatamiento de los conjuntos sino que difiere asi mismo el logro de una sólida personalidad para el ejecutante. 

- Vaca que cambia é querencia...

- El éxito de Santa Paula Serenaders, mi preferida actualmente, radica en gran parte en esa circunstancia. 

- Y de nuestros vocalistas

- Soy el admirador no. 1 de Lois Blue, la extraordinaria intérprete de hot jazz, de cuyas excelsas dotes tanto se ha dicho y tanto hay aún por agregar. 

- En su discoteca, que astro está en mayoria?

- Es tan reducida que no merece esta denominación. Tengo vários ejemplares raros de Lang y Venuti y otros en que intervienen los guitarristas Harris, Kress, Mc Donough etc. y casi todos de los Quinteto de Hot Club de Francia dirigido por Django Reinhardt, uno de mis predilectos. Con él actúa en París un guitarrista compatriota mio que estuvo en Buenos Aires integrando el conjunto Les Loups, a quien Duke Ellington y Louis Armstrong trataron de contratar cuando estuvieron en Europa. Hace unos meses, este virtuoso de la guitarra, de nombre Oscar y cuyo apellído no recuerdo, sufrió un grave accidente que hubiera sido de escasa importancia sí en su afán por cuidar sus valiosas manos, en un movimiento instintívo, no las llevara hacía atrás, sufriendo así heridas en el rostro, la cabeza y el cuerpo que pusieron en peligro su vida.

- Recuerda alguna anécdota suya, Barros?

- Es más bien un pasage tragicómico que me ocurrió el verano pasado en Montevideo, donde en término de 60 horas estuve encerrado la tercera parte de ese tiempo en tres distintos calabozos.  

- Drama pasional o asaltante?

- No tanto. Con deseos largo tiempo contenidos de practicar mi a mis anchas mi deporte favorito, la natación en aguas de mar, me alejé más de lo debido de la playa. A los 300 metros oí un solo de pito desde la playa, pero continué nadando haciendo caso omíso. A los 500 mts., aquello era una sinfonía de pitadas y volviéndome divisé una muchedumbre de marineros, policías y curiosos que me hacían señas para que vuelvera. Al llegar traté de hacer creer que ignoraba esa ordenanza, hablando en português y repitiendo el estribillo: 'Eu sou brazileiro'. Lá no Brazil se pode fazer'. Esto me salvó de la multa pero no de permanecer 5 horas a la sombra. 

- Y sus posteriores visitas a qué se debe  ?






Betinho (39) plays his guitar at TV Paulista, Channel 5 while Cléia Soares sings 'Zezé', a baiao written by Humberto Teixeira & Caribé da Rocha. Revista quinzenal Jóia, 1957.
Betinho & his combo during the time they were signed by TV Paulista & Radio Nacional, 1957.

Tuesday 14 December 2021

Neil Sedaka as seen by 'Correio da Manhã' musical section

Neil Sedaka was a fluke as concerning his meteoric rise to popularity in Brazil, much earlier than he was recognized as a performer in the USA, his own country. 'The diary' was released in early 1959 and charted higher here than in the USA. By mid-1959, Celly Campello, a 17 year-old small town high-school student shot to Number One with a cover of Sedaka's 'Stupid cupid' (Estúpido cupido).

By November 1959, Neil Sedaka had been signed by TV Tupi to perform live in São Paulo and Rio. That was actually Sedaka's first professional tour as a rock act . He was in Brazil on 7 December 1959, when he was told 'Oh! Carol' had reached #9 at Billboard charts. 

Brazilians are a funny lot. As Paul Anka, the 'other' teen-age heart-throb had already been established as a full-on 'teen idol' since 'Diana' was released, some journalists - especially some at Rio de Janeiro's 'Correio da Manhã' decided they preferred Anka over Sedaka. These media desperadoes started bad-mouthing Sedaka portraying him as 'thief of melodies', a plagiarist... and here are some instances of silly stuff published in that paper concerning the supposed 'rivalry' between the Canadian Caruso and the Brooklyn kid who would be a concert pianist... 

22nd November 1959 - 'Correio da Manhã's music columnist claims Neil Sedaka, who has been known for being a plagiarist (his words) pilfers the melodies of two different songs on 'Run, Samson, run'; parts of Brazilian folk tune 'Acalanto' that goes: 'boi, boi, boi, boi da cara preta leva essa menina que tem medo de careta'... and the whole second part of 'Mamãe, eu quero' written by Jararaca. 

He goes on to say that in 'You mean everything to me', Sedaka shamelessly pilfers parts of Paul Anka's 'You are my destiny'. 

9 December 1959 - Carol Sedaka (an obvious pseudonym) from Mesquita-RJ, writes to 'Correio da Manhã' to express her outrage of what she considered a slanderous lie about her idol. As one can see, Sedaka's popularity in Brazil was built in a few months. The columnist answers all the accusations against him... and adds another Sedaka's 'plagiarism'... that in 'All I need is you', Sedaka 'copies' parts of Paul Anka's 'Diana'... The columnist was obviously biased against Sedaka...
14 April 1961 - 'Correio da Manhã' - Carol Sedaka, from Nilópolis-RJ writes to Rossini Pinto's 'Esquina Sonora' again to ask for the lyrics of 'Run, Samson, run'. 
'Stairway to heaven' was Sedaka's 3rd single in Brazil; on the right the (terrybly mistaken) lyrics of 'Stairway to heaven' with all the misunderstanding one could commit...it's actually funny. Nonsense should be considered an 'art form'... Climb up way up high = becomes 'why not way of time'.

exerpts from Peter Dunbavan's book 'An Avid's Guide to Sixties Songwriters'.

'Oh! Carol's chorus, 'darling there will never be another lover...' was taken from Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos's 'Family Suite Number 1', and the verses were reminiscent of The Diamonds' doo-wop hit, 'Little darlin'.

Girls' names were popular in songs at the time, so Sedaka suggested to Greenfield that he wrote a lyric with a girl's name in it, and went as far as suggesting his old high school girl friend Carole Klein (later to be songwriter Carole King). Greenfield duly obliged and the result was 'Oh! Carol', a Top 10 hit on both sides of the Atlantic in late 1959, and the beginning of a string of major hits for Sedaka from the Greenfield-Sedaka team. 

Neil Sedaka went on the road to promote 'Oh! Carol' and Howard Greenfield found himself at a loose end. Don Kirshner suggested that he should try writing a song with Brill Building composer Jack Keller, and the second song they wrote together, 'Everybody's somebody's fool', became the first chart-topper in the US for Connie Francis. She had been looking to record a C&W style song, and came to Greenfield & Keller asking them if they had anything suitable. They mentioned 'Everybody's somebody's fool' but didn't think it would be quite right, envisaging the song more as a blues number. She asked them to adapt it to country and Jack Keller duly obliged, but no-one, apart from Francis, really believed it would be a big hit; it topped the US charts in the summer of 1960. 

Howard Greenfield & Jack Keller wrote Connie Francis's next single, her second US chart-topper, 'My heart has a mind of its own', which gave her the distinction of being the first female singer ever to have two consecutive number one's; she also came second to Elvis Presley as the top performing artist of 1960. To enable them to write another country-influenced hit for Francis, the pair had done their homework by going through the back catalogue of Hank Williams's songs and obviously this had worked well, because apart from writing 'My heart has a mind of its own', they managed a third hit single in the same genre, 'Breaking in a brand new broken heart'. It reached number 7 on the US charts in mid-1961. 

Howard Greenfield had been writing with Jack Keller on a regular basis since Neil Sedaka started performing, and they had a routine of collaborating every Monday and Wednesday, from 10 in the morning till 5 in the evening. 

'Venus in blue jeans' was a product of one to these meetings. Keller said: 'there was a giant competition between Paul Anka and Neil Sedaka. Howie and Neil felt their hits were teenage but they were intellignet lyrics. Anka ws 'love' and 'above', 'moon' and 'June'. He was getting Number One's and it was killing Howie & Sedaka. (Jack Keller interview with Ken Emerson on 3rd June 2003). 

Keller & Greenfield, therefore, set about writing a song tha would effectively copy Anka but do it better. Keller's melody for 'Venus in blue jeans' was superb and original, while Howie's lyrics stole from other songs tha had been hits such as 'Mona Lisa' by Nat King Cole, and 'Venus' by Frankie Avalon. The result was a classic 'pop' song that was a Top 10 hit in the US for Jimmy Clanton and a number 4 in the UK for Mark Wynter. Illustrating how the writers at Aldon worked for each other, Barry Mann sang lead and the Cookies sang backing-vocals on the demo; Carole King wrote the arrangement for the brass and strings, while her husband, Gerry Goffin, was responsible for the muted trumpets on the middle eight. A finer example of collaboration from writers at their peak would be hard to find.