Old Recordings from the 1950s Reveal Brazil's Rich Musical History

08/10/2016 - 11h18

A near-sacred ritual of the past: every Friday night, musicians gathered at the house of the França family, in the well-to-do suburb of Ipanema, in Rio.

"They arrived at 8 p.m., played all through the night, and left the next day at 9 a.m. after breakfast," reminisces Magda, daughter of the pianist, composer and teacher Neusa (1920-2016) and lawyer Oswaldo (1913-1988).

Just seven years old when these meetings began in 1951, Magda watched history unfold. She saw tens of maestros pass through the doors of that house: Brazilian musical great Jacob do Bandolim; Lamartine Babo, author of the famous song "O Teu Cabelo Não Nega"; Baden Powell, one of Brazil's most famous guitar players; Roberto Menescal, the pioneer of bossa nova; and other radical composers.

But the records would have skipped out a chapter, the chapter of Neusa França herself, if, in 1957, Oswald had not bought a grammar-phone to record her singing. And if, in 2016, Alexandre Dias, researcher and director of the IPB (Brazilian Piano Institute), had not begun to upload the material on YouTube.

In the past few weeks, the IPB has uploaded 49 audios extracted from these recordings - "not even 5% of the archive", says Dias.

Crackly but clear are the voices of Lamartine Babo, before he became famous, singing "Os Rouxinóis", which he had composed in 1957 for the following year's carnaval; Claudio Santoro and Vinicius de Moraes singing love duets; Aldrefo Medeiros performing alongside João Pernambuco; Baden Powell, just 23 years old, playing "Insônia" years before he released it on disc.

Dias predicts that all the audios will be available by the end of the year.

You can hear the archive for yourself at bit.ly/neusafranca

Translated by GILLIAN SOPHIE HARRIS

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