Sunday, November 15, 2009

Villa-Lobos: Legends & Facts



A new article in Bravo! by Paulo Nadal presents Lendas e Fatos (Legends and Facts) about Villa-Lobos. I learned lots about Villa-Lobos from this; even in Google's Translation. Some fun facts:
  • Villa was involved in a tribute to the famous Brazilian aviator Santos Dumont in 1903. This was during his two-year stint with the choroes group Cavaquinho de Ouro, led by Quincas Laranjeira.
  • Villa's first gig as a conductor was in 1908, at the Theatro Santa Celina in Paranaguá PR. During this period (and this is where I might be missing something in the translation), Villa was on the run from the (choros-persecuting?) police.
  • Villa-Lobos learned about the music and culture of the Amazonian Indians from the files of anthropologist Edgar Roquette-Pinto and his brother Raul Bormann, who was part of the famous Cândido Rondon Expedition. Rondon was part of the famous River of Doubt trip with Teddy Roosevelt.
The amazing picture above is by Marcos Garupi.

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