Music and Poetry
Raimundo Fagner Cândido Lopes, or in short Fagner, enjoys a long career in which he covers a wide variety of musical styles: rock, romantic ballads, forró, other styles from Brazil’s northeast, commercial pop — Fagner doesn’t shy away from any of those. Born in Orós, Ceará, on October 13th, 1949, Fagner showed a musical talent almost even before he could talk. At age five, he pleased his mom by entering and winning a contest for children singing on Mother’s Day. In 1968 he won the Popular Music Festival in Ceará as a composer. Three years later he did the same in Brasília, where he won the Festival de Música Popular do Centro de Estudos Universitários with his and Belchior’s composition “Mucuripe.” The song turned out to be one of his classics and was also recorded by Elis Regina, among others.
On his 30th album, Fagner highlights the poetry of Francisco Carvalho (Russas, Ceará, 1927), a relatively unknown poet from Ceará. Unknown also due to his own “fault,” because he refuses every interview and contact with the press. His work was pointed out to Fagner only last year. Under the impression of what he read, Fagner immediately decided to dedicate a big part of his next album to the work of the poet. To accentuate both his and Francisco Carvalho’s origin, the cover of the cd shows a very characteristic photo of Ceará: a dune landscape. Five poems of Carvalho’s were tastefully put to music by Fagner. Also the work of another great poet is featured on this cd, José Carlos Capinam, from whom two poems were used.
The impressive “O Bicho Homem”, a protest about the damages to earth caused by mankind, has a beautiful arrangement by co-producer Rildo Hora. It features the 7-string guitar (Carlos Moraes) and cavaco (Márcio Almeida) and during its almost seven minutes, the song chances colours from samba-canção to choro-canção. Very typical for the work of Fagner. “Cesta Básica” has a somewhat funky, danceable arrangement. “Reino” and “Minueto da Porta” are two poems that are cleverly interweaved with each other into one song. This composition ends with a splendid and little aggressive guitar solo by Fernando Caneca, very supportively accompanied by organ. The title track, “Donos do Brasil” is treated with a pure samba arrangement. “Mistério de Amor” is the most typical Fagner pop song on this album. A pleasant melody with a melancholic undertone. Again fine guitar work by Fernando Caneca. In the same line we hear “Rosa da China.” The song “Dezembros” comes from Fagner’s previous album, a cd he did with Zeca Baleiro. It was a hit song that was also used in the trailer of a soap opera in Brazil, Da Cor do Pecado, and therefore included as a bonus track on this album.
Despite the fact that this is Fagner’s 30th album, he’s still able to bring something new. Of course with such a long history, his work is very recognizable. Nevertheless, this cd is of a very high artistic level, especially compared to so many other albums released these days. Fagner certainly deserves his place in the history books on Brazilian Music. If needed, he proves it again on this album.
ALBUM INFORMATION
Fagner
Donos do Brasil
Indie Records 789842012368 (2004)
Time: 49’35”
Tracks:
- O Bicho Homem (Raimundo Fagner – Francisco Carvalho)
- Nome de Estrela (Raimundo Fagner – Capinan)
- Faz de Conta (Roberto Mendes – Herculano Neto)
- Esse Touro Vale Ouro (Raimundo Fagner – Francisco Carvalho)
- Cesta Básica (Raimundo Fagner – Francisco Carvalho)
- Rosa da China (Raimundo Fagner – Fausto Nilo)
- Mistério de Amor (Raimundo Fagner – Brandão)
- Reino/Minueto da Porta (Raimundo Fagner – Francisco Carvalho)
- Ressureição (Raimundo Fagner – Abel Silva)
- Todo Seu Querer (Roberto Mendes – Capinan)
- Donos do Brasil (Raimundo Fagner – Nonato Luiz – Paulinho Tapajós)
- Canção da Floresta (Sebastião Dias)
- Dezembros (Raimundo Fagner – Zeca Baleiro – Fausto Nilo)
