2023-04-30 11:00:41
João Gilberto (1931-2019) entered the popular anecdote due to the abrupt cancellation of his performances and the eternal complaint against the sound system of the houses and theaters in which he performed.
“Drunk booing isn’t worth it,” João fired in September 1999 against a group of spectators at the then Credicard Hall (today Vibra São Paulo). The group booed after João complained – rightly, it should be said – about the insistent echo that interfered with his presentation alongside Caetano Veloso.
But the audience that went to see him at Sesc Vila Mariana – a year and a half earlier, on February 5, 1998 – was delighted with João in full power, parading his rich repertoire without major accidents. (Okay, he talked about his guitar strings being stiff, but that’s part of it.)
That night, the father of the bossa nova beat extended his performance for nearly an hour and a half to an audience made up of singers Marisa Monte and Renato Braz and intellectual José Miguel Wisnik, among others.
At the end of the presentation, a single thought dominated the soul of those people: “what a pity that this show was not recorded!”
It turns out that the show was actually recorded – and is now available on the association’s streaming platform and will be sold in double CD format. There are also plans to turn it into a triple album.
João Gilberto: Live at Sesc 1998 is part of Reliquarya series created by the entity to retrieve and make available audios of legendary performances held in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Juliana Sonoe, responsible for the Sesc label, warns that other historical moments are in progress.
“We are studying a presentation by Zélia Duncan and two moments by Dona Ivone Lara,” he anticipates.
But let’s go back to John. According to Juliana, the musician himself approved the final result before he died, in July 2019. His death, however, started a laborious negotiation with the heirs of the Bahian singer and guitarist. They finally opted to release the material.
The remastering work was carried out by Carlos Freitas, who had worked on other projects in João’s discography.
“Since this was a live recording, I was very careful when restoring the audio. First I eliminated the noise and hiss, normal in a live recording. Afterwards, I focused on the timbre of the guitar and João’s voice,” says Freitas. “He played and sang very lightly, a very intimate show with open microphones at the limit, so the ambience of the theater was captured.”
João Gilberto is one of the most important musicians of the 20th century. One of its main features is a guitar beat that Gilberto Gil, a first-time disciple, defined as “boneless samba”.
Basically, João recreates the percussion sound of a samba group on the instrument. A profound connoisseur of Brazilian music, his repertoire ranged from songs from the beginning of the last century to compositions of his time – in this case, the works of Tom Jobim & Vinicius de Moraes, Tom Jobim & Newton Mendonça, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, among many others. others even boleros and jazz standards.
The technological innovations that were assimilated by the studios in the late 1950s helped João when it came to developing a style of interpretation – low, almost in the ear, but with perfect emission.
The singer and guitarist from Bahia is like those football players of yesteryear, who go months without missing a pass. In the case of his work, he has never released a record below average – and this one recorded live in São Paulo is the spearhead of his collection. “He was light, happy, and at ease, which was reflected in his performance. It was certainly one of João’s best performances on record,” praises Freitas.
It really is a magical moment. The main draw is king without crown, by Herivelto Martins and Waldemar Ressurreição, which he had never recorded on disc. Herivelto also signs Izauraalongside Roberto Roberti, a song he rarely got tired of singing live, but was rarely recorded in his recordings.
João indulges in jokes that are delightful to listen to: he changes the tempo of Portrait in Black and White, by Chico Buarque and Tom Jobim; makes vocal flourishes in Tenderby Pixinguinha and João de Barro, excels in the bass tones of The love in peace, by Tom Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes. the high point is Wavealso by Tom.
João leaves the melody to the audience while he does the harmony part, making his execution a unique moment.
Drunk booing isn’t worth it, but the singing of a respectful audience… that’s all good.
Sergio Martins
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#epic #night #João #Gilberto