Now Playing Week 66: João da Baiana (1887-1974) - "Cabide de Mulamba", "Saudação a Iemanjá", and "Quê Quê Rê Quê Quê "

Nothing less than the introducer of the pandeiro in Brazilian popular music, João Machado Guedes (1887-1974), son of Félix José Guedes and Perciliana Maria Constança, the youngest, single born in Rio de Janeiro, of a Bahian family with 12 brothers. Was one protagonists of many cultural and musical experiences that take place in the city of Rio de Janeiro in the first decades of the 20th century.

Grandson of freed slaves, he participated since early in the wheels of candomblé, samba and other Afro-Brazilian cultural traditions. In these encounters he learned to play pandeiro which became his main instrument. He was also the first to be seen scraping the "knife in plate", creating the unusual musical instrument that became popular later.

It was in the mansions of the "Aunt Baianas", and "Aunt Ciata", that the celebrations held like pillars of "samba carioca", João da Baiana was son of one of them, "Aunt Preseiliana". He played samba and candomblé until he was nine, but he always kept parallel jobs that had nothing to do with music. At the age of twelve he was a coachman's assistant to "Hermes da Fonseca", the future president of the Republic, who worked as an apprentice in the navy, in the army, and later developed his career at the docks of the port, where he retired as a fiscal.

His first composition was "Pelo Amor da Mulata", 1923, followed by "Mulher Cruel", in partnership with Donga and Pixinguinha. His samba "Cabide de Molamba" was very successful in 1928, when João stayed famous as a rhythm player on the radio, with the knife in plate, and the pandeiro..

In the 1930s he was part of the "Guarda Velha" and "Diabos do Céu" ensembles. In the following decade, he participated in the recording of the "Native Brazilian Music Collection", with maestro Leopold Stokowski, organized by Heitor Villa-Lobos. In the 1950s, he was invited by Almirante to form with Pixinguinha and Donga, the "Velha Guarda" ensemble. In its trajectory are projected aspects of the informal urban culture of the streets: the practices of the profane and religious popular festivals; the traditions of Afro-Brazilian culture; and finally, the entertainment industry.

He was one of the first to record the so-called macumba points at the head of the group João da Baiana and Seu Terreiro. João grew up in a musical environment replete with nineteenth-century cultural references, of rural origin, but that already behaved the new elements of the urban scene in Rio. Especially in the house of Aunt Ciata, he lived with these multiple aspects of rural and urban Afro-Brazilian cultures.

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Musician, at a time when the sambistas were being chased by the police. Once, at the Feast of Penha, he was arrested and his pandeiro was seized. Shortly thereafter he was invited to a party at the home of Senator Pinheiro Machado, an influential politician who was his admirer. Since he had no pandeiro, he did not go. The senator, when he knew the reason for his absence, presented the samba player with a new pandeiro, with the following inscription on the leather of the instrument: "To my admiration, João da Baiana, signed Pinheiro Machado." After that, the samba player was never harassed by the police.

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Before Joao da Baiana, the pandeiro was used only in orchestras, in samba, he introduced the instrument at the age of eight, while he was a member of the 'Dois de Ouro' and 'Pedra do Sal' associations. Until then only tambourines were used, "And even so it was great tambourine and cable".

The pandeiro of his time was a major pandeiro, on the site of the Museum of Image and Sound (MIS), we can visit the knife plate in which João played, I searched extensively for a photo of the pandeiro, as well as knowing his whereabouts, unfortunately I did not find.

Hope you like =D

A great hug!
Guilherme Faquetti
April, 04, 2019

References

http://zedobelo.com.br/joao-da-baiana/
https://www.mis.rj.gov.br/perolas/saravah-joao-da-baiana/
http://musicabrasilis.org.br/compositores/joao-da-baiana
http://www.revistamusicabrasileira.com.br/memoria/joao-da-baiana-130-anos-de-nascimento
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%A3o_da_Baiana
http://enciclopedia.itaucultural.org.br/pessoa558029/joao-da-baiana

Testimony for the posteriority!

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