Gabriel Contino, better known as Gabriel o Pensador (
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
for "Gabriel the Thinker") is a Brazilian rapper, writer, and composer known for his conscious lyrics which speak of activism, and issues of race, politics, social problems, and the Catholic church. Gabriel began his music career when he launched a
demo tape
A demo (shortened from "demonstration") is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed for ...
containing the song "Tô Feliz (Matei o Presidente)" I'm Happy (I killed the President) landing him a contract with
Sony Music
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...
. Since then he has released eight albums: ''Ainda É Só o Começo'', ''Quebra-Cabeça'', ''Nádegas a Declarar'', ''Gabriel o Pensador'', ''Seja Você Mesmo (mas não Seja sempre o Mesmo)'', ''MTV ao Vivo'', ''Cavaleiro Andante'' and ''Sem Crise'' (this last one was released independently). Gabriel has also written three books: "Diário Noturno", "Um Garoto Chamado Rorbeto" and "Meu Pequeno Rubro-Negro". "Um Garoto Chamado Rorbeto" won the "Prêmio Jabuti", for best Children's literature.
Biography
Coming from a middle-class family, a unique background among Brazilian rappers, Gabriel, the son of a well known journalist in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, hit fame in 1992 with the song "Tô Feliz (Matei o Presidente)" ("I'm happy, I've killed the president"), the debut single from his first and eponymous album. This song was written in protest of President
Fernando Collor de Mello
Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello (; born 12 August 1949) is a Brazilian politician who served as the 32nd president of Brazil from 1990 to 1992, when he resigned in a failed attempt to stop his impeachment trial by the Brazilian Senate. Coll ...
and his corrupt administration. Gabriel's mother was Collor's press secretary.
[Gabriel o Pensador](_blank)
/ref> The same album also yielded other hits, including "Lôrabúrra" ("Dumb Blonde", shortened) and "Retrato de um Playboy" ("Portrait of a Playboy"), bringing hip hop mainstream attention in Brazil by catering to the middle class. Although rapping about everyday life, Gabriel also found time to talk about social injustices with his fourth single, "O Resto do Mundo" ("The Leftovers of the World", a pun on the word for "leftovers" and "rest" being the same in Portuguese), a more downbeat track about homeless life, with a purposefully depressive melody and flow. Gabriel was "notorious for his biting attacks on some of the major ills of Brazilian society: poverty, racism, violence."[Behague, Gerard. "Rap, Reggae, Rock, or Samba: The Local and the Global in Brazilian Popular Music (1985–95)." ''Latin American Music Review 27'', no.1 (Spring/Summer 2006): 79–90.]
His following albums were also commercially successful, with a careful blend of socially relevant tracks mixed with airwave-minded pop anthems. His third album, ''Quebra-Cabeça'', was released in 1997 and sold over one million copies. History-minded, Gabriel was highly influenced by other Brazilian music, including bossa nova
Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovativ ...
, samba
Samba (), also known as samba urbano carioca (''urban Carioca samba'') or simply samba carioca (''Carioca samba''), is a Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. Havin ...
and MPB, as well as using hip hop's traditional methods of sampling jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
, funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
and disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...
("2345meia78", for example, sampled Chic
Chic (; ), meaning "stylish" or "smart", is an element of fashion. It was originally a French word. Pronounced Chick.
Etymology
''Chic'' is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s. Early references in English dictiona ...
's "Good Times").
In 1994, while touring in Portugal, Gabriel's song "Lavagem Cerebral" (Brainwashing) was received with much praise. The piece was accepted as "a strong social critique of Brazilian society and of the ideology of the dominating classes."
Besides his native Brazil, Gabriel, o Pensador is also well known in other Lusophone countries such as Portugal, Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, and has worked with Portuguese musicians like Sérgio Godinho
Sérgio de Barros Godinho OL (; born 31 August 1945) is a Portuguese singer-songwriter, composer, actor, poet and author.
Considered one of the most influential popular musicians in Portugal, Godinho started his music career singing folk songs o ...
and General D
General D is a rapper, Hip hop tuga and World music artist. Being the first rapper in Portugal to sign a major record deal, he is considered the ''Godfather Of Portuguese Hip Hop''. Although largely influenced by big name U.S. rap acts such as P ...
. In 2004, he recorded his first song in English entitled, Who's The Enemy?, that appeared on American rapper Ithaka's album, Fishdaddy Flashbacks.
Other projects
The musician has also released three books: "Diário Noturno" (Brazil and Portugal; poems and short stories), "Um garoto chamado Rorbeto" (Brazil; fiction poetry for children) "Meu Pequeno Rubro-Negro" (Brazil; about children who support Flamengo
Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football t ...
, like himself). He has been a juror on the spelling bee contest "Soletrando" (in its second edition) on the program Caldeirão do Huck
Luciano Grostein Huck (born 3 September 1971) is a Brazilian TV host and entrepreneur. From 2000 to 2021, he hosted the TV show ''Caldeirão do Huck'', aired every Saturday on Brazilian network TV Globo, and also broadcast to 114 countries, vi ...
.
Concerned about the truancy among a group of boys he helped in Rocinha
Rocinha (, ''little farm'') is the largest favela in Brazil, located in Rio de Janeiro's South Zone between the districts of São Conrado and Gávea. Rocinha is built on a steep hillside overlooking Rio de Janeiro, and is located about one ...
, in , Rio de Janeiro, Gabriel put his hands to work and created an NGO called "Pensando Junto"(Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
for ''Thinking Together''), an organization serving a social, educational and cultural purpose for children and youth in the community of Rocinha, providing its participants with access to culture, education, leisure, food, medical, dental and psychological care. The organization offers tutoring and courses for a group of underprivileged children in the Rocinha district, located in Gabriel's hometown of Rio de Janeiro, where he still lives in today. Gabriel is also a member of the Dreams Can Be Foundation, a nonprofit charitable supporting organization and a Brazilian NGO dedicated to aiding street children and impoverished youth in Brazil, working in partnership with local organizations and NGOs to provide: education, moral and social development, humanitarian relief, and the offering of opportunities where there were none before.
Discography
;Studio Albums
;Live Albums
;Compilations
Singles
Other Songs
References
External links
Gabriel o Pensador official site
Gabriel's Myspace page
Gabriel's Instagram page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gabriel O Pensador
1974 births
Living people
Brazilian rappers
Brazilian male writers
Brazilian people of Italian descent
Portuguese-language writers
Musicians from Rio de Janeiro (city)
Brazilian musicians