Noel de Medeiros Rosa (December 11, 1910 – May 4, 1937
) was a Brazilian songwriter, singer, and guitar/
mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
player. One of the greatest names in
Brazilian popular music
Brazilian commonly refers to:
* Something of, from or relating to Brazil
* Brazilian Portuguese, the dialect of the Portuguese language used mostly in Brazil
* Brazilians, the people (citizens) of Brazil, or of Brazilian descent
Brazilian may also ...
, Noel gave a new twist to
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 ...
, combining its
Afro-Brazilian
Afro-Brazilians ( pt, afro-brasileiros; ) are Brazilians who have predominantly African ancestry (see "Black people#Brazil, preto"). Most members of another group of people, Pardo Brazilians, multiracial Brazilians or ''pardos'', may also have a ...
roots with a more urban, witty language and making it a vehicle for ironic social commentary.
Early life
Rosa was born in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
into a middle-class family of the
Vila Isabel
Vila Isabel is a middle-class neighborhood in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, known for its music-themed Boulevard 28 de Setembro, which celebrates the neighborhood's long musical heritage. Many musicians like Almirante, Braguinha, Henr ...
neighbourhood. An accident with a
forceps
Forceps (plural forceps or considered a plural noun without a singular, often a pair of forceps; the Latin plural ''forcipes'' is no longer recorded in most dictionaries) are a handheld, hinged instrument used for grasping and holding objects. Fo ...
at his birth caused a disfigured
chin
The chin is the forward pointed part of the anterior mandible (List_of_human_anatomical_regions#Regions, mental region) below the lower lip. A fully developed human skull has a chin of between 0.7 cm and 1.1 cm.
Evolution
The presence of a we ...
.
He learned to play the
mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
while still a teenager, and soon moved on to the guitar. Although Noel started medicine studies, he gave most of his attention to music and would spend whole nights in bars drinking and playing with other samba musicians.
Career
Together with
Braguinha and
Almirante he formed the musical group Bando de Tangarás.
Soon he started composing sambas, and he had his breakthrough with "Com que roupa?", one of the biggest hits of 1931 and the first in a string of memorable compositions. Noel was a good friend of
Cartola
Angenor de Oliveira, known as Cartola (Portuguese for top hat), (; October 11, 1908 – November 30, 1980) was a Brazilian singer, composer and poet considered to be a major figure in the development of samba.
Cartola composed, alone or with pa ...
, who took care of him several times at his house on the Mangueira slum after some nights of heavy drinking. In the early 1930s Noel Rosa started to show signs of
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
. He would occasionally leave for treatment in mountain resorts, but always ended up coming back to Rio and the
nightlife
Nightlife is a collective term for entertainment that is available and generally more popular from the late evening into the early hours of the morning. It includes pubs, bars, nightclubs, parties, live music, concerts, cabarets, theatre, c ...
.
Personal life and death
In 1934, Rosa married Lindaura Martins, a seventeen-year-old neighbour, but that didn't keep him from having affairs with other women. Rosa was a heavy smoker, and most of his photographs show him with a cigarette hanging from his lower lip. By the later 1930s his health had seriously deteriorated, and he died of tuberculosis in 1937 at the age of 26.
It is likely that Rosa had
Pierre Robin syndrome
Pierre Robin sequence (; abbreviated PRS) is a congenital defect observed in humans which is characterized by facial abnormalities. The three main features are micrognathia (abnormally small mandible), which causes glossoptosis (downwardly displac ...
.
Tribute
* On December 11, 2019, Google celebrated his 109th birthday with a
Google Doodle
A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...
.
* A tunnel in the Vila Isabel neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro is named in his honor.
Compositions
Noel Rosa wrote around 250 compositions, including:
*"A.E.I.O.U." (with
Lamartine Babo
Lamartine Babo (10 January 1904 — 16 June 1963) was one of the most important popular composers of Brazil. Babo composed several of satirical sambas, ''marchinhas'' and other songs; he is especially remembered for composing anthems for all the ...
, 1931)
*"Até amanhã" (1932)
*"Cem mil réis" (with Vadico, 1936)
*"Com que roupa?" (1929)
*"Conversa de botequim" (with Vadico, 1935)
*"Coração" (1932)
*"Cor de cinza" (1933)
*"Dama do cabaré" (1934)
*"De babado" (with João Mina, 1936)
*"De qualquer maneira" (with
Ary Barroso
Ary de Resende Barroso (1903–1964), better known as Ary Barroso, was a Brazilian composer, pianist, soccer commentator, and talent-show host on radio and TV. He was one of Brazil's most successful songwriters in the first half of the 20th centur ...
)
*"É bom parar" (with Rubens Soares, 1936)
*"Feitiço da Vila" (with Vadico, 1936)
*"Feitio de oração" (with Vadico, 1933)
*"Filosofia" (with André Filho, 1933)
*"Fita amarela" (1932)
*"Gago apaixonado" (1930)
*"João Ninguém" (1935)
*"Minha viola" (1929)
*"Mulher indigesta"
*"Não tem tradução" (1933)
*"O orvalho vem caindo" (with Kid Pepe, 1933)
*"O sol nasceu pra todos" (1935)
*"O X do problema" (1936)
*"Palpite infeliz" (1934)
*"Para me livrar do mal" (with Ismael Silva, 1932)
*"Pastorinhas" (with
João de Barro
João is the Portuguese equivalent of the given name John. The diminutive is Joãozinho and the feminine is Joana. It is widespread in Portuguese-speaking countries. Notable people with the name are enumerated in the sections below.
Kings
* J ...
, 1934)
*"Pela décima vez" (1935)
*"Pierrô apaixonado" (with Heitor dos Prazeres, 1935)
*"Positivismo" (with Orestes Barbosa, 1933)
*"Pra que mentir" (with Vadico, 1937)
*"Provei" (with Vadico, 1936)
*"Quando o samba acabou (1933)
*"Quem dá mais?" (also known as "Leilão do Brasil) (1930)
*"Quem ri melhor" (1936)
*"São coisas nossas" (1936)
*"Século do progresso" (1936)
*"Tarzan, o filho do alfaiate" (1936)
*"Três apitos" (1933)
*"Último desejo" (1937)
*"Você só...mente" (with Hélio Rosa, 1933)
*"Mama de farinha" (with Hélio Rosa, 1943)
Books
* No Tempo de Noel Rosa. (Almirante)
* Noel Rosa: Uma Biografia. (
João Máximo e
Carlos Didier)
* Noel Rosa: Língua e Estilo (
Castellar de Carvalho e
Antonio Martins de Araujo
Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...
)
* Songbook Noel Rosa 1, 2 e 3 (
Almir Chediak
Almir Santana Chediak (June 21, 1950 – May 25, 2003) was a Brazilian musical producer, entrepreneur, publisher, guitarist, teacher, composer, writer and researcher.
Almir Chediak was born into a Lebanese immigrant family and grew up on the s ...
)
* Noel Rosa: Para Ler e Ouvir (
Eduardo Alcantara de Vasconcellos
Eduardo is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the male given name Edward. Another version is Duarte. It may refer to:
Association football
* Eduardo Bonvallet, Chilean football player and sports commentator
* Eduardo Carvalho, Portuguese footb ...
)
* O Jovem Noel Rosa (
Guca Domenico)
* O Estudante do Coração (
Lui Morais
Lui Morais (pen name of Luis Carlos de Morais Junior, also known as Hermes Grau) is a Brazilian hermetic writer, professor and philosopher, polygraph author of books about philosophy, alchemy, literature, xamanism, Brazilian popular music (samba) ...
)
* O Sol nasceu pra todos, a história secreta do samba (
Lui Morais
Lui Morais (pen name of Luis Carlos de Morais Junior, also known as Hermes Grau) is a Brazilian hermetic writer, professor and philosopher, polygraph author of books about philosophy, alchemy, literature, xamanism, Brazilian popular music (samba) ...
)
* A Geração do Ouro Solar, Noel Rosa, Alquimia e Tarot (
Lui Morais
Lui Morais (pen name of Luis Carlos de Morais Junior, also known as Hermes Grau) is a Brazilian hermetic writer, professor and philosopher, polygraph author of books about philosophy, alchemy, literature, xamanism, Brazilian popular music (samba) ...
)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosa, Noel
1910 births
1937 deaths
Brazilian composers
Brazilian songwriters
Samba musicians
Musicians from Rio de Janeiro (city)
20th-century Brazilian male singers
20th-century Brazilian singers
20th-century deaths from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis deaths in Rio de Janeiro (state)