Clube da Esquina (, , in English "Corner Club") was a Brazilian music artists collective, originating in the

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 ...

ian state of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literall ...

. It is also the name of a double album from 1972. Clube da Esquina mixes

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm ...

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...

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 innovat ...

and

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 m ...

styles, with Brazilian folk music and

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

influences.

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

and

the Platters The Platters was an American vocal group formed in 1952. They are one of the most successful vocal groups of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound bridges the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the new burgeoning genre. The a ...

were also an important influence on Clube da Esquina. Together with Tropicália, Clube da Esquina is usually regarded as the Brazilian musical movement that achieved the greatest international resonance in the post-

period (beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s).

History of Clube da Esquina

In 1963 Milton Nascimento moved from

Três Pontas Três Pontas (; , ''Three Tips'') is a municipality located in southern Minas Gerais state, Brazil. It's a city with about all streets of urban zone paved and services of water and sewage to all people. The municipality has about 57 thousand inha ...

, in the midlands of the state of Minas Gerais, to the capital

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...

, looking for work. He settled at the Levy building, where the Borges Family, including Márcio Borges, already lived. Milton and Márcio started composing (Milton had already played in some bars of Belo Horizonte): Márcio wrote the lyrics, and Milton wrote the music. Ever since, Márcio has played an important role in the history of Clube de Esquina as a lyricist, mainly together with, at a later stage,

Fernando Brant Fernando Rocha Brant (October 9, 1946 – June 12, 2015) was a Brazilian poet, lyricist and journalist, born in Caldas, Minas Gerais. Brant's interest in music and literature began to increase while he studied law at Universidade Federal de Minas ...

. In 1972, the first LP was recorded for EMI, '' Clube da Esquina''. It was a double LP and had a youth group, and it attracted attention because of its engaging compositions, its patchwork of sounds, and its poetic richness. The group wrote a part of one of the most important chapters in the history of Brazilian popular music. It drew the attention of musicians from Brazil and abroad with its artistic daring and innovative creativity. At the time, critics lacked the ability to understand what was happening and made harsh comments about the work. But the album had soon won international recognition and prestige in Brazil. The album and its creators became the head of a network musicians around the world, making it a benchmark of style and aesthetics in contemporary music. It was followed by another album in 1978 (''Clube da Esquina 2''), which contained tracks written by artists who were not part of the original group (such as

Chico Buarque Francisco Buarque de Hollanda (born 19 June 1944), popularly known simply as Chico Buarque, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer, playwright, writer, and poet. He is best known for his music, which often includes social, economic, ...

Clube da Esquina musicians and bands

* Milton Nascimento * 14 Bis *

Toninho Horta Antônio Maurício Horta de Melo (born December 2, 1948) is a Brazilian jazz guitarist and vocalist. In addition to composing and performing his own work, Horta has worked for many years as arranger or sideman for Brazilian artists such as El ...

*Tavinho Moura * Tavito *

Lô Borges Lô Borges (Born Salomão Borges Filho on January 10, 1952) is a Brazilian songwriter, singer, and guitarist. He was one of the founders of Clube da Esquina, a group of musicians that originated in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. He co-autho ...

* Beto Guedes * Wagner Tiso *

(lyricist) *Ronaldo Bastos (lyricist) *Nelson Ângelo *Márcio Borges (lyricist) *Flávio Venturini *Chiquito Braga

References

See Chapter 4 of Charles A. Perrone, Masters of Contemporary Brazilian Song: MPB 1965-1985 ( U TX P, 1989) on Milton Nascimento and friends.

External links

Museu Clube da esquina Museu da Pessoa

''Clube da esquina'' lyric

Blog do Clube da Esquina

Clube da esquina virtual museum

História da MPB Clube da Esquina, 30 anos da revolução mineira

Beyond Tropicália: 10 Representative Songs from Brazil's Clube da Esquina
{{Authority control Brazilian styles of music Brazilian musical groups Brazilian rock music World Pacific Records albums Culture in Minas Gerais