Engenheiros do Hawaii
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Engenheiros do Hawaii ("Engineers from
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
" in English) was a Brazilian
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band formed in
Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the twelfth most populous city in the country and the center of Brazil's fif ...
in 1983 that achieved great popularity with their ironic, critically charged songs with heavily semantic lyrics often relying on wordplays. The
vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
and bassist Humberto Gessinger was the only member present since the original lineup.


History


First years in the south

Three
architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
college students from UFRGS, Humberto Gessinger (vocal and guitar), Carlos Maltz (drums) and Marcelo Pitz (bass) decided to form a band for a show in a college festival. That performance brought invitations to do new shows and after some gigs in alternative venues in Porto Alegre and a series along Rio Grande do Sul's country region, the Engenheiros do Hawaii recorded their first solo album: '' Longe Demais das Capitais'' in 1986. The record's musical direction pointed towards a more New Wave sound, very close to the sound of bands like
The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Polic ...
and
Os Paralamas do Sucesso Os Paralamas do Sucesso (also known simply as Paralamas) is a Brazilian rock band, formed in Seropédica, Rio de Janeiro, in the late 1970s. Its members since 1982 are Herbert Vianna (guitar and lead vocals), Bi Ribeiro (bass), and João Baro ...
. It includes the songs "Toda Forma de Poder" and "Sopa de Letrinhas". Before they got around to recording the second album, Marcelo Pitz left the band. In his place was recruited the guitarist Augusto Licks, who had worked with Nei Lisboa, a known local musician. With Gessinger assuming the bass the Engenheiros released the album '' A Revolta dos Dândis'' in 1987. The band changed their sound, turning to a more
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
-ish, folk mood, with critical lyrics with literature quotes from philosophers such as
Albert Camus Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. His work ...
and
Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lit ...
. It brought the hits "Infinita Highway", "Terra de Gigantes", "Refrão de Bolero" and the title track, divided in two parts. By this time they had begun to play gigs to greater audiences in the center of the country, like the Alternativa Nativa festival, between 14 and 17 June 1987. From this date, the Engenheiros filled halls and stadia all over Brazil. The following album, ''Ouça o Que Eu Digo, Não Ouça Ninguém'' of 1988 can be seen as a natural succession from the previous one, due both to the album coverwork and the theme and style of its songs. Well-known songs from this album include "Somos Quem Podemos Ser", "Nunca Se Sabe", "Tribos & Tribunais" and "Variações Sobre o Mesmo Tema", the last one being a tribute to Pink Floyd, with its progressive mood and being split in three parts. This album also marked the time that the Engenheiros relocated from the city of Porto Alegre to
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 ...
. With the new formation settled, the Engenheiros released '' Alívio Imediato'', of 1989, their first live album. It showcased a retrospective of their main songs and the new ideas leading to a more electronic sound, present in the title track and in the song "Nau à Deriva".


''Gessinger, Licks & Maltz''

The following album, '' O Papa É Pop'', from 1990 consolidated the band's change of sound. Fuelled by the success of "Era Um Garoto Que Como Eu Amava os Beatles e os Rolling Stones", a new recording of an old song from 1960s group Os Incríveis, this album tried out a progressive sound, with Licks's guitar solos and a more electronic base of keyboards and drums. He is the author of the songs "O Exército de um Homem Só", "Pra Ser Sincero", "Perfeita Simetria" and the title track. Acclaimed by the people and bashed by the critics, the Engenheiros do Hawaii left their mark in '' Rock in Rio II'', earning praises from even
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
. The following year would see the band's next release, ''Várias Variáveis'', that failed to repeat its predecessor's success, even with songs well-known to fans like "Piano Bar", "Muros & Grades" and "Herdeiro da Pampa Pobre", cover version from a Gaúcho da Fronteira song. In 1992, a brand-new album, ''Gessinger, Licks & Maltz''. Their sound kept on mixing MPB, milonga and progressive elements, most noticeably in the tracks "Pampa no Walkman", "Ninguém = Ninguém" and "Parabólica", a song composed by Gessinger in homage to his daughter, Clara. Their follow-up release is a semi-acoustic album: ''Filmes de Guerra, Canções de Amor'', from 1993, recorded live in Sala Cecília Meirelles, Rio de Janeiro. With acoustic guitars, percussion, piano and guesting the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, scored by Wagner Tiso, old songs like "Muros & Grades" and "Crônica" and new works like "Mapas do Acaso" and "Realidade Virtual" sounded cooler and highlighted the quality of Gessinger's songwriting.


Difficult times

The year 1993 also marked the first tours to Japan and the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. Unfortunately, towards the end of this year, an internal rift resulted in Augusto Licks leaving the band. There began a long legal dispute over the ownership of the name “Engenheiros do Hawaii," with Gessinger and Maltz finally winning control of the name. The next step was to rebuild the Engenheiros, with the addition of a guitarist, Ricardo Horn. Afterwards two new members joined the band -
Paolo Casarin Paolo Casarin (born 12 May 1940 in Venice) is a retired football referee from Italy. He is mostly known for supervising two matches in the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain and overseeing rules and regulations throughout Europe. Growing up in Mestre, n ...
(accordion and keyboards) and another guitarist Fernando Deluqui (ex-
RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...
). After two years without recording, Engenheiros released ''Simples de Coração'', towards the end of 1995. The sound was heavier, with a regional flavour given to it by the accordion of Casarin. Standout tracks were "A Promessa", "Lance de Dados" and "Simples de Coração". Towards the end of this period, Maltz decided to leave the band, resulting in a new crisis in the band.


Gessinger Trio

Gessinger returned to Porto Alegre, and with two friends, Luciano Granja (guitar) and Adal Fonseca (drums), formed the band Gessinger Trio. Later, they produced the album ''Humberto Gessinger Trio'' in 1996. The key points of the disc cover Gessinger's early works, such as the songs "Vida Real", "O Preço" and "A Ferro e Fogo". In reality it is "an album by Engenheiros without the name Engenheiros do Hawaii", in Gessinger's words. They proved themselves the next year when Granja, Adal, and Gessinger re-assumed the name Engenheiros do Hawaii.


Return

For their 1997 album ''Minuano'', which marked the return of Engenheiros, a new keyboardist, Lucio Dorfman, joined the band. The disc, which mixed regional influences and critical lyrics by Gessinger, combining the success of "A Montanha", as well as other songs such as "Nuvem" and "Alucinação", a cover of an old tune by MPB singer Belchior. The follow-up, ''Tchau Radar!'', from 1999, showed a more mature Engenheiros, with tunes considered beautiful by fans, like "Eu Que Não Amo Você" and "3 x 4", and two covers: "Negro Amor", a version of
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
's
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan and featured on his '' Bringing It All Back Home'' album, released on March 22, 1965, by Columbia Records. The song was recorded on January 15, 1965, with Dylan's acousti ...
, and "A Cruzada". Afterwards, they released their third live recording, and the twelfth album of their career: ''10.000 Destinos ao Vivo''. Then, Gessinger went back of the back catalogue of the band and wrote new songs, amongst them covers of "Rádio Pirata" and "Quando o Carnaval Chegar".
Renato Borghetti Renato Borghetti (born July 23, 1963 in Porto Alegre) is a Brazilian folk musician and composer. He works in many genres including traditional styles from his home state of Rio Grande do Sul, other styles of Brazilian music like samba, and in ...
was prominent in new versions of two hits: "Toda Forma de Poder" and "Refrão de Bolero". Some months after their performance in '' Rock in Rio III'', Lucio, Adal and Luciano left the band to form Massa Crítica, changing once again the formation of Engenheiros.


''Surfando Karmas & DNA'' and ''Dançando no Campo Minado''

After this parting, Lucio, Adal and Luciano were replaced by Paulinho Galvão (rhythm guitar), Bernardo Fonseca (bass) and Gláucio Ayala (drums). The sound is cleaner, but also a bit heavier. In 2002, a more nostalgic phase of the band was started, with the release of ''Surfando Karmas & DNA'', with the participation of ex-band members, especially Carlos Maltz on "E-stória". Standout tracks for this album include "Esportes Radicais" and "Terceira do Plural". The following album, ''Dançando no Campo Minado'', from 2003, continued the theme: short tracks, heavy guitar and critical lyrics of Gessinger denouncing the perils of globalization, war and showing disillusionment with politics and ideology, the last one featuring contributions from Carlos Maltz. However, the most successful track of this album was catchy pop-rock theme "Até o Fim". To commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the band in 2004, Engenheiros do Hawaii released a disc from an ''
MTV Unplugged ''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV showcasing musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999 and less frequently from 2000 to 2009, when it was usually billed as ''MTV Un ...
'' session. Special guests on this session were Fernando Aranha (acoustic guitar), Humberto Barros (Hammond organ) and Carlos Maltz, Gessinger presented new versions of classics like "Infinita Highway" and "O Papa é Pop". Other tracks are "Pose", with contributions from Clara, Gessinger's daughter, and songs from the Gessinger Trio era, which had already been incorporated to the EngHaw official material.


Unplugged tour

After the success of the unplugged DVD, the band, reformed by Humberto Gessinger, with the loss of the guitarist Paulinho Galvão who went on to other projects, carried on with new additions Fernando Aranha on strings, and the young musician Pedro Augusto on keyboards. Now, the band is looking back to their glorious time in the late-1980s and early-1990s, with some old hit songs, barely altered from their original versions, being played in shows. The acoustic phase can be counted as one of the greatest successes of the band in recent years. Moving forward from 2006, the band has promised a new album sometime in the first quarter of 2007.


Discography


Studio albums

*(1986) '' Longe Demais das Capitais'' *(1987) '' A Revolta dos Dândis'' *(1988) ''Ouça o Que Eu Digo, Não Ouça Ninguém'' *(1990) '' O Papa É Pop'' *(1991) ''Várias Variáveis'' *(1992) ''Gessinger, Licks & Maltz'' *(1995) ''Simples de Coração'' *(1996) ''Humberto Gessinger Trio'' *(1997) ''Minuano'' *(1999) ''Tchau Radar!'' *(2002) ''Surfando Karmas & DNA'' *(2003) ''Dançando no Campo Minado''


Live albums

* (1989) '' Alívio Imediato'' * (1993) ''Filmes de Guerra, Canções de Amor'' * (2000) ''10.000 Destinos ao Vivo'' * (2004) ''Acústico MTV: Engenheiros do Hawaii'' * (2007) ''Acústico Novos Horizontes''


External links

*
Unofficial website

Engenheiros do Hawaii Channel
*
Dicionário Cravo Albin de Música Popular Brasileira - Engenheiros do Hawaii
{{DEFAULTSORT:Engenheiros Do Hawaii Musical groups established in 1985 Musical groups from Porto Alegre Brazilian alternative rock groups Musical groups disestablished in 2008 1985 establishments in Brazil 2008 disestablishments in Brazil