Nélson Jacobina Rocha Pires (1953 – May 31, 2012) was a Brazilian

lyricist A lyricist is a writer who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income derives ...

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

and

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

, famous for his enduring partnership with fellow musician Jorge Mautner, with whom he wrote, among many other songs, the 1974 hit " Maracatu Atômico".

Biography

Jacobina was born in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

in 1953. His father, Nelcy Rocha Pires, was a chivalry officer for the

Brazilian Army The Brazilian Army (; EB) is the branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces responsible, externally, for defending the country in eminently terrestrial operations and, internally, for guaranteeing law, order and the constitutional branches, subordina ...

, and his mother, Eloá Jacobina, was a translator and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. Nelcy died in 1954, when Nélson was only 1 year old, and Eloá eventually remarried filmmaker Fernando Coni Campos. Nélson had three other brothers, one of them being Rubinho Jacobina, also a musician. Jacobina discovered his vocation for music in the early 1970s, when he founded, alongside

Vinicius Cantuária Vinicius Cantuária (born April 29, 1951) is a Brazilian singer, songwriter, guitarist, drummer, and percussionist. He is associated with bossa nova and Brazilian jazz. Born in the Amazonian city of Manaus, Cantuária grew up in Rio de Janeiro ...

and Arnaldo Brandão, the MPB group Banda Atômica. In 1974 the group would open a show for Jorge Mautner, and since then Mautner and Jacobina became very close friends and musical partners; in the same year they wrote their first song together, " Maracatu Atômico". Initially performed by Mautner on his 1974 self-titled album, it would acquire higher success after being covered by

Gilberto Gil Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira (; born 26 June 1942), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician, known for both his musical innovation and political activism. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Brazil's Ministry of Culture (Brazil), Minister of ...

and, even later, by pioneering Mangue Bit band

Nação Zumbi Nação Zumbi (formerly Chico Science & Nação Zumbi) is a Brazilian band formed by Chico Science. They have been hailed as one of the most important groups to come out of the manguebeat movement in the 1990s. The musicians of the group continu ...

. Among other hits written by the duo are "Lágrimas Negras" (performed by

Gal Costa Gal Maria da Graça Costa Penna Burgos (born Maria da Graça Costa Penna Burgos; 26 September 1945 – 9 November 2022), known professionally as Gal Costa (), was a Brazilian singer of Música popular brasileira, popular music. Twelve-times Bra ...

), "Balaio Grande" (performed by

Dorival Caymmi Dorival Caymmi (; April 30, 1914 – August 16, 2008) was a Brazilian singer, songwriter, actor, and painter active for more than 70 years, beginning in 1933. He contributed to the birth of Brazil's bossa nova movement, and several of his samb ...

) and "Andar com Fé" (performed by Gilberto Gil). In 1988 he and Mautner released the collaborative album ''Árvore da Vida''. In 1997 they released another collaborative album, ''Estilhaços de Paixão'', alongside Celso Sim. In 2002 Jacobina served as a guest musician on

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

band Metrô third studio album, '' Déjà-Vu'', providing some

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

passages. Later on he founded the

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

Orquestra Imperial Orquestra Imperial is a Brazilian Big Band formed in 2002 with the objective of recreating the typical Gafieira Samba sound. The group brought together notable names from the new Carioca pop scene such as Rodrigo Amarante (from the group Los Herm ...

alongside many other icons of MPB and

Brazilian rock Brazilian rock refers to rock music produced in Brazil and usually sung in Portuguese language, Portuguese. In the 1960s, it was known as , the Portuguese transcription of the line "Yeah, yeah, yeah" from the Beatles song "She Loves You". Overv ...

such as

Rodrigo Amarante Rodrigo Amarante de Castro Neves (born 6 September 1976) is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger. He is part of the bands Los Hermanos, Orquestra Imperial, and Little Joy, and released his first solo rec ...

(of

Los Hermanos Los Hermanos is a Rock music, rock musical group, band from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The group was formed in 1997 by Marcelo Camelo (vocals/guitar/bass guitar), Rodrigo Amarante (guitar/bass guitar/vocals), Rodrigo Barba (drums), and Bruno Medina ...

fame),

Moreno Veloso Moreno Veloso (born November 22, 1972) is a Brazilian musician and singer. Early life His parents are Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso and his first wife Idelzuith Gadelha (Dedé) Veloso. Brazilian singer Gal Costa is Moreno Veloso's godmoth ...

Domenico Lancellotti Domenico is an Italian given name for males and may refer to: People * Domenico Alfani, Italian painter * Domenico Allegri, Italian composer * Domenico Alvaro, Italian mobster * Domenico Ambrogi, Italian painter * Domenico Auria, Italian arch ...

, Alexandre Kassin, Nina Becker,

Thalma de Freitas Thalma de Freitas (Rio de Janeiro, May 14, 1974) is a Brazilian actress, singer and composer. Career The daughter of the composer, conductor and pianist , at 14 she began studying singing and acting at the Teatro Escola Macunaíma. She made her ...

and Wilson das Neves. Jacobina served as the band's guitarist until 2012, when he died at age 58 of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

on May 31; he was diagnosed with the disease as early as 2008. Orquestra Imperial had finished and released its second studio album a couple of months before Jacobina's death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobina, Nelson 1953 births 2012 deaths Brazilian male songwriters Brazilian lyricists Brazilian guitarists Brazilian male guitarists Música Popular Brasileira guitarists Musicians from Rio de Janeiro (city) Deaths from lung cancer in Brazil Deaths from cancer in Rio de Janeiro (state) Orquestra Imperial members