José Gomes da Costa, also called Zé Spinelli and Zé Espinguela (c. 1890–1945), was a Brazilian journalist, writer,

pai-de-santo A ''pai-de-santo'' or ''pai de santo'' (, plural pais de santo ) is a male priest of Candomblé, Umbanda and Quimbanda, the Afro-Brazilian religions. In Portuguese, those words translate as "saint's father", which is a calque (word-to-word tran ...

, and samba musician, who was a member of the Bloco dos Arengueiros, a founder of the Estação Primeira de Mangueira, and an organizer of one of the first samba competitions on 20 January 1929. The contest occurred at his house on Rua Adolpho Bergamini in the Engenho de Dentro neighborhood, the same area where Arranco samba school now stands.

Biography

Espinguela was born around 1890 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 ...

. As a precursor, he held a contest in 1927. Heitor dos Prazeres won with the song ''A Tristeza Me Persegue''. Being a member of Mangueira, Zé Espinguela acted in an impartial manner as a judge of the 1929 contest, awarding Conjunto Oswaldo Cruz, now known as Portela. Ironically, the group that is considered the first samba school, Deixa Falar, had been eliminated by Espinguela for presenting wind instruments, which were prohibited as they had been considered averse to modern samba, which they themselves had been promoting. Some consider the contest he held as the starting point leading to the development of present-day samba schools.Academia do Samba - Capítulo 1
A friend of

Heitor Villa-Lobos Heitor Villa-Lobos (March 5, 1887November 17, 1959) was a Brazilian composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has globally bec ...

, Espinguela was a figure of immense importance to early samba. Villa-Lobos promoted a musical meeting between the American maestro

Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British-born American conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra. H ...

with the sambistas

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 ...

, Zé da Zilda, Zé Espinguela, Donga, and others. The recording results were edited in the United States on several 78 rpm discs. In the final years of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Espinguela, who was most likely nearing seventy years old, felt that he was close to the end of his life. According to Arthur de Oliveira, he went to Mangueira and said goodbye to the neighborhood. He would assemble the people of the neighborhood and they made a procession in his memory, singing in his memory. He died in 1945.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Espinguela, Zé 1890 births 1945 deaths Musicians from Rio de Janeiro (city) Afro-Brazilian musicians Rio Carnival Umbanda Samba musicians 19th-century Brazilian male musicians 20th-century Brazilian male musicians