''Zé Ramalho'' is the debut album (if ''

Paêbirú ''Paêbirú'' is an album by Brazilian artists Lula Côrtes and Zé Ramalho. The album was originally released in 1975 and reissued in 2005 on Shadoks Music and later on by Mr. Bongo UK, in a very high quality Vinyl and CD Edition. Allegedly, ...

'' is not taken into account) by the artist of same name, released in 1978. It features two great hits of his career: "Chão de Giz" and "Avôhai".

Patrick Moraz Patrick Philippe Moraz (born 24 June 1948) is a Swiss musician, film composer and songwriter, best known for his tenures as keyboardist in the rock bands Yes and the Moody Blues. Born into a musical family, Moraz learned music at a young age an ...

, keyboardist of the band

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * Young Eisner Scholars, in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Appalachia, US * Young Ep ...

, guest appeared in the track "Avôhai". The CD was re-released in 2003 with five bonus tracks.

Background

The songs of the album were created during trips through the states of

Paraíba Paraíba ( , ; ) is a states of Brazil, state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Paraíba i ...

and

Pernambuco Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...

between 1975 and 1976, when Ramalho was studying medicine at the

Federal University of Paraíba Federal University of Paraíba (, UFPB) is a public university whose main campus is located in the city of João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil. Along with Federal University of Campina Grande, they're the main universities in the state of Paraíb ...

. With these tracks, he left college and moved to

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 ...

, where he approached several producers and businessmen to try and land a deal for his first solo album. However, he was rejected by all of them after showing them "Avôhai", "Vila do Sossego" and "Chão de Giz" until he met Jairo Pires, then president of

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

, via which the album was released.

Production, "Avôhai" and reception

The album features many artists including

Sérgio Dias Sérgio Dias Baptista (born December 1, 1950) is a Brazilian rock musician, composer and guitar player. Twice a Latin Grammy nominee, he is best known for his work with the band Os Mutantes and has been the only consistent member of the band, a ...

Dominguinhos José Domingos de Morais (12 February 1941 – 23 July 2013), better known as Dominguinhos, was a Brazilian composer, accordionist and singer. His principal musical influences were the music of Luiz Gonzaga, Forró and in general the music of th ...

, Altamiro Carrilho,

Bezerra da Silva José Bezerra da Silva (February 23, 1927 – January 17, 2005) was a Brazilian samba musician of the partido alto style. Biography Bezerra da Silva was born on February 23, 1927 in Recife. He played zabumba as a child and sang coco in Recife. ...

Paulo Moura Paulo Moura (15 July 1932 – 12 July 2010) was a Brazilian clarinetist and saxophonist. Born in São José do Rio Preto, where his father was the maestro of a marching band and encouraged his son to train as a tailor, Paulo instead studied in t ...

and keyboardist

fame, the latter on "Avôhai". Sion kept contact with Moraz, which is what allowed the opportunity for his guest appearance. He played a keyboard that Sion had rented from

Lincoln Olivetti Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (nam ...

. "Avôhai" was composed as a tribute to Ramalho's grandfather, who adopted him after his father died by drowning two years after he was born. Ramalho said that inspiration for the song came after an experience with

psilocybin mushroom Psilocybin mushrooms, or psilocybin-containing mushrooms, commonly known as magic mushrooms or as shrooms, are a type of hallucinogenic mushroom and a polyphyletic informal group of fungi that contain the prodrug psilocybin, which turns into t ...

s in a friend's farm. He looked at the sky and saw the "shadow of a gigantic spaceship", and a voice whispered "Avôhai" in his ear. He was in that farm for a college assignment. "Avôhai" comes from the words "Avô" (grandfather) and "Pai" (father). The song marked the first time he listened to his own work on the radio, when he was in a taxi heading to Galeão Airport in order to catch a plane for another leg of the album's promotional tour. The album didn't receive much attention from the press, and when it did, it received heavy criticism; Ramalho believes critics simply had a prejudice against his Northeastern origins. A story published by '' Folha de S.Paulo'' in 1980, however, says critics were positive about the album and that some established a comparison between Ramalho and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

. About this, in the same story, Ramalho said they did so because "they didn't know Otacílio Batista" - one of Brazil's greatest repentists, according to him. In 2014, "Chão de Giz" was listed by

ECAD Electronic design automation (EDA), also referred to as electronic computer-aided design (ECAD), is a category of software tools for designing electronic systems such as integrated circuits and printed circuit boards. The tools work together ...

as the tenth song with most live cover versions performed in that year.

Track listing

Remastered version

Apart from all original tracks, the remastered version contains the following bonus tracks, all of them being

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, ...

& voice versions:

Personnel

* Zé Ramalho – Acoustic guitar,

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

. * Chico Julien — bass * Chico Batera — drums * Gian Carlos Pareschini –

Violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

on "Vila do Sossego * Lula Côrtes – Electric

tricordia A tricordia (also trichordia or tricordio) or mandriola is a twelve-stringed variation of the mandolin. The tricordia is used in Mexican folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music a ...

on "A Noite Preta" * Lourenço Baeta –

Flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

on "Voa, Voa" * Odaires Rosangela –

Choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

on "Voa, Voa" * Sergio Dias Baptista - Lead Guitar on "A Danca das Borboletas" *

;

Synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s on "Avôhai"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ze Ramalho Zé Ramalho albums 1978 debut albums Epic Records albums