Elza Soares
Encyclopedia
Elza Soares is a Brazil
ian samba
singer. She was married to Brazilian football
player Garrincha
.
Born and raised in a favela
in Rio de Janeiro
, Soares took part in a singing contest presented by the renowned Brazilian musician Ary Barroso
, and received the highest marks. In the late 1950s, Soares spent one year touring Argentina
with Mercedes Batista. Soares became popular with her first single
"Se Acaso Você Chegasse", on which she introduced the scat à la Louis Armstrong
, adding a bit of jazz
to samba
. She moved to São Paulo
, where she performed at theaters and night clubs. Her husky voice became her trademark. After finishing her second LP record
, A Bossa Negra, Elza went to Chile
to represent Brazil in the 1962 Football World Cup
. Her outgoing and over-the-edge style fascinated audiences in Brazil and abroad.
In the 1970s, she toured the U.S.
and Europe
. She has been singing for more than 40 years. In 2000, she was awarded "Best Singer of the Millennium" by the BBC
in London
, where she performed in a concert with Gal Costa
, Chico Buarque
, Gilberto Gil
, Caetano Veloso
and Virgínia Rodrigues. That same year, she played a series of avant-garde
concerts directed by José Miguel Wisnik in Rio de Janeiro.
Soares scored a number of charts hits in Brazil throughout her career; some of the bigger hits include: "Se Acaso Você Chegasse" (1960), "Boato" (1961), "Cadeira Vazia" (1961), "Só Danço Samba" (1963), "Mulata Assanhada" (1965) and "Aquarela Brasileira" (1974).
A number of Soares's albums have also been re-released on CD in remastered editions: 1961's A Bossa Negra (containing her major hit of that year, "Boato") and 1972's big band backed Elza Pede Passagem (produced by Dom Salvador
) being two of her most acclaimed releases. Elza Pede Passagem produced no major hit singles of the size of previous releases when originally released in Brazil; nevertheless, it is now considered a classic and representative of the "samba-soul" sound of the early 70s.
In 2002, her Do Cóccix Até O Pescoço album release earned her a Grammy nomination. The album received outstanding reviews in the music press and featured a who's who of Brazilian artists collaborating with her; Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, Carlinhos Brown
and Jorge Ben Jor
to name just a few. The release kickstarted a number of successful tour dates around the world. Two singles from the album were also promoted to Brazilian radio, "A Cigarra" and "Bambino", both were backed by promotional videos.
In 2004, Soares released her Vivo Feliz album to great acclaim. It contained the single, "Rio de Janeiro", a homage to her city of birth. While not as successful in sales as her previous release, the album carried on the theme of mixing samba and bossa with modern electronic music and effects. The album featured collaborations with groundbreaking artists such as Nando Reis
, Fred 04 (former leader of mangue beat band Mundo Livre S/A
) and Zé Keti.
More recently, Soares teamed up with Jair Rodrigues
and a number of contemporary samba artists such as Seu Jorge
for the old school flavoured Sambistas multi artist album which was released in 2009.
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian samba
Samba
Samba is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival...
singer. She was married to Brazilian football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
player Garrincha
Garrincha
Manuel Francisco dos Santos , known by the nickname "Garrincha" , was an association football right winger and forward who helped the Brazil national team win the World Cups of 1958 and 1962. He played the majority of his professional career for Brazilian club Botafogo.The word garrincha itself...
.
Born and raised in a favela
Favela
A favela is the generally used term for a shanty town in Brazil. In the late 18th century, the first settlements were called bairros africanos . This was the place where former slaves with no land ownership and no options for work lived. Over the years, many freed black slaves moved in...
in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, Soares took part in a singing contest presented by the renowned Brazilian musician Ary Barroso
Ary Barroso
Ary Barroso was a Brazilian composer, pianist, soccer commentator, and talent-show host on radio and TV...
, and received the highest marks. In the late 1950s, Soares spent one year touring Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
with Mercedes Batista. Soares became popular with her first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
"Se Acaso Você Chegasse", on which she introduced the scat à la Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, adding a bit of jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
to samba
Samba
Samba is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival...
. She moved to São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, where she performed at theaters and night clubs. Her husky voice became her trademark. After finishing her second LP record
LP record
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
, A Bossa Negra, Elza went to Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
to represent Brazil in the 1962 Football World Cup
1962 FIFA World Cup
The 1962 FIFA World Cup, the seventh staging of the World Cup, was held in Chile from 30 May to 17 June. It was won by Brazil, who retained the championship by beating Czechoslovakia 3–1 in the final...
. Her outgoing and over-the-edge style fascinated audiences in Brazil and abroad.
In the 1970s, she toured the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. She has been singing for more than 40 years. In 2000, she was awarded "Best Singer of the Millennium" by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where she performed in a concert with Gal Costa
Gal Costa
Gal Costa is a Brazilian singer of popular music.-Early life:...
, Chico Buarque
Chico Buarque
Francisco Buarque de Hollanda , popularly known as Chico Buarque , is a singer, guitarist, composer, dramatist, writer and poet...
, Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira , better known as Gilberto Gil or , is a Brazilian singer, guitarist, and songwriter, known for both his musical innovation and political commitment...
, Caetano Veloso
Caetano Veloso
Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso , better known as Caetano Veloso, is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicalismo which encompassed theatre, poetry and music in the 1960s,...
and Virgínia Rodrigues. That same year, she played a series of avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
concerts directed by José Miguel Wisnik in Rio de Janeiro.
Soares scored a number of charts hits in Brazil throughout her career; some of the bigger hits include: "Se Acaso Você Chegasse" (1960), "Boato" (1961), "Cadeira Vazia" (1961), "Só Danço Samba" (1963), "Mulata Assanhada" (1965) and "Aquarela Brasileira" (1974).
A number of Soares's albums have also been re-released on CD in remastered editions: 1961's A Bossa Negra (containing her major hit of that year, "Boato") and 1972's big band backed Elza Pede Passagem (produced by Dom Salvador
Dom Salvador
Dom Salvador, born 1938 Salvador da Silva Filho, is a Brazilian jazz / Música Popular Brasileira pianist most notable for his Rio 65 Trio that featured the Brazilian jazz drummer Edison Machado and bassist Sérgio Barroso. He also did tours of Europe with musicians like Sylvia Telles...
) being two of her most acclaimed releases. Elza Pede Passagem produced no major hit singles of the size of previous releases when originally released in Brazil; nevertheless, it is now considered a classic and representative of the "samba-soul" sound of the early 70s.
In 2002, her Do Cóccix Até O Pescoço album release earned her a Grammy nomination. The album received outstanding reviews in the music press and featured a who's who of Brazilian artists collaborating with her; Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, Carlinhos Brown
Carlinhos Brown
Carlinhos Brown is a Brazilian musician from Salvador, Bahia. He was born in Candeal Pequeno, a small neighbourhood in the Brotas area of Salvador de Bahia...
and Jorge Ben Jor
Jorge Ben Jor
Jorge Ben Jor is a Brazilian popular musician. His characteristic style fuses samba, funk, and rock into samba-rock, with lyrics that blend humor and satire with often esoteric subject matter.-Early life and career:...
to name just a few. The release kickstarted a number of successful tour dates around the world. Two singles from the album were also promoted to Brazilian radio, "A Cigarra" and "Bambino", both were backed by promotional videos.
In 2004, Soares released her Vivo Feliz album to great acclaim. It contained the single, "Rio de Janeiro", a homage to her city of birth. While not as successful in sales as her previous release, the album carried on the theme of mixing samba and bossa with modern electronic music and effects. The album featured collaborations with groundbreaking artists such as Nando Reis
Nando Reis
Nando Reis is a Brazilian musician and producer, best known as the former bassist and lead singer of Brazilian rock band Titãs and for his successful solo career, with his own band called Os Infernais...
, Fred 04 (former leader of mangue beat band Mundo Livre S/A
Mundo Livre S/A
Mundo Livre S/A, is a Brazilian manguebeat band, formed in 1984 in Recife, Pernambuco. It is also one of the founders of that musical style, which became popular in the 1990s. Fred Zero Quatro, the band's singer, was one of the authors of Caranguejos com Cérebro, one of the landmarks of the...
) and Zé Keti.
More recently, Soares teamed up with Jair Rodrigues
Jair Rodrigues
Jair Rodrigues de Oliveira is a Brazilian musician and singer, a pioneer of the funk in the country. He is the father of Luciana Mello and Jair Oliveira, who also followed in his footsteps and became musicians....
and a number of contemporary samba artists such as Seu Jorge
Seu Jorge
Seu Jorge is a Brazilian musician, singer/songwriter and actor. Born Jorge Mário da Silva, he was raised in a favela in the city of Belford Roxo in the Baixada Fluminense region of Rio de Janeiro state. He is considered by his fans a renewer of Brazilian pop samba...
for the old school flavoured Sambistas multi artist album which was released in 2009.
See also
- GarrinchaGarrinchaManuel Francisco dos Santos , known by the nickname "Garrincha" , was an association football right winger and forward who helped the Brazil national team win the World Cups of 1958 and 1962. He played the majority of his professional career for Brazilian club Botafogo.The word garrincha itself...
- Afro-BrazilianAfro-BrazilianIn Brazil, the term "preto" is one of the five categories used by the Brazilian Census, along with "branco" , "pardo" , "amarelo" and "indígena"...
s