Trio Irakitan - Quebra Coco from Sempre (Siempre) Alerta - Odeon (1960)

Interestingly, Brazil and the United States shared an affection for baritone male vocal combos in the 1950s and 1960s. I am referring to a pre-Beatles, non-Doo Wop groups. The vocal stylings of Trio Irakitan are similar to those of the Kingston Trio. Even the content was similar. Both groups took material from the folk sounds of each country. The songs and grooves, however, are mostly different. Quebra Coco comes from the LP Sempre Alerta, which is an album of Brazilian Boy Scout songs. This seems like an unusual choice, although a folk artist in the US like Pete Seeger would have been a likely candidate to record something similar. 

I have often thought that camp songs may be the purest kind of pop song. I don't mean pure in a godly sense, but in the sense that the songs are simple, catchy and easy for groups to sing. While kids in the United States in 1960 might have been singing Michael Row the Boat Ashore, kids in Brazil may have been singing Quebra Coco. This is speculative, because my Brazilian contacts have never heard this tune. Perhaps the song was a regional favorite. I extracted this from a pressing from Venezuela with a unique cover. The standard cover from Brazil features the Trio in Boy Scout uniforms.

 Trio Irakitan - Quebra Coco from Sempre (Siempre) Alerta - Odeon (1960)

Trio Irakitan - Sempre (Siempre) Alerta - Odeon (1960) - Venezuela pressing