Pichincha - Coqueiro Véio Cansado (côco) by Venâncio e Corumba from Odeon 78rpm (1952)

Pichincha's Coqueiro Véio Cansado is a strong example of Venâncio e Corumba's signature sound. The performance is excellent and although the sound is a somewhat primitive, this early côco recording from 1952 is a blazing fire.

Pichincha - Coqueiro Véio Cansado (côco) by Venancio e Corumba from Odeon 78rpm (1952)

Zé do Baião - Antoninho Pizada & Azulão Da Mata from 78rpm - Continental (1958)

The more forró and baião that I collect, the more the names Venâncio e Corumba pop up. Antoninho Pizada and Azulão Da Mata were written by those masters of song and beautifully performed by Zé do Baião. Both sides are great but Antoninho Pizada, surprisingly, is the b-side. This strongly phrased tune is, to me, the standout track.  Zé Do Baião continued performing into the 1970s. His discographies are incomplete. Judging by the available information, he recorded 5 LPs and 4 78rpm shellacs. Wikipedia asserts that he stopped performing in 1980 and is alive and well at the ripe old age of 86. A listing on forroemvinil notes that his last LP was released in 1982, which contradicts the assertion that he retired in 1980. Hopefully, with time, a more definitive biography and discography will appear.

Zé do Baião - Antoninho Pizada from 78rpm - Continental (1958)

Zé do Baião - Azulão Da Mata from 78rpm - Continental (1958)

Zé do Baião - Antoninho Pizada from 78rpm - Continental (1958)

Zé do Baião - Azulão Da Mata from 78rpm - Continental (1958)

Zé Do Baião

Anastácia - Côco De 10 Pé (Côco) & Mufaríz (Baião) from Canta Para O Nordeste - Continental (1967)

Anastácia is one of the great performers and songwriters from northeastern Brazil. Although I own a fair number of records by Anastácia, I am surprised that this is my first post featuring her work. Trying to cover a genre that spans 76 years without committing an injustice here or there is impossible. 

Anastácia first recorded in 1960, on 78rpm, and has an extensive catalog of at least 50 releases. Canta Para O Nordeste is one of Anastácia's more common 60s LPs. Later, she often collaborated with Dominguinhos, one of the best known accordion players from the northeast. At this point in her career, she was pulling songs from talented writers, including Venâncio e Curumba. Venâncio co-wrote 6 of the 12 songs on Canta Para O Nordeste, including Mufaríz. My favorite song from the LP, Côco De 10 Pé, was co-written by Aluizio Gomes.

Anastácia - Côco De 10 Pé (Côco) from Canta Para O Nordeste - Continental (1967)

 

Anastácia - Mufaríz (Baião) from Canta Para O Nordeste - Continental (1967)

Anastácia - Canta Para O Nordeste - Continental (1967)

Venâncio & Curumba - Gavião & Cadeia Da Vila from 78rpm - Todamerica (1954)

Venâncio & Curumba - Gavião from 78rpm - Todamerica (1954)


Venâncio & Curumba - Cadeia Da Vila from 78rpm - Todamerica (1954)




I am particularly proud of this post. In some ways, making songs like these available to the world is what forróLPgringo is all about. These songs have not been reissued. It is likely that there was not a repressing after the initial 78 rpm pressing in 1954. 60 years later, some of this music faces extinction unless folks work to preserve it.

This 78 was in rough shape with quite a few skips. Fortunately, I was able to edit together two complete, skip-free tracks. I realize I have a blog about vinyl and shellac*, but I honestly prefer CDs. My feeling for vinyl vacillates between relief if the record plays well and exasperation when an expensive record skips. I expect skips more than smooth players, especially when records are 50+ years old.

Vinyl is noisy, fussy and fragile. 78s are even worse. Often, one can fix skipping vinyl by reverse playing over scratches with an old needle, as long as they aren't the dreaded diagonal variety, thanks to the fact that vinyl is fairly soft and somewhat pliable. 78 rpms are almost never fixable, although applying more pressure with the stylus can solve certain problems. 

At any rate, if all of this music existed on CD, I doubt that I would have started this blog. I fell in love with vintage forró recordings enough to want to own and preserve the music in the highest quality form possible and introduce some of it to English speakers. This particular 78rpm by Venâncio & Curumba does not exist in the digital world, even in Brazil. I feel that I owe it to the artists and fans to make this music available, even if it is expensive and time consuming. It's a shame that they couldn't make more money from their recordings in their lifetime. Both of these artists passed on many years ago.

Below is some Pro Tools work that I did on Cadela Da Vila. Gavião also had some rough spots, but they weren't quite as problematic. Luckily, the band was excellent and steady and there was plenty of repetition in parts. These transfers aren't perfect, but at least the world can hear these guys in their lively, pre-vinyl, 78rpm shellac glory without annoying pops and distracting skips.

Cadela Da Vila being repaired in the digital hospital.

*78 rpms were pressed on shellac until the more durable vinyl replaced it.

Venâncio e Curumba - Pagodeando No Côco - Audio Fidelity (1964) - reissue Premier (1969)

Venâncio e Curumba - Nossa Saudação from Pagodeando No Côco - Audio Fidelity (1964) Premier (1969)




Venâncio e Curumba - Quando Chego Numa Sala from Pagodeando No Côco - Audio Fidelity (1964) Premier (1969)



Venâncio e Curumba - Minha Bahia from Pagodeando No Côco - Audio Fidelity (1964) Premier (1969)



Venâncio e Curumba - Sulandá from Pagodeando No Côco - Audio Fidelity (1964) Premier (1969)



Over the years that I have collected Brazilian music, I have been searching for a variety of musical missing links that connect artists from various periods to their influences. My first question, years ago, was where did Gilberto Gil learn his wild, breakneck rhythmic style from the Tropicalia records? Learning about Gil led me to Luiz Gonzaga, who led me to Jackson do Pandeiro and Genival Lacerda. Once I started learning more about the history of forró, I wondered who influenced Jackson and Genival, outside of Gonzaga. It is likely that some great Brazilian regional music that was played live on the radio went undocumented, but Venâncio e Curumba had a considerable recording career before and concurrently with Jackson, Genival and Ary Lobo. Their songs were covered and adopted by many of the early forró artists, and their mix of comedy and music was a template for the careers of Jackson do Pandeiro, Genival Lacerda, Ary Lobo and Luiz Wanderley.

Pagodeando No Côco by Venâncio e Curumba (sometimes spelled Corumba), is a brilliant, joyful forró and northeastern samba LP that is killer from beginning to end. This is rare in a genre like forró, when the listener is lucky to get one classic per album. Pagodeando No Côco is truly is one of the greatest Brazilian records of all time. Like Jackson Do Pandeiro's O Dono Do Forró or Alegria do Norte, Pagodeando No Côco was recorded at a special moment late in the career of Venâncio e Curumba. At the time, Venâncio was 55 and Curumba was 50. This is poignant, because Pagodeando No Côco was the final recording by the duo. After fourteen 78rpm records and one LP, they decided to call it quits 4 years later in 1968, after 40 years together.

On top of being radio stars, humorists and prolific performers, Venâncio e Curumba were also skilled writers. The songwriting on Pagodeando No Côco is exemplary and the recording is beautiful. It truly showcases artists at the top of their craft. The two LPs, from 1964 and 1969, have identical songs and content. Only the covers and labels are different. Venâncio e Curumba's two most well known hits, Último Pau-De-Arara and O Boi Na Cajarana, may pop up on a later entry. I'd love to track down the 78 rpm records if anyone has one or two lying around...

Biographical information retrieved from http://www.dicionariompb.com.br/venancio-e-corumba

Venâncio e Curumba - Pagodeando No Côco - Audio Fidelity (1964) - original issue 

Venâncio e Curumba - Pagodeando No Côco - Premier (1969) reissue

Venâncio e Curumba - Chuleado Da Vovó - se apresentando no Som Brasil de 1982. 

This was originally posted by Ricardo Almeida, in 2007. He deserves the credit and the thank you for originally posting this! On YouTube, his video was only playing through one speaker. I tried cleaning up the colors a bit, but I was only moderately successful. Chuleado Da Vovó is from a 1982 television show. The duo had broken up in 1968 after a career that spanned , This was 14 years after that. Venâncio was 73 e Curumba was 68.

Venâncio e Curumba. image retrieved from http://www.onordeste.com/onordeste/enciclopediaNordeste/index.php?titulo=Ven%C3%A2ncio+e+Corumba&ltr=v&id_perso=2774