Chico Buarque

{{Infobox person

| name = Chico Buarque

| image = Chico Buarque in 2023.jpg

| caption = Buarque in 2023

| alt =

| birth_name = Francisco Buarque de Hollanda

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1944|6|19}}

| birth_place = Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

| alma_mater = University of São Paulo

| years_active = 1962–present

| occupation = {{flatlist|

Singer-songwriter
writer
poet
playwright

}}

| notable_works = {{hlist | Construção | "Cálice"}}

| signature = Chico Buarque signature.svg

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Marieta Severo|1966|1999|reason=divorced}}
{{marriage|Carol Proner|2021}}

}}

| children = {{flatlist|

Sílvia
Helena
Luísa

}}

| awards =

| module = {{Infobox musical artist

| embed = yes

| genre = {{flatlist|

}}

| label = {{flatlist|

}}

| associated_acts = {{flatlist|

}}

| website = {{url|chicobuarque.com.br}}

}}

Francisco Buarque de Hollanda (born 19 June 1944), popularly known simply as Chico Buarque ({{IPA|pt-BR|ˈʃiku buˈaʁki}}), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer, playwright, writer, and poet. He is best known for his music, which often includes social, economic, and cultural reflections on Brazil.

The firstborn son of Sérgio Buarque de Hollanda, Buarque lived at several locations throughout his childhood, though mostly in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Rome. He wrote and studied literature as a child and found music through the bossa nova compositions of Tom Jobim and João Gilberto. He performed as a singer and guitarist in the 1960s as well as writing a play that was deemed dangerous by the Brazilian military dictatorship of the time. Buarque, along with several Tropicalist and MPB musicians, was threatened by the Brazilian military government and eventually left Brazil for Italy in 1969. However, he came back to Brazil in 1970, and continued to record, perform, and write, though much of his material was suppressed by government censors. He released several more albums in the 1980s and published three novels in the 1990s and 2000s.

In 2019, Buarque was awarded the Camões Prize, the most important prize for literature in the Portuguese language.

However, awarding of the prize was delayed by four years due to actions by Jair Bolsonaro, but Buarque received it in April 2023.{{Cite news |last1=Demony |first1=Catarina |last2=Pereira |first2=Miguel |last3= |first3= |date=2023-04-24 |title=Brazilian legend Buarque receives prestigious literary award...four years late |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazilian-legend-buarque-receives-prestigious-literary-awardfour-years-late-2023-04-24/ |access-date=2023-06-03}} He has also won eleven Brazilian Music Awards,{{cite web|url=https://www.premiodamusica.com.br/premiados|title=Brazilian Music Awards – Awarded Artists|website=Prêmio da Música Brasileira|language=pt-br}} the most important prize for Brazilian music.

Early life and career

Buarque was born in Rio de Janeiro on 19 June 1944. He came from an intellectually privileged family background—his father Sérgio Buarque de Holanda was a well-known historian, sociologist and journalist and his mother Maria Amélia Cesário Alvim was a painter and pianist. He is also brother of the singers Miúcha, Cristina Buarque and politician Ana de Hollanda. As a child, he was impressed by the musical style of bossa nova, specifically the work of Tom Jobim and João Gilberto. He was also interested in writing, composing his first short story at 18 years old{{cite news |first=Jemima |last=Hunt |title=The lionised king of Rio |url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,,1263492,00.html |work=The Observer |publisher=Guardian Media Group |date=July 18, 2004 |access-date=March 24, 2008 }} and studying European literature, also at a young age.{{cite web |url=http://www.artistinterviews.eu/?page_id=12&parent_id=22/ |title=Chico Buarque |access-date=March 24, 2008 |last=de Haan |first=Maarten |date=August 2006 |work=Artist Interviews }} One of his most consuming interests, however, was playing football, beginning at age four, and he still played regularly in his 60s. During his childhood, he lived in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Rome.

Before becoming a musician, Buarque decided at one point to study architecture at the University of São Paulo, but this choice did not lead to a career in that field; Buarque often skipped classes.{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p3228/biography|pure_url=yes}} |title=Biography |access-date=March 23, 2008 |last=Dougan |first=John |work=Allmusic |publisher=All Media Guide }}

File:Chico Buarque cantando na TV Rio.tif]]

He made his public debut as musician and composer in 1964, rapidly building his reputation at music festivals and television variety shows when bossa nova came to light and Nara Leão recorded three of his songs. His eponymous debut album exemplified his future work, with catchy sambas characterized by inventive wordplay and an undercurrent of nostalgic tragedy. Buarque had his first hit with "A Banda" in 1966, written about a marching band, and soon released several more singles. Although playing bossa nova, during his career, samba and Música popular brasileira would also be widely explored. Despite that, Buarque was criticized by two of the leading musicians at the time, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil as they believed his musical style was overly conservative. However, an existentially themed play that Buarque wrote and composed in 1968, Roda Viva ("Live Circle"), was frowned upon by the military government and Buarque served a short prison sentence because of it. He left Brazil for Italy for 18 months in 1970, returning to write his first novel in 1972, which was not targeted by censors.

File:Chico Buarque.jpg

At this time his thinly veiled protest single "Apesar de Você" ("In spite of You" – in reference to the military dictatorship) was also produced.{{cite journal |last=de Sousa |first=Dolores Puga Alves |year=2004 |title=Os Sessenta Anos de um Artista: "Chico Buarque do Brazil", Organização de Rinaldo de Fernandes |journal=Fênix: Revista de História e Estudos Culturais |volume=1 |issue=1 |issn=1807-6971 |language=pt}} "Apesar de Você" was overlooked by the military censors, becoming an important anthem in the democratic movement. After selling over 100,000 copies, the single was eventually censored and removed from the market. At one point in 1974, the censors banned any song authored by Chico Buarque. Then, he created a pseudonym, naming himself "Julinho de Adelaide", complete with life history and interviews to newspapers. "Julinho de Adelaide"{{cite web|url=http://www.chicobuarque.com.br/sanatorio/abre_julinho.htm |title=Julinho da Adelaide |publisher=Chico Buarque |access-date=July 11, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207173824/http://www.chicobuarque.com.br/sanatorio/abre_julinho.htm |archive-date=December 7, 2013 |df=mdy }} authored songs such as "Jorge Maravilha" ("Wonder Jorge") and "Acorda Amor" ("Wake Up Love" as in a lover) before he was outed in a Jornal do Brasil news story.{{cite book |last=Motta |first=Nelson |author-link=Nelson Motta |title=Noites Tropicais – Solos, Improvisos e Memórias Musicais |year=2000 |publisher=Editora Objetiva |location=Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |language=pt |isbn=85-7302-292-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/noitestropicaiss00mott }} Buarque also wrote a play named Calabar, about the Dutch invasion of Brazil in the seventeenth century, drawing parallels with the military regime.{{cite journal |last=Martins |first=Christian Alves |date=2007 |title=Tempos de Intolerância: Chico conta Calabar |journal=Fênix: Revista de História e Estudos Culturais |volume=4 |issue=3 |url=http://www.revistafenix.pro.br/vol1christian.php?PHPSESSID=7ea35a2912813498997d554b31e66f3a |access-date=March 23, 2008 |issn=1807-6971 |language=pt |archive-date=July 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727212741/http://www.revistafenix.pro.br/vol1christian.php?PHPSESSID=7ea35a2912813498997d554b31e66f3a |url-status=dead }} Despite the censorship, songs such as "Samba de Orly" (1970), "Acorda amor" (1974, as "Julinho da Adelaide") manifested Buarque's continuing opposition to the military regime.

During the 1970s and 1980s, he collaborated with filmmakers, playwrights, and musicians in further protest works against the dictatorship. Buarque approached the 1983 Concert for Peace in Nicaragua as a valid forum to vocalize his strong political views. Throughout the decade, he crafted many of his songs as vehicles to describe the re-democratization of Brazil. The Concert for Peace in Nicaragua was one in a concert series known as the "Central American Peace Concerts." These concerts featured various Latin American artists. The political turmoil that plagued this era were expressed in many of Buarque's songs.{{cite journal |last=Béhague |first=Gerard |date=Spring–Summer 2006 |title=Rap, Reggae, Rock, or Samba: The Local and the Global in Brazilian Popular Music (1985–95) |journal=Latin American Music Review |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=79–90 |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/latin_american_music_review/v027/27.1behague08.html |doi=10.1353/lat.2006.0021 |s2cid=191430137 |author-link=Béhague, Gerard |url-access=subscription }}{{cite journal |last=Gonzalez |first=Mike |date=May 1987 |title=April in Managua: The Central American Peace Concert |journal=Popular Music |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=247–249 |doi=10.1017/S0261143000006061 |jstor=853429|s2cid=161149412 }} He later wrote Budapeste, a novel that achieved critical national acclaim and won the Prêmio Jabuti,{{cite news |title=Chico Buarque ganha Prêmio Jabuti com Budapeste |url=http://www.cbl.org.br/content.php?recid=1342&type=N |work=O Globo |publisher=Câmara Brasileira do Livro |date=September 10, 2004 |access-date=March 23, 2008 |language=pt }} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}} a Brazilian literary award comparable to the Booker Prize.

His 2017 album Caravanas was named the 3rd best Brazilian album of that year by the Brazilian edition of Rolling Stone.{{cite magazine |title=Melhores Discos Nacionais de 2017 |url=https://rollingstone.uol.com.br/galeria/melhores-discos-nacionais-de-2017/|magazine=Rolling Stone Brasil |publisher=Grupo Spring de Comunicação |access-date=25 January 2019 |date=2017}}

"Cálice"

Following the Brazilian military coup of 1964, Buarque avoided censorship by using cryptic analogies and wordplay. For example, in the song "Cálice" ("Chalice"), a duet written in 1973 with Gilberto Gil and released with Milton Nascimento in 1978,{{cite web|url=http://mais.uol.com.br/view/e8h4xmy8lnu8/calice--chico-buarque-e-gilberto-gil-040266C0A14386?types=A& |title=UOL Mais > Cálice – Chico Buarque e Gilberto Gil |publisher=Mais.uol.com.br |date=February 24, 2008 |access-date=July 11, 2013}} he takes advantage of the homophony between the Portuguese imperative cale-se ("shut up") and cálice ("chalice") to protest government censorship, disguised as the Gospel narrative of Jesus' Gethsemane prayer to God to relieve him of the cup of suffering. The line "Quero cheirar fumaça de óleo diesel" ("I want to sniff diesel fumes") is a reference to the death of political prisoner Stuart Angel, who reportedly had his mouth glued to a jeep's exhaust pipe during a torture session.{{in lang|pt}} [http://www.futepoca.com.br/2010/01/bebida-amarga-nao-era-metafora-em.html "'Bebida amarga' não era metáfora em 'Cálice'"]. Futepoca. January 29, 2010. Buarque was close to Stuart's mother, Zuzu Angel. This song is the subject of the final chapter of the book First Chico Buarque by Charles A. Perrone (London: Bloomsbury, 2022) in the Brazil 33 1/3 series.{{Clarify|reason=What kind of book (e.g. novel?) Who is Perrone? What series? Significant enough for mention?|date=November 2024}}

Awards and recognitions

2010 São Paulo Prize for Literature — Shortlisted in the Best Book of the Year category for Leite Derramado{{cite web |url=http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/ilustrada/742784-premio-sao-paulo-de-literatura-divulga-finalistas.shtml |title=Prêmio São Paulo de Literatura divulga finalistas |work=Folha de S.Paulo |author=Marco Rodrigo Almeida|date=May 29, 2010 |access-date=April 6, 2013}}
2013 Casa de las Américas prize for Spilt Milk (Leche derramada, Leite derramado), winner of narrative fiction.
2019 Camões Prize{{Cite web|url=https://www.publico.pt/2019/05/21/culturaipsilon/noticia/xxxxx-premio-camoes-2019-1873609|title=Chico Buarque é o Prémio Camões de 2019|last=PÚBLICO|website=PÚBLICO|date=21 May 2019 |language=pt|access-date=2019-05-21}}

Discography

1966: Chico Buarque de Hollanda (Vol. 1)
1966: Morte e Vida Severina
1967: Chico Buarque de Hollanda (Vol. 2)
1968: Chico Buarque de Hollanda (Vol. 3)
1969: Umas e outras – compacto
1969: Chico Buarque na Itália
1970: Apesar de você
1970: Per un pugno di samba
1970: Chico Buarque de Hollanda (Vol. 4)
1971: Construção
1972: Quando o carnaval chegar
1972: Caetano e Chico - juntos e ao vivo
1973: Chico canta, mildly edited by the censors of the Brazilian military government both in lyrics and title, it was originally called "Chico Canta Calabar".
1974: Sinal fechado
1975: Chico Buarque & Maria Bethânia ao vivo
1976: Meus caros amigos
1977: Cio da Terra compacto
1977: Os saltimbancos
1977: Gota d'água
1978: Chico Buarque
1979: Ópera do Malandro
1980: Vida
1980: Show 1º de Maio compacto
1981: Almanaque
1981: Saltimbancos trapalhões
1982: Chico Buarque en espanhol
1983: Para viver um grande amor
1983: O grande circo místico
1984: Chico Buarque (Vermelho)
1985: O Corsário do rei
1985: Ópera do Malandro
1985: Malandro
1986: Melhores momentos de Chico & Caetano
1987: Francisco
1988: Dança da meia-lua
1989: Chico Buarque
1990: Chico Buarque ao vivo Paris le Zenith
1992: Convite Para Ouvir
1993: Para Todos
1995: Uma palavra
1997: Terra
1998: As cidades
1998: Chico Buarque da Mangueira
1999: Chico ao vivo
2001: Chico e as cidades (DVD)
2001: Cambaio
2002: Chico Buarque – Duetos
2003: Chico ou o país da delicadeza perdida (DVD)
2005: Meu Caro Amigo (DVD)
2005: A Flor da Pele (DVD)
2005: Vai passar (DVD)
2005: Anos Dourados (DVD)
2005: Estação Derradeira (DVD)
2005: Bastidores (DVD)
2006: O Futebol (DVD)
2006: Romance (DVD)
2006: Uma Palavra (DVD)
2006: Carioca (CD + DVD with the documentary Desconstrução)
2007: Carioca Ao Vivo
2011: Chico Buarque
2012: Na Carreira (DVD)
2017: Caravanas
2018: "Caravanas - Ao vivo"

Other works

Books

1966: A Banda (Songbook)
1974: Fazenda Modelo
1979: Chapeuzinho Amarelo
1981: A Bordo do Rui Barbosa
1991: Estorvo
1995: Benjamin
2003: Budapeste
2009: Leite Derramado
2014: O Irmão Alemão
2019: Essa Gente
2021: Anos de Chumbo

Plays

1967/8: Roda Viva
1973: Calabar (coauthored with Ruy Guerra)
1975: Gota d'água
1978: Ópera do Malandro (based on John Gay's Beggar's Opera and Bertolt Brecht's Threepenny Opera)
1983: O Grande Circo Místico

Film

1972: Quando o carnaval chegar (coauthor)
1983: Para viver um grande amor (coauthor)
1985: Ópera do Malandro
2009: Budapeste (based on his book)

In popular culture

The cover art of the Buarque's 1966 album Chico Buarque de Hollanda became a viral internet meme with "happy" Chico and "sad" Chico.{{Cite web |title=Pedro Antunes - A história do meme: Chico Buarque acha "absurda" a capa que virou piada |url=https://www.uol.com.br/splash/colunas/pedro-antunes/2020/11/07/a-historia-do-meme-chico-buarque-acha-absurda-a-capa-que-virou-piada.htm |access-date=2022-08-22 |website=www.uol.com.br |date=21 July 2017 |language=pt-br}}

Notes

References

External links

{{Official website|1=http://www.chicobuarque.com.br}} {{in lang|pt}}
{{IMDb name|nm0117770}}
{{discogs artist|Chico Buarque|Chico Buarque}}
{{YouTube|9A_JrsJF6mM|Vai passar}}
{{YouTube|kMZJyafvcx8|O que será}}
{{YouTube|txLPlvkGiP4|O Meu Amor}}
{{cite web|url=http://www.jobim.com.br/chico/e.chico1.html |title=My Greatest Maestro |last=Oliveria |first=Luiz Roberto |author2=Buarque, Chico |author3=Lombardi, Jerry |date=April 30, 2000 |work=Clube do Tom |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207200535/http://www.jobim.com.br/chico/e.chico1.html |archive-date=December 7, 2013 |df=mdy }}
[http://www.slipcue.com/music/brazil/buarque.html annotated Chico Buarque discography] on Slipcue.com