Angenor de Oliveira, master Cartola, synthesizes the samba and the Sambista. He was one of the greatest all time samba composers, and helped to create the traditional Rio-de-Janeiro Samba School Mangueira, choosing its name, colors and destiny. The samba genious shortened the distance between samba writers and the middle class of Rio, helping to promote the carnival in the beginning of last century. Cartola´s 100th birthday anniversary this October is definitely an important date to be celebrated and remembered by Carnival community all over the world.

The "Samba Master" was born in the Catete district in Rio-de-Janeiro , on October 11 1908. He moved to Mangueira at the age of 11, and as a child was encouraged by his father to play the ukulele, a small 5 string version of a guitar. He finished grammar school, but decided to drop out when he was 15, after his mother´s premature death. Needing to make a living, he worked as a bricklayer, wall painter, car washer, and even night watchman. Also, for period of time, he had a job as an office boy in a public civil service department. Historians point out he was never able to make a living from samba or carnival, although he was a true composer genius. The samba singer´s first album recorded only in 1974, at the age of 65.



Watch Cartola Video singing for his father:

Carnival and Samba researcher Ricardo Albin stated; “I already knew Cartola from the Zicartola Bar nights. One evening, I went over the National Radio Station in Rio-de-Janeiro to watch a program honoring singer Marlene. On the way up, the elevator stopped at the floor where the Secretary of Industry and Commerce was. You cant´ imagine my surprise when I saw him greeting the guests – he was the doorman. I managed to take him to the show, where he was honored too. He was the sweetest and most cordial man I have ever met.”

Watch below from You Tube:

True Cartola Video Clip...this is true samba!

The nickname "Cartola" came about at the time he worked as a bricklayer. He was a very vain man, and he hated when the cement dust fell on his hair. He managed to get a hat which looked very much like a top hat (means in Portuguese), so his friends at work started calling him by the nickname Cartola. None of them could imagine that name would be immortalized for ever as one of the greatest samba composer legends of all times.



In 1925, together with life-time song partner Carlos Cachaça, he founded a musical band called “The Arengueiros”. Three years later, The Arengueiros in Rio-de-Janeiro merged with two other existing samba groups to give birth to the traditional Samba School Mangueira, the second official major school in all samba history. This was April 28, 1928. The samba & carnival legend joined other friends such as Saturnino Gonçalves, Marcelino José Claudino, Francisco Ribeiro, Euclides Roberto dos Santos, and Zé Espinguela, among others to write the samba school´s foundation document. (Deixa Falar samba school formed a few months before Mangueira by songwriters from Estácio and was officially the first major school to be formed. Later, Deixa Falar´s name was changed to Portela Samba School.)

Below we see a brilliant caricature by Leo Martins of samba legend with the Mangueira shirt and a guitar.



The samba genius composed samba school Mangueira´s first samba called “Chega de Demanda”, but his reputation spread outside the samba school when singers Mário Reis and Francisco Alves started buying the rights of his sambas. It is important to state that contrary to his partners, Samba composer refused to share the song writing, giving in only when it came to the rights of record sales.

Another interesting point of his composing style is that sambas written by the samba genius for Mangueira had a melody so beautifully done that they were recorded with many different tempos later on. One of them was “Não quero mais” from 1936, which was sung by Paulinho da Viola in 1973, under the title “Não quero mais Amar ninguém”.

Cartola Video in 1973 ...A classic in You Tube

The Mangueira founder had had already some fame in Rio-de-Janeiro by 1942, having for example, composing songs even to Carmen Miranda. At this date Carnival legend participated together with others songwriters in a famous recording aboard a ship called “Uruguay”, with conductor Leopoldo Stokowski, who was then visiting Brazil. They were truly making history and as a result of these recordings, two 78 RPM albums were launched by Columbia in the United States. The following year, the samba composer formed a band called Conjunto Carioca, and presented shows during one month in São Paulo. Later, he disappeared mysteriously from the musical scene, probably due to the death of first wife and meningitis he contracted.

Another classical pose from :the Samba Genius below



What is certain is that in 1956, a casual meeting with journalist Segio Porto in Ipanema, made sure that this part of history of the Brazilian music would not miss one of its main and important chapters. The master of sambas worked washing the cars of rich ladies that had no idea he had written “As Rosas Não Falam” – “The Roses don’t Speak”, “Acontece”, “Corra e olhe o Céu”, “O mundo é um moinho”, “Autonomia”, “Minha” , “Tive Sim”, “Amor proibido”, “Ciência e Arte”, and so many other samba treasures. Sérgio then took him to sing at the Mayrink Veiga radio station, one of the most traditional at the time.

By 1961, he had already met his second wife, Eusébia Silva do Nascimento, a.k.a. Dona Zica, and was again living at the Mangueira community. In 1963, he decided to open a bar, which was called Zicartola and lasted only for two years. The bar however was crucial to the revival of samba, since it became an important cross-section and meeting area between Rio rich south zone intellectuals, and songwriters from the creative north zone and Mangueira itself. Following this moment, the master and some of his songwriters friends like Zé Keti, Nelson Cavaquinho and other were able to promote their talent and songs outside the Mangueira limits, and recorded too their first albums.

Below, the cover of the 1976 album:



Another fantastic Cartola Video Recording from the genius:

The geneius finally recorded his first album in 1974, and in 1976 he released his second album. He had his official debut (after the releasing of his album) at the Gloria Theater and by 1977 he launched the classical album called “Verde que te quero Rosa”, by American Label RCA Victor. By 1979, the carnival legend recorded his last album called “Cartola – 70 anos”. The master died one year later of cancer, November 30th, 1980. Today, Cartola is recognized as more than a legendary founder of Brazilian Samba.

Last year, filmmakers Lírio Ferreira and Hilton Lacerda paid a tribute to Master-Cartola through an excellent movie that has his name as the title. The documentary had the participations of some of his friends like Nélson Sargento and musical commentator Nélson Motta from Rio-de-Janeiro. The documentary shows that more than a samba legend, he is the true eternal and probably the original reference of Brazilian root samba.