"I'm a one man's woman"
Faithful to very few partners, Guinga says that the first song that he made with Aldir Blanc didn't work out and talks about his main influence
Nana Vaz de Castro
30/03/2001
AllBrazilianMusic — When you make a song, do you write or record it?
Guinga — Neither. I memorize it. I can't write sheet music, I can only read, a bit.
AllBrazilianMusic — Your daughters didn't pursue musical careers. What kind of music do they like?
Guinga — One of them doesn't have the tiniest musical sensitiveness, she only likes bad music. Sometimes she'll hear something good and even like it. From my new album, she only likes the samba I wrote with Nei Lopes. I wrote a song for her, Melodia Branca
and she came all whining to me, "dad, I whish you had written that samba for me..."!, So sincere... (laughs). My eldest daughter is very sensitive to music, she only likes what's best, she understands the beauty of music. So much so that she and her mom are my criteria, when I write something, I immediately show them.
AllBrazilianMusic — The same thing happens with bad music, you hear so much you get uneducated...
Guinga — Something like that. I bet on the good music. My father used to listen to operas, and I developed a taste for Italian music, classical music.
AllBrazilianMusic — What kind of classical music?
Guinga — Traditional, Bach. Beethoven, Chopin. And also Villa-Lobos, Gabriel Fauré, Tchaikovsky, Puccini and Verdi.
AllBrazilianMusic — Your harmonies are regarded as impressionist, as is regarded the msuic of Debussy, Ravel, Fauré and other French composers of the 20th century. Did that kind of music have influence on yours?
Guinga — I appreciate that kind of music, and it is impossible not to be influenced by what one likes. Of course, one has got to find its own way, but, for instance, Impressões, Seresteiras (Villa-Lobos) is strongly influenced by the impressionism. The name itself, Impressões (impressions). It is the Brazilian impressionism.
AllBrazilianMusic — But in spite of all the classical influence, your musical experience began with the samba, right?
Guinga — My musical experience started out at home. My mom used to sing a lot, and her brothers were musicians. Then came bossa nova. I went to live in Jacarepaguá (western side of Rio) and I had this neighbor, Paulinho Cavalcanti, who initiated me into the bossa nova. He used to do everything just like João Gilberto. I would watch and listen to him him play everyday. I also had an uncle who collected jazz albums. When he died, his apartment was filled with jazz discs.
AllBrazilianMusic — And who kept the collection?
Guinga — The widow and daughters, they like jazz a lot. One of the girls is mad about Billie Holiday. I was mad about Ella Fitzgerald. But my eldest daughter is also mad about Billie Holiday. So what happens? I woke up so many times and my daughter was listening to Billie, that I developed a passion for her, too. In fact, I transfered the passion I have for my daughter to Billie, whom she likes so much. And I listened to her so much that I wrote a song, as if it were Billie singing. It's on the new record.
AllBrazilianMusic — What is it called?
Guinga — Yes, Zé Manés . I gave it to Ana de Holanda, it's going to be in her album. But it's got a Billie Holiday soul to it.
AllBrazilianMusic — What about other songs with Chico? Was there another after Você, Você recorded on As Cidades)?
Guinga — You'd better call him up and ask him (laughs).
AllBrazilianMusic — It took 8 years for him to write the lyrics of Você, Você, correct?
Guinga — Yes. If he keeps that pace, 8 years to write that song, and we're not kids, anymore... Maybe in the next life. But I would love if he did it. I think that he would love it, too, I know he likes my songs. There are melodies that I have given him, and I know he would have liked to write the lyrics for them, but he is enough for himself.
AllBrazilianMusic — Do you write thinking of any specific partner?
Guinga — Aldir Blanc is my partner. That's it. So I reckon I'll be inevitably giving him the music, so that he'll write the lyrics. But I have also made music while thinking of Chico's lyrics, before Aldir became my partner.
AllBrazilianMusic — You have increased the number of partners along the years. How does it work for you?
Guinga — Besides Aldir, there are Nei Lopes and Sérgio Natureza. But my partner is Aldir Blanc. Nowadays I have this wish to make something with Nei Lopes, too, because he's a genius. And Serginho Natureza is a great artist. But I'm not into writing with all different people. I like to use this expression: "I'm a one man's woman". Deep inside, I want to go on with my work with Aldir, we're certainly going to go on, we are friends and partners, and I want to develop my work with Nei, whom I love, as well, and with Sérgio, whenever he wants and has the time, he's going to write the lyrics for my songs.
AllBrazilianMusic — How does it work with Aldir?
Guinga — Like with the rest of them. I'll record and they'll take the tape home.
AllBrazilianMusic — And did you ever not like something?
Guinga — It has happened. We have the freedom, though, but he usually likes what I do and I like what he does. Aldir is a genius, a huge lyricist. It's usual that he'll surprise me with some masterpiece.
AllBrazilianMusic — How did you start working with Aldir?
Guinga — Through Raphael Rabello, who was writing with him, at the time. I said I wanted to do something with Aldir, because I was not writing with anyone. Then Raphael spoke to Aldir, who replied that he, too, wanted to work with me. So we set up a meeting and I paid Aldir a visit.
AllBrazilianMusic — What's the first song that you wrote together?
Guinga — The first one didn't come out good (laughs). I thought the song was not ok and so did him. Now, the second song that we made togehter, which is the real first one, was called Esconjuros, and was recorded by Sérgio Mendes .
AllBrazilianMusic — Do you remember all of the lyrics that people write for your songs?
Guinga — Not all of them, anymore, because I rarely sing these songs, my concerts have few songs with vocals, so, sometimes I'll forget the lyrics, but if I take a look at them, I recall them instantly. I memorize without noticing. I have memorized most of the songs on the new album. I have a good memory, but I'm lazy. Singing is a big effort to me. Sometimes I'll play a mostly instrumental set precisely because I think I'm a bad singer.
AllBrazilianMusic — Have you ever trained your voice?
Guinga — No. I'd never do it. I have a bad relationship with formal ways of studying music. I don't like to look at sheet music, the way it looks, it bothers me, it's even funny. I hate sheet music. But I guess I'm not alone.
AllBrazilianMusic — The formal study bothers you?
Guinga — It does, and I react, but I did study guitar with Jodacil Damasceno for five years.
AllBrazilianMusic — Which guitarists do you like to listen to, today?
Guinga — Well, I love the old ones, but among the younger generations, I like [guitar quartet] Maogani. To me, that is the best guitar thing in Brazil, the best arrangements. I regard Paulo Aragão [of Maogani] as the best arranger in activity today.
AllBrazilianMusic — Do you find the younger generation of guitarists very different from yours?
Guinga — The younger guitarists are virtuosi. There weren't that many virtuosi on my days, there was a Baden Powell, but it was rare. But now, you travel around Brazil and see 18, 19 year-old boys destroying everything. Doing things that seem impossible to me.
AllBrazilianMusic — For example?
Guinga — Oh, there are so many. Rogerinho, Diego and Daniel, from Brasília. Caio, son of Paulo Sérgio Santos, Yamandu [Costa], Marcus Tardelli.... Real Paco de Lucias are coming up in Brazil.
AllBrazilianMusic — Where does the exceeding talent come from?
Guinga — It comes from the times we're living in, so explosive.
AllBrazilianMusic — Which guitar do you use?
Guinga — A Giannini. When the factory [Giannini] turned 100 years, they hired a luthier and had 10 special guitars made, and I was given one of them. But it isn't as good unplugged as it is plugged. My dream is to have a nice guitar case (laughs).
AllBrazilianMusic — What do you listen to, at home?
Guinga — I don't listen to CDs, I only listen to the radio. I have no patience to put a CD on the player and sit there, listening. I'll do it only when I have to, when I need to learn a song, or something. If not, I'll listen to the radio, because I like the surprise, not knowing what will come next. But I'll only listen to Rádio MEC [specialized in classical music]. I like the radio because it surprises me, so when Rádio MEC surprised me by going off the air, I was very upset, because it was the only station that I really liked.
AllBrazilianMusic — No albums? Ever? Not even your favorites?
Guinga — Sometimes. I reckon Tom Jobim was like that, too. Whenever Tom talked about music, he would talk about the same songs, the same songwriters. I listen to the same things. I have ten albums at home that I'll always listen to. I even try to change, but I can't.
AllBrazilianMusic — Which albums are these?
Guinga — Clifford Brown [American trompeter, 1930-56]; Sexteto Radamés Gnattali, the album that features Meu Amigo Tom Jobim; Focus (Stan Getz), which is an album that pushed me toward music when I was about 10 years-old; Aldeia (Banda Mantiqueira); Samambaia (Hélio Delmiro and César Camargo Mariano), Michel Legrand with Miles Davis, a record where they play Django Reinhardt, Ciro Pereira's album, and classics like Villa-Lobos, Prokofiev, Lutoslawski, which I hear on Rádio MEC and love.
Guinga — Neither. I memorize it. I can't write sheet music, I can only read, a bit.
AllBrazilianMusic — Your daughters didn't pursue musical careers. What kind of music do they like?
Guinga — One of them doesn't have the tiniest musical sensitiveness, she only likes bad music. Sometimes she'll hear something good and even like it. From my new album, she only likes the samba I wrote with Nei Lopes. I wrote a song for her, Melodia Branca
and she came all whining to me, "dad, I whish you had written that samba for me..."!, So sincere... (laughs). My eldest daughter is very sensitive to music, she only likes what's best, she understands the beauty of music. So much so that she and her mom are my criteria, when I write something, I immediately show them. AllBrazilianMusic — The same thing happens with bad music, you hear so much you get uneducated...
Guinga — Something like that. I bet on the good music. My father used to listen to operas, and I developed a taste for Italian music, classical music.
AllBrazilianMusic — What kind of classical music?
Guinga — Traditional, Bach. Beethoven, Chopin. And also Villa-Lobos, Gabriel Fauré, Tchaikovsky, Puccini and Verdi.
AllBrazilianMusic — Your harmonies are regarded as impressionist, as is regarded the msuic of Debussy, Ravel, Fauré and other French composers of the 20th century. Did that kind of music have influence on yours?
Guinga — I appreciate that kind of music, and it is impossible not to be influenced by what one likes. Of course, one has got to find its own way, but, for instance, Impressões, Seresteiras (Villa-Lobos) is strongly influenced by the impressionism. The name itself, Impressões (impressions). It is the Brazilian impressionism.
AllBrazilianMusic — But in spite of all the classical influence, your musical experience began with the samba, right?
Guinga — My musical experience started out at home. My mom used to sing a lot, and her brothers were musicians. Then came bossa nova. I went to live in Jacarepaguá (western side of Rio) and I had this neighbor, Paulinho Cavalcanti, who initiated me into the bossa nova. He used to do everything just like João Gilberto. I would watch and listen to him him play everyday. I also had an uncle who collected jazz albums. When he died, his apartment was filled with jazz discs.
AllBrazilianMusic — And who kept the collection?
Guinga — The widow and daughters, they like jazz a lot. One of the girls is mad about Billie Holiday. I was mad about Ella Fitzgerald. But my eldest daughter is also mad about Billie Holiday. So what happens? I woke up so many times and my daughter was listening to Billie, that I developed a passion for her, too. In fact, I transfered the passion I have for my daughter to Billie, whom she likes so much. And I listened to her so much that I wrote a song, as if it were Billie singing. It's on the new record.
AllBrazilianMusic — What is it called?
Guinga — Yes, Zé Manés
. I gave it to Ana de Holanda, it's going to be in her album. But it's got a Billie Holiday soul to it. AllBrazilianMusic — What about other songs with Chico? Was there another after Você, Você
recorded on As Cidades)?Guinga — You'd better call him up and ask him (laughs).
AllBrazilianMusic — It took 8 years for him to write the lyrics of Você, Você, correct?
Guinga — Yes. If he keeps that pace, 8 years to write that song, and we're not kids, anymore... Maybe in the next life. But I would love if he did it. I think that he would love it, too, I know he likes my songs. There are melodies that I have given him, and I know he would have liked to write the lyrics for them, but he is enough for himself.
AllBrazilianMusic — Do you write thinking of any specific partner?
Guinga — Aldir Blanc is my partner. That's it. So I reckon I'll be inevitably giving him the music, so that he'll write the lyrics. But I have also made music while thinking of Chico's lyrics, before Aldir became my partner.
AllBrazilianMusic — You have increased the number of partners along the years. How does it work for you?
Guinga — Besides Aldir, there are Nei Lopes and Sérgio Natureza. But my partner is Aldir Blanc. Nowadays I have this wish to make something with Nei Lopes, too, because he's a genius. And Serginho Natureza is a great artist. But I'm not into writing with all different people. I like to use this expression: "I'm a one man's woman". Deep inside, I want to go on with my work with Aldir, we're certainly going to go on, we are friends and partners, and I want to develop my work with Nei, whom I love, as well, and with Sérgio, whenever he wants and has the time, he's going to write the lyrics for my songs.
AllBrazilianMusic — How does it work with Aldir?
Guinga — Like with the rest of them. I'll record and they'll take the tape home.
AllBrazilianMusic — And did you ever not like something?
Guinga — It has happened. We have the freedom, though, but he usually likes what I do and I like what he does. Aldir is a genius, a huge lyricist. It's usual that he'll surprise me with some masterpiece.
AllBrazilianMusic — How did you start working with Aldir?
Guinga — Through Raphael Rabello, who was writing with him, at the time. I said I wanted to do something with Aldir, because I was not writing with anyone. Then Raphael spoke to Aldir, who replied that he, too, wanted to work with me. So we set up a meeting and I paid Aldir a visit.
AllBrazilianMusic — What's the first song that you wrote together?
Guinga — The first one didn't come out good (laughs). I thought the song was not ok and so did him. Now, the second song that we made togehter, which is the real first one, was called Esconjuros, and was recorded by Sérgio Mendes
. AllBrazilianMusic — Do you remember all of the lyrics that people write for your songs?
Guinga — Not all of them, anymore, because I rarely sing these songs, my concerts have few songs with vocals, so, sometimes I'll forget the lyrics, but if I take a look at them, I recall them instantly. I memorize without noticing. I have memorized most of the songs on the new album. I have a good memory, but I'm lazy. Singing is a big effort to me. Sometimes I'll play a mostly instrumental set precisely because I think I'm a bad singer.
AllBrazilianMusic — Have you ever trained your voice?
Guinga — No. I'd never do it. I have a bad relationship with formal ways of studying music. I don't like to look at sheet music, the way it looks, it bothers me, it's even funny. I hate sheet music. But I guess I'm not alone.
AllBrazilianMusic — The formal study bothers you?
Guinga — It does, and I react, but I did study guitar with Jodacil Damasceno for five years.
AllBrazilianMusic — Which guitarists do you like to listen to, today?
Guinga — Well, I love the old ones, but among the younger generations, I like [guitar quartet] Maogani. To me, that is the best guitar thing in Brazil, the best arrangements. I regard Paulo Aragão [of Maogani] as the best arranger in activity today.
AllBrazilianMusic — Do you find the younger generation of guitarists very different from yours?
Guinga — The younger guitarists are virtuosi. There weren't that many virtuosi on my days, there was a Baden Powell, but it was rare. But now, you travel around Brazil and see 18, 19 year-old boys destroying everything. Doing things that seem impossible to me.
AllBrazilianMusic — For example?
Guinga — Oh, there are so many. Rogerinho, Diego and Daniel, from Brasília. Caio, son of Paulo Sérgio Santos, Yamandu [Costa], Marcus Tardelli.... Real Paco de Lucias are coming up in Brazil.
AllBrazilianMusic — Where does the exceeding talent come from?
Guinga — It comes from the times we're living in, so explosive.
AllBrazilianMusic — Which guitar do you use?
Guinga — A Giannini. When the factory [Giannini] turned 100 years, they hired a luthier and had 10 special guitars made, and I was given one of them. But it isn't as good unplugged as it is plugged. My dream is to have a nice guitar case (laughs).
AllBrazilianMusic — What do you listen to, at home?
Guinga — I don't listen to CDs, I only listen to the radio. I have no patience to put a CD on the player and sit there, listening. I'll do it only when I have to, when I need to learn a song, or something. If not, I'll listen to the radio, because I like the surprise, not knowing what will come next. But I'll only listen to Rádio MEC [specialized in classical music]. I like the radio because it surprises me, so when Rádio MEC surprised me by going off the air, I was very upset, because it was the only station that I really liked.
AllBrazilianMusic — No albums? Ever? Not even your favorites?
Guinga — Sometimes. I reckon Tom Jobim was like that, too. Whenever Tom talked about music, he would talk about the same songs, the same songwriters. I listen to the same things. I have ten albums at home that I'll always listen to. I even try to change, but I can't.
AllBrazilianMusic — Which albums are these?
Guinga — Clifford Brown [American trompeter, 1930-56]; Sexteto Radamés Gnattali, the album that features Meu Amigo Tom Jobim; Focus (Stan Getz), which is an album that pushed me toward music when I was about 10 years-old; Aldeia (Banda Mantiqueira); Samambaia (Hélio Delmiro and César Camargo Mariano), Michel Legrand with Miles Davis, a record where they play Django Reinhardt, Ciro Pereira's album, and classics like Villa-Lobos, Prokofiev, Lutoslawski, which I hear on Rádio MEC and love.