MPB rescued
About 13 thousand relics from the first wave of recordings in Brazil are being remastered and will soon be available to researchers
Rodrigo Faour
27/03/2001
For a few years, now, initiatives have been made to preserve the memory of the MPB. Record companies have been realizing the importance of their collections and reissuing important albums on CD. But who would dare digging into the arch of the first recordings ever made in Brazil, in the early 20th century? Answer: researcher Humberto Francheschi (owner of 13 thousand titles), producer Carlos Alexandre (a.k.a. Carlão, of the label Visom) and a team of top technicians who are remastering 78 rpm discs at the rate of 1,100 units per month. This is the project Cantares Brasileiros - Centro de Referência da MPB.
Humberto's collection includes the albums of the pioneering Casa Edison, which operated from 1902 till 1932, plus albums produced by all the different companies that were established in the country until 1955, such as Odeon, RCA Victor and Columbia. The problem is that, until 1927, the recording system was mechanic and quite precarious. Thus, the recovery process of the discs is as fundamental as hard to be accomplished.
The group's idea is to keep the lot in a museum, making it available to researchers. "The idea emerged from Humberto's wish, which is to tell the story of MPB with all of the subtle changes in recording formats during the first 50 years of the 20th century", Carlão explains, while coordinating the two first phases of the project: transcription (digitization) and restoration of albums and tracks. "Later, the material will be stored and made available to the public at the Instituto Moreira Salles", he anticipates. The collection includes politicians' speeches and countless instrumental recordings of choro, polka, tango, and historic sambas.
Loads of flutists
The producer explains how technology was rough when the first albums were recorded. "On the days of mechanic recording, the sound had to be made into a gigantic cone conected to a needle, which would cut the acetate on a plate that was manually turned, since there was no electricity. The needle would vibrate and cut the record", says Carlão. The successful acts at the time were the military bands and choro groups (with loads of flute solos, such as the ones performed by Patápio Silva, whose 14 tracks recorded between 1902 and 1908 are now being recovered).
In the beginning, the recording couldn't be done with large groups of musicians at once, because of the recording funnel (there were no michophones, back then). Although there were plenty of songs with vocals, instrumental music was more popular until 1928. According to the researchers, there were also plenty of flutists.
"The flute was a key-instrument in Brazilian music. There was the pau e corda orchestra, with ebony flutes and string instruments. That kind of line-up dominated the Brazilian music recordings until the late 1910s and early 20s", claims Humberto Francheschi. An heir to the collection of his grandparents and parents, Humberto kept collecting discs while exhanging information with researchers Sérgio Porto and Lúcio Rangel. He remembers that, early in the 20th century, many of the songs recorded in the country were foreign. "They would be launched and transformed, getting a more Brazilian structure. That helped institutionalize our own music".
Surviving the scratches
Humberto adds that the national jazz bands (note: in fact, any other small group of music was called jazz band, even though the music played was not jazz) and northeastern music groups recorded a lot during that first phase. Among the singers, Bahiano, Mário and the icons Vicente Celestino and Francisco Alves also had their music recorded back then.
But the researcher's eyes really shine when he talks about the samba masters of Estácio (northern side of Rio). "Estácio has produced the best music in Brazil, and I dare saying, in the world", he exaggerates, while appointing Aracy de Almeida the best Brazilian singer ever. Thrilled by the recovery process conducted by Carlão's technicians, Humberto is surprised with the remastered versions. "The quality is amazing!", he praises.
Alexandre Moreira, of the group Bossacucanova, is one of the minds behind the miraculous recovery of the old 78 rpm discs. He claims that the greatest difficulty is to make time to work on the project. "We spend one hour on each track. We are working with albums recorded until 1915, the ones recorded under the roughest conditions. When it's time to make the trasncriptions, we meet with Humberto and rank the material in order of importance." And he continues: "If it is only a speech, for instance, we eliminate the scratches and noises. And we spend more time recovering more important tracks". In this case, 'spend more time' means to test different needles, turntables and computer softwares. Some disposition! But the result, many MPB researchers and aficionados must agree, compensates the efforts.
Humberto's collection includes the albums of the pioneering Casa Edison, which operated from 1902 till 1932, plus albums produced by all the different companies that were established in the country until 1955, such as Odeon, RCA Victor and Columbia. The problem is that, until 1927, the recording system was mechanic and quite precarious. Thus, the recovery process of the discs is as fundamental as hard to be accomplished.
The group's idea is to keep the lot in a museum, making it available to researchers. "The idea emerged from Humberto's wish, which is to tell the story of MPB with all of the subtle changes in recording formats during the first 50 years of the 20th century", Carlão explains, while coordinating the two first phases of the project: transcription (digitization) and restoration of albums and tracks. "Later, the material will be stored and made available to the public at the Instituto Moreira Salles", he anticipates. The collection includes politicians' speeches and countless instrumental recordings of choro, polka, tango, and historic sambas.
Loads of flutists
The producer explains how technology was rough when the first albums were recorded. "On the days of mechanic recording, the sound had to be made into a gigantic cone conected to a needle, which would cut the acetate on a plate that was manually turned, since there was no electricity. The needle would vibrate and cut the record", says Carlão. The successful acts at the time were the military bands and choro groups (with loads of flute solos, such as the ones performed by Patápio Silva, whose 14 tracks recorded between 1902 and 1908 are now being recovered).
In the beginning, the recording couldn't be done with large groups of musicians at once, because of the recording funnel (there were no michophones, back then). Although there were plenty of songs with vocals, instrumental music was more popular until 1928. According to the researchers, there were also plenty of flutists.
"The flute was a key-instrument in Brazilian music. There was the pau e corda orchestra, with ebony flutes and string instruments. That kind of line-up dominated the Brazilian music recordings until the late 1910s and early 20s", claims Humberto Francheschi. An heir to the collection of his grandparents and parents, Humberto kept collecting discs while exhanging information with researchers Sérgio Porto and Lúcio Rangel. He remembers that, early in the 20th century, many of the songs recorded in the country were foreign. "They would be launched and transformed, getting a more Brazilian structure. That helped institutionalize our own music".
Surviving the scratches
Humberto adds that the national jazz bands (note: in fact, any other small group of music was called jazz band, even though the music played was not jazz) and northeastern music groups recorded a lot during that first phase. Among the singers, Bahiano, Mário and the icons Vicente Celestino and Francisco Alves also had their music recorded back then.
But the researcher's eyes really shine when he talks about the samba masters of Estácio (northern side of Rio). "Estácio has produced the best music in Brazil, and I dare saying, in the world", he exaggerates, while appointing Aracy de Almeida the best Brazilian singer ever. Thrilled by the recovery process conducted by Carlão's technicians, Humberto is surprised with the remastered versions. "The quality is amazing!", he praises.
Alexandre Moreira, of the group Bossacucanova, is one of the minds behind the miraculous recovery of the old 78 rpm discs. He claims that the greatest difficulty is to make time to work on the project. "We spend one hour on each track. We are working with albums recorded until 1915, the ones recorded under the roughest conditions. When it's time to make the trasncriptions, we meet with Humberto and rank the material in order of importance." And he continues: "If it is only a speech, for instance, we eliminate the scratches and noises. And we spend more time recovering more important tracks". In this case, 'spend more time' means to test different needles, turntables and computer softwares. Some disposition! But the result, many MPB researchers and aficionados must agree, compensates the efforts.