Pagode stars on solo trips
Former vocalists with Art Popular and Karametade try for success on their own
Marco Antonio Barbosa
28/05/2001
We’ve heard this story before. A pagode group starts to get hip, thousands of concerts, TV shows and stuff start to pop up. Then, the main vocalist decides to depart, at the very best moment. The last one to try and do this was Leandro Lehart, of Art Popular – who announced that he was leaving the group a few days ago. And Vavá, former vocalist with Karametade, has just released his first solo record after splitting up with his old mates (late last year). And it hasn’t been too long, either, since Salgadinho discarded the group Katinguelê to pursue a career of his own. Thus, the phenomenon is not really new, and seems to have been inspired by the success reached by Belo (Ex-vocalist with Soweto), who went for a solo career, also last year.
"I left the group in order to have more space to experiment. I enjoy making musical mixtures, but it would be too risky to include more experimentation in Art Popular’s albums", says Leandro Lehart. Which goes against what he declared in January, when his debut solo disc came out (named Solo). The album had Max de Castro’s hands on it, and featured assorted styles, such as black music and legitimate ‘70s flavored samba-rock. The mix didn’t quite seem tasty for the regular listener: Lehart saw the sales figures drop from 250 thousand (with Art Popular’s Acústico MTV, released last year) to a mere 10 thousand copies.
"People are busy selling records and all they do is repeat themselves. But I like shocking people. I want them to find it strange", Lehart shoots. The big royalty collector, due to the songs that he wrote for Art Popular and other pagode groups, will leave the room, but not the town. "I’ll keep producing Art’s records and writing songs for them", he claims. Lehart’s royalty paycheck is about 30 thousand dollars a month.
Pagode or tacky music? Vavá decides
He was responsible for the pagode version of the hit Morango do Nordeste, which flooded AM and FM stations all over the country last year. After savoring the success with his group, Karametade, vocalist Wagner Duarte’s – Vavá, for his friends – break up with his old fellows wasn’t that smooth. By the end of 2000, he fled, saying kind words like "I’m tired of working hard while other people drown in beer on my expenses".
Vavá will now try new horizons, with his debut solo record named... Vavá. When it comes to definition of new routes, Vavá sounds like Leandro Lehart, at least during his speech: "My solo album is not just a pagode album. I have mixed in samba, soul and pop". All in all, what is heard on the CD is not that different from Karametade, but rather reheated "romantic music", with tiny bits of samba on the background.
So as to avoid a flop like Leandro Lehart’s solo, Vavá counts on at least one mega-pop ingredient on his CD: Me Liga, a song written by Sandy, the teenage muse. "I didn’t record it because she is a successful singer. I recorded it because the song is really good. Who knows if I will have a song of mine in one of her records, someday...", says a hopeful Vavá. Just like Art Popular, Karametade keeps it going, regardless of the quarrels with the former vocalist. "The other day, I dreamt that I met them and hugged everyone of them. I have problems with members who weren’t as professional as they should, but I do hope for Karametade’s success", Vavá says.
"I left the group in order to have more space to experiment. I enjoy making musical mixtures, but it would be too risky to include more experimentation in Art Popular’s albums", says Leandro Lehart. Which goes against what he declared in January, when his debut solo disc came out (named Solo). The album had Max de Castro’s hands on it, and featured assorted styles, such as black music and legitimate ‘70s flavored samba-rock. The mix didn’t quite seem tasty for the regular listener: Lehart saw the sales figures drop from 250 thousand (with Art Popular’s Acústico MTV, released last year) to a mere 10 thousand copies.
"People are busy selling records and all they do is repeat themselves. But I like shocking people. I want them to find it strange", Lehart shoots. The big royalty collector, due to the songs that he wrote for Art Popular and other pagode groups, will leave the room, but not the town. "I’ll keep producing Art’s records and writing songs for them", he claims. Lehart’s royalty paycheck is about 30 thousand dollars a month.
Pagode or tacky music? Vavá decides
He was responsible for the pagode version of the hit Morango do Nordeste, which flooded AM and FM stations all over the country last year. After savoring the success with his group, Karametade, vocalist Wagner Duarte’s – Vavá, for his friends – break up with his old fellows wasn’t that smooth. By the end of 2000, he fled, saying kind words like "I’m tired of working hard while other people drown in beer on my expenses".
Vavá will now try new horizons, with his debut solo record named... Vavá. When it comes to definition of new routes, Vavá sounds like Leandro Lehart, at least during his speech: "My solo album is not just a pagode album. I have mixed in samba, soul and pop". All in all, what is heard on the CD is not that different from Karametade, but rather reheated "romantic music", with tiny bits of samba on the background.
So as to avoid a flop like Leandro Lehart’s solo, Vavá counts on at least one mega-pop ingredient on his CD: Me Liga, a song written by Sandy, the teenage muse. "I didn’t record it because she is a successful singer. I recorded it because the song is really good. Who knows if I will have a song of mine in one of her records, someday...", says a hopeful Vavá. Just like Art Popular, Karametade keeps it going, regardless of the quarrels with the former vocalist. "The other day, I dreamt that I met them and hugged everyone of them. I have problems with members who weren’t as professional as they should, but I do hope for Karametade’s success", Vavá says.