"Noel Rosa" has been added to your list of bookmarked artists
close
Noel Rosa
Biography
Noel Rosa was a well-known and celebrated composer while alive, but is more and more popular as time passes. When active, popular music in Brazil was mainly "country" music, sertaneja music. But he felt free to offer his true-spirited samba in a new way, his way: sophisticated melodies conjugated with unusual lyrics, ranging from amorous metaphysics through a vivid picture of social life and relations in a poetic Rio of the '30s.

Although his carnival marches knew instant national-wide success year by year, his elaborate songs only began to receive popular acclamation within ten years after his death. Maybe this gradual conquer over accepted standards can explain why he is so present these days.

His birth from a difficult delivery marked his whole life: as mother and child were endangered, the obstetrician decided to use the forceps. It caused a fracture and deepening of his jawbone. Through all his adolescence it would make him marked by cruel nickname "Queixinho" (Little Chin), and the difficulty eating would make him prefer soft foods such as soups and eggs, consumed out of sight of strangers. Eating less than his needs, together with his bohemian habits, may have had a decisive impact on contracting tuberculosis, which ended up killing him at the young age of 26 years.
Selected Discography
report abuse