Brazilian singer Carlos Lyra, one of the great architects of bossa nova, has died at 90

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Singer, guitarist, composer, Carlos Lyra was one of the young artists who participated in the launch of the bossa nova musical movement in the 1950s in Rio de Janeiro. Several great Brazilian musicians, from Caetano Veloso to Gilberto Gil, paid tribute to him over the weekend.

France Télévisions – Culture Editorial

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Carlos Lyra on stage in Marciac (Gers), August 10, 2011. (PIERRE VIGNAUX / MAXPPP)

He was one of the young artists who gravitated around the founding fathers of bossa nova, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Vinícius de Moraes and João Gilberto, in the 1950s and 1960s. Carlos Lyra died at the age of 90, Saturday December 16, in Rio de Janeiro, announced the musician’s entourage on their social network accounts: “It is with great sadness that we announce the unexpected death of composer Carlos Lyra early this morning.”

Carlos Lyra has composed many pearls of Brazilian music including Minha Namorada, Voce and Eu, Coisa But Linda, Jazz influence, so many songs covered by a multitude of performers, both in Brazil and in the world of jazz. In Jazz influence (1962), the artist, who studied samba and traditional Brazilian music, deplored the way in which jazz had distorted the rhythm of samba…

Singer, guitarist, composer, Carlos Eduardo Lyra Barbosa was born on May 11, 1933 in Rio de Janeiro. Bedridden for several months following an accident during a sporting activity, he passed the time by working diligently on the guitar. At high school, he became friends with Roberto Menescal, another promising musician with whom he founded the first guitar academy in Rio de Janeiro. In 1954, Lyra wrote and composed her first songs, When ChegaresThen Menina which will be his first title to be recorded in 1955, by the singer Sylvia Telles.

A song covered by Brigitte Bardot

With Roberto Menescal and other young artists like Ronaldo Bôscoli, Carlos Lyra composed songs that were part of the new musical movement that sprang from the beautiful neighborhoods of Rio in the second half of the 1950s: bossa nova, a sensual mix of samba and jazz carried by sophisticated harmonies. If the most eminent figures of this genre are the composer Antônio Carlos “Tom” Jobim, the poet-lyricist Vinícius de Moraes and the singer-guitarist João Gilberto, who was the architect of the sound and rhythm of bossa, Lyra, Menescal , Bôscoli, but also João Donato and Marcos Valle enrich this new repertoire with numerous musical nuggets.

From 1960, with the author Vinícius de Moraes, Carlos Lyra composed superb songs such as Você e Eu, Coisa Mais Linda, Maria Moita, Primavera, Minha Namorada…

Released in 1964, the song Maria Moita opens with a guitar riff that bears a disturbing resemblance to the one that opens Deep Purple’s classic, Smoke on the Watera song launched eight years later… The similarity was noted in 2019 by a Brazilian journalist and musician, Régis Tadeu.

Carlos Lyra’s other great writing partners include Ronaldo Bôscoli (with whom he co-signed from 1957 Lobo Lobo, Se é Tarde me Perdoa, Canção que Morre no Ar…) and Geraldo Vandre (Quem Quiser Encontrar o Amor, Aruanda…).

One of Carlos Lyra’s first songs, Maria Ningueminitially engraved by João Gilberto in his legendary first LP Chega of Saudade (released in 1959), will be covered by Brigitte Bardot in Portuguese (1964).

Tributes from Lula and the musical world

Roberto Menescal, 86, reacted to the disappearance of Carlos Lyra on the GloboNews channel, talking about the last time he saw his old friend: “I visited him last month and he wasn’t well. I think it would be cowardly of us to ask him to stay any longer. He did what he had to do and he was brilliant in all.”

Brazilian President Lula paid tribute to Carlos Lyra on Saturday evening on X: “Today Brazil says goodbye to Carlos Lyra, Brazilian singer and composer, one of the great names of Bossa Nova. Partner of Vinícius de Moraes and many great names of MPB [musique populaire brésilienne]. My condolences to Carlos Lyra’s friends, family and admirers during this time of loss.”

Gilberto Gil paid tribute to the memory of Carlos Lyra on Saturday on social networks: “Saddened by the news of the departure of Carlos Lyra, who leaves us, at 90 years old, an extraordinary legacy. A big hug to all the family and friends.“

Like Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso paid tribute to Carlos Lyra in music on Sunday on stage: “Yesterday’s show, at the Concha Acústica, was specially dedicated to the memory of Carlos Lyra and, in his honor, I sang When Chegares, which was his first composition.”

To listen : the Sunday show “Repassez-moi l’standard” on November 6, 2022, hosted by Laurent Valero, on France Musique, was dedicated to the song “Influência do jazz” by Carlos Lyra


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