It’s a song that resembles us. Henri Salvador, Honorary Brazilian

Henri Salvador really became a singer during the Second World War during a stay in Brazil, a country to which he remained musically faithful all his life, notably composing “Dans mon île”, an influential song for Brazilian musicians themselves.

In partnership with the exhibition It’s a song that resembles us – Worldwide hits of French-language popular music At the Cité internationale de la langue française in Villers-Cotterêts, these chronicles look in detail at each of the stories presented there.

This song is supposed to be about an island and Henri Salvador, being of Guadeloupean parents, one can easily believe it is an island in the French Antilles, especially since the rhythm of this song is a biguine.

But Henri Salvador, composer and performer of this biguine, slowed down its tempo considerably. It was 1958, precisely at the time when a new way of writing and composing was being invented in Brazil. Musicians, first and foremost Antonio Carlos Jobim, slowed down the native rhythm of the samba to the extreme. This radical vision of their popular music would become bossa nova, a musical revolution that would spread throughout the world.

Many Brazilian musicians recognize Henri Salvador, if not as a precursor, then at least as one of their own.

In this episode of, It’s a song that resembles usyou hear excerpts from:

Henry Salvador, In my island, 1958

Caetano Veloso, In my island, 1981

Ray Ventura and his Jazz Orchestra, This is the first time, 1942 or 1943

Ray Ventura and his Jazz Orchestra, The First Date, 1942 or 1943

Henry Salvador, You know I’m going to love you, 2006

Antonio Carlos Jobim, If you love me, 1987

Maria Creuza, Vinicius de Moraes, If you love me, 1970

Henri Salvador and Gilberto Gil, You know I’m going to love you, 2007

Henry Salvador, In my island, 2006

You can also extend this column with the book It’s a song that resembles us published by Heritage Publishing.

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