OS CARIOCAS
Vocal and instrumental quartet

“OS CARIOCAS”, a musical quartet, has been considered a real mark in the Brazilian popular music, since its style brought a new perspective to “singing groups”; a great passion of brazilian people. Their essentially innovatory characteristic together with sophisticated and elaborate arrangements were acclaimed by the critics and acquired enormous prestige among brazilian public and musicians as well as in other countries.

“Os Cariocas” style was created by Ismael Neto, arranger and composer of extraordinary talent, who, in spite of having disappeared prematurely, left behind not only the vocal group that he organized, but also compositions that became classics of brazilian popular music, as “Valsa de uma Cidade” and “Canção da Volta”.

The group began its professional activities on the radio (Radio Nacional do Rio de Janeiro), taking part in several great music broadcasts. At the same time, the band recorded songs for Continental Records, in Rio de Janeiro. The Songs “Adeus America” (Good-bye America) and “Nova Ilusão” (New Illusion), soon became hits.

Later on, they embraced the newly developed “bossa nova” style, soon becoming one of the main musicians on the list of those who made the style famous in Brazil and worldwide. “Os Cariocas”, indeed, was a pioneer band who had already been practising the Bossa Nova much before the arrival and the baptism of the style.

In the cast of Philips, now called Universal Music, and until today one of the main record companies in Brazil, “Os Cariocas”, between the years of 1962 to 1967, introduced in the market six albums of great success, containing the first edition of many songs that became great hits of the Bossa Nova style, as “Rio”, Menescal and Boscoli; “One note samba”, Tom Jobim and Newton Mendonça; , “Só danço samba” (The jazz samba), Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes; “Samba do Avião” (The airplane samba), Tom Jobim: “A minha namorada” (My valentine), Carlos Lyra and Vinicius de Moraes; “Ela é Carioca” (She is a Carioca), Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes; “Inútil Paisagem” (Useless Landscape), Tom Jobim and Aloísio de Oliveira; “Preciso aprender a ser só” (I need to learn to be alone) and “Samba de Verão” (Summer samba), Marcos and Paulo Sergio Valle, among many others.

In fact, since the times of its frequent participation in several great musical broadcasts of Radio Nacional, up to the coming of the musical movement that brought up the style “bossa nova”, that it helped to create, the group was present in the great events of Brazilian popular music, and its performance was worth of the largest praises from the national critic. They were called to perform in Argentina, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the USA (New York and Washington), where they appeared twice in the famous program The Tonight Show by Johnny Carson in the NBC.

The album “Introducing The Cariocas” (USA), recorded by Mercury and produced by Quincy Jones, was all sung in Portuguese and praised by both the public and the critics in the United States.

In Rio de Janeiro, “Os Cariocas” had an important participation in the memorable show “O Encontro” (The Meeting) with Tom Jobim, João Gilberto and Vinicius de Moraes, at the night-club “Au Bon Gourmet” In Copacabana, which marked the real beginning of the bossa-nova style. It was in this show that most of Tom Jobim’s hits were first performed.

“Os Cariocas” was constantly featured at the famous Beco das Garrafas (Bottle’s Lane), where many other famous musicians made their debut. The band also appeared many times on the famous TV show “O Fino da Bossa” (The best of the bossa), whose main star was Elis Regina. The fabulous brazilian singer performed extraordinary duets with “Os Cariocas” in those shows.

After a long voluntary pause, “Os Cariocas” noticed that their work was still up-to-date since their tunes were being played on the radio and people still looked for their records. They then decided to make a comeback.

The comeback took place in memorable presentarions in Jazzmania, in Rio de Janeiro, and, taking advantage of the extraordinary success achieved by them, Polygram, current Universal, released “The Best of “Os Cariocas”, a summary of the band work in its cast. Other countless compilations were released after that.

Since then news CDs have been recorded: “A Minha Namorada” (My Valentine); “Reconquistar” (To reconquer), with Tom Jobim, Ivan Lins, João Bosco, Caetano Veloso and Guilherme Arantes as special guests. Both CDs were awarded Prêmio Sharp (The Sharp Music Prize); “A Bossa Brasileira” (The Brazilian Bossa), blending several Brazilian music styles, including, of course, the bossa-nova. This work was also nominated for The Sharp Prize. In 1999, they recorded the CD “Rio de Janeiro, Gosto de Você” , presenting songs composed in tribute to Rio de Janeiro, our Cidade Maravilhosa (Wonderful Town), with the participation of the fabulous musicians Vittor Santos (trombone), Marcio Montarroyos (trumpet), Mauro Senise (alto sax), Marcelo Martins (tenor sax) and Dom Chacal (percussion). This album was recorded in a live presentation of the group and their guests, under the auspices of Rio de Janeiro City Hall.

Recently, Albatroz Records released the CDs “Os Clássicos Cariocas” (The Classic Cariocas) and “Cariocas.com.bossa”, presenting new versions of the most successfull songs recorded during the former phases of “Os Cariocas”. “Bossa Carioca” is the most recently CD recorded by the group, filled of new arrangements and new songs made by great brazilian composers.

Many other works of “Os Cariocas” in various albums are also available, such as participations in song-book CDs of Tom Jobim, Dorival Caymmi, Vinicius de Moraes, Carlos Lyra, Ary Barroso, Noel Rosa and João Donato, all of which have been released by Lumiar Records. The band also recorded a successful album with Tim Maia (Tim Maia and “Os Cariocas”), in which duets with the outstanding singer have been performed.

In 1999, Milton Nascimento, a successful brazilian singer, invited “Os Cariocas” to record the songs “Rosa Maria” and “Lamento no Morro” for his Grammy awarded album “The Crooner”. In addition, Nascimento asked them to participate in his opening shows in Canecão, Rio de Janeiro and Tom Brasil, São Paulo, where all of them sang those songs together. As a surprise to Milton, “Os Cariocas” presented a special arrangement “a capella” for his outstanding song “Encontros e Despedidas” (Meetings and Farewells), and its performance on both shows was greeted with the overwhelming emotion by the audience.

“Os Cariocas” have appeared in some movies such as “For All”, when they sang “Chiclete com Banana” (Chiclets with Banana), the opening song of the “For All” soundtrack. They also appear in the movie “Apolônio Brasil” (Apolonio Brazil) by Hugo Carvana where they sing a number of their greatest hits.

Due to their popular appeal, they have continuously been called for “open-air” shows in squares, on beaches and in parks where thousands of people turn up to support and applaud their favorite idols. In the same way the group had been playing in Assuncion, Paraguay (2001 and 2004), New York, Philadelphia an Washington d.c., USA (2002), Tokyo, Japan (2002), Montevideo, Uruguay (2003) and Lugano, Switzerland (2005).

SEVERINO FILHO, arranger, pianist, first voice, is the remaining musician from the whole work of “Os Cariocas”. ELOI VICENTE, guitarist and fourth voice, NEIL TEIXEIRA, bassist and third voice and FABIO LUNA, flute, drummer an second voice complete the present formation of the group, still showing their vocal and instrumental technique in the most important musical events all over Brazil and abroad. An article signed by the influential brazilian writer Rui Castro, published in the newspaper “O Estado de São Paulo”, describes one of those presentations. Just the title gives the perfect idea of the power of their creations: “The Constellation of Sounds of The Cariocas”.


Three coments about “Os Cariocas”, expressed on the back cover of their American album “Introducing The Cariocas” are worth mentioning:

“Os Cariocas, a fresh new sound from Brazil – the first vocal quartet blending bossa-nova rhythms and melodies with modern jazz harmonies” Quincy Jones.

“They are an absolute delight and I am an absolute fan! “Os Cariocas” charming vocal stylings make the infectious Brazilian pop music sound even more irresistible” Sammy Cahn.

“The taste and the skill of “Os Cariocas” represent to me one of the great pleasures that we always expect but so seldom attain in this profession” Skitch Henderson.