Chico Buarque | |
|---|---|
 Buarque in 2023 | |
| Born | Francisco Buarque de Hollanda (1944-06-19)19 June 1944 (age 81) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Alma mater | University of São Paulo |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1962–present |
| Notable work | |
| Spouses | |
| Children |
|
| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Labels | |
| Website | chicobuarque |
Musical artist | |
| Signature | |
 | |
Francisco Buarque de Hollanda (born 19 June 1944), popularly known asChico Buarque (Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation:[ˈʃikʊbuˈahki]), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer, playwright, writer, and poet. He is best known for his music, which often includes social, economic, and cultural reflections on Brazil.
The firstborn son ofSérgio Buarque de Hollanda, Buarque lived at several locations throughout his childhood, though mostly inRio de Janeiro,São Paulo, andRome. He wrote and studied literature as a child and found music through thebossa nova compositions ofTom Jobim andJoão Gilberto. He performed as a singer and guitarist in the 1960s as well as writing a play that was deemed dangerous by the Brazilian military dictatorship of the time. Buarque, along with severalTropicalist andMPB musicians, was threatened by theBrazilian military government and eventually left Brazil for Italy in 1969. However, he came back to Brazil in 1970 and continued to record, perform, and write, though much of his material was suppressed by government censors. He released several more albums in the 1980s and published three novels in the 1990s and 2000s.
In 2019, Buarque was awarded theCamões Prize, the most important prize for literature in the Portuguese language. However, the awarding of the prize was delayed by four years due to actions byJair Bolsonaro, but Buarque received it in April 2023.[1] He has also won elevenBrazilian Music Awards,[2] the most important prize forBrazilian music.
Buarque was born inRio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 19 June 1944. He came from an intellectually privileged family background—his fatherSérgio Buarque de Holanda was a well-known historian, sociologist and journalist, and his motherMaria Amélia Cesário Alvim was a painter and pianist. He is also the brother of the singersMiúcha,Cristina Buarque, and politicianAna de Hollanda. As a child, he was impressed by the musical style ofbossa nova, specifically the work ofTom Jobim andJoão Gilberto. He was also interested in writing, composing his first short story at 18 years old[3] and studying European literature, also at a young age.[4] One of his most consuming interests, however, was playing football, beginning at the age of four, and he still played regularly in his 60s.[4] During his childhood, he lived in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Rome.[5]
Before becoming a musician, Buarque decided at one point to study architecture at theUniversity of São Paulo, but this choice did not lead to a career in that field; Buarque often skipped classes.[6]
He made his public debut as a musician and composer in 1964, rapidly building his reputation at music festivals and television variety shows whenbossa nova came to light andNara Leão recorded three of his songs.[6] His eponymous debut album exemplified his future work, with catchysambas characterised by inventivewordplay and an undercurrent of nostalgic tragedy. Buarque had his first hit with "A Banda" in 1966, written about a marching band, and soon released several more singles.[4] Although playing bossa nova, during his career, samba andMúsica popular brasileira would also be widely explored. Despite that, Buarque was criticized by two of the leading musicians at the time,Caetano Veloso andGilberto Gil as they believed his musical style was overly conservative.[6] However, an existentially themed play that Buarque wrote and composed in 1968,Roda Viva ("Live Circle"), was frowned upon by the military government and Buarque served a short prison sentence because of it.[6] He left Brazil for Italy for 18 months in 1970, returning to write his first novel in 1972, which was not targeted by censors.[3]
At this time, his thinly veiled protest single "Apesar de Você" ("In spite of You" – in reference to the military dictatorship) was also produced.[7] "Apesar de Você" was overlooked by the military censors, becoming an important anthem in the democratic movement. After selling more than 100,000 copies, the single was eventually censored and removed from the market. At one point in 1974, the censors banned any song authored by Chico Buarque. Then, he created a pseudonym, naming himself "Julinho de Adelaide", complete with a life history and interviews with newspapers. "Julinho de Adelaide"[8] authored songs such as "Jorge Maravilha" ("Wonder Jorge") and "Acorda Amor" ("Wake Up Love" as in a lover) before he was outed in aJornal do Brasil news story.[9] Buarque also wrote a play namedCalabar, about theDutch invasion of Brazil in the seventeenth century, drawing parallels with the military regime.[10] Despite the censorship, songs such as "Samba de Orly" (1970), "Acorda amor" (1974, as "Julinho da Adelaide") manifested Buarque's continuing opposition to the military regime.
During the 1970s and 1980s, he collaborated with filmmakers, playwrights, and musicians in further protest works against the dictatorship. Buarque approached the 1983 Concert for Peace in Nicaragua as a valid forum to vocalise his strong political views. Throughout the decade, he crafted many of his songs as vehicles to describe the re-democratisation of Brazil. The Concert for Peace in Nicaragua was one in a concert series known as the "Central American Peace Concerts." These concerts featured variousLatin American artists. The political turmoil that plagued this era was expressed in many of Buarque's songs.[11][12] He later wroteBudapeste, a novel that achieved critical national acclaim and won thePrêmio Jabuti,[13] a Brazilian literary award comparable to theBooker Prize.
His 2017 albumCaravanas was named the third best Brazilian album of that year by the Brazilian edition ofRolling Stone.[14]
Books
| Plays
| Film
|
The cover art of the Buarque's 1966 albumChico Buarque de Hollanda became a viralinternet meme with "happy" Chico and "sad" Chico.[18]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
