Paulinho Boca De Cantor

Paulinho Boca de Cantor, founder and member of the seminal electric choro/samba band Os Novos Baianos, also has had ups in his solo career, which began in 1979. His first professional assignment was with Cartilho e sua Orquestra (1962). With Perinho Albuquerque, Tuzé de Abreu, Perna Fróes, Tutty Moreno, Moacyr Albuquerque, and Bira Silva he formed the Orquestra Avanço. In 1968, with Galvão and Moraes Moreira, he created the show Desembarque dos Bichos Depois do Dilúvio at the Vila Velha theater, in Salvador (Bahia), which also had Pepeu Gomes and Baby Consuelo. In the next year, the group took the name Os Novos Baianos, departing for an extremely important and historically significant participation in the Brazilian popular music. With its dissolution, Boca de Cantor started a solo career with the album Paulinho Boca de Cantor: Bom de Chinfra e Bom de Amor (1979). Valeu (1981) became the best-selling independent album of 1982, with "Estrela Manhã" (J. Veloso/Boca de Cantor/Carlô), "Vestido de Prata" (Jorge Alfredo), "Valeu" (Paulo Leminski), and "Rocky Mary" (Lula Martins). In the next year, together with Dorival Caymmi, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Moraes Moreira, Maria Bethânia, and Gal Costa, Boca de Cantor performed in Rome (Italy) in the show Bahia de Todos os Sambas, which was filmed as a short subject. Boca de Cantor continued to record and play and in 1988, he went to the U.S. to perform, founding the Bahia Band. Since 1975, he has been participating in the Carnival of Salvador (Bahia) with the Trio Elétrico Os Novos Baianos. With Edil Pacheco (his collaborator on several songs), Boca de Cantor created the research project Bahia de Todas as Músicas: do Lundu ao Axé. In 1997, he teamed up with the rest of the Novos Baianos for the recording of the CD Infinito Circular and the eponymous show in Rio de Janeiro (at the Metropolitan).