Chico Buarque

Of the early stars of MPB (Música Popular Brasileira), Chico Buarque was one of the first to become a certifiable pop star. With his warm, nasalinflected croon, elegant phrasing, and considerable skill at lyric writing, Buarque (who is handsome to boot) became extremely popular with women, who loved his understated sensuality. In 1974, Buarque recorded Sinal Fechado, after having his music censored numerous times by the Brazilian military dictatorship during the ‘70s. By the time of this recording, Buarque was not allowed to compose his own songs, so on Sinal Fechado Chico pays tribute to a host of other Brazilian composers, such as Tom Jobim, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Noel Rosa, Nelson Cavaquinho, Vinícius de Moraes, and Sebastião Nunes, among others. Included here is “Acorda, Amor,” a landmark song of the period penned by Chico under the pseudonym Julinho da Adelaide to avoid censorship.