The musician and poet Luiz Galvão, founder of the group Novos Baianos, died on Saturday evening (22nd) in São Paulo at the age of 87.
- Who was Luiz Galvão, poet, friend of João Gilberto and founder of Novos Baianos
The cause of death was not disclosed, but Galvão had been hospitalized since September 16 when he was admitted to the Santa Casa de Misericórdia de São Paulo with suspected gastrointestinal bleeding. On the 18th of the same month, he was transferred to the Incor Instituto do Coração, also in São Paulo.
The death was confirmed by the artist’s wife. There is no information about the funeral yet.
According to the family, Galvão was hospitalized on September 13 after feeling unwell and was discharged on the 14th, but had to come back and be hospitalized that same day. Eventually, due to gravity, he was intubated and kept in the intensive care unit.
According to Luiz Galvão’s family, he even spent a night in the corridor of an emergency room during his hospitalization. At the end of September, the artist also underwent vascular surgery.
According to his wife, Janete, the artist had health issues, could not walk, and had previously suffered a cerebral vascular accident (CVA) and a heart attack. He was also diabetic.
Friend of João Gilberto, founder of Novos Baianos
2 of 3 Classic photo of the Novos Baianos that appeared on the cover of the Acabou Chorare album — Photo: Disclosure
Classic photo by Novos Baianos that graced the cover of Acabou Chorare album — Photo: Disclosure
Luiz Dias Galvão was born on July 22, 1937 in Juazeiro in northern Bahia. Galvão, who was good at writing and playing ball, played professional football in Juazeiro and became Bahia’s indoor football champion.
He continued his studies, still in the north of Bahia, where he graduated and worked in agronomy for six years until he left the activity and decided to make a living from his art. Years earlier, Luiz Galvão had met João Gilberto as a teenager in Juazeiro. The friendship would change the history of Brazilian music forever.
Galvão often tells that he met João while visiting the father of bossa nova in Juazeiro, which was also his hometown. The poet was already friends with Buliu, one of João’s brothers.
“Dona Patu, mother, liked me very much. She was one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I passed by Dona Patu’s house and Joao Gilberto was in his room, he was spending a few days in Juazeiro. Then he called me, come here, we talked and that’s when the friendship started,” Galvão said in a 2015 interview with a program at the Federal University of Vale do São Francisco.
3 of 3 Novos Baianos — Photo: José Araújo / Reproduction of a CD box
Novos Baianos — Photo: José Araújo / CD box reproduction
Years later, a new friendship culminated in one of the biggest groups in Brazilian pop music history, the Novos Baianos. Galvão met in Salvador with two other young people from inland towns of Bahia. From Santa Inês, in the south of Bahia, came Paulo Roberto Figueiredo de Oliveira, known as Paulinho Boca de Cantor, and from Ituaçu, in the southwest of the state, came Antônio Carlos Moraes Pires, known as Moraes Moreira.
In 1968 they created the show that led to Novos Baianos, Desembarque dos Bichos after the world flood.
The trio would still gain reinforcements Baby do Brasil and Pepeu Gomes. Alongside Jorge Gomes, Dadi, Charles Negrita, Baixinho, Bola Morais and Gato Félix. Through the natural law of encounter, the Novos Baianos asked for passage to make history.
In 1970 the group released their debut album Ferro na doll. The group lived on a farm in Jacarepaguá, Rio West Zone, where they followed the US and European hippie culture during the Brazilian military dictatorship.
The great work was to come after a visit by João Gilberto to the house where they lived together in Rio de Janeiro. It was in 1972 when the group released the album “Acabou chorare” that formed the Novos Baianos. The work brought together samba, rock, bossa nova, frevo, choro and baião.
Featuring the rerecording of “Brasil pandeiro” by Assis Valente, in addition to “Preta pretinha”, “Mistério do planeta”, “A Menina Dança”, “Besta é tu” and the title track, all coauthored by Moraes Moreira.
The album was voted the best in the history of Brazilian music by Rolling Stone magazine in October 2007. There were eight studio albums in total. There are also two live albums from the group’s reunions, one from 1997 and one from 2017.
Luiz Galvão wrote most of the songs recorded by the group and set to music by Moraes Moreira. His compositions include “Acabou Chorare”, “Preta Pretinha” and “Mistério do Planeta”.
Galvão is the author of the books: “Novos Baianos: The Story of the Group that Changed MPB”; “João Gilberto: a bossa” and “The 80s: The story of a friendship in the lost decade”. The Juazeirense also released the album Galvão, A Palavra dos Novos Baianos.
The poet leaves the scene and leaves his legacy as a passion for art, poetry, evocative lyrics and good humor. In addition to an uncompromising defense of his people and his country.
“The people of the Northeast are fighters, winners. And Juazeiro is a playful city with a lot of humor, it’s “I’ve arrived”. Juazeiro is the man,” he liked to say in interviews.
Despite his fragile health in recent years, Luiz Galvão has always remained in a state of poetry. Together with his children and his wife Janete, accompanied by Vasco, the team he loves or in the smallest details, Galvão has immortalized the verses he left. “After all, life is good and it’s still beautiful.”
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