Baden Powell also composed many fine pieces for guitar, such as Abração em Madrid, Braziliense, Canto de Ossanha, Casa Velha, Consolação, Horizon, Imagem, Lotus, Samba, Samba Triste, Simplesmente, Tristeza e solidão, and Xangô.
Roberto Baden Powell de Aquino was born in Varre-Sai in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His father, a scouting enthusiast, named him after Robert Baden-Powell. When he was three months old, his family relocated to the Rio suburb of São Cristóvão. The new surroundings proved profoundly influential. His house was a stop for popular musicians during his formative years. He started guitar lessons with Jayme Florence, a famous choro guitarist in the 1940s. He soon proved a young virtuoso, having won many talent competitions before he was a teenager. At age fifteen, he was already playing professionally, accompanying singers and bands in various styles. As a youngster, he was fascinated by swing and jazz, but his main influences were firmly rooted in the Brazilian guitar canon.
In 1955, Powell was playing with the Steve Bernard Orquestra at the Boite Plaza, a nightclub within the Plaza Hotel in Rio, where his skill got the attention of the jazz trio playing across the lobby at the Plaza Bar. When Ed Lincoln needed to form a new trio, he asked Powell to join on guitar to become the Hotel Plaza Trio. Powell brought in Luiz Marinho for bass duties as well as a fourth member of the "trio": Claudette Soares on vocals. Powell, Lincoln and their young musician friends took part in after-hours jam sessions, gaining notice in the growing Brazilian jazz scene.
Powell achieved much wider fame in 1959 by convincing Billy Blanco, an established singer and songwriter, to put lyrics to one of Powell's compositions. The result was called "Samba Triste" and quickly became very successful. It has been covered by many artists, including Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd in their seminal LP Jazz Samba.
In 1962, Powell met the poet-diplomat Vinicius de Moraes and began a collaboration that yielded some true classics of 1960s Brazilian music. Although bossa nova was the prevailing sound of the times, the partnership Baden-Vinicius wanted to transcend the then-fashionable sound by syncretizing Afro-Brazilian forms such as Candomblé, Umbanda and Capoeira with Rio de Janeiro's Samba forms. The most enduring result is a series released as an LP in 1966 under the name "Os Afro-Sambas de Baden e Vinicius". During those years, he studied advanced harmony with Moacir Santos, released recordings in the Brazilian labels Elenco and Forma, as well as in the French label Barclay and the German label MPS/Saba (notably, his 1966 Tristeza on Guitar, considered by many to be a high point in his career). In addition, he was the house guitarist for Elenco, and of the celebrated singer Elis Regina's TV show "O Fino da Bossa".
In 1968, he partnered with poet Paulo Cesar Pinheiro and produced another series of Afro-Brazilian inspired music released in 1970 as "Os Cantores da Lapinha".
He visited and toured Europe frequently in the 1960s, relocating permanently to France in 1968. In the 1970s, he released many recordings with different labels in Europe and Brazil. His star dimmed somewhat owing to health problems and people's changing tastes. He spent the 1980s in semi-retirement in France and Germany. Finally, in the 1990s he and his family moved back to Brazil, where he continued to record and perform. Public recognition of his work came around that time in Brazil. By the end of the 1990s he converted to the Evangelical faith, to which he credits overcoming his long addictions to alcohol and tobacco. Nevertheless, his health had greatly deteriorated after many years of abuse, and he fell terminally ill in 2000.
Baden Powell died of pneumonia triggered by diabetes on 26 September 2000, in Rio de Janeiro.
He is the father of pianist Philippe Baden Powell de Aquino and guitarist Louis Marcel Powell de Aquino.
Playing style
Baden Powell decided at age 19 to stop playing the electric guitar, preferring to concentrate on the classical guitar for the rest of his career. He did record a series of albums with a borrowed steel-string acoustic, but that is as far as he strayed from his main instrument in his adulthood.
An analysis of his repertoire reveals a wide range of interests. It spanned all the idioms of Brazilian popular music of the 20th century: Samba, Bossa Nova, Afro-bahian ritual music, Frevo, Choro, North Eastern Sertão music, even European and Japanese lullabies. Like most musicians growing up in the 1940s and 1950s, he was deeply influenced by Jazz, especially Bebop and Swing. He covered Thelonious Monk's 'Round Midnight on two recordings, and Jerome Kern's All the Things you Are on three occasions (including his first solo album).
This upbringing is reflected in his playing style, which shows a fusion of jazz harmonies and classical guitar technique, with a very Brazilian right hand (i.e., the one carrying the rhythm on the guitar). In solo classical music, he was quite proficient in the works of Tárrega and Bach. When playing in a group, he was able to accompany singers with quiet mastery, or let loose and play street Samba in sloppy "party" style as if the guitar was another percussion instrument. Like Monk, he was fond of the minor second interval as a way to "bend" the tonality. However, because of his jazz background, he would rarely physically bend the string, preferring instead to play the minor second using an adjacent open string. Students of his style should note this preference for chord voicings that feature extensions on the open strings as a way of punctuating passages. Other idioms to watch for are the endless variations in rhythm played by the right hand; always within the proper 2/4 samba meter, as well as his tendency to put his "signature" in a fast descending scale with a (slower) ascending arpeggio in the relative key. Another common device that he used in his recordings consisted of his use of vocalise and scat singing, often in unison with the melody line (especially when the melody was sung on the bass strings of the guitar).
His influences, according to his testimony, were his first teacher "Meira" (Jayme Florence, 1909–1982), Dilermando Reis (1916–1977), and Garoto (Anibal Augusto Sardinha, 1915–1955). He also commented about being influenced by the work of Les Paul (Lester William Polfus, 1915–2009), Django Reinhardt (1910–1953) and Jacques Loussier (1934-).
Discography
Baden Powell first appeared as accompanist on a handful of big band and samba recordings from the 1950s. He recorded his first solo album in 1959, but it was released in 1961. His first and second albums as a featured performer show a selection of Jazz standards along with Brazilian hits of the time and some original compositions. In 1962, he rose to international attention when he recorded with flutist Herbie Mann and drummer Jimmy Pratt. By 1963, he was flying solo and fronting small ensembles in Brazil and France. The French labels Barclay and Festival released many of his recordings. In Germany, MPS/Saba released his work with producer Joachim Berendt. In Brazil, he recorded for the Elenco, Forma and the Brazilian subsidiary of Philips Records. After a relative drought of new releases in the 1980s, Baden Powell returned to recording studios in Brazil for his final years. These late recordings showcase him playing mostly solo guitar, or voice and guitar in a relaxed, intimate style, with occasional flurries of his former energetic playing.
Samba da Benção
Baden Powell Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Alegria é a melhor coisa que existe
É assim como a luz no coração
Mas pra fazer um samba com beleza
É preciso um bocado de tristeza
É preciso um bocado de tristeza
Senão, não se faz um samba não
Senão, é o mesmo que uma mulher só linda
E daí? Uma mulher tem que ter
Qualquer coisa além de beleza
Qualquer coisa que chora
Qualquer coisa de triste
Um molejo de amor machucado
Uma tristeza que vem da beleza de se saber mulher
Feita apenas para amar
Para sofrer pelo seu amor
E pra ser só perdão
Fazer samba não é contar piada
E quem faz samba assim não é de nada
O bom samba é uma forma de oração
Porque o samba é a tristeza que balança
E a tristeza tem sempre uma esperança
A tristeza tem sempre uma esperança
De um dia não ser mais triste não
Feito essa gente que anda por aí brincando com a vida
Cuidado, companheiro
A vida é pra valer, hein?
E não se engane não, tem uma só
Duas mesmo que é bom
Ninguém vai me provar que tem sem provar muito bem provado
Com certidão passada em cartório do céu
E assim mesmo assinado embaixo: Deus
E com firma reconhecida, hein
A vida é arte do encontro, companheiro
Embora haja tanto desencontro pela vida
Ponha um pouco de amor na sua vida assim como no seu samba
Porque há sempre uma mulher à sua espera
Com os olhos cheios de saudade
E as mãos cheias de carinho
Ponha um pouco de amor numa cadência
E vai ver que ninguém no mundo vence
A beleza que tem um samba, não
Porque o samba nasceu lá na Bahia
E se hoje ele é branco na poesia
Se hoje ele é branco na poesia
Ele é negro demais no coração
Vinicius de Moraes, por exemplo, o capitão do mato
Poeta e ex-diplomata, como ele mesmo diz
É o branco mais preto do Brasil
Na linha direta de Xangô, saravá
A bênção, Senhora
A maior babalorixá da Bahia, terra de Caymmi e João Gilberto
A bênção, Sinhô
A benção, Cartola
A bênção, Pixinguinha
Que choraste na flauta
Todas as minhas mágoas de amor, saravá
A bênção Donga, que fizeste o primeiro samba do Brasil, saravá
A bênção, Noel
A bênção, Ary Barroso
A bênção, Ismael Silva, tadico
Heitor dos Prazeres
A bênção Cyro Monteiro, você, sobrinho de Nonô, saravá
A bênção, Nelson Cavaquinho
Paulo da Portela
Lupicínio
A bênção, todos os sambistas do meu Brasil
Branco, preto, mulato
Lindo e macio com a pele de Oxum, saravá
A bênção, maestro Antonio Carlos Jobim
Que já viajaste tantas canções
E ainda há tantas a viajar
A bênção, maestro Moacir Santos
Que não és um só, és tantos, tantos como
O meu Brasil de todos os santos
Inclusive meu São Sebastião, saravá
A bênção, Vinicius de Moraes
Parceiro e amigo querido
Que fizeste esse samba comigo, saravá meu poeta
A bênção, meu parceirinho, Paulo César Pinheiro
Que fizeste a lapinha comigo, saravá meu poetinha
Saravá Edu Lobo, Francis Hime, Dori Caymmi
Milton Nascimento
E o nosso Chico Buarque de Hollanda, saravá
A bênção, a vocês todos
A bênção, que eu vou partir
Eu vou ter de dizer adeus
A bênção, a toda essa juventude maravilhosa
Vai aqui uma mensagem:
Se todos os tristes quiserem juntos, toda a tristeza vai se acabar
Saravá Saulo
Saravá Lillian
Saravá Jorge
Saravá Serginho do som
Saravá nego
Porque o samba nasceu lá na Bahia
E se hoje ele é branco na poesia
Se hoje ele é branco na poesia
Ele é negro demais no coração
Atenção
Estação interplanetária, noticia de ultima hora
Os cientistas Russos acabaram de descobrir
Que a burrice não tem transplante
Porque o samba nasceu lá na Bahia
E se hoje ele é branco na poesia
Se hoje ele é branco na poesia
Ele é negro demais no coração
Ele é negro demais no coração
Ele é negro demais no coração
The lyrics of Baden Powell's "Samba da Bênção" speak of the importance of joy and sadness, particularly in the creation of samba music. The first stanza states that it is better to be happy than sad and that joy is the best thing there is, akin to a light in one's heart. However, to create a beautiful samba, a bit of sadness is necessary. Without sadness, one cannot make a samba. The second stanza compares samba to a form of prayer, and emphasizes that making samba is not just a matter of telling jokes. Instead, the good samba must contain both the sadness that moves the body and the hope that makes it possible to someday be happy again.
The third stanza pays tribute to several sambistas, including Vinícius de Moraes, who is cited as an example of a "white man who is black of heart." The final stanza gives a message to the youth, advising that if all of the sad people come together, they can overcome their sadness.
Overall, this song expresses the intricate balance between joy and sadness, and how both are necessary in order to create something beautiful like samba music.
Line by Line Meaning
É melhor ser alegre que ser triste
Being joyful is better than being sad
Alegria é a melhor coisa que existe
Joy is the best thing that exists
É assim como a luz no coração
It is like a light in the heart
Mas pra fazer um samba com beleza
But to make a beautiful samba
É preciso um bocado de tristeza
A bit of sadness is necessary
Senão, não se faz um samba não
Otherwise, a samba cannot be made
Senão, é o mesmo que uma mulher só linda
Otherwise, it's the same as a beautiful woman
E daí? Uma mulher tem que ter
So what? A woman must have
Qualquer coisa além de beleza
Something beyond beauty
Qualquer coisa que chora
Something that cries
Qualquer coisa de triste
Something sad
Um molejo de amor machucado
A rhythm of bruised love
Uma tristeza que vem da beleza de se saber mulher
A sadness that comes from the beauty of being a woman
Feita apenas para amar
Made only to love
Para sofrer pelo seu amor
To suffer for your love
E pra ser só perdão
And to be only forgiveness
Fazer samba não é contar piada
Making samba is not telling a joke
E quem faz samba assim não é de nada
And those who make samba like that are nothing
O bom samba é uma forma de oração
Good samba is a form of prayer
Porque o samba é a tristeza que balança
Because samba is the swinging sadness
E a tristeza tem sempre uma esperança
And sadness always has hope
De um dia não ser mais triste não
That one day it will no longer be sad
Feito essa gente que anda por aí brincando com a vida
Like those people who walk around playing with life
Cuidado, companheiro
Be careful, my friend
A vida é pra valer, hein?
Life is for real, you know?
E não se engane não, tem uma só
And don't fool yourself, there is only one
Duas mesmo que é bom
Two, even better
Ninguém vai me provar que tem sem provar muito bem provado
No one is going to prove to me they have it without proving it very well
Com certidão passada em cartório do céu
With a certificate passed in the heavenly registry office
E assim mesmo assinado embaixo: Deus
And even signed below: God
E com firma reconhecida, hein
And with recognized signature, you know
A vida é arte do encontro, companheiro
Life is the art of encounters, my friend
Embora haja tanto desencontro pela vida
Even though there is so much discord in life
Ponha um pouco de amor na sua vida assim como no seu samba
Put a little love in your life just like in your samba
Porque há sempre uma mulher à sua espera
Because there is always a woman waiting for you
Com os olhos cheios de saudade
With eyes full of longing
E as mãos cheias de carinho
And hands full of affection
Ponha um pouco de amor numa cadência
Put a little love into a rhythm
E vai ver que ninguém no mundo vence
And you will see that no one in the world wins
A beleza que tem um samba, não
The beauty that a samba has
Porque o samba nasceu lá na Bahia
Because samba was born in Bahia
E se hoje ele é branco na poesia
And if today it is white in poetry
Ele é negro demais no coração
It is too black in the heart
Vinicius de Moraes, por exemplo, o capitão do mato
Vinicius de Moraes, for example, the captain of the plantation
Poeta e ex-diplomata, como ele mesmo diz
Poet and former diplomat, as he himself says
É o branco mais preto do Brasil
He is the whitest black in Brazil
Na linha direta de Xangô, saravá
In the direct line of Xangô, hail
A bênção, Senhora
The blessing, Lady
A maior babalorixá da Bahia, terra de Caymmi e João Gilberto
The greatest babalorixá in Bahia, land of Caymmi and João Gilberto
A bênção, Sinhô
The blessing, Sinhô
A benção, Cartola
The blessing, Cartola
A bênção, Pixinguinha
The blessing, Pixinguinha
Que choraste na flauta
Who cried on the flute
Todas as minhas mágoas de amor, saravá
All my sorrows of love, hail
A bênção Donga, que fizeste o primeiro samba do Brasil, saravá
The blessing, Donga, who made the first samba of Brazil, hail
A bênção, Noel
The blessing, Noel
A bênção, Ary Barroso
The blessing, Ary Barroso
A bênção, Ismael Silva, tadico
The blessing, Ismael Silva, dear
Heitor dos Prazeres
Heitor dos Prazeres
A bênção Cyro Monteiro, você, sobrinho de Nonô, saravá
The blessing, Cyro Monteiro, you, Nonô's nephew, hail
A bênção, Nelson Cavaquinho
The blessing, Nelson Cavaquinho
Paulo da Portela
Paulo from Portela
Lupicínio
Lupicínio
A bênção, todos os sambistas do meu Brasil
The blessing, all the sambistas of my Brazil
Branco, preto, mulato
White, black, mulatto
Lindo e macio com a pele de Oxum, saravá
Beautiful and smooth with the skin of Oxum, hail
A bênção, maestro Antonio Carlos Jobim
The blessing, maestro Antonio Carlos Jobim
Que já viajaste tantas canções
Who have already traveled so many songs
E ainda há tantas a viajar
And there are still so many to travel
A bênção, maestro Moacir Santos
The blessing, maestro Moacir Santos
Que não és um só, és tantos, tantos como
Who is not just one, you are many, many like
O meu Brasil de todos os santos
My Brazil of all saints
Inclusive meu São Sebastião, saravá
Including my São Sebastião, hail
A bênção, Vinicius de Moraes
The blessing, Vinicius de Moraes
Parceiro e amigo querido
Partner and dear friend
Que fizeste esse samba comigo, saravá meu poeta
Who made this samba with me, hail my poet
A bênção, meu parceirinho, Paulo César Pinheiro
The blessing, my little partner, Paulo César Pinheiro
Que fizeste a lapinha comigo, saravá meu poetinha
Who made the lapinha with me, hail my little poet
Saravá Edu Lobo, Francis Hime, Dori Caymmi
Hail Edu Lobo, Francis Hime, Dori Caymmi
Milton Nascimento
Milton Nascimento
E o nosso Chico Buarque de Hollanda, saravá
And our Chico Buarque de Hollanda, hail
A bênção, a vocês todos
The blessing, to all of you
A bênção, que eu vou partir
The blessing, as I'm going to leave
Eu vou ter de dizer adeus
I'm going to have to say goodbye
A bênção, a toda essa juventude maravilhosa
The blessing, to all this wonderful youth
Vai aqui uma mensagem:
Here's a message:
Se todos os tristes quiserem juntos, toda a tristeza vai se acabar
If all the sad ones gather together, all the sadness will end
Saravá Saulo
Hail Saulo
Saravá Lillian
Hail Lillian
Saravá Jorge
Hail Jorge
Saravá Serginho do som
Hail Serginho from the sound
Saravá nego
Hail, my friend
Atenção
Attention
Estação interplanetária, noticia de ultima hora
Interplanetary station, breaking news
Os cientistas Russos acabaram de descobrir
Russian scientists have just discovered
Que a burrice não tem transplante
That stupidity cannot be transplanted
Porque o samba nasceu lá na Bahia
Because samba was born there in Bahia
E se hoje ele é branco na poesia
And if today it is white in poetry
Ele é negro demais no coração
It is too black in the heart
Ele é negro demais no coração
It is too black in the heart
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Baden Powell, Marcelo Peixoto, Vinicius De Moraes
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Sergio Papagaio Vicentini
oi pessoal Justiça ;gráças ao Baden Powell ter me citado na música Samba de benção Sárava Sérginho do Som ;eternizou o meu trabalho como Técnico nêsse grande Show ; porque não me foi creditado esse trabalho nem pela Gravadora nem pela empresa que gravou meu L.R. ainda tenho a Mesa que usei Shure de 06 canais e Reverb de molas; o público aplaude quem esta trabalhando fazendo o Show juntos no Teatro ;muito obrigado.
Arthur Carletti
Parabéns pelo trabalho, irmão!
Rico Jazz
Ótimo trabalho, esse vai ficar para sempre.
Sergio Papagaio Vicentini
GRAVADO AO VIVO 1979 NO TEATRO PROCÓPIO FERREIRA ; EM SÃO PAULO ,ONDE TIVE O PRAZER DE GRAVAR
ESSA MARAVILHA E SER CITADO PELO BADEN POWELL SARAVÁ SERGINHO DO SOM , VALEU ABS!!!!
Mr. RodeGagarius
PARABÉNS SARAVÁ !!! PRA VC BADEN VINICIUS E BETHÂNIA
Sergio Papagaio Vicentini
Mr. RodeGagarius
Arthur Horta
poutz! que honra!!! abç!!
Sergio Papagaio Vicentini
momento unico obrigado abraço !!!!!"
Sergio Papagaio Vicentini
Arthur Horta verdade obrigado e saravá!!!!!
Stefano Giacometti
Guitar fireworks !!
Amazing Baden, Parabens Serginho !!
i like the version with Pierre Barouh,but this one is pure Dynamite !!!