The son of a peasant and accordion player, he was attracted to the 8-bass accordion at an early age, although he started out by accompanying his father by playing the zabumba (a type of bass drum) and singing at parties and religious celebrations. He left home in 1930 to join the army, and toured Brazil with an army band until 1939. Gonzaga decided to remain in Rio de Janeiro with a recently purchased accordion. He performed in the streets and in bars, playing boleros, waltzes and tangos.
After noticing that the Northeastern immigrants missed the music from their hometowns, he started to give listeners the sort of music they craved to hear: xaxados, baiões, chamegos and cocos. At Ary Barroso’s talent show, Luiz Gonzaga played his chamego "Vira e Mexe" and was acclaimed by the audience and by the dreaded host, who gave him the highest score.
In 1943, he dressed up in typical Northeastern costumes for the first time to perform live, and got hyped. Later on, as well as playing popular tunes on the accordion, he began to sing his own material, and his skills as a songwriter were revealed.
Gonzaga's son, Luiz Gonzaga do Nascimento Júnior, known as Gonzaguinha, born 1945, was also a noted Brazilian singer and composer.
His greatest hit ever, "Asa Branca" (written with Humberto Teixeira), was recorded in 1947 and was covered countless times by many different artists. He worked on the radio until 1954, enjoying huge popularity. He is widely recognized for singlehandedly taking the baião style and the accordion to a wide audience. For a time RCA (now BMG), his recording label, was almost exclusively dedicated to printing his singles and albums. During the 60's, as the public taste shifted to bossa nova and iê-iê-iê, he found himself increasingly stranded from big city stages, so he toured the countryside, where his popularity never abated.
In the 70s and 80s, he slowly re-emerged, partly due to covers of his songs by famous artists like Geraldo Vandré, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, his son Gonzaguinha and Milton Nascimento. Some of his greatest hits are "Vozes da Seca" ("Voices From Drought"), "Algodão" ("Cotton"), "A Dança da Moda" ("The Dance In Fashion"), "ABC do Sertão" ("The ABC of Sertão"), "Derramaro o Gai" ("They Spilt the Gas"), "A Letra I" ("The 'i' letter"), "Imbalança" ("Shake It"), "A Volta da Asa-Branca" ("The Return Of The Picazuro Pigeon"), "Cintura Fina" ("Slender Waist"), "O Xote das Meninas" ("The Girls' Schottische", written with Zé Dantas, and "Juazeiro", "Paraíba", "Mangaratiba", "Baião-de-Dois", "No Meu Pé de Serra" ("There In My Homeland"), "Assum Preto" ("Blue-back Grassquit"), "Légua Tirana" ("Tyrannical league"), "Qui Nem Jiló" ("Like Solanum gilo", written with Humberto Teixeira. Other successful collaborations resulted in "Tá Bom Demais" ("It's Very Good") (with Onildo de Almeida), "Danado de Bom" ("Very Good") (with João Silva), "Dezessete e Setecentos" ("Seventeen And Seven hundred") and "Cortando o Pano" ("Cutting Cloth") (both with Miguel Lima).
Gonzaga died of natural causes at the age of 76.
Forró De Mané Vito
Luiz Gonzaga Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Luiz Gonzaga
Seu delegado, digo a vossa
senhoria
Eu sou fio de uma famia
Que não gosta de fuá
Mas tresantontem
Tive que fazer bonito
A razão vou lhe explicar
Bitola no Ganzá
Preá no reco-reco
Na sanfona de Zé Marreco
Se danaram pra tocar
Praqui, prali, pra lá
Dançava com Rosinha
Quando o Zeca de Sianinha
Me proibiu de dançar
Seu delegado, sem encrenca
eu não brigo
Se ninguém bulir comigo
Num sou homem pra brigar
Mas nessa festa
Seu dotô, perdi a carma
Tive que pegá nas arma
Pois num gosto de apanhar
Pra Zeca se assombrar
Mandei parar o fole
Mas o cabra num é mole
Quis partir pra me pegar
Puxei do meu punhá
Soprei o candieiro
Botei tudo pro terreiro
Fiz o samba se acabar.
Forró de Mané Vito is a song about a man who comes from a family that does not like fights. However, he was forced to engage in one during a dance party. The song starts with the man explaining to a police officer that he is from a family that doesn't like conflicts. He then proceeds to tell the officer about an incident that happened at the dance party hosted by Mané Vito three days prior. He admits to having to "do it big" because of a situation he had found himself in.
Throughout the song, he describes the instruments that were being played during the dance party. He then breaks into a description of how he was dancing with Rosinha when Zeca de Sianinha stopped him from dancing. The man had lost his composure at this point and had to resort to using a weapon because he didn't like being hit. The song then ends with him describing how he ended the dance party and made the people leave.
Overall, the song is about how far someone is willing to go to protect their dignity, even if it means escalating a situation into a physical fight. It highlights the importance of standing up for oneself in the face of conflict.
Line by Line Meaning
Seu delegado, digo a vossa
senhoria
Addressing the police officer in a respectful manner
Eu sou fio de uma famia
Que não gosta de fuá
I come from a peaceful family
Mas tresantontem
No forró de Mané Vito
Tive que fazer bonito
A razão vou lhe explicar
But recently I had to stand up for myself at Mané Vito's party and I'll explain why
Bitola no Ganzá
Preá no reco-reco
Na sanfona de Zé Marreco
Se danaram pra tocar
The musicians played their instruments with excellence
Praqui, prali, pra lá
Dançava com Rosinha
Quando o Zeca de Sianinha
Me proibiu de dançar
I was dancing with Rosinha when Zeca from Sianinha forbid me to dance
Seu delegado, sem encrenca
eu não brigo
Se ninguém bulir comigo
Num sou homem pra brigar
I'm a peaceful person who never looks for trouble, but I won't back down if threatened
Mas nessa festa
Seu dotô, perdi a carma
Tive que pegá nas arma
Pois num gosto de apanhar
But at this party I lost my patience and had to take up arms to defend myself
Pra Zeca se assombrar
Mandei parar o fole
Mas o cabra num é mole
Quis partir pra me pegar
To intimidate Zeca, I asked the music to stop, but he tried to attack me
Puxei do meu punhá
Soprei o candieiro
Botei tudo pro terreiro
Fiz o samba se acabar.
I drew my knife, blew out the lamp, and caused a commotion that ended the party
Contributed by Kayla G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@elessoncastro7448
Seu delegado, digo a vossa
senhoria
Eu sou fio de uma famia
Que não gosta de fuá
Mas tresantontem
No forró de Mané Vito
Tive que fazer bonito
A razão vou lhe explicar
Bitola no Ganzá
Preá no reco-reco
Na sanfona de Zé Marreco
Se danaram pra tocar
Praqui, prali, pra lá
Dançava com Rosinha
Quando o Zeca de Sianinha
Me proibiu de dançar
Seu delegado, sem encrenca
eu não brigo
Se ninguém bulir comigo
Num sou homem pra brigar
Mas nessa festa
Seu dotô, perdi a carma
Tive que pegá nas arma
Pois num gosto de apanhar
Pra Zeca se assombrar
Mandei parar o fole
Mas o cabra num é mole
Quis partir pra me pegar
Puxei do meu punhá
Soprei o candieiro
Botei tudo pro terreiro
Fiz o samba se acabar.
@emillybrassard
Lembro quando minha mãe cantava essa mesma música, quando éramos crianças!, uma verdadeira obra de arte.
@TheFlordekactus
É a 1ª vez que ouço essa musica. Fiquei impressionada ...Como uma pessoa sem estudo formal consegue com linguajar tipicamente lá do nordeste contar uma história com começo meio e fim com encaixe harmônico das palavras..e que balanço gostoso!!!!. Precisamos rever nossos conceitos e mandar lá pro sertão esse monte de "cantores" , talvez assim eles aprendam um contexto legal pro "tche chere reche) da vida. Nada contra mas cérebro que não funciona vira burrice.
@eduardocosta6813
Luiz Gonzaga tinha formação militar.
@bfbtransportes6663
o Zéca dessa música era o meu pai,essa história é verídica,meu pai era amigo de Januário e Luiz gonzaga,Luiz sempre ia lá em casa.
@blakehallen1579
Neusa , você falou tudo.
@jefersonaraujo6035
Deu aula .
@franciscaoliveira1968
Os grandes cantores a maioria são Nordestino...
@glauberpereira7296
É cultura de quem estudou pouco , mas sempre teve valores de berço !!!! Muito orgulho de ser NORDESTINO!!!!
@juniorsousa9211
Enquanto os forrozeiros alcoólicos e pornográficos gravam no litoral querendo desconstruir as imagens de um Nordeste seco e árido o maior de todos continua sendo a voz desse povo, viva Luiz Gonzaga, viva nossa cultura!
@flamengodvv5236
Já passei dos 60 CRECI ouvindo Luiz Gonzaga eu e minha família não tínhamos rádio ,na casa de meu tio tinha ,nos horários de programa musical agente ia ouvir música, Gonzagao estava o maior sucesso, eu amo todas as músicas. Sou nordestina