Luiz Gonzaga do Nascimento (Exu, Pernambuco, December 13, 1912 — Recife, Pe… Read Full Bio ↴Luiz Gonzaga do Nascimento (Exu, Pernambuco, December 13, 1912 — Recife, Pernambuco, August 2, 1989) was a prominent Brazilian folk singer, songwriter, musician and poet. Born in the countryside of Pernambuco, he is considered to be responsible for the promotion of Northeastern ("nordeste") music throughout the rest of the country. He is also known as the "king of baiao" and "Gonzagão".

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.

O Tocador Quer Beber
Luiz Gonzaga Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Lá no meu sertão
Quando o cabra quer tocar
Pega na sanfona
E começa a traquejar

Toca um bocadinho
Tá doidinho ′pra parar
Só pra dizer

O tocador quer beber
O tocador quer beber

Sanfoneiro ruim
Toca bom, só quando bebe
Esse sanfoneiro
O diabo que carregue

Eu na minha casa
É que nunca quero ver
Ele dizer
O tocador quer beber
O tocador quer beber

Dia de Domingo
Sempre é dia de forró
Sanfoneiro toca
A noite inteira, dendocó

O dono da casa
Dá bebida a todo mundo
Sem entender

Que o tocador quer beber
O tocador quer beber

Overall Meaning

Luiz Gonzaga's song "O Tocador Quer Beber" narrates the habits of musicians, particularly those who play the accordion in the northeastern region of Brazil. The lyrics suggest that when a musician wants to play the accordion, he holds it close, and starts playing melodies on it, which is referred to as "traquejar." The music could be so fascinating that he gets lost in the rhythm and may be reluctant to stop playing. However, he may only do so when he's thirsty, and that's when he says, "O tocador quer beber" (the player wants to drink).

The second verse seems to suggest that a lousy accordionist can only play music well when he drinks alcohol. The singer expresses his dissatisfaction with such musicians and claims that he never wants to hear them say, "O tocador quer beber" in his house. The song continues into the third paragraph, where the singer talks about how people come together to dance to the accordion's rhythm during Sunday's forró parties. It's a celebration where the host provides everyone with drinks, not realizing that the accordionist is the thirstiest one of all, and he desires a drink more than anyone there.

Overall, Gonzaga's song paints a picture of the alcohol culture among musicians in northeastern Brazil, while pointing out that being a good accordionist is not necessarily linked to being a heavy drinker. Additionally, the song describes the excitement that comes with a party, as well as the host's well-meaning hospitality that may be misplaced or misunderstood.

Line by Line Meaning

Lá no meu sertão
In my rural homeland

Quando o cabra quer tocar
When a man wants to play music

Pega na sanfona
He grabs his accordion

E começa a traquejar
And starts to make noise

Toca um bocadinho
Plays a little

Tá doidinho ′pra parar
He's crazy to stop

Só pra dizer
Just to say

O tocador quer beber
The musician wants to drink

Sanfoneiro ruim
Bad accordion player

Toca bom, só quando bebe
Plays well only when he drinks

Esse sanfoneiro
This accordion player