Valle's precocious talent was evident from his high school years, which coincided with the height of the Bossa Nova movement in Rio. His classmates included future legends like Edu Lobo and Dori Caymmi, and his composition Sonho De Maria was included on the Avanço album by the highly influential Tamba Trio in 1963. With his brother Paulo Sérgio Valle as his lyricist, he had already built an impressive portfolio of songs, prompting the Odeon label (a subsidiary of EMI) to sign him to a recording contract. His debut album Samba Demais was released early in 1964. His reputation quickly spread, and his contemporaries on the music scene (including Wilson Simonal, Elis Regina, Nara Leão and many others) lined up to record his songs. A second album, O Compositor e o Cantor, followed in 1965, and featured the debut of what would become his most recognizable song, Samba De Verão (known in English as "So Nice (Summer Samba)"), as well as other instant classics as Deus Brasileiro, Gente and A Resposta.
1966 brought Valle's first trip to the U.S., where he and his then-wife Anamaria teamed up with the also recently-emigrated Sérgio Mendes briefly in an embryonic version of what would later become the latter's hugely successful Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66. The threat of being drafted and sent to Vietnam caused him to return quickly to Brazil, however, although the following year saw him return and have a more positive experience which included his debut American release Braziliance! on Warner Bros. Records, several appearances on the Andy Williams TV show. Following session work on Verve records releases by compatriots Walter Wanderley and Astrud Gilberto, the label released Valle's Samba '68 album featuring English-language versions of assorted songs from his earlier Brazilian releases.
Shortly thereafter, feeling homesick, Valle returned to Brazil and entered a new creative phase in his career. 1968's Viola Enluarada album was a more introspective affair, with Valle's songwriting attaining a more mature and reflective tenor far removed from the frothy and lighthearted feel of the "Samba '68" album. The title track became one of Valle's signature compositions and was a duet with the up-and-coming future icon Milton Nascimento. It also featured a surprising political bent previously absent in Valle's work, and the album as a whole pointed to a broader range of musical influences that moved him out of the box marked "bossa nova artist".
This process continued on 1969's Mustang Cor De Sangue, another leap forward that incorporated rock, soul and pop styles, all stamped with Valle's unmistakable melodic style. His work here reflected the sophisticated pop approach of American songwriters such as Jimmy Webb and Burt Bacharach as well as the inescapable influence of The Beatles.
Around this time, Valle was tapped to create theme music for assorted TV programs and "novelas" (soap operas), which over the next few years would become one of the main outlets for his work, along with advertising jingles. 1970's Marcos Valle (often referred to as "The Bed Album" due to its cover shot of Valle in bed) was his most adventurous effort to date as well as his most rock and psychedelic-influenced music up to that point. Backed by Milton Nascimento's backing band Som Imaginário, Valle explored a more eccentric approach, with a number of futuristic tracks and an extended instrumental suite not unlike the work of U.S. composer/producer David Axelrod. 1971's Garra was a career highpoint, a pop masterwork that summed up his music and still stands as one of the finest pop albums of the era, Brazilian or otherwise. Its effervescent pop/jazz/soul/bossa/film soundtrack musical stylings were matched by lyrics that attempted to reconcile Valle's hippie leanings with his status as a wealthy young musician who was also a successful businessman because of his successful novela soundtracks and corporate advertising accounts. Tele-novelas he provided some or all of the music for during this period included O Cafona, Minha Doce Namorada, Pigmalião 70, Os Ossos Do Barão and, most prominently, Selva De Pedra.
1972's Vento Sul album found Valle long-haired and bearded, and backed by the progressive rock band O Terço. His most experimental and left-field effort to date, it was something of a sales flop, although it has accumulated many admirers over the ensuing decades. The following year's Previsão do Tempo fared better and was an innovative effort made in conjunction with the band who initially formed to back Valle at live shows and named themselves after one of his songs, Azimuth (soon to change the spelling to Azymuth). This album had a notable jazz fusion influence due to Azymuth keyboardist José Roberto Bertrami's expertise on the Fender Rhodes keyboard and assorted synthesizers such as the Mini-Moog and the ARP Soloist. This sound would later prove a decisive influence on the Acid Jazz scene in Europe twenty years later.
In 1974 Valle provided the music for "Vila Sésamo", Brazil's version of "Sesame Street". He also released his final album on EMI, another self-titled effort. This album differed yet again from its predecessors in pursuing a piano pop sound reminiscent in turns of Elton John, Todd Rundgren and Bread, and replete with elaborate vocal arrangements. At this point, Valle had grown tired of the strictures of living and working under Brazil's military dictatorship, then in its darkest and bleakest phase. He therefore decided to return to the U.S., where he spent the rest of the decade. Settling in Los Angeles, he entered into collaborations with artists as diverse as Sarah Vaughan, Chicago and rnb singer and songwriter Leon Ware. Valle and Ware found themselves especially compatible, and wrote many songs together, Valle appearing on several of Ware's Elektra album releases.
Viola Enluarada
Marcos Valle Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Se for preciso faz a guerra
Mata o mundo fere a Terra
A voz que canta uma canção
Se for preciso canta um hino
Louva a morte
Viola em noite enluarada
No sertão é como espada
Esperança de vingança
O mesmo pé que dança um samba
Se preciso vai à luta
Capoeira
Quem tem de noite a companheira
Sabe que a paz é passageira
Pra defendê-la se levanta
E grita: Eu vou!
Mão, violão, canção, espada E viola enluarada
Pelo campo e cidade
Porta-bandeira, capoeira desfilando
Vão cantando
Liberdade
Liberdade
The lyrics of Marcos Valle's "Viola Enluarada" seem to speak of the power and versatility of music and the arts in general. The first stanza references the idea that the same hand that plays a gentle instrument like a guitar is capable of causing destruction and chaos, just as a voice that sings a beautiful song can also make songs of war and death. The juxtaposition of these elements highlights the idea that art reflects the human experience as a whole - both the good and the dark sides. The "Viola Enluarada" itself is also personified as a powerful weapon, serving as a symbol of hope and defiance against injustice.
The second stanza continues to explore the theme of duality, suggesting that someone who can dance a light and playful samba is also capable of fighting fiercely, as in martial arts like Capoeira. The lyrics also touch upon the idea of passionate love, but instead of describing it as a peaceful state, the song suggests that it can lead to conflict and danger - yet, it is a cause worth fighting for. Finally, the chorus brings all these ideas together, emphasizing that the power of music lies in its ability to inspire and motivate people towards the pursuit of freedom and liberation.
Line by Line Meaning
A mão que toca um violão
The hand that plays a guitar
Se for preciso faz a guerra
If necessary, will make war
Mata o mundo fere a Terra
Kills the world, wounds the Earth
A voz que canta uma canção
The voice that sings a song
Se for preciso canta um hino
If necessary, will sing an anthem
Louva a morte
Praises death
Viola em noite enluarada
Guitar in a moonlit night
No sertão é como espada
In the backlands, it is like a sword
Esperança de vingança
Hope for revenge
O mesmo pé que dança um samba
The same foot that dances a samba
Se preciso vai à luta
If necessary, will go to fight
Capoeira
Capoeira
Quem tem de noite a companheira
Who has a companion at night
Sabe que a paz é passageira
Knows that peace is temporary
Pra defendê-la se levanta
To defend her, stands up
E grita: Eu vou!
And shouts: I'm going!
Mão, violão, canção, espada
Hand, guitar, song, sword
E viola enluarada
And moonlit guitar
Pelo campo e cidade
Through the countryside and the city
Porta-bandeira, capoeira desfilando
Flag-bearer, capoeira parading
Vão cantando
Go singing
Liberdade
Freedom
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@miguelsampaiomonte
Parabens Paulo Sergio Valle – completou -77 anos.
Paulo Sérgio Kostenbader Valle (Rio de Janeiro, 6 de agosto de 1940) é um compositor, escritor e letrista brasileiro.
É irmão do também famoso compositor Marcos Valle com quem mantém dupla desde o início da carreira. Paulo é advogado formado pela antiga Universidade Estadual do Estado da Guanabara.
A primeira composição gravada de Paulo Sérgio foi Sonho de Maria em parceria com seu irmão Marcos Valle, 1963, gravada pelo Tamba Trio.
Em 1965, Paulo foi piloto de avião comercial na linha Rio-Amazonas e foi nesse mesmo ano que sua canção Samba de verão alcançou o segundo lugar na parada de sucessos dos Estados Unidos, gravação feita por Walter Wanderley. Essa mesma música foi gravada por mais de oitenta cantores norte americanos. Durante o período que seu irmão, Marcos Valle morou nos Estados Unidos, ele costumava enviar as músicas para que Paulo Sérgio colocasse as letras.
Samba de Verão, que se tornaria, com Garota de Ipanema e Aquarela do Brasil, uma das três canções brasileiras mais famosas no exterior.
A partir de 1970, começou a fazer trilhas sonoras para a televisão (TV Globo),