Carlos Rennó

Carlos Rennó, active as both a writer and poet, has supplied original lyrics for numerous composers including Lenine on the track “Tubi Tupi” from the album Na Pressão along with additional pieces that remain unreleased, as well as Lula Queiroga, Arrigo Barnabé, Gilberto Gil, Chico César, Peninha, Rita Lee, Skowa, Tetê Espíndola, and Tom Zé. Performers who have committed his compositions to disc encompass Gilberto Gil, Rita Lee, Tom Zé, Gal Costa, Ney Matogrosso, Tetê Espíndola, and Vânia Bastos. At the 1982 MPB Shell Festival broadcast by the Globo networks, Eliete Negreiros presented the number “Outros Sons,” which Rennó created with Arrigo Barnabé. Two years later he secured first prize at the Globo Networks’ Festival dos Festivais for “Escrito nas Estrelas,” co-written with Arnaldo Black and delivered by Tetê Espíndola. In 1991 he released the volume Cole Porter: Canções, Versões, produced in association with Augusto de Campos and Caetano Veloso, offering meticulously crafted Brazilian Portuguese renderings of the American songwriter’s catalog. Between 1993 and 1995 he directed the music programming at São Paulo’s Museu da Imagem e do Som, where he mounted the series Sempre Novas, featuring contemporary reinterpretations of Brazilian popular standards, and Encontros Com o Século 20, which spotlighted modern classical repertoire. In 1996 he assembled the anthology Gilberto Gil: Todas as Letras, containing the composer’s own annotations on his texts together with contributions from José Miguel Wisnik and Arnaldo Antunes. The Cole Porter project was broadened in 2000 to encompass George Gershwin; the resulting collection appeared both in print and on the companion disc Cole Porter, George Gershwin: Canções e Versões issued by Gilberto Gil’s Geléia Geral imprint, with interpretations supplied by Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Tom Zé, Chico Buarque, Elza Soares, Rita Lee, Cássia Eller, Zélia Duncan, and Ed Motta among additional artists.