As a composer, Délcio Carvalho achieved his greatest success with the 1978 samba “Sonho Meu,” created alongside his most frequent collaborator Dona Ivone Lara and later interpreted by Maria Bethânia, Gal Costa, and Clementina de Jesus. Additional joint compositions with Dona Ivone Lara that became standards include “Alvorecer,” “Acreditar,” “Liberdade,” and “Minha Verdade.” In 1972 the piece “Esperanças Perdidas,” co-written with Adeílton Alves de Souza, appeared in releases from Holland, France, and Sweden. Carvalho first sang professionally in his hometown with the Orquestra de Cícero Ferreira; after relocating to Rio de Janeiro he took a daytime job and performed evenings in modest bars. Although he began composing sambas only toward the end of the 1950s, his initial recording credit arrived in 1968 when Christiane included the iê-iê-iê arrangement of “Pingo de Felicidade.” The following year he joined fellow sambistas to form Lá Vai Samba, which appeared in several television festivals. To date he has issued four albums on CPC-Umes—Canto de um Povo (1980), Amar é Sofrer (1988), Afinal (1996), and A Lua e o Conhaque (2000)—each gaining wider recognition. His work has also been recorded by Família Roitman on their second album Coisa da Antiga, by Beth Carvalho on both Pagode de Mesa (“Acreditar”) and her 1976 RCA debut Mundo Melhor, by Cristina Buarque on Resgate, by Dona Ivone Lara (“Candeeiro da Vovó”) on Esquina Carioca—Uma Noite Com a Raiz Do Samba, by Zeca Pagodinho (“Nos Combates Desta Vida”) on Suor No Rosto (1983), by Carmem Queiroz on her CPC-UMES release, and by Quinteto em Branco e Preto among others. In 1999 he contributed to the Velha Guarda da Mangueira album alongside Dona Ivone Lara, Nelson Sargento, and Wilson Moreira’s Okolofé; issued in Japan, the project supplied the theme for the video and conference Puxando Conversa that same year.
