Elza Soares

Owner of a singular vocal timbre and an exuberant manner, Elza Soares ranked among samba’s most beloved and consequential figures. From the outset her 1959 debut single “Se Acaso Você Chegasse” introduced scat singing in the manner of Louis Armstrong to the genre and launched her as a hitmaker. Her follow-up LP A Bossa Negra, issued in 1961, is now regarded as a landmark of Brazilian music both domestically and overseas. Soares consistently exalted the raw textures of rural existence through her singing and repertoire, a perspective rooted in her own birth inside a favela. Her fervent, larger-than-life delivery captivated listeners throughout Brazil and abroad. Esteemed by Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, and Nick Cave among others, she received the BBC’s designation as best female singer of the millennium.

Raised amid severe deprivation during childhood and adolescence, Soares auditioned at sixteen on Ary Barroso’s novice radio program and took first prize. Conductor Joaquim Naegeli then engaged her as crooner for the Orquestra Garam de Bailes, a post she held until 1954, when pregnancy prompted her departure. In 1955 she was cast opposite Grande Otelo in the hit stage production Jour-Jou-Fru-Fru. Three years afterward she toured Argentina and, upon returning the following year, joined the roster of Rádio Vera Cruz. Also in 1959 she cut the 78 rpm of “Se Acaso Você Chegasse” (Lupício Rodrigues/Felisberto Martins), one of her signature successes. She traveled to São Paulo in 1960, appearing regularly at the I Festival Nacional de Bossa Nova and committing her first LP, Se Acaso Você Chegasse, to tape. While representing Brazil at the 1962 World Soccer Cup in Chile she met football legend Garrincha. After issuing several albums that included the hits “Só Danço Samba” (Tom Jobim/Vinícius de Moraes), “A Banca do Distinto” (Billy Blanco), “Pressentimento” (Elton Medeiros/Hermínio Bello de Carvalho), and “Princesa Isabel” (Sérgio Ricardo), she relocated to Italy in 1969, performing at Rome’s Sistina Theater before returning to Brazil in 1972. That same year she premiered the show Elza em Dia de Graça at Rio’s Opinião Theater and took part in the Brasil Export Show at Canecão. Rediscovered in the 1980s as a cult favorite by Os Titãs, she joined the group for a residency at the Madame Satã nightclub. Soares later duetted with Caetano Veloso on his album Velô and with Lobão on Casa de Samba. Her 1997 release Trajetória, featuring a tribute from Zeca Pagodinho, earned her the Prêmio Sharp for Best Samba Singer. In November 1999 she appeared in the concert Desde Que o Samba é Samba at London’s Royal Albert Hall alongside Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, and Virginia Rodrigues. Her life story reached the stage in 2000 via the musical Crioula by Stella Miranda.

She returned to the studio in 2002 with the widely praised Do Cóccix Até O Pescoço on Maianga Discos, a set that seamlessly blended samba, bossa, and MPB with electronic textures. Produced and engineered by Alê Siqueira under the musical direction of pianist Jose Miguel Wisnik, the project assembled an extensive roster of guest artists that included Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, and Carlinhos Brown. The album enjoyed strong international sales and garnered a Grammy nomination. Vivo Feliz appeared on Tratore in 2004, yielding the singles “Rio de Janeiro” and a duet reading of Nando Reis’s “Concordia” with the composer. Reuniting with Wisnik, she issued the live recording Beba-Me Ao Vivo and its accompanying concert DVD in 2007.

Although Soares maintained an active performing schedule, she observed a lengthy hiatus from new recordings. A year later she supplied the featured voice for the soundtrack of the film Chega de Saudade. A stage fall necessitated multiple spinal surgeries, which restricted her mobility and required seated performances, yet she persisted. In 2015 she resumed studio work with São Paulo producer Guilherme Kastrup of the samba sujo vanguard. Rejecting his proposal to reinterpret classic sambas in contemporary arrangements, she demanded an album of entirely new material—the first such undertaking in her career. Kastrup enlisted the city’s post-punk vanguard band Passo Torto (featuring Metá Metá’s Kiko Dinucci) together with musicians from Bixiga 70. The resulting A Mulher Do Fim Do Mundo comprises eleven tracks—selected from more than fifty—addressing justice for women, people of color, and LGBT communities, lifelong causes for Soares. Released in Brazil in October by Circus Produções Culturais, it was hailed by the national press as the finest Brazilian album of the year irrespective of genre. The BBC and additional outlets named it Album of the Year. Following extensive performances across Brazil and South America, she reassembled the same creative team—Guilherme Kastrup as producer with assistance from Romulo Fróes, Marcelo Cabral, Rodrigo Campos, and Kiko Dinucci—for the successor Deus é Mulher. True to its title and premise, the sessions featured an array of female instrumentalists including Maria Portugal and Maria Beraldo, along with songs by Tulipa Ruiz and Alice Coutinho. The album appeared in May 2018 and reached the Top Ten on both the International and Brazilian Albums charts. She continued performing until her death at age 91 in January 2022, prompting widespread tributes from the artists she had inspired and from the nation whose music she had embodied for decades.