Biography
Fafá Lemos ranked among Brazil’s leading musicians from the 1940s into the 1970s. A violin virtuoso engaged by Rádio Nacional—the government-supported broadcaster backed by Getúlio Vargas—he performed alongside nearly every major Brazilian artist of the era, issued an extensive solo catalog both domestically and in the United States, and sustained a substantial international career.
Instruction on the violin commenced at age seven. Two years afterward he appeared as soloist in a Vivaldi concerto with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Teatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro led by maestro Burle Marx. The following year he performed at the National Institute of Music, partnered by pianist Souza Lima. After relocating to Paraná he set music aside for four years to finish secondary school. Returning to Rio in 1940, he spent four months with the Brazilian Symphonic Orchestra and then six years with the Carlos Machado Orchestra at the Cassino da Urca. In 1946, still accompanying Carlos Machado, he began engagements at the Casablanca nightclub, yet soon accepted a stronger offer from the Trio Rio at the Bally-Hi and joined that group.
Rádio Nacional placed him on its regular roster in 1950, after which he backed the foremost Brazilian performers of the period. His first trip to the United States occurred in 1952, followed by several return visits; on one of these journeys he recorded the soundtrack for the Mervyn Le Roy film Meu Amor Brasileiro (Metro) with Laurindo Almeida. He also toured American cities with Carmen Miranda. For CBS in New York he taped three television programs and was subsequently retained as soloist by Hollywood’s KTV. That same year he cut multiple albums for RCA Victor in the United States.
Earlier, Rádio Nacional’s musical director Paulo Tapajós had conceived the program Música em Surdina, featuring the station’s leading soloists in intimate ensembles rather than full orchestras. From this concept emerged the Trio Surdina—Lemos, Garoto on violão and additional stringed instruments, and Chiquinho do Acordeon on accordion—occasionally augmented by Vidal on bass and Bicalho on percussion. After prime-time hours the trio broadcast refined instrumental music until sign-off, interpreting international repertoire in Brazilian rhythms and adding Noel Rosa’s “Com que Roupa?” (sung by Lemos), the Antônio Maria–Fernando Lobo hit “Ninguém me Ama” (popularized by Nora Ney), and original pieces such as the choro “Relógio da Vovó” and the baião “Nós Três.” In 1953 the group issued the first of several Musidisc LPs, beginning with Garoto’s “Duas Contas,” whose lyric, harmonic, and melodic traits foreshadowed bossa nova.
Contractual obligations to the radio station led the trio’s members to appear under various guises on recordings for other vocalists; pianist Carolina Cardoso de Meneses, for instance, replaced Chiquinho’s accordion on Linda Batista’s 1951 RCA version of Lupicínio Rodrigues’s “Vingança,” while the full Trio Surdina lineup supported the same singer’s 1952 recording of Ary Barroso’s “Risque.” The trio’s popularity, quickly imitated by nightclubs and labels, owed something to President Dutra’s 1946 ban on gambling: the major casinos, which had supplied steady work for sophisticated musical entertainment, closed abruptly, prompting displaced musicians to form compact acts for the nightclubs—Night & Day, Casablanca, Monte Carlo, and others—that replaced them.
Lemos returned to the United States in 1953, continuing to tour and record with Carmen Miranda until her death in 1955. He then performed for more than a year at the Marquis restaurant and for five months at Frascati with a trio of his own. Back in Brazil in 1956, he assumed the post of artistic director for RCA Victor and reissued his American 78 rpm solo recordings. In 1958 he shared the Odeon album Bonfafá with Luiz Bonfá. Club and television appearances continued until 1961, when he again departed for the United States. Three years later he served as guest artist on Laurindo Almeida’s Guitar From Ipanema (Capitol/EMI/Toshiba).
Instruction on the violin commenced at age seven. Two years afterward he appeared as soloist in a Vivaldi concerto with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Teatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro led by maestro Burle Marx. The following year he performed at the National Institute of Music, partnered by pianist Souza Lima. After relocating to Paraná he set music aside for four years to finish secondary school. Returning to Rio in 1940, he spent four months with the Brazilian Symphonic Orchestra and then six years with the Carlos Machado Orchestra at the Cassino da Urca. In 1946, still accompanying Carlos Machado, he began engagements at the Casablanca nightclub, yet soon accepted a stronger offer from the Trio Rio at the Bally-Hi and joined that group.
Rádio Nacional placed him on its regular roster in 1950, after which he backed the foremost Brazilian performers of the period. His first trip to the United States occurred in 1952, followed by several return visits; on one of these journeys he recorded the soundtrack for the Mervyn Le Roy film Meu Amor Brasileiro (Metro) with Laurindo Almeida. He also toured American cities with Carmen Miranda. For CBS in New York he taped three television programs and was subsequently retained as soloist by Hollywood’s KTV. That same year he cut multiple albums for RCA Victor in the United States.
Earlier, Rádio Nacional’s musical director Paulo Tapajós had conceived the program Música em Surdina, featuring the station’s leading soloists in intimate ensembles rather than full orchestras. From this concept emerged the Trio Surdina—Lemos, Garoto on violão and additional stringed instruments, and Chiquinho do Acordeon on accordion—occasionally augmented by Vidal on bass and Bicalho on percussion. After prime-time hours the trio broadcast refined instrumental music until sign-off, interpreting international repertoire in Brazilian rhythms and adding Noel Rosa’s “Com que Roupa?” (sung by Lemos), the Antônio Maria–Fernando Lobo hit “Ninguém me Ama” (popularized by Nora Ney), and original pieces such as the choro “Relógio da Vovó” and the baião “Nós Três.” In 1953 the group issued the first of several Musidisc LPs, beginning with Garoto’s “Duas Contas,” whose lyric, harmonic, and melodic traits foreshadowed bossa nova.
Contractual obligations to the radio station led the trio’s members to appear under various guises on recordings for other vocalists; pianist Carolina Cardoso de Meneses, for instance, replaced Chiquinho’s accordion on Linda Batista’s 1951 RCA version of Lupicínio Rodrigues’s “Vingança,” while the full Trio Surdina lineup supported the same singer’s 1952 recording of Ary Barroso’s “Risque.” The trio’s popularity, quickly imitated by nightclubs and labels, owed something to President Dutra’s 1946 ban on gambling: the major casinos, which had supplied steady work for sophisticated musical entertainment, closed abruptly, prompting displaced musicians to form compact acts for the nightclubs—Night & Day, Casablanca, Monte Carlo, and others—that replaced them.
Lemos returned to the United States in 1953, continuing to tour and record with Carmen Miranda until her death in 1955. He then performed for more than a year at the Marquis restaurant and for five months at Frascati with a trio of his own. Back in Brazil in 1956, he assumed the post of artistic director for RCA Victor and reissued his American 78 rpm solo recordings. In 1958 he shared the Odeon album Bonfafá with Luiz Bonfá. Club and television appearances continued until 1961, when he again departed for the United States. Three years later he served as guest artist on Laurindo Almeida’s Guitar From Ipanema (Capitol/EMI/Toshiba).