Ismael Silva

Ismael Silva ranked among the leading bambas at the celebrated Estácio de Sá, widely acknowledged as samba’s birthplace. He followed directly after the revered Sinhô, born José Barbosa da Silva and titled King of Samba. Collaborator Noel Rosa labeled him “the soul of samba.” Silva also launched the very first samba school. Though long celebrated as Estácio’s hillside treasure, he entered the world at Jurujuba beach in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro. At age three he relocated with his mother, a washerwoman, his father, a laborer, and four siblings to Estácio; later residences included other Rio districts. His father Benjamin da Silva died shortly after the move, plunging the household into hardship. Emília Correia Chaves, forced to labor intensively, parceled the children among relatives; young Ismael was sent to São Carlos hill to live with aunt Carola until roughly age six or seven, when he rejoined his mother in Rio Comprido near Estácio. In later interviews he recalled having to create a commotion simply to attend classes, since his illiterate mother saw no value in schooling amid constant work and difficulties; day after day the matter was postponed. Eventually he walked into the local school uninvited, took an empty seat, and declared his wish to learn reading when the astonished teacher noticed him. Her surprise grew the following day upon finding him already enrolled and holding a book. He soon distinguished himself as a pupil, guiding weaker classmates and aiding the instructor. Poverty continued to dictate frequent moves: at eight he shifted to Santa Teresa, then to successive Catumbi addresses, and at seventeen to 29 Estácio de Sá Street. His earliest unrecorded samba, “Já Desisti,” dates from age fifteen. Upon returning to Estácio he regularly visited Bar e Café Apolo and other gathering spots frequented by sambistas Bide, Rubem Barcelos, Avelino, Noberto, Baiaco, Mano Edgar, Nilton Bastos, and Brancura. His pieces proved so popular that pianist Cebola, or Orlando Tomás Coelho, captured “Me faz carinho” on a Casa Edison disc early in 1925. The lyrics were plain, absent from the instrumental version, yet the melody already displayed the composer’s gift for intricate phrasing. Partido-alto circles had long thrived in Estácio by the time Silva arrived; their hand-clapped choruses and successive improvised verses remained vivid in his memory. Nearby stood Tia Ciata’s residence, a vital repository of Black culture where the first recorded samba, “Pelo Telefone,” originated. Such surroundings left an indelible mark. While hospitalized at Hospital da Gamboa, he received a visit from Bide bearing an offer from Francisco Alves, known as the “idol of the multitudes,” Brazil’s first professional musician, an immensely popular singer, and an astute talent scout. Alves routinely purchased material from emerging popular composers for modest sums; in this instance he acquired “Me faz carinho” for either twenty or one hundred mil-réis—Silva never remembered the precise figure—and the contract was signed on the spot. The song appeared in 1927 on Odeon seal 10 100, backed by the agile Orquestra Pan Americana of Cassino Copacabana, and became a hit. Silva turned into a regular supplier for Alves, though the label listed only Alves as composer. Shortly afterward he sold “Amor de malandro” to the same buyer for one hundred mil-réis. One evening at Bar Apolo, Alves arrived by car, escorted Silva to a street corner, and asked him to perform his entire repertoire while Alves provided guitar accompaniment. Hours later, satisfied, Alves offered exclusive recording rights on the condition that he appear as co-author. Silva countered that Nilton Bastos must be included; Alves accepted verbally and kept the agreement throughout their partnership. Consequently every composition by Ismael and Nilton reached the public through Alves, and record companies began anticipating strong sales from the trio known as Os Bambas do Estácio. Among the resulting successes were “Não há,” “Nem é bom falar,” and the major hit “Se você jurar,” issued by the duo Francisco Alves and Mário Reis and later revived by João Bosco. Contemporaries described Alves as quite parsimonious; Silva confirmed that any pocket money for cigarettes was later deducted, yet recalled that Alves once pawned a valuable ring to advance two hundred fifty mil-réis when needed. In 1928 Silva assembled the blocos de sujos of the neighborhood and founded Rio’s first samba school, Deixa Falar. He claimed credit for the term “Escola de Samba,” drawn by analogy from the school of Estácio, whose members he viewed as samba’s professors. Established 12 August 1928, the school paraded the following year. Silva attributed the decisive shift from maxixe to a parade-friendly samba, driven by stronger percussion, to this institutional innovation. Until Nilton Bastos succumbed to tuberculosis in 1931, the pair produced numerous pieces popularized by Alves. Exact authorship often remains unclear because the two sometimes collaborated and at other times credited each other. The same year brought further loss when Mano Edgar died in a gambling dispute; Silva then left Estácio for downtown Rio. There he began working with Noel Rosa, and together they wrote “Para me livrar do mal,” recorded the next year. Additional major collaborations included “Adeus,” co-credited to Alves and dedicated to Nilton Bastos, issued in 1932 by Jonjoca and Castro Barbosa; “Uma jura que eu fiz,” again with Alves, recorded by Mário Reis in 1932; “Ando cismado,” performed by Francisco Alves in 1933; and “A razão dá-se a quem tem,” co-credited to Alves and a hit for the duo Francisco Alves and Mário Reis in 1933. Silva’s debut as performer occurred in 1932 alongside Noel Rosa on the Odeon release of Orlando Luís Machado’s “Escola de malandro.” The following year the pair issued two Noel compositions, “Quem não dança” and “Seu Jacinto.” Carmen Miranda, Sílvio Caldas, and João Petra de Barros also began interpreting his work. After Noel Rosa’s death in 1937, Silva endured a decade of obscurity, reemerging in 1950 when Alcides Gerardi recorded a somber version of “Antonico,” later covered by Gal Costa and Gato Barbieri. In 1954 Almirante organized São Paulo’s Primeiro Festival da Velha Guarda, spotlighting veteran composers including Silva. The event signaled renewed attention for earlier popular-music figures; in 1955 he appeared in the show “O samba nasce no coração” at boîte Casablanca with other prominent artists from prior decades. His first two LPs as interpreter of his own material appeared only in 1956, when he was fifty-one: O Samba na voz do sambista on Sinter and Ismael canta Ismael on Mocambo. Another interval preceded a 1964 resurgence at Zicartola, where he received an enthusiastic welcome. The next year he performed with Aracy de Almeida at Teatro Opinião in the musical O samba pede passagem, documented on a Philips album of the same title. He was later honored at the Bienal do Samba in São Paulo, appeared on television and radio programs, and returned to the stage in 1973 for Ricardo Cravo Albin’s production Se você jurar at Teatro Paiol in Curitiba. That year he also released the LP Se você jurar, mixing earlier successes with new sambas: “Contrastes,” “Alegria,” “Aliás,” “Receio,” “Entrada Franca,” and “Afina a viola.” Beyond performance and composition, his influence helped shape the image of urban carioca samba, an impact evident in the writings of Vinicius de Moraes, Hermínio Belo de Carvalho, and Lúcio Rangel.