Jacob Do Bandolim

Among the earliest defining figures in choro history stands Jacob do Bandolim. A committed and disciplined musician, he brought a rigorous professionalism to a style long known for its casual approach, despite never earning his living from music—he worked instead as a notary. Determined to safeguard Brazilian musical traditions, he resisted commercial pressures in order to maintain his artistic integrity and produced a body of compositions that quickly entered the standard repertory of chorões.

Born into a middle-class household, do Bandolim completed formal schooling through an accounting curriculum. In 1930, at age twelve, he was inspired by a blind violinist living nearby. He persuaded his mother to buy him a violin, then disregarded the bow and plucked the strings with hairpins; after repeated string failures, another neighbor recommended a mandolin, which his mother provided.

Three years afterward he made his initial amateur appearance at the Grêmio dos Estudantes Israelitas. That December he performed for the first time on Rádio Guanabara. Already an accomplished mandolinist, he also played acoustic guitar and cavaquinho with skill. The following year, invited by Benedito Lacerda, he won a major contest at Rádio Guanabara. Performing with Carlos Lentine, Luís Bittencourt, Canhoto, and Russo do Pandeiro, the ensemble was christened Jacob e Sua Gente by the program director and received the highest score from a professional jury that evaluated twenty-seven entrants. Jacob e Sua Gente became a fixture on Rádio Guanabara, sharing airtime with the Regional de Benedito Lacerda and the Gente do Morro group while backing singers and musicians that included Noel Rosa, Herivelto Martins, Dunga, Joel e Gaúcho, Elizeth Cardoso, Ataulfo Alves, Lamartine Babo, Araci de Almeida, and Carlos Galhardo. Do Bandolim nevertheless declined a full-time musical career, convinced that professionalism would erode his exacting, purist sensibility. He worked instead as a salesman or street vendor until 1940, when he became a notary and retained that position for the rest of his life.

In 1935 he joined the Conjunto da Rádio Ipanema, the first of three ensembles central to his career; initially led by Mário Silva, the group later came under his own direction and included César Faria (from 1939 onward), Claudionor Cruz on violões, Léo Cardoso on afoxê, and Candinho on drums. At his future father-in-law’s urging he left radio work in 1943, returning only in 1945 at Rádio Mauá after his wife Adylia insisted. His debut album appeared in October 1947 on Continental, the label he remained with until 1949; the release featured the hit single “Remeleixo.” In July 1949 he moved to RCA Victor, where he recorded eight albums through October 1950. Beginning in March 1951 and continuing for the next decade, he was accompanied by the Regional do Canhoto.

The July 1961 sessions for Chorinhos e Chorões inaugurated Época de Ouro, the third key group of his career and one of the genre’s most distinguished ensembles. The unit performed under various names until the October 1967 release of the LP Vibrações, widely regarded among the finest choro albums ever made. Do Bandolim enforced strict weekly rehearsals on Fridays and occasionally Saturdays; participants perspired heavily, knowing that even minor errors would provoke sharp rebuke delivered in his booming voice. In 1968, together with Elizeth Cardoso—the artist he had introduced to the public—along with Época de Ouro and the Zimbo Trio, he presented a concert at Teatro João Caetano. Issued on two albums by the Image and Sound Museum of Rio de Janeiro, the performance is counted among the greatest in Brazilian popular music. American mandolinist Dexter Johnson later assembled a two-CD anthology of do Bandolim’s solo recordings comprising forty-three tracks, titled Mandolin master of Brazil.