Biography
Lírio Panicali earned recognition as a skilled arranger and conductor through his extensive work with leading performers, most notably Cauby Peixoto, Tito Madi, and Orquestra Zacarias. Around 1922 he collaborated with Lamartine Babo on the fox “Saias Curtas.” In 1950 he became a founding member and artistic director of the Sinter label, for which he cut his debut LP, Orquestra Melódica de Lírio Panicali, and produced numerous Carnival successes. He further distinguished himself by composing signature themes for Rádio Nacional’s soap operas, among them the valses “Ternura,” written with Amaral Gurgel, “Magia,” composed with Raimundo Lopes, and “Encantamento.” His film work encompassed scores for Aves Sem Ninhos (1939), Moleque Tião (1943), Este Mundo É Um Pandeiro (1947), Dupla do Baralho (1953), and Nem Sansão Nem Dalila (1954). Already in 1922 he served as conductor and pianist for the Companhia Negra de Revista. After earlier employment at Rádio São Paulo in São Paulo, he relocated in 1938 to Rádio Nacional in Rio de Janeiro, where his principal collaborator was Almirante; that same year he assembled the Orquestra Melódica Lírio Panicali. With Paulo Roberto he originated the celebrated Rádio Nacional program Lira do Xopotó, devoted to upcountry ensembles. He later conducted for the National Department of Education’s station, Rádio MEC, and continued scoring television soap operas after 1960.
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