Biography
An outstanding amateur sambista, Paulo da Portela composed numerous sambas that leading interpreters of Brazil’s Golden Age of Song later committed to disc. Alongside Antônio Rufino, Benício dos Santos, Manuel Gonçalves and fellow enthusiasts he established the samba school Portela, drawing on his earlier membership in ranchos carnavalescos and on the stylistic guidance of his associate Heitor dos Prazeres. Throughout the 1920s he frequented the roda de samba hosted by baiana Ester Maria da Cruz.
Mário Reis cut the composer’s “Quem Espera Sempre Alcança” for Odeon in 1932. Two years afterward Paulo da Portela assumed the post of treasurer for the União Geral das Escolas de Samba. In 1935 he introduced allegorical floats to the parades of Vai Como Pode; the school captured the Praça Onze competition that year with the samba “Guanabara,” later retitled “Cidade-Mulher” and preserved four decades on when Alcides Lopes recorded it for the Marcus Pereira Discos anthology LP Portela. Also in 1935 Vai Como Pode was reorganized as G.R.E.S. da Portela. Carlos Galhardo waxed the miniature masterwork “Cantar Pra Não Chorar,” co-written with Heitor dos Prazeres, for RCA Victor in 1937, the same year the league of samba schools conferred upon Paulo da Portela the title Cidadão Samba. He triumphed again in the annual contest of 1939 with “Teste de Samba.”
Collaborating with Cartola at Rádio Cruzeiro do Sul in 1941, he co-hosted the program Voz do Morro, which introduced fresh sambas whose titles listeners were invited to propose. That year he won the contest once more with “Dez Anos de Glória,” written with Antônio Caetano, inaugurating Portela’s decade-long dominance of the competition. A disagreement with the school’s directors prompted his departure for Lira do Amor, where he succeeded the late Coutinho as mestre de canto. In 1942 he joined Cartola and Heitor dos Prazeres to form Grupo Carioca; the ensemble appeared at São Paulo’s Rádio Cosmos and the three musicians also performed separately in that city.
Posthumously, his samba “Pam-Pam-Pam-Pam” featured in the historic 1965 production Rosa de Ouro and on the corresponding Odeon LP. Velha Guarda da Portela included the partido alto “Cocoró” on the RGE album Portela, Passado de Glória (1970), while Alvaiade recorded “Quitandeiro” for the Marcus Pereira collection Portela in 1974. Two later compositions pay tribute to his legacy: “De Paulo da Portela a Paulinho da Viola” by Francisco Santana and Monarco, and Monarco’s own “Passado de Glória.”
Mário Reis cut the composer’s “Quem Espera Sempre Alcança” for Odeon in 1932. Two years afterward Paulo da Portela assumed the post of treasurer for the União Geral das Escolas de Samba. In 1935 he introduced allegorical floats to the parades of Vai Como Pode; the school captured the Praça Onze competition that year with the samba “Guanabara,” later retitled “Cidade-Mulher” and preserved four decades on when Alcides Lopes recorded it for the Marcus Pereira Discos anthology LP Portela. Also in 1935 Vai Como Pode was reorganized as G.R.E.S. da Portela. Carlos Galhardo waxed the miniature masterwork “Cantar Pra Não Chorar,” co-written with Heitor dos Prazeres, for RCA Victor in 1937, the same year the league of samba schools conferred upon Paulo da Portela the title Cidadão Samba. He triumphed again in the annual contest of 1939 with “Teste de Samba.”
Collaborating with Cartola at Rádio Cruzeiro do Sul in 1941, he co-hosted the program Voz do Morro, which introduced fresh sambas whose titles listeners were invited to propose. That year he won the contest once more with “Dez Anos de Glória,” written with Antônio Caetano, inaugurating Portela’s decade-long dominance of the competition. A disagreement with the school’s directors prompted his departure for Lira do Amor, where he succeeded the late Coutinho as mestre de canto. In 1942 he joined Cartola and Heitor dos Prazeres to form Grupo Carioca; the ensemble appeared at São Paulo’s Rádio Cosmos and the three musicians also performed separately in that city.
Posthumously, his samba “Pam-Pam-Pam-Pam” featured in the historic 1965 production Rosa de Ouro and on the corresponding Odeon LP. Velha Guarda da Portela included the partido alto “Cocoró” on the RGE album Portela, Passado de Glória (1970), while Alvaiade recorded “Quitandeiro” for the Marcus Pereira collection Portela in 1974. Two later compositions pay tribute to his legacy: “De Paulo da Portela a Paulinho da Viola” by Francisco Santana and Monarco, and Monarco’s own “Passado de Glória.”