Quinteto Violado

Quinteto Violado stands out among Brazilian ensembles through its deep grounding in vernacular traditions, allowing the ensemble to endure three decades amid challenging conditions for nuanced music. Across that span the musicians issued more than thirty domestic and six foreign albums, undertook fourteen international tours or appearances, collected numerous prizes, and maintained a steady schedule of performances throughout Brazil.

During 1971, when Brazilian popular music split between composers rooted in national idioms—such as Chico Buarque and Geraldo Vandré—who countered the dictatorship with homegrown rhythms, and the Tropicalia movement eager to globalize local expression via pop and rock, Quinteto Violado surfaced as a singular unit. The members conducted exhaustive study of Northeastern folklore while incorporating strands of popular culture, a synthesis that has sustained the group’s evolution to the present.

Its original lineup comprised Toinho (born Antônio Alves in Garanhuns PE in 1943), vocalist and double bassist; Marcelo (born Marcelo de Vasconcelos Cavalcante Melo in Campina Grande PB in 1946), singer, viola, and violão; Fernando Filizola (born in Limoeiro PE in 1947); Luciano (born Luciano Lira Pimentel in Limoeiro PE in 1941), percussionist; and Sando (born Alexandre Johnson dos Anjos in Garanhuns PE in 1959), flutist.

Prior to adopting its definitive name, the ensemble made its debut at the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco in 1970. In October 1971 it appeared at the Teatro da Nova Jerusalém in Pernambuco and became known locally as “the violados,” a neologism denoting players of the viola; the sobriquet soon crystallized into Quinteto Violado. Gilberto Gil introduced the musicians to producer Roberto Santana of Phonogram, leading to a São Paulo showcase the following year and the release of their debut album, Quinteto Violado (Philips, 1972). That same year the group held engagements in Rio de Janeiro at the Monsieur Pujol nightclub and the Di Mônaco restaurant as well as in Salvador BA at Teatro Vila Velha. In 1973 the production Berra Boi was named Best Show of the Year by Veja magazine. In Recife the ensemble opened O Anjo Guerreiro Contra as Baronesas. Producer Marcus Pereira, head of the label bearing his name, commissioned research into Northeastern popular music and enlisted the group to document its discoveries across four volumes of the Música Popular do Nordeste series, later reissued on CD. In 1974 Quinteto Violado received the Troféu Noel Rosa from APCA. Building on the success of its first album in Japan—issued there as Asa Branca—and of A Feira, the musicians performed at MIDEM in France in 1975 and subsequently appeared at the Olympia in Paris alongside Toquinho, Vinícius de Moraes, and Jorge Ben Jor. The next year they took part in the International Folklore Festival in Trujillo and Lima, Peru. In 1979 the group participated in Berlin’s Horizon Festival. At Rede Globo’s MPB 80 festival in 1980 it earned the Best Arrangement prize for “Rio Capibaribe.” That year the ensemble also performed in Luanda, Angola, within the Kalunga project, sharing stages with João do Vale, MPB-4, Dona Ivone Lara, Beth Carvalho, Martinho da Vila, Geraldo Azevedo, and others.

In 1982 Quinteto Violado received the Prêmio Disco Visão from phonographic producers. It performed at Hamburg’s Iberian-American Week in 1986 and toured Austria plus twenty German cities in 1988. The same year the musicians visited Cabo Verde and recorded the dedicated album Ilhas de Cabo Verde, issued there the following year during the Expo Brasil-Cabo Verde. In 1990 the personnel shifted: Toinho and Marcelo remained while Ciano (born Luciano Alves in Garanhuns PE in 1959) joined, together with Roberto Menescal (born Roberto Menescal Alves Medeiros in Garanhuns PE in 1964), singer and percussionist, and Dudu (born Eduardo de Carvalho Alves, Toinho’s son, in Recife PE in 1970), responsible for keyboards and arrangements. That year the reconfigured group embarked on its longest international tour—two months across Germany, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, and the former Yugoslavia. In 1991 the ensemble was honored with the Merit Medal of the Joaquim Nabuco Foundation; in 1992 it received the Prêmio Sharp as Best Regional Group. Rádio Clube Pernambuco bestowed an award in 1993. The following year Quinteto Violado toured nine Portuguese cities and recorded the album Ópera do Bandoleiro, returning for performances in four additional cities. Another Sharp prize for Best Regional Group arrived in 1996. Recife officials presented the Merit Medal José Mariano in 1997. The Recife City Museum conferred the Living Memory of Recife title, and in 1998 the group was awarded the Cultural Trophy City of Recife. In 1999 the musicians appeared in Portugal at the V Festival de Sons e Sabores do Mundo and during the Semana de Pernambuco. The album Farinha do Mesmo Saco, released in 2000, earned Grammy nominations in two categories: Best Latin American Album and Best Latin American Song for “Leão do Norte,” composed by Lenine and Paulo César Pinheiro.