Biography
Roberto Martins penned multiple enduring classics from the Golden Age of Brazilian song, which leading vocalists of the era eagerly committed to disc. He began composing at fifteen. Leonel Faria introduced “Regenerado” and “Segredo” in 1933. Francisco Alves cut “Vou Navegar” together with the standard “Favela,” the latter written alongside Valdemar Silva, two years later. Several Martins numbers appeared on Columbia via Carlos Galhardo, among them “O Rei Vagabundo” in 1936. The following year Francisco Alves waxed “O Que É Que Você Quer Mais,” a collaboration with Nássara, while Castro Barbosa recorded “Cadê O Pandeiro?” (co-written with Valfrido Silva). Between 1937 and 1945 Martins served as rhythm-section player in the Simon Bountman orchestra. Francisco Alves also delivered “Quem Bateu Na Minha Porta?,” credited jointly to Ataulfo Alves and Orlando Silva, in 1938. The next year Martins teamed with Mário Lago on the landmark “Dá-me Tuas Mãos.” For the 1940 carnival he supplied “Meu Consolo É Você,” which Orlando Silva turned into his first major success, and “Cai-Cai,” again with Nássara; the latter tune ultimately surfaced in a dozen foreign films and became a perennial carnival favorite despite finishing only third in that year’s municipal contest. Also in 1940 Gilberto Alves recorded “Tra La Lá.” In 1941 Martins wrote “Cowboy do Amor” with Wilson Batista for the Anjos do Inferno. Responding to the 1941 carnival smash “Nós, Os Carecas,” he produced “Nós, Os Cabeleiras” for Castro Barbosa in 1942. That same year Nelson Gonçalves introduced “Renúncia,” a Martins–Mário Rossi partnership. Anjos do Inferno and Ciro Monteiro respectively recorded the 1943 offerings “Roberta” and “Beija-me.” Gilberto Alves and Carlos Galhardo handled “Cecília” and “Bodas de Prata” the year after. “Sinfonia dos Tamancos,” cut by Gilberto Alves, appeared in 1945; “Cordão dos Puxa-Sacos” (with Frazão) reached the Anjos do Inferno in 1946; Albertinho Fortuna recorded “A Marcha Dos Gafanhotos” (with Frazão) in 1947; Carlos Galhardo introduced “Cadê Zazá” (with Ari Monteiro) in 1948; and Blecaute scored Martins’s final hit, “Pedreiro Valdemar” (with Wilson Batista), in 1949. After establishing the União Brasileira de Compositores, Martins devoted most of his subsequent energies to the organization while continuing to write the occasional song.