Elis Regina & Antônio Carlos Jobim

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Elis Regina & Antônio Carlos Jobim · Elis Regina was born in 1945 in Porto Alegre and began as a child on the radio programme Clube de Guri. At fifteen she signed a record contract and a few years later travelled to Rio de Janeiro, where she recorded her first album. She sang bossa nova, MPB and jazz. In 1965 she won a song contest on television with Arrastão by Edu Lobo and Vinícius de Moraes, and became the best-selling Brazilian artist since Carmen Miranda. She was given a regular slot on the television programme O Fino da Bossa.

Music and breakthrough

Elis was known for her vocalisation and for her interpretations and performances. She was given the nicknames Hurricane and Little Pepper. During the military dictatorship she criticised the regime on tour in Europe, and she was threatened with imprisonment if she did not sing the national anthem. Her well-known recordings include Como Nossos Pais, Upa Neguinho, Madalena and Casa no Campo. She died in 1982 at the age of thirty-six, which shocked the whole of Brazil.

Influence

In the 1970s she recorded Elis and Tom with Antônio Carlos Jobim, the composer who had made a great name in bossa nova. On it is Águas de Março, a song by Jobim in which the lyrics set down image after image like a list. Elis's singing gives it energy and playfulness, alongside the calm, jazzy accompaniment. The recording is regarded as a high point of Brazilian popular music.

Listening

• 
  Águas de Março · Elis Regina & Antônio Carlos Jobim, 1974
  Apple Music ↗

See also

• Tropicália en MPB