Covered by the main names in MPB, Dorival Caymmi is the idol of his idols | Bahia

Dorival Caymmi “didn’t like the [re]interpretations of his songs in general”, said Dori Caymmi, second son of the Bahian musician, in an interview for the documentary “Um Homem de Afetos”. But this did not prevent it from being extensively re-recorded — with respect and honors — by singers in Brazil out.

Author of at least 156 songs, according to records from the Central Collection and Distribution Office (Ecad), Caymmi Sr. had his lyrics sung by big names in Brazilian music. Many of them certainly had their license, as is the case of Chico Buarque and Gal Costa, who even shared vocals with the musician she cited as inspiration.

Such re-recordings can be seen as a preservation of legacy, not surprisingly the main performers are Nana, Dori and Danilo Caymmi, direct descendants of their father’s talent. The list continues with Maria Bethânia, João Gilberto, Gal Costa and Gilberto Gil, according to a survey by Ecad.

Artists who re-recorded the most Dorival Caymmi

At the request of g1, in the midst of the tribute for the composer’s 110th birthday this Tuesday (30), the office also found out which works were most sung by other performers. Firstly, the angry passion “Marina” appears, with at least 125 versions recorded. Check out the TOP 10:

Most re-recorded compositions by Dorival Caymmi

The numbers are not surprising — before musicians like Caetano Veloso achieved stardom, the charts were composed by Dorival Caymmi. Alongside João Gilberto, he was one of the idols of the generation marked by movements like Tropicália.

“For me, He is the greatest, greatest figure in Brazilian popular music of all time.”said Caetano in the documentary “Um Homem de Afetos”, which hit theaters last Thursday (25).

In an interview for the program “Conversa com Bial”, shown in August 2018, Gilberto Gil said that he didn’t even dare to try to play with the master, nicknamed by him “Buda Nagô”. Gil was married to Nana, therefore the idol’s son-in-law, with whom he was able to live intimately at the end of the 1960s.

This respect is also seen in the work of artists who came later. For Alice Caymmi, also a singer and granddaughter of the Bahianhe was a man “out of his time”, which inspires his performance in the artistic scene.

“I want to be like that. Trying to reach this impossible state brings me important moments of creativity,” he told g1.

In 2014, the time of Caymmi’s centenary, Daniela Mercury performed a show in honor of the musician. When contacted by the portal, she classified him as a “fundamental stone of music”.

“It is not possible to understand what it is to be Bahian without the influence of Dorival Caymmi. He influenced all the samba players, all the artists who created bossa nova, starting with João Gilberto himself”.

In the words of the axé music singer, the songbook was to music what Jorge Amado was to literature. The two were actually friends and partners — Caymmi composed “Modinha para Gabriela” for the television adaptation of “Gabriela, Cravo e Canela” (1958), the author’s novel.

Daniela Mercury highlights Dorival Caymmi’s influence on her work

Another person who paid tribute to the musician was Emanuelle Araújo, actress and vocalist of the band Moinho. In March of this year, when celebrating the group’s 20th anniversary, she, Lan Lanh (percussion) and Toni Costa (guitar) paid homage to the artist with the inclusion of “Sábado em Copacabana” in the show’s repertoire.

Caymmi was the initial inspiration for the project, as the band’s name itself comes from one of his works, the track “Moinho da Bahia”.

Emanuelle Araújo explains her relationship with Dorival Caymmi’s work: “It’s like being at home”

Emanuelle says that she was introduced to the artist’s repertoire as a child due to the relationship her father had with the musician’s work. “Soon afterwards, I understood who Dorival was, as I understood how much he represents for us in the history of our Brazilian music, in our Bahian history, including taking our music abroad”, he comments, citing the movement repeated by several artists who left their homeland in search of the prosperity promised on the Rio-São Paulo axis.

“But beyond the mental, intellectual dimension, which I understood about this great artist, there was and always will be something very emotional. Listening to Caymmi is like smelling my land, like smelling my house, like smelling my grandmother’s food, like missing my father’s guitar.”

Caymmi’s samba-canção spoke of love, customs and her land. Music and culture scholars credit him as one of the greatest, if not the greatest representative of what is conventionally called Bahianity.

“He was the first Bahian artist to put Bahia in a prominent position”, highlights Marcelo Argôlo, a journalist specializing in music, in an interview with g1.

The songbook’s first hit is an example of this. Called to replace the already acclaimed Ary Barroso as composer of songs that would be performed by Carmen Miranda in the film “Banana da Terra” (1939), the newcomer delivered “O Que é Que a Bahiana Tem?”.

According to Dori and Caetano Veloso, more than a lyricist, the musician acted as a designer for the Portuguese created in Brazil. He taught common mannerisms to women who lived in the northeastern state at the time so that the actress and singer knew how to present herself.

From then on, Caymmi became a reference for samba-canção in the radio era and other of his works were dedicated to portraying people, places and the entire popular culture permeated by parties and religiosity so characteristic of the Bahian territory, recalls Argôlo.

Even though he moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he established his artistic career, the musician kept his eyes on the place where he was born and raised. It’s like he sang: “Oh, oh how I miss Bahia”.

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