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December 26, 2006
Mestre Sivuca
I despise the term world music. It evokes a watered down, bland amalgam of rhythms and instruments that amount to nothing with enough character to belong from somewhere or enough depth to hint at some universal human emotion in music. My cousin Sivuca, who died at midnight on December 15th was a world musician. His career spanned five continents that removed him from his native Brazil, but the spirit never left him and as he is known in Brazil so will he be remembered: Mestre (Master) Sivuca.
Sivuca was born on the 26th of May, 1930 in the town of Itabaiana, a desert town in the Northeastern state of Paraiba, Brazil. The son of a shoemaker, he was given the name Severino Dias de Oliveira, and soon picked up the accordion. He began playing at age 9, allowed to remain home and practice instead work around the house because he was an albino and didn't fare well in the hot sun. From age 9 to 15 he wandered the interior of the state of Paraiba playing in brothels and anywhere that needed music, to support his family after his father passed away. Soon after he moved to the city of Recife, in the state of Pernambuco, where he was given the nickname Sivuca while playing at the Radio Club of Pernambuco. He would move to Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon, Paris and in 1964, he moved to New York City to assume the role of musical director for Miriam Makeba. During this period, both Sivuca and my father are licking their wounds recovering from divorce and become intensely close. My father takes on the role of a trusted enthusiast, what today would be called an entourage, and helps Sivuca make it to his gigs and get paid. There are many stories from these times, intimate, most likely distorted and exaggerated, but relevant enough for who they came from and the glint in my father's eye telling them evokes. A story about when Sivuca came home drunk from a gig and brought over a few musicians to play late into the night; they were: Luis Bonfa, Milton Nascimento and Joao Gilberto. Or perhaps one of the 6 movie scores Sivuca did during this period, for my father's ex-wife, where he showed up at a recording studio alone and proceeded to record every instrument of an 8 piece score on his own. Closest to my heart is the story about Miles Davis hearing Sivuca play for the first time and the ensuing telegram in which Miles confessed his intense distaste for the accordion and then after hearing Sivuca, his new found appreciation. Sivuca played the music for my for two of my father's weddings, one with Dom Salvador and the second on his own.
After ten years with Miriam Makeba, he became bandleader for Harry Belafonte, before recording what is arguably his best album, Live at the Village Gate. I should note that on the first track of this album, just as the applause dies down and the band begins there is a drunken scream, undoubtedly my father's. The close ties to my family somewhat end there, we moved to Africa and it was difficult to keep touch. Sivuca got married and became immersed in a new life. He returned home briefly, recording one of my favorite songs of all time, Joao e Maria, with Chico Buarque. Soon after, Sivuca discovered a deep appreciation for the accordion and his music in Denmark and Sweden, spending several years there and recording with Toots Thielmans. His output slowed in the 90s, returning to Brazil and working locally to develop music in the Northeast of Brazil. He played with Baden Powell in 1994 in France and recorded several important works in Brazil, without much distribution behind them. Just recently he had completed an impressive DVD project and watching it with him, 2 months before he passed, I was amazed by the dexterity and fluidity with which he attacked his instrument. He was a consummate musician. We didn't talk much, he spoke in a very low tone, the result of his throat cancer, and was hard of hearing. When I told him I wanted to become a musician, he told me to go to Julliard and we left it at that. He was buried in his home state of Paraiba, by a full honor guard and he will forever be remembered there and by anyone who heard him. I hope I can add a few of you to that list.
Posted by pd3000 at December 26, 2006 9:36 PM