>> Adoniran Barbosa
bio: Early years João Rubinato was the seventh child of Emma and Ferdinando Rubinato, Italian immigrants from Cavarzere (province of Venice). His parents had settled in Valinhos, a rural town in the state of São Paulo, about 100 km from the city of São Paulo.
He is said to have been a rather reluctant student, and started working at an early age (which required falsifying his birth date). His first job was a sweeper boy and general helper at a railway company in the nearby town of Jundiaí. In 1924 he moved to Santo André, a town in the Greater São Paulo area, where he went through many jobs — loom operator, painter, plumber, iron worker, peddler and waiter. At a local technical school (the Liceu de Artes e Ofícios) he learned the office of mechanical assistant.
[edit] Debut as composer and singer In 1933 João Rubinato moved to the city of São Paulo, where he started composing songs and tried his luck as a singer in Cruzeiro do Sul radio station, in a talent-scouting show directed by Jorge Amaral. After many failures, he finally succeeded with the Noel Rosa's samba Filosofia, and got a contract for a weekly 15 minute show.
Fearful that a samba artist with an Italian surname would not be taken seriously by the public, João Rubinato then decided to adopt a more Brazilian-sounding name. So he borrowed the unusual "Adoniran" from one of his friends, and "Barbosa" from samba composer Luiz Barbosa, his idol.
In 1935 he won a Carnaval song contest sponsored by the city of São Paulo, with the samba Dona Boa, composed together with J. Aimberê. Spirited by that success, he married his longtime girlfriend Olga. The couple has a daughter, Maria Helena, but the marriage breaks up in less than one year.
[edit] At the Rádio Record In 1941 he starts performing in humour and radio theater programs at the Rádio Record — which would later become one of the top radio and TV station of Brazil. He remained with Record until his retirement in 1972, giving his voice to various popular characters created together with writer Osvaldo Moles, like Pernafina, Zé Cunversa, and Jean Rubinet (a French movie star). He also played parts in the movies Pif-Paf (1945) and Caídos do Céu ("Fallen from Heaven") (1946), both directed by Ademar Gonzaga. In 1949 he marries Matilde de Lutiis, who will be his companion and co-author for the next 30 years.
In 1953 he makes a fine performance in the movie O Cangaceiro, by director Lima Barreto. In the early 1950s he writes many songs on typical São Paulo themes, most of them recorded by the band Demônios da Garoa, and wins two other São Paulo Carnaval contests. In 1955 he introduced the enormously popular character Charutinho ("Short Cigar") in the radio humor show Histórias das Malocas ("Shantytown Stories").
Adoniran also acted in some of the earliest Brazilian soap operas (telenovelas), such as A Pensão de D. Isaura ("Ms. Isaura's Boarding Home"), and comic programs like Ceará contra 007 ("Ceará against 007") and Papai Sabe Nada ("Daddy Knows Nothing").
[edit] Later years In spite of the success of his songs and radio characters, Adoniran only became a star of sorts after 1973 when he recorded his first own album. That made him respected as a major composer, and gave him some media exposure. Nevertheless, through his career he continued living a simple and happy life. He had earned the right to a privative table at the Bar Brahma, one of the city's most traditional bars.
While he never lost his love of São Paulo, towards the end of his life he became increasinly sad about the disappearance of its traditional character. "Until the 1960s," he once said, "São Paulo still existed, but since then I have been looking for it, and could not find it. Brás, where is Brás now? And Bexiga, where is it? I was told to look for the Sé. Could not find it. all I see is cars and concrete."
While his music continued to be played, Adoniran himself was gradually forgotten by the public; so that when he died in 1982, in relative poverty, he had at his side only his wife and a brother in law.
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