Caymmi, the Man Who Best Sang Brazil's Seas, Is Dead at 94
Written by Cristiane Ribeiro
Saturday, 16 August 2008
Brazilian composer and singer from Bahia Dorival Caymmi died this Saturday, August 16, in Rio de Janeiro, at the age of 94. Caymmi had been treating a bladder cancer for 11 years and died of renal failure around 6 am, at his apartment, in Copacabana, in Rio's south side.
In his 60 years of career, Caymmi wrote songs about habits, customs and traditions of his fellow Baianos (people from the northeastern state of Bahia). In his songs he demonstrated his reverence for the sea and nature. Despite the Baiano spirit - Baianos are said to be laid-back and lazy - he still recorded more than 20 albums.
Danilo Caymmi, the composer's son, who is also a composer, talked about his father's death. According to Danilo, Dorival died "peacefully, baianamente (like a Baiano) like he used to say."
He also told reporters that his mother and Dorival's wife, Stela Maris, has been in a coma in the hospital for the last three months. "Our family is going through very tough times," he said.
Dori Caymmi, another son composer, heard about the father's death during an overseas tour and is rushing back to Brazil.
Dorival Caymmi's body is being watched over in Rio's City council building, in Cinelândia, downtown Rio de Janeiro. The funeral will be tomorrow , August 17, in the São João Batista cemetery in the Botafogo neighborhood. That's the same place where other celebrities have been buried like composer Antonio Carlos Jobim (1927-1994), filmmaker Glauber Rocha (1938-1981) and Brazil's Aviation Father, Alberto Santos Dumont (1873-1932).
Among Caymmi's most popular compositions we can mention "O Que É Que a Baiana Tem," which was immortalized by Carmen Miranda in the Banana da Terra movie (1939), "A Lenda do Abaeté," "Promessa de Pescador," "É Doce Morrer no Mar," "Marina," "Não Tem Solução," "Maracangalha," "Saudade de Itapoã," "Samba da Minha Terra," "Dora," "Rosa Morena" e "Eu Não Tenho Onde Morar."
Dorival Caymmi - "O que é que a Baiana tem"
Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, released a note talking about how sad he was to hear the news of the composer's death:
"Dorival Caymmi is one of the founders of the Brazilian popular music, patriarch of a lineage of talented musicians. His beach songs and his sambas-canção are a patrimony of the national culture. He shone and innovated as composer, musician and singer.
"His music is a thorough translation of Bahia. It was with sadness that I heard the news of his death. My sincere condolences to his wife Stella Maris and to his children Nana, Dori and Danilo. His work will remain always alive in Brazilians' memory, enlightening all of us with the grace and happiness of his songs."
Rio de Janeiro state governor, Sérgio Cabral, declared a three-day official mourning in the state. Rio's mayor, César Maia, said, in a note, that he laments the death of Dorival Caymmi and announced that he is going to pay homage to the musician naming a street in Leblon, in Rio's south side, after him.
In the note, Maia also said that Caymmi was "the most Carioca of Baianos," who chose Rio de Janeiro as his place to live and to die.
Brazil received a huge boost in its international image with its selection as the host of the 2016 Olympics, but it was really just the cherry on top of the overall recognition of the country's ascension to the ranks of one of the world's most important countries. Now, as it finally takes its place on the world scene, there has been a great deal of concern about what kind of image Brazil hopes to project, now that the world is really paying attention.
The only good thing to say about the visit to Brazil of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday November 23, is that it was mercifully short and lasted less than 24 hours. Ahmadinejad had his picture taken being hugged by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who gave him a warm welcome and said Iran had every right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area.
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy.
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil.
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms.
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis.
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking.
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse.
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose.
Brazilian composer and singer from Bahia Dorival Caymmi died this Saturday, August 16, in Rio de Janeiro, at the age of 94. Caymmi had been treating a bladder cancer for 11 years and died of renal failure around 6 am, at his apartment, in Copacabana, in Rio's south side.
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Brazil received a huge boost in its international image with its selection as the host of the 2016 Olympics, but it was really just the cherry on top of the overall recognition of the country's ascension to the ranks of one of the world's most important countries. Now, as it finally takes its place on the world scene, there has been a great deal of concern about what kind of image Brazil hopes to project, now that the world is really paying attention. 
The only good thing to say about the visit to Brazil of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday November 23, is that it was mercifully short and lasted less than 24 hours. Ahmadinejad had his picture taken being hugged by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who gave him a warm welcome and said Iran had every right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose.