Mamonas Assassinas
Encyclopedia
Mamonas Assassinas was a satirical Brazil
ian rock
band. Their lyrics, music and live performances were as famous as their tragical end: on March 2, 1996, the plane in which they were crashed into the Cantareira mountain range
, near São Paulo
, killing all band members.
The band's name carries a double-entendre as, in Portuguese
mamonas can be either the name of the Castor oil plant
, which contains the highly toxic comount ricin
(their logo incorporated a castor bean) or the augmentative
for mamas, meaning breasts (which were prominently pictured on the album cover). The band even translated the name into English as "Killer Big Breasts".
Mamonas Assassinas members employed a humorous mixture between a wide range of styles. They often borrowed elements from other music, among which were the main riff
of the Portuguese
Vira ("Vira-Vira"), Northeastern Brazilian rhythms like forró
("Jumento Celestino"), Mexican music ("Pelados em Santos
"), heavy metal
("Débil Metal"), sertanejo ("Bois Don't Cry"), and even pagode
("Lá Vem o Alemão"). This combination can be easily checked at their videos, where various references to many cultures were found.
, performing covers of Legião Urbana
and Rush
. Soon Dinho was incorporated, and Utopia performed in the suburbs of São Paulo. They even did released an album, but it sold less than 100 copies. The group was critically acclaimed with their first album and as soon as they realized that satirical lyrics were much well-received by the audience, they decided to change their name. Their first demo was listened by Rafael, son of the artistic director of EMI
-Odeon
, João Augusto Soares. João Augusto hired the band afterwards.
, the band was flying to São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport, in Guarulhos
. The aircraft was a Learjet LR-25D
. The jet was on final approach to land
on the runway 09R, but went-around
. As it flew around the runway for a second attempt to land, it crashed into the Cantareira mountain range
, at 23:16, instantly killing all crew and passengers.
, except Dinho, who was born in Irecê
, a town from Bahia
state.
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band. Their lyrics, music and live performances were as famous as their tragical end: on March 2, 1996, the plane in which they were crashed into the Cantareira mountain range
Serra da Cantareira
The Serra da Cantareira is a Brazilian mountain range to the north of the city of São Paulo in the São Paulo state. It is the second largest native urban forest in the world. The Pico do Jaraguá, São Paulo's highest point, is located there. This is also the place where the famous Brazilian band...
, near São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, killing all band members.
The band's name carries a double-entendre as, in Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
mamonas can be either the name of the Castor oil plant
Castor oil plant
The castor oil plant, Ricinus communis, is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. It belongs to a monotypic genus, Ricinus, and subtribe, Ricininae. The evolution of castor and its relation to other species are currently being studied.Its seed is the castor bean which,...
, which contains the highly toxic comount ricin
Ricin
Ricin , from the castor oil plant Ricinus communis, is a highly toxic, naturally occurring protein. A dose as small as a few grains of salt can kill an adult. The LD50 of ricin is around 22 micrograms per kilogram Ricin , from the castor oil plant Ricinus communis, is a highly toxic, naturally...
(their logo incorporated a castor bean) or the augmentative
Augmentative
An augmentative is a morphological form of a word which expresses greater intensity, often in size, but also in other attributes...
for mamas, meaning breasts (which were prominently pictured on the album cover). The band even translated the name into English as "Killer Big Breasts".
Mamonas Assassinas members employed a humorous mixture between a wide range of styles. They often borrowed elements from other music, among which were the main riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
of the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
Vira ("Vira-Vira"), Northeastern Brazilian rhythms like forró
Forró
Forró is a kind of Northeastern Brazilian dance as well as a word used to denote the different genres of music which accompanies the dance. Both are much in evidence during the annual Festa Junina , a part of Brazilian traditional culture which celebrates some Catholic saints...
("Jumento Celestino"), Mexican music ("Pelados em Santos
Pelados em Santos
The Brazilian rock group Titãs covered this song in 1999, in their cover album As Dez Mais.-Music video:The music video of the song shows each member of the band offering a wide range of fictional products of the brand "Titãs" in a Bombril commercials-like studio , with...
"), heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
("Débil Metal"), sertanejo ("Bois Don't Cry"), and even pagode
Pagode
Pagode is a Brazilian style of music which originated in Salvador, Bahia , and quickly went down to Rio de Janeiro region, as a subgenre of Samba. Pagode originally meant a celebration with lots of food, music, dance and party...
("Lá Vem o Alemão"). This combination can be easily checked at their videos, where various references to many cultures were found.
Early years and major era
The band started its activities in 1989 without Dinho, in a band called UtopiaUtopia (Brazilian band)
Utopia was a rock band from Brazil, formed in Guarulhos, São Paulo in 1989, formed by members of the future group Mamonas Assassinas.- Formation :...
, performing covers of Legião Urbana
Legião Urbana
Legião Urbana were a Brazilian rock band formed in 1982 in Brasília, Distrito Federal. The band primarily consisted of Renato Russo , Dado Villa-Lobos and Marcelo Bonfá...
and Rush
Rush (band)
Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...
. Soon Dinho was incorporated, and Utopia performed in the suburbs of São Paulo. They even did released an album, but it sold less than 100 copies. The group was critically acclaimed with their first album and as soon as they realized that satirical lyrics were much well-received by the audience, they decided to change their name. Their first demo was listened by Rafael, son of the artistic director of EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
-Odeon
Odeon
Odea, Odeon, or Odeum may refer to:* Odeon , ancient Greek and Roman buildings built for singing exercises, musical shows and poetry competitions-Modern era:* Cineplex Odeon, North America...
, João Augusto Soares. João Augusto hired the band afterwards.
The plane crash
The band's successful 8-month career came to an end along with all band members' lives, on March 2, 1996, due to a plane crash. After a show in BrasíliaBrasília
Brasília is the capital city of Brazil. The name is commonly spelled Brasilia in English. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the...
, the band was flying to São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport, in Guarulhos
Guarulhos
Guarulhos is the second largest city in the Brazilian state of São Paulo and a suburb of São Paulo city itself. In the last few years it has outgrown Campinas. The population in 2006 is 1,283,253, the density is 4,035.26 inh./km² and the area is 318 km²...
. The aircraft was a Learjet LR-25D
Learjet 25
|-See also:-References:* Taylor, John W. R. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1976–77. London:Jane's Yearbooks, 1976. ISBN 0-354-00538-3.-External links:**...
. The jet was on final approach to land
Landing
thumb|A [[Mute Swan]] alighting. Note the ruffled feathers on top of the wings indicate that the swan is flying at the [[Stall |stall]]ing speed...
on the runway 09R, but went-around
Go-around
A go-around is an aborted landing of an aircraft that is on final approach.- Origin of the term :The term arises from the traditional use of traffic patterns at airfields. A landing aircraft will first join the circuit pattern and prepare for landing in an orderly fashion...
. As it flew around the runway for a second attempt to land, it crashed into the Cantareira mountain range
Serra da Cantareira
The Serra da Cantareira is a Brazilian mountain range to the north of the city of São Paulo in the São Paulo state. It is the second largest native urban forest in the world. The Pico do Jaraguá, São Paulo's highest point, is located there. This is also the place where the famous Brazilian band...
, at 23:16, instantly killing all crew and passengers.
After the disaster
After the band's sudden end, their label released one live album and one posthumous album. They continued to be very famous in Brazil, and kept being influential to the culture. They were, for instance, parodied several times by the humorous site [Charges].Members
All of them were born in GuarulhosGuarulhos
Guarulhos is the second largest city in the Brazilian state of São Paulo and a suburb of São Paulo city itself. In the last few years it has outgrown Campinas. The population in 2006 is 1,283,253, the density is 4,035.26 inh./km² and the area is 318 km²...
, except Dinho, who was born in Irecê
Irecê
- Notable features :It is the home of the "Academia Ireceense de Letras e Artes." It was also the site the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God chose for an industrial kibbutz. It is an agricultural town known for growing black beans and being a wine producing region.- Government :Their current...
, a town from Bahia
Bahia
Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...
state.
- Alecsander Alves (known as Dinho) - vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
- Alberto Hinoto (Bento Hinoto) - guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
- Samuel Reis de Oliveira (Samuel Reoli; "Reoli" is a contraction of the last names Reis and Oliveira) - bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Júlio César Barbosa (Júlio Rasec; Rasec is "César" spelled backwards) - keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, backing vocalsBacking vocalistA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists... - Sérgio Reis de Oliveira (Sérgio Reoli; Samuel's older brother) - drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Studio albums
| Year | Album |
|---|---|
| 1992 | A Fórmula do Fenômeno, as Utopia
|
| 1995 | Mamonas Assassinas Mamonas Assassinas (album) Mamonas Assassinas is the only studio album released by the Brazilian rock band of same name. It was released in 1995, and in only eight months , it sold more than 2 million copies.- Track listing :-1406:... |
Compilation albums
| Year | Album |
|---|---|
| 1998 | Atenção, Creuzebek: A Baixaria Continua (1998, posthumous album)
|
Live albums
| Year | Album |
|---|---|
| 1998 | Mamonas Ao Vivo (2006, posthumous album)
|
Singles
| Year | Single | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | "Pelados em Santos Pelados em Santos The Brazilian rock group Titãs covered this song in 1999, in their cover album As Dez Mais.-Music video:The music video of the song shows each member of the band offering a wide range of fictional products of the brand "Titãs" in a Bombril commercials-like studio , with... " |
Mamonas Assassinas |
| "Robocop Gay" | Mamonas Assassinas | |
| "Vira-Vira" | Mamonas Assassinas | |
| "1406" | Mamonas Assassinas |