Tim Maia
Encyclopedia
Tim Maia born Sebastião Rodrigues Maia in Rio de Janeiro
, was a famous Brazil
ian musician known for his iconoclastic, ironic, outspoken, and polemical (but always humorous) musical style. He was also known for his habit of lightheartedly missing appointments and even important gigs.
Maia performed in a variety of musical genres, ranging from happy and energetic dance music to sentimental songs such as his hit "Me Dê Motivo". He performed soul music
, funk
, bossa nova
(in the 1990s), romantic songs, American pop
, samba
, baião, and Música Popular Brasileira
.
, in Rio de Janeiro, including the Matoso gang (Maia, Jorge Ben
, Erasmo Esteves, later Erasmo Carlos
, and several others), named after the street where they used to hang out.
In that period, Maia was the guitar teacher of Esteves and when Roberto Carlos
joined the gang in 1958, he also took classes with him. Maia and Carlos (together with Edson Trindade, Arlênio Lívio, and José Roberto "China") formed the group The Sputnikis, playing balls and performing on television (including on Carlos Imperial's Clube do Rock on TV Continental, where Carlos was already a regular). The group was soon dissolved due to incompatibility between Carlos and Maia.
In 1959, Maia went to study communications in the United States, where he lived for four years. There he started as a vocalist, having joined The Ideals, but in 1963, he was arrested for possession of marijuana
.
Jailed for six months and then deported to Brazil, he did not find any support from his old comrades Esteves and Carlos, who were beginning to enjoy the massive success of Jovem Guarda
, which would get a grip on the entire country in a few years. Moving to São Paulo
, he had some support from Os Mutantes
instead. He recorded his first single in 1968 with his compositions "Meu País" and "Sentimento". He became more visible after 1969 when he launched his "These Are the Songs," which was re-recorded by Elis Regina
in the next year, in duo with him and included on Regina's Em Pleno Verão.
and Brazilian music with elements of samba
and baião
. The movement gradually took the working-class suburbs of the north side of Rio de Janeiro, exploding in 1976 with the black movement.
In 1970 Maia recorded his first full-length LP, Tim Maia, which included the classics "Azul da Cor do Mar", "Coroné Antônio Bento", and "Primavera", and topped the charts for 24 weeks in Rio de Janeiro. His first four albums were all self-titled. Next year's Tim Maia had other hits including "Não Quero Dinheiro (Só Quero Amar)" and "Preciso Aprender a Ser Só". His fourth album, released in 1973, included "Réu Confesso" and "Gostava Tanto de Você".
Maia founded two record labels: Vitória Régia Discos and Seroma. Through the latter he released the albums Tim Maia Racional, Vols. 1 & 2, both with songs about the knowledge contained in the book Universo em Desencanto (Universe in Disenchantment), revolving around the cult of Rational Culture. At the time these records were not well-received. This was because Seroma was a label set-up by Maia himself (he wanted all profits to go to the cult) and it lacked adequate distribution, as well as the fact that concerts were promoted as evenings of Rational Culture, and very rarely did he use his name to promote them. They are now regarded as classics and saw re-release in 2005. In 1978 Maia had one of his biggest hits, "Sossego," and another success with "Acenda o Farol," both launched on Tim Maia Disco Club.
In 1990 he interpreted bossa nova classics on an album released through his label Vitória Régia that wasn't noticed, the LP Tim Maia Interpreta Clássicos da Bossa Nova. After a period of poor presence in the media, he was again on top after being mentioned by Jorge Ben Jor's "W/Brasil" in 1993. In the same period, Maia had another hit with his re-recording of "Como uma Onda" (Lulu Santos/Nelson Motta) for a television advertisement.
At the same time, he withdrew from majors, recording his next albums through Vitória Régia, including What a Wonderful World (1997), where he recorded American pop/soul classics, and Amigos do Rei/Tim Maia e Os Cariocas, with the famous vocal group. Obese and in bad health, in March 1998 he was performing at the Municipal Theater of Niterói
when he became ill. He was hospitalized and died few a days later. Tim had suffered from many health problems which includes Diabetes, Acute Hypertension, Obesity and Pulmonary Embolism. In 1999 he was paid tribute in a show by several Música Popular Brasileira artists. The show was launched on CD and DVD. In 2000 he had another tribute, also released in CD.
Tim Maia became a member of the Brazilian Socialist Party
(Partido Socialista Brasileiro - PSB) in October 1997. He was rumoured to have joined the party in order to run for a seat in the Federal Senate
for Rio de Janeiro
in the 1998 general elections
, but died before that. When asked by a reporter why he chose to join the then small PSB, he replied: "Brazil is the only country where – in addition to whores cumming, pimps being jealous, and drug dealers being addicted – poor people vote on the right-wing". His phrase would become a famous aphorism
on the way Brazilians face politics.
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, was a famous Brazil
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 musician known for his iconoclastic, ironic, outspoken, and polemical (but always humorous) musical style. He was also known for his habit of lightheartedly missing appointments and even important gigs.
Maia performed in a variety of musical genres, ranging from happy and energetic dance music to sentimental songs such as his hit "Me Dê Motivo". He performed soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, bossa nova
Bossa nova
Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music. Bossa nova acquired a large following in the 1960s, initially consisting of young musicians and college students...
(in the 1990s), romantic songs, American pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, samba
Samba
Samba is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival...
, baião, and Música Popular Brasileira
Música Popular Brasileira
Música Popular Brasileira or MPB designates a trend in post-Bossa Nova urban popular music. It is not a discrete genre but rather a constellation that combines original songwriting and updated versions of traditional Brazilian urban music styles like samba and samba-canção with contemporary...
.
Early career
Maia wrote his earliest songs at age eight. At 14, as a drummer, he formed the group Os Tijucanos do Ritmo, which lasted one year. He then took guitar classes and was soon teaching children in the neighborhood of TijucaTijuca
Tijuca is a neighbourhood of the Northern Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It comprises the region of Saens Peña and Afonso Pena squares. According to the 2000 Census, the district has close to 150,000 inhabitants...
, in Rio de Janeiro, including the Matoso gang (Maia, Jorge Ben
Jorge Ben Jor
Jorge Ben Jor is a Brazilian popular musician. His characteristic style fuses samba, funk, and rock into samba-rock, with lyrics that blend humor and satire with often esoteric subject matter.-Early life and career:...
, Erasmo Esteves, later Erasmo Carlos
Erasmo Carlos
Erasmo Carlos, born Erasmo Esteves on June 5, 1941, in the Tijuca area of Rio de Janeiro, is a Brazilian singer and songwriter, most closely associated with his friend and longtime collaborator Roberto Carlos...
, and several others), named after the street where they used to hang out.
In that period, Maia was the guitar teacher of Esteves and when Roberto Carlos
Roberto Carlos (singer)
Roberto Carlos Braga is a Grammy Award-winning Brazilian singer and composer, who has achieved a great deal of success and recognition in his 50 year career, also known as King of Latin Music....
joined the gang in 1958, he also took classes with him. Maia and Carlos (together with Edson Trindade, Arlênio Lívio, and José Roberto "China") formed the group The Sputnikis, playing balls and performing on television (including on Carlos Imperial's Clube do Rock on TV Continental, where Carlos was already a regular). The group was soon dissolved due to incompatibility between Carlos and Maia.
In 1959, Maia went to study communications in the United States, where he lived for four years. There he started as a vocalist, having joined The Ideals, but in 1963, he was arrested for possession of marijuana
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
.
Jailed for six months and then deported to Brazil, he did not find any support from his old comrades Esteves and Carlos, who were beginning to enjoy the massive success of Jovem Guarda
Jovem Guarda
Jovem Guarda was primarily a Brazilian musical television show first aired by Rede Record in 1965, though the term soon expanded so as to designate the entire movement and style surrounding it...
, which would get a grip on the entire country in a few years. Moving to 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...
, he had some support from Os Mutantes
Os Mutantes
Os Mutantes ) are an influential Brazilian psychedelic rock band that were linked with the Tropicália movement of the late 1960s. It was formed by two brothers and a vocalist, but has gone through numerous personnel changes throughout its existence...
instead. He recorded his first single in 1968 with his compositions "Meu País" and "Sentimento". He became more visible after 1969 when he launched his "These Are the Songs," which was re-recorded by Elis Regina
Elis Regina
Elis Regina Carvalho Costa, known simply as Elis Regina was an important singer of Brazilian popular music. She became nationally renowned in 1965, after singing Arrastão in the first edition of TV Excelsior festival song contest, and soon joined O Fino da Bossa, a television program on TV Record...
in the next year, in duo with him and included on Regina's Em Pleno Verão.
1970s
In the 1970s, Maia started to record albums and perform shows promoting his synthesis of American soulSoul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
and Brazilian music with elements of samba
Samba
Samba is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival...
and baião
Baião
The baião is a Northeast Brazilian rhythmic formula that became the basis of a wide range of music. Forró, côco, and embolada are clear examples...
. The movement gradually took the working-class suburbs of the north side of Rio de Janeiro, exploding in 1976 with the black movement.
In 1970 Maia recorded his first full-length LP, Tim Maia, which included the classics "Azul da Cor do Mar", "Coroné Antônio Bento", and "Primavera", and topped the charts for 24 weeks in Rio de Janeiro. His first four albums were all self-titled. Next year's Tim Maia had other hits including "Não Quero Dinheiro (Só Quero Amar)" and "Preciso Aprender a Ser Só". His fourth album, released in 1973, included "Réu Confesso" and "Gostava Tanto de Você".
Maia founded two record labels: Vitória Régia Discos and Seroma. Through the latter he released the albums Tim Maia Racional, Vols. 1 & 2, both with songs about the knowledge contained in the book Universo em Desencanto (Universe in Disenchantment), revolving around the cult of Rational Culture. At the time these records were not well-received. This was because Seroma was a label set-up by Maia himself (he wanted all profits to go to the cult) and it lacked adequate distribution, as well as the fact that concerts were promoted as evenings of Rational Culture, and very rarely did he use his name to promote them. They are now regarded as classics and saw re-release in 2005. In 1978 Maia had one of his biggest hits, "Sossego," and another success with "Acenda o Farol," both launched on Tim Maia Disco Club.
1980s and 1990s
In 1983 he had hits with "O Descobridor dos Sete Mares" and "Me Dê Motivo", included on O Descobridor dos Sete Mares (Polygram). Another milestone of his career in the 1980s was Tim Maia (1986), which had the hit "Do Leme ao Pontal (Tomo Guaraná, Suco de Caju, Goiabada Para Sobremesa)".In 1990 he interpreted bossa nova classics on an album released through his label Vitória Régia that wasn't noticed, the LP Tim Maia Interpreta Clássicos da Bossa Nova. After a period of poor presence in the media, he was again on top after being mentioned by Jorge Ben Jor's "W/Brasil" in 1993. In the same period, Maia had another hit with his re-recording of "Como uma Onda" (Lulu Santos/Nelson Motta) for a television advertisement.
At the same time, he withdrew from majors, recording his next albums through Vitória Régia, including What a Wonderful World (1997), where he recorded American pop/soul classics, and Amigos do Rei/Tim Maia e Os Cariocas, with the famous vocal group. Obese and in bad health, in March 1998 he was performing at the Municipal Theater of Niterói
Niterói
Niterói is a municipality in the state of Rio de Janeiro, southeast region of Brazil. It has an estimated population of 487,327 inhabitants and an area of ², being the sixth most populous city in the state and the highest Human Development Index. Integrates the Metropolitan Region of Rio de...
when he became ill. He was hospitalized and died few a days later. Tim had suffered from many health problems which includes Diabetes, Acute Hypertension, Obesity and Pulmonary Embolism. In 1999 he was paid tribute in a show by several Música Popular Brasileira artists. The show was launched on CD and DVD. In 2000 he had another tribute, also released in CD.
Personal life
Tim Maia had two sons: Márcio Leonardo, known as Léo Maia, and Carmelo Maia, known as Telmo. Léo Maia, the eldest, was registered by Tim as his son, although he knew that Léo was not his child, since he met his wife Geisa when she was already pregnant. She had been separated from her boyfriend, who refused to recognize Léo as his child. Tim and Geisa started living together but they broke up after a few arguments. When they made up, she was pregnant with another man's child, who had also abandoned her. Tim also registered Carmelo as his son and married her. He was proud to say that a father is a man who raises his children, and not one who puts them in the world. Tim Maia had no biological children of his own, but he devoted himself to raising Geisa's children and to his career.Tim Maia became a member of the Brazilian Socialist Party
Brazilian Socialist Party
The Brazilian Socialist Party , is a political party in Brazil. It was founded in 1947, before being abolished by the military regime in 1965 and re-organized in 1985 with the re-democratization of Brazil. It elected six Governors in 2010, becoming the second largest party in number of state...
(Partido Socialista Brasileiro - PSB) in October 1997. He was rumoured to have joined the party in order to run for a seat in the Federal Senate
Senate of Brazil
The Federal Senate of Brazil is the upper house of the National Congress of Brazil. Created by the first Constitution of the Brazilian Empire in 1824, it was inspired by the United Kingdom's House of Lords, but with the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889 it became closer to the United States...
for Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro (state)
Rio de Janeiro is one of the 27 states of Brazil.Rio de Janeiro has the second largest economy of Brazil behind only São Paulo state.The state of Rio de Janeiro is located within the Brazilian geopolitical region classified as the Southeast...
in the 1998 general elections
Brazilian general election, 1998
The 1998 Brazilian general election was held on two rounds. The first round was held on Sunday, October 4. On this date, Fernando Henrique Cardoso was re-elected President and the governorships of 14 states were defined, in addition to all seats in the Chamber of Deputies and Legislative...
, but died before that. When asked by a reporter why he chose to join the then small PSB, he replied: "Brazil is the only country where – in addition to whores cumming, pimps being jealous, and drug dealers being addicted – poor people vote on the right-wing". His phrase would become a famous aphorism
Aphorism
An aphorism is an original thought, spoken or written in a laconic and memorable form.The term was first used in the Aphorisms of Hippocrates...
on the way Brazilians face politics.
Discography
- 1970: Tim Maia
- 1971: Tim Maia
- 1972: Tim Maia
- 1973: Tim Maia
- 1975: Racional
- 1976: Racional, vol.2
- 1976: Tim Maia
- 1977: Tim Maia
- 1978: Tim Maia Disco Club
- 1978: Tim Maia
- 1979: Reencontro
- 1980: Tim Maia
- 1982: Nuvens
- 1983: O descobridor dos sete mares
- 1984: Sufocante
- 1985: Tim Maia
- 1986: Tim Maia (volume 10)
- 1987: Somos América
- 1988: Carinhos
- 1990: Dance bem
- 1990: Tim Maia interpreta Clássicos da Bossa Nova
- 1991: Sossego
- 1993: Não quero dinheiro
- 1993: Romântico
- 1994: Voltou clarear
- 1995: Tim Maia ao vivo
- 1995: Nova era glacial
- 1997: Pro meu grande amor
- 1997: Sorriso de criança
- 1997: What a Wonderful World
- 1997: Amigos do rei, com Os Cariocas
- 1997: Só você: Para ouvir e dançar
- 1998: Tim Maia ao Vivo II