Los Indios Tabajaras ''(The Tabajara Indians)'' was a

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

duo of two brothers, Antenor Lima and Natalicio (Nato) Lima, from Tianguá,

Ceará Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of th ...

in the Northeast of Brazil. The group name refers to the ''

Tabajara Tabajara were one of the Tupi tribes of indigenous people who lived on the easternmost portion of the Atlantic coast of northeast Brazil in the period before and during Portuguese colonization. Their territory included portions of the modern s ...

'',

indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

who lived on the easternmost portion of the Atlantic coast of northeast Brazil in the period before and during Portuguese colonization, in the 16th century.

Origins

Their beginnings are not clear, though most stories have them becoming accomplished guitar players after finding a guitar near Ceará, in spite of the improbability of the story. They found success in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

, performing as ''Natalicio and Antenor Lima'' and dressing in ceremonial Indian costumes. Using classical guitars and playing transcriptions of classical

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

works, they were soon playing all over

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

. Probably as early as 1943,

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westin ...

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

n arm signed them to a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

. In the early 1950s, they took a break from performing and went back to study the guitar. After returning to the stage later that same decade, they took on the name "Los Indios Tabajaras" and released an album in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

on an RCA-owned label Vox.

Breakthrough

Throughout this period, they had a steady stream of releases on RCA in

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

and one of these, a Mexican popular tune named " María Elena" ( Lorenzo Barcelata; named after the wife of a Mexican president and recorded in 1958), became a steady seller, a success throughout Latin America and was finally released on a single in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

in 1963. It spent 14 weeks on the Hot 100 in the fall of 1963, four of which were in the top 10 in November 1963, reaching number 6 and had similar success in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. Los Indios Tabajaras continued touring throughout

the Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

and Europe, and in 1964 they had another two releases, "Always in My Heart" and "Marta." Although "Always in My Heart" made the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, neither of these were nearly as successful as "Maria Elena." Their fluent guitar playing caught the ear of American guitarist

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music ...

and, along with pianist

Floyd Cramer Floyd Cramer (October 27, 1933 – December 31, 1997) was an American pianist who became famous for his use of melodic "half step" attacks. He was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His signatur ...

, they recorded an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instr ...

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...

. They also recorded and released material with singer

Don Gibson Donald Eugene Gibson (April 3, 1928 – November 17, 2003) was an American songwriter and country musician. A Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, Gibson wrote such country standards as "Sweet Dreams" and " I Can't Stop Loving You", and enjoy ...

, including a re-recording of Gibson's 1958 hit " Oh Lonesome Me".

Later years

RCA released albums by Los Indios Tabajaras into the 1980s. They were produced by Herman Diaz, Jr. until his retirement in 1975. They then worked with RCA producer Ethel Gabriel. Antenor retired from performing in 1979, and died in 1997. Natalicio continued to perform into the 1990s with his wife, Michiko. He died in November 2009.

Discography

*1953 ''Temura'' *1957 ''Popular and Folk Songs of Latin America'' *1958 ''Sweet and Savage'' *1963 ''Maria Elena'' *1963 ''Los Indios Tàba-Jàràs'' *1964 ''Always In My Heart'' *1964 ''The Mellow Guitar Moods of Los Indios Tabajaras'' *1965 ''Voglio Amarti Cosi'' *1965 ''The Many Splendored Guitars of Los Indios Tabajaras'' *1965 ''Twin Guitars - In A Mood For Lovers'' *1966 ''Musica Para Enamorados'' *1966 ''

with Spanish Guitars'' (with Don Gibson) *1966 ''Casually Classic'' *1967 ''The Very Special Touch'' *1967 ''The Soft Touch of Los Indios Tabajaras'' *1968 ''The Fascinating Rhythms of Their Brazil'' *1968 ''In A Sentimental Mood'' *1969 ''Canciones De Las Islas (Song of the Islands)'' *1970 ''Dreams of Love'' *1970 ''Canciones Populaires y Folklóricas de Hispanoamerica'' (re-issue of 1957 album) *1970 ''Los Indios Tabajaras'' *1971 ''Lo Que El Mundo Necesita Ahora es Amor'' *1971 ''Suono d'Estate'' *1971 ''Marta'' *1971 ''The Very Thought of You'' *1972 ''Siempre En Mi Corazon'' *1972 ''Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise'' *1972 ''El Condor Pasa'' *1973 ''Play Favorite Movie Themes'' *1974 ''The Classical Guitars of'' *1975 ''Temas de Peliculas Europeas'' *1975 ''Country Music Cavalcade'' (shared with

and

) *1976 ''Secret Love/All Time Film Favorites'' *1977 ''Mellow Nostalgia'' *1977 ''El Sonido de Los Indios Tabajaras'' *1978 ''Masterpieces'' *1979 ''Two Guitars'' *1980 ''Rainbows'' *1981 ''Beautiful Sounds'' *1982 ''Music For Romance'' *1983 ''Guitars on the Go'' *1988 ''The Magic Guitars of Los Indios Tabajaras'' *1992 ''The Joy of Playing''

References

External links

Mayaudio.com
Dead link.
On-line jukebox
{{DEFAULTSORT:Indios Tabajaras Brazilian musical duos RCA Victor artists Sibling musical duos