Pelo Telefone (English: On the Telephone) is a song attributed to the Brazilian guitarist and composer Donga and considered to be the first

samba Samba () is a broad term for many of the rhythms that compose the better known Brazilian music genres that originated in the Afro-Brazilians, Afro Brazilian communities of Bahia in the late 19th century and early 20th century, It is a name or ...

song to be recorded in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, according to records at the

National Library of Brazil The National Library of Brazil (, official name is ) is the depository of the bibliographic and documentary heritage of Brazil. It is located in Rio de Janeiro, the capital city of Brazil from 1763 to 1960, more specifically at Cinelândia squar ...

,PICCINO, Evaldo. Um breve histórico dos suportes sonoros analógicos. Sonora. São Paulo:Universidade Estadual de Campinas / Instituto de Artes, vol. 1, n. 2, 2003.NAPOLITANO, Marcos. História & Música: História cultural da música popular. Belo Horizonte: Editora Autêntica, 2002. although earlier recordings exist, such as "Samba - Em Casa da Bahiana" (1913) and "Urubu Malandro" (1914). A collective creation of controversial authorship, the composition is attributed to Ernesto dos Santos, better known as Donga, and to the journalist . It was registered on the 27th of November, 1916 as being authored only by Donga — who later included de Almeida as a partner — and conceived in a famous

Candomblé Candomblé () is an African diaspora religions, African diasporic religion that developed in Brazil during the 19th century. It arose through a process of syncretism between several of the traditional religions of West and Central Africa, especi ...

house, the house of

Tia Ciata Tia Ciata, born Hilária Batista de Almeida (1854–1924) was a Brazilian mãe-de-santo of Candomblé, and an influential figure in the development of samba. She was a devotee of deity Oshun and became the iyakekerê, or second most important lea ...

, which was frequented by popular musicians of the time. Because it was a huge success and because it was born in a samba circle from improvisations and joint creations, various musicians have claimed authorship.

History

The song was composed in 1916, in the backyard of

, in Praça Onze (now Cidade Nova). The song was originally titled "Roceiro" and was a collaborative creation, with participation from ,

Pixinguinha Alfredo da Rocha Viana Filho (May 4, 1897 – February 17, 1973), better known as Pixinguinha, () was a Brazilian composer, arranger, flutist, and saxophonist born in Rio de Janeiro. He worked with Brazilian popular music and developed the '' c ...

, Caninha, Hilário Jovino Ferreira and , and others. Donga was the first to register the song, which he justified with a maxim attributed to Sinhô: "music is like a bird, it belongs to whoever catches it first". The original lyrics of the song were later changed to the version best known today: According to a statement by Donga to Brazil's Museum of Image and Sound, "The chief of police... was a parody created by the journalists of ''

A Noite ''A Noite'' (English: The Night) was a Brazilian newspaper based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was published daily from 18 July 1911 to 27 December 1957 when it stopped publication. Its headquarters, which is located at Praça Mauá in the Centra ...

''. In 1913, newspaper reporters had placed a

roulette Roulette (named after the French language, French word meaning "little wheel") is a casino game which was likely developed from the Italy, Italian game Biribi. In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various grouping ...

wheel in to demonstrate the police's tolerance of

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

. Musician and broadcaster Henrique Foréis Domingues, in the February 13, 1972 issue of the newspaper ''O Dia'', confirmed this by saying: "someone in the newsroom of 'A Noite', taking inspiration from the episodes in question, created the famous parody". Domingues also accused Donga of having appropriated a collective work. Donga claimed that the music was different, but conceded that he was not the author of the lyrics, which were written by . He blamed the label for omitting his partner's name. "The omission of Mauro's name on the recording by Casa Edison cannot be attributed to me", he said. The ''

Jornal do Brasil ''Jornal do Brasil'', widely known as ''JB'', is a daily newspaper published by Editora JB in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The paper was founded in 1891 and is the third oldest extant Brazilian paper, after the ''Diário de Pernambuco'' and ''O Esta ...

'' newspaper, on February 4, 1917, published a note from Grêmio Fala Gente announcing that "the true tango 'Pelo Telephone', by composers João da Mata, Germano, Tia Ciata and Hilário, will be sung on

Avenida Rio Branco Rio Branco Avenue (), formerly Avenida Central, is a major road in downtown Rio de Janeiro. It was built as the leading brand of the urban reform carried out by the mayor Pereira Passos in early 20th century. It is one of the main thoroughfares ...

, dedicated to the good and remembered friend Mauro."

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

"Pelo Telefone" at the National Library of BrazilO Samba completa cem anos
{{Lusophonemusic 1917 songs Brazilian songs Music controversies Songs in Portuguese Samba songs Songs about telephone calls