O Carnaval do Ary Interview with the composer. Daniella Thompson 5 January 2004 Around 1956, Ary Barroso released a 10” LP in which he sang and played eight of his old carnaval hits, accompanied by an orchestra and chorus. Ary Barroso, sua Orquestra e Côro: O Carnaval do Ary (Odeon MODB 3057; c. 1956) Dá Nela (Ary Barroso) – marcha Eu Vou pro Maranhão (Ary Barroso) – samba Yayá Boneca (Ary Barroso) – marcha Eu Sonhei (Ary Barroso) – samba Segura Essa Mulher (Ary Barroso) – marcha O Correio Já Chegou (Ary Barroso) – samba Upa!... Upa!... (Ary Barroso) – marcha Foi Ela (Ary Barroso) – samba On the occasion, Ary was interviewed for the album’s back cover. Here he parries several trivial questions, revealing that he’d like to compose serious music but doesn’t dare to; that if he could write only lyrics, he’d choose Dorival Caymmi or Ataulfo Alves to compose the music; and that if he could have any voice he liked, he’d pick one that was a mixture of Sílvio Caldas and Ângela Maria. Most revealing is the composer’s answer to the following question, indicating that the music industry in the mid 1950s was no different than it is today. Q. Why did you choose these songs of the old carnavals? A. Because they were authentic hits of the Golden Age of carnaval music. At that time there was no “caititú.” Caititú was the old moniker for what is now called jabá in Brazil and plain payola in the U.S. = = = My thanks to Sergio Ximenes, webmaster of the discographies website Sombras, for the cover scans of O Carnaval do Ary.   Articles LPs & CDs   Copyright © 2004–2013 Daniella Thompson. All rights reserved.