Manhã de Carnaval

"Manhã de Carnaval" ("Morning of Carnival"), is the title of the most popular song by Brazilian composers Luiz Bonfá and Antonio Maria. It appeared in the 1959 Portuguese-language film Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus), by French director Marcel Camus and based on a play by Vinícius de Moraes. Particularly in the USA, the song is considered to be one of the most important Brazilian Jazz/Bossa songs that helped establish the Bossa Nova movement in the late 1950s. Manhã de Carnaval has become a jazz standard in the USA, while it is still performed regularly by a wide variety of musicians around the world in its vocalized version or just as an instrumental one.

In the USA, the song is also known as "A Day in the Life of a Fool", "Carnival", "Theme from Black Orpheus", or simply "Black Orpheus". In France, the song is also known as "La Chanson D'Orphée." The song is also known by the Spanish title "Mañana de Carnaval". All versions of foreign texts were written by different people using Bonfá's original music.

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The songs of Black Orpheus

Although most of the songs in the film, Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus)[1] were composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes, Manhã de Carnaval was one of two by composer Luiz Bonfá (the other being "Samba de Orfeu"). Manhã de Carnaval was by far the song that got branded popularly as the movie theme in "Black Orpheus." Luiz Bonfá's success with his 1959 hit song was very great, and made his name so well known in the music industry internationally that on several occasions US producers brought him from Brazil to the USA for TV presentations.[2] "Manhã de Carnaval" was originally sung by Elizete Cardoso and Agostinho dos Santos.

Recordings of Manhã de Carnaval

(All recordings listed below were released by the title of "Manhã de Carnaval" and sung in Portuguese, except where noted.)

(Note: Both are instrumental / flugelhorn solos)

included: The Wynton Marsalis Septet, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Plácido Domingo, plus orchestra directed & conducted by John DeMain. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for TV Production, USA 1992.

(Note Luís Miguel sings a Spanish text version)

Lyrics other than Portuguese

Although not as popular as the vast number of interpretations with Portuguese lyrics,[3] the song can also be found with a few English lyrics adaptations and in some other languages as well. None of the versions in other languages were written by Brazilian song writers.

See also

External links

References