
Alceu Valença
Actor · b. 1946 · São Bento do Una, Pernambuco, Brazil
Alceu Valença (born July 1, 1946) is a Brazilian singer, musician, and songwriter. Alceu Valenca was born in the countryside of Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil. He is considered the most successful artist in achieving an aesthetic balance between traditional northeastern Brazilian music and a broad range of electronic sounds and effects from pop music. In most of his songs, one can find traces of maracatu, coco and "repentes de viola" (improvising fast-paced Brazilian folk music). Valença could utilize the electric guitar, the electric bass, and lately even a synthesizer was added to his broad scope of musical instruments. Because of that, Valença was able to recreate Northeastern traditional music, like baião, coco, toada, maracatu, frevo, caboclinhos, embolada and repentes: all sung with a sometimes rock sometimes alternative sounding music background. His music and his themes are intangible, universal and unlimited. However, his aesthetic basis is genuinely Brazilian Northeastern music. Alceu Valença was born in São Bento do Una in Northeast Brazil. When he was young, he used to listen songs by Dalva de Oliveira, Orlando Silva, Sílvio Caldas etc. When he was 5 years old, he participated in a music contest, singing a song by Capiba. Some years later, his mother got sick and his family moved to Recife to live in his aunt's house. In this period, Valença got interested in some musical instruments, such as acoustic guitar and viola. However, he only won his own guitar when he was 15. In 1970, Valença earned a law degree at the Recife Law School. However, he only followed the career for a few months. In fact, in the early 1970s, the reason he had no time for a law career was that he had already launched into a musical direction. He started his musical career in 1968, with the group Underground Tamarineira Village, later known as Ave Sangria. He also played with Zé Ramalho and Elba Ramalho during this period. In 1972, he joined Geraldo Azevedo. Together, they participated of many festivals and, in that same years, recorded their first album: Alceu Valença & Geraldo Azevedo, also known as Quadrafônico. Along his career, Valença recorded more than 20 albums and travelled around many countries, such as Portugal, France, Netherlands and United States. Actually, he is considered one of the greatest exponents of the music of Pernambuco. Finally, with the 2013 release of Três Tons de Alceu Valença, a box with the oldies Cinco Sentidos (1981), Anjo Avesso (1983) and Mágico (1984) all of Alceu Valença's solo work is available on CD. In 2014, his album Amigo da Arte was nominated for the Latin Grammy Award for Best Brazilian Roots Album. Source: Article "Alceu Valença" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Movies11
MovieMusicDocumentaryA host of personalities reminisce about the life and work of songwriter, lawyer, and congressman Humberto Teixeira — aka "Baião Doctor" — the author of such classic Brazilian popular songs as "Asa Branca". A musical film about the baião, a movement in Brazilian music in the 1940s and 1950s that was later snowed under by samba and bossa nova.
Movie6.5DramaMusicIn the miserable Northeastern Brazil, a ruthless land Baron wants to throw a poor farming community out of their land.
MovieDocumentaryMusicThis work explores the culture and influences that shaped the creation and performance of the songs on Vivo!, the third album by Pernambuco-born singer-songwriter Alceu Valença, released in 1976. Through this album, it paints a portrait of the birth of Pernambuco’s psychedelic scene, ranging from its visual art and fantastical characters to the initial forays toward Rio de Janeiro and mainstream success. It is a journey back to the 1970s, viewed through the lens of today and the eyes of tomorrow.
Movie5.7DramaPatriamada
1985 · 3 votes
Movie7.8DocumentaryMusicParticipants recall a series of festivals held on a farm in Brazil during the '70s and '80s that evolved into liberating celebrations of music.
O Barato de Iacanga
2019 · 25 votes
Movie4.5DocumentaryDocumentary of the legendary 1985 music festival in Brazil.
Rock in Rio 30 Anos
2015 · 2 votes
Movie10.0DocumentaryMusician Alceu Valença revisits his career, from his first contact with music, when he was still young, through the 1970s, when several names in music from the Northeast gained space on the scene.
Alceu Valença - Na Embolada do Tempo
2019 · 1 votes
Movie7.1DramaMusicMusical drama that uses popular myths of Brazilian culture to narrate a story full of meetings and misunderstandings, betrayals and loves, crimes and punishments. Against the backdrop of the Pernambuco backlands – its people and its culture, the cordel, the bandits, the cinema and the circus – the film is a universal drama, laden with unique poetry, where reality and the dreamworld mingle.
MovieDocumentarySalve o Prazer!
2020
- Movie7.2MusicDocumentary
Composer Gilberto Gil accompanies filmmaker Andrucha Waddington to the Northeast of Brazil. Among the rural communities in the region, Gil and Waddignton participate in the Catholic celebration of Saint John's Day with music and dance. Waddington also analyzes the suffering of the population trying to survive through agriculture in difficult terrain.
Viva São João!
2002 · 4 votes
MovieDocumentaryBeing responsible for all stages of the production of an album, Deck contributed to the success of artists such as Pitty, Sorriso Maroto and Cachorro Grande. The film “Tudo Pela Música” tells the story of this business and family saga - João, his wife and son, Rafael Ramos, run the company - and offers a good overview of the Brazilian music market. Testimonials from record company executives, competitors, artists and the family itself make viewers immerse themselves in the history of the music industry in recent years and its transformations.
Series6
TV6.8Talk ShowChamps-Elysées
1982 · 9 votes
TV7.0ComedyCasseta & Planeta is a Brazilian group of comedians who run a TV show named Casseta & Planeta Urgente, broadcast by Rede Globo. The humour featured on the show is mostly satirical, relating to religious or ethical groups, and minorities. The group founded a company called Toviassu Produções Artísticas, whose name is an acronym composed of syllables from the phrase "Todo viado é surdo" – "Every gay is deaf"; which is the ending of a widely known Brazilian practical joke. Each one of the seven members has a specific function within the company. They present their TV show at Rede Globo and publish a website and many books, among other products, for example the "Machobol". Originally a magazine named Casseta Popular and a humour newspaper called O Planeta Diário, the two teams joined forces and were hired by Rede Globo to become writers for the network's comedy shows, starting with TV Pirata in 1988. A few years later, they starred in their own show.
Casseta & Planeta, Urgente!
1992 · 9 votes
TV8.0SoapWesternMandacaru
1997 · 4 votes
TVFamily
TVTalk ShowVamos Tocar
2016
TVDocumentaryTalk ShowBased on the original format of "Tiny Desk Concerts" created by NPR.