Sunday 12 March 2017

TITO MADI & RIBAMAR - May 1959

Tito Madi's  1st album: 'Sua voz... Suas composição' - 1958. 
Ribamar & Tito Madi at 'Cangaceiro'.
Revista do Radio, 30 May 1959: 'A duo persecuted by success!'

Tito Madi & Ribamar in Tito's flat in Copacabana. They are real-friends in and out of show-business.


Singer-guitar-player Tito Madi nee Chauki Madi and song-writer-pianist Ribamar nee Jose Ribamar Pereira da Silva met while working at night clubs around Rio de Janeiro in 1956. They're both single. Tito Madi was born in Pirajuí-SP, a town in Sao Paulo state. Ribamar hails from Campo Grande-RJ, 50 km away from Rio.

Ribamar tells he was playing piano at a night club owned by the Autori brothers called Jirau when Tito who had a night off from performing at the Scotch Barpopped in. 'I had been Tito's fan since I'd heard 'Não diga não' that was a hit in Sao Paulo. Tito sang a few of his songs for us and I convinced the owner to sign him up'.

Tito says: 'That's true. It was through working at Jirau that I had the chance to meet columnists and be written about at newspapers and magazines. That's when I wrote 'Chove lá fora' and 'Fracassos de amor'.

Ribamar says: 'We stayed at Jirau for the rest of the year. In January 1957, we were invited to work at the Little Club where we stayed the whole year. It was a very good year. Tito was chosen by the press as the best song-writer and I took the best nigh-club pianist award. It was such a busy year that the owners got enough dough to buy O Cangaceiro, a night club that was past its heydays. We were sent there and managed to turn things around.

Tito adds: 'The stint at 'O Cangaceiro' was good. I was chosen the best male night-club attraction and Ribamar was voted the best piano-accompanist. In June 1958, we were given permission to do stint at Chicote, a posh Sao Paulo night-club. We broke all the house attendance records increasing its yield handsomely.

Ribamar proceeds: 'We stayed at O Cangaceiro the whole of 1958, but in February 1959, we took a holiday and went off to Punta del Este, the Uruguayan summer resort where we worked at boite El Carroussel the night-club belonging to Casino San Rafael. We're proud to say that even though it was Carnival we managed to perform the best romantic Brazilian music to an attentive audience. It was such a winner that we were invited to tour Argentina, Uruguay and Chile during 1958.

Tito wraps up: 'After working at the Uruguayan resort for 10 days - from 14 through 23 February 1959, we came back to Brazil. I fell sick as soon as we hit Rio de Janeiro. I was exhausted from work. I am signed to Continental Records and Ribamar to Columbia but we'll record an album together with songs I've written.

Continental has issued 'Tito Madi, sua voz... suas composições' in 1958, and now it is releasing 'Encontro no sábado', where Tito sings with actress-singer Nelly Martins.

'Correio da Manhã' - 1961.

José Ribamar Pereira da Silva é uma dessas figuras que se fosse contador de histórias faria jornal, revista, livro e ficaria rico em um minuto. Mas, acontece que desde menino a música o atraía e na casa de Campo Grande, ele gostava de brincar com as teclas marfim e azeviche da vovó. 

Parceiro de Dolores Duran (até hoje ele chora a partida daquela espécie de Piaf de Cobacabana...) e de Tito Madi. Quem quiser vê-lo ou com ele conversar basta aparecer no bar Cangaceiro, à Rua Fernando Mendes e, além de ser bem atendido, ouvirá sucessos não só com o Riba, mas com Myriam Roy e seu irmão violonista Esdras Silva. 

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