\"Musical Ensemble and New Rhythms\" in Conjuntos e Ritmos Modernos = Musical Groups and New Rhythms, Paulo Esteireiro (Coord.). Funchal: Direção Regional da Cultura e Direção de Serviços de Educação Artística e Multimédia, CD-Rom+Áudio, 2015, ISBN 978-989-98636-9-9 (Madeira Música, 10).

Musical Ensemble and New Rhythms By Paulo Esteireiro

“New Music and the term “Musical Ensemble” The piano player and composer Tony Amaral (1910-1976) was one of the first Madeiran musicians to be influenced by “the new American music”, which had great influence in Europe after the second quarter of the 20th Century. In the early 1940s, the Madeiran piano player, Tony Amaral, created a music group known as Tony Amaral and his Orchestra and they used to perform at Hotel Bellavista. In 1946 they moved to Lisbon, where they achieved great success, even with the critics. There, under the name of Tony Amaral and His Boys, they performed in night-clubs, restaurants, theatres and at Casino Estoril (Oliveira, “Tony Amaral” 39). In Lisbon, at the beginning, the group consisted of the musicians, Carlos Menezes, electric guitar, José de Freitas (guitar bass), Barrinhos (drums), Tony Amaral (piano) and Max (singer). The latter a renowned Madeiran singer performed with the group until he went solo, having become known as one of the great stars of the Portuguese radio, TV and Theatre. In 1949, the group recorded with Valentim Carvalho, with compositions by Tony Amaral and Max, and recreations of Madeiran Traditional songs, among them the famous Bailinho da Madeira (Oliveira, “Tony Amaral”, 39) and the music with Afro-American influence “Noites da Madeira” (Nights in Madeira). The Tony Amaral Ensemble is an example of a new type of professional groups of musician, usually known as an “ensemble”, which became more widely spread in 1940s and 1950s. The sudden popularity of such groups is related to the increase in the number of hotels and the offer for the tourists (Sardinha and Camacho, Noites da Madeira). The term “ensemble” was used for various types of music groups, but it was used mainly in Madeira in 1940s and 1950s, to refer to small music groups with different number of instruments and musicians, having the rhythm drums as the focal point. The repertoire consisted of the music dance of the time

The ensemble are, thus, a new phase in the groups of professional musicians connected with tourism, following the sextets, quintets or quartets that thrived in Funchal in the turn of the 19th C . Anyway, the ensembles stood out because they introduced a new repertoire of Anglo-American music and the set of instruments that included the drums, the bass or double bass, the piano, and usually the amplified guitar and later, and electric guitar. Some groups also included wind instruments such as the trumpet, the clarinet and the saxophone The Influence of the Tony Amaral Ensemble The Tony Amaral Ensembles were the first of its kind in Portugal to achieve great success, playing the swing. Latin American dances and compositions inspired in the folk music in electric instrument (Oliveira, “Tony Amaral”, 40). Thus, it is only natural that on the 1st of January, a journalist from Diário de Notícias referred to the “Tony Amaral Quintet” as having been great promoter of Madeira on the mainland Portugal and considering it the first Portuguese Musical Ensemble. The success of Tony Amaral on the mainland as well as abroad definitely contributed to the emergence of a large number of music groups that followed their style in terms of instrumental arrangements and repertoire. Hence, throughout the 1950s, tens of music groups emerged with the designation of “ensembles” or “orchestras”, following closely Tony Amaral’s style, though they did not differ significantly. Among them the following music groups which, according to the local press seemed to be very active in the 50s: “Ensemble Blue Moon” (1951), Trio “Jess and his boys” (1952), “Savoy Private Ensemble” (1954), Music Goup “Tino Cubanos”, Music Group “The Rhythm Boys” (1954) – who performed in Luanda in 1957 (Diário de Notícias, 22-06-1957, 6) -Orchestra “The kings of the Rhythm” (1954), private Orchestra – “Jorge Brandão” (1954) Ensemble, Music Group “Flamingo” (1954), Music Group Irmãos Freitas (1955), Academic Ensemble (1955), Zeca da Silva Orchestra and his Group (1955), Casino Private Ensemble (1957), Music Group “Atlantic Jazz” (1957), “Virgílio Cardoso”, (1957) Ensemble, Alberto Amaral Group(1957), Ensemble “Os Amigos da Onça” (1958) – in that same year emerges the Private Orchestra “Os Amigos da Onça” (Diário de Notícias, 20-2-1958: 6),

“New Rhythm” music Group (1958) and the Tony Amaral Júnior Ensemble(1958). Among the hroups of that period the Music Group Helder Martins deserves special mention. By mid 50s, Helder Martins (1929-1978) was the piano player of the “Hot Quintet” and he was the pioneer of Jazz in Lisbon, together with two other Madeirans, the guitar player Carlos Menezes and the singer Max (Borges, “Helder Martins”:86). In the sixties, a second generation of music groups emerges: the Academic Musical Ensemble Sérgio Borges, the Dynamics, the Black Demons, the Incredible, the Dancers, among other projects that established nationwide reputation and which were influenced by other groups such as: the Shadows or the Beatles (Sardinha and Camacho, Noites da Madeira: 255). It is at this time that many of the music groups started to add the phrase “new rhythms” to their designation. For instance, in a show in honour to Ana Maria, the journalist refers to the “performance of groups of new rhythms the Volcanics and the Dynamics (Diário de Notícias, 19-3-1965: 7), which had become a common epithet: the New Rhythm group “the Dancers” (1965), the New Rhythm group Tonar (1965), the New Rhythm group “The Baitas” (1969), new rhythms or rock music groups “The Rivals from Camara de Lobos and the Hamong Band (1970). João Paulo Academic Music Group Among the group afore mentioned, João Paulo Academic Music Group would turn out to be the one with the greatest success, appearing high in the rank of local and national light music, taking the place formerly occupied by Tony Amaral Ensemble. This group started at the secondary school Liceu de Jaime Moniz, at the beginning of the 60s, and it was influenced by the new wave of music groups and singers of the 60s, Beatles style. In 1964, the group won a competition that took place in Madeira – a Rivus promotion at the former Cine-Parque – and was awarded with performances on the mainland Portugal, on the radio and on TV. On television, the group took part in the musical programme “T.V. Club” and achieved a great success, which launched their music on a national level. The success was of such a dimension that the Madeiran musicians decided to settle in Lisbon, in order to continue their career. They were very successful

in 1965 and 1966. In a short time, they had the opportunity to record their music and soon made regular appearances on radio, television and shows. Among the most successful shows, in their early career in Lisbon, were those held at Teatro Politeama and later on in the Teatro Monumental. At the Politeama, for a month and a half, the band always played for a full house, in a Beatles style environment, with fans screaming and fainting in the audience, in an innovative public reaction in Portugal and which would mark the beginning of a new era in music.  The band participated, yet twice, in the RTP Song Festival, achieving second place in 1966 and first place in 1970 (Esteireiro, 50 Histórias: 93-95). Among their extensive discography the following editions excelled, between 1964 and 1968 with the designation João Paulo Academic Group: Conjunto João Paulo (EP, Columbia, 1964), De Novo Com João Paulo e o Seu Conjunto Académico (EP, Columbia, 1965), + 1 Disco = 4 Sucessos (EP, Columbia, 1965), Diz-lhe (EP, Columbia, 1966), Eurovisão (EP, Columbia, 1966), Poema De Um Homem Só (EP, Columbia, 1967), L'Amour Est Bleu (EP, Columbia, 1967), Kilimandjaro (EP, Columbia, 1967), O Louco (EP, Columbia, 1967), A Shadow Rounds… (EP, Columbia, 1968) As from 1970, the records are published with the new designation of Sérgio Borges and Conjunto João Paulo: Sérgio Borges com o Conjunto João Paulo (EP, Columbia, 1970), Lavrador (EP, Columbia, 1971) Meu Corpo E Minha Seiva (Single, Columbia, 1970), MAR (Single, Columbia, 1972). The term “New Rhythms” The term “New Rhythms” gained such acceptance in Madeira that in 1970 a competition of new rhythms was organized by the Comissão de Festas do Fim do Ano (the committee that organized the New Year’s Eve events) and integrated with The festivities of the City of Funchal. According to a journalist of Jornal da Madeira we “cannot forget that during this euphoric musical time some artists from Madeira were born for the Portuguese and international music-hall”, including the name of Luís Jardim, who went from “Black Demons” to an English band Bossa Cálida João Paulo with Sérgio Borges, Valério Silva, Gabriel Cardoso himself (...), The Dynamics and other bands” (Jornal da Madeira, 14-10-1970: 1 e 7). At the end of this new rhythm band competition social media reported that "thousands of people watched the finals". The winners of the competition was a band called Mud

Revolution having beaten the Habitat by one point and the Comuna Singular by two points”, and the jury pointed out that the members of the band were in what is called avant-garde music" (Jornal da Madeira, 31-121970: 1 e 3). Bibliography BORGES, Jorge, “Helder Martins”, 50 Histórias de Músicos na Madeira, Funchal, Associação de Amigos of GCEA, 2008, pp. 85-86; ESTEIREIRO, Paulo, coord., 50 Histórias de Músicos na Madeira, Funchal, Associação de Amigos do GCEA, 2008; OLIVEIRA, Gonçalo Antunes de, “Tony Amaral”, Enciclopédia da Música em Portugal no Século XX (A-C), Salwa CasteloBranco, dir., Lisboa, Círculo de Leitores, 2010, pp. 39-40.; SARDINHA, Vítor e CAMACHO, Rui, Noites da Madeira, Funchal, Diário de Notícias da Madeira, 2006. Periodical Press "Conjunto madeirense - Rapazes do Ritmo - em LUANDA", Diário de Notícias, 22-06-1957, p. 6; "Festas de Fim do Ano: Concurso para conjuntos de ritmos modernos modernos", Jornal da Madeira, 31-12-1970, p. 1 e p. 3; "No Fim do ano: Um certame de bandas de música e outro de conjuntos modernos", Jornal da Madeira, 14-10-1970, p. 1 e p. 7; "O espectáculo e homenagem à cançonetista Ana Maria", Diário de Notícias, 19-3-1965, p. 7; "O quinteto Tony Amaral", Diário de Notícias, 1-1-1951, p. 6.