Ganza Entertainment

ARMANDINHO
(Armandinho Macêdo)

BIO
ARMANDINHO’s outstanding career has special place in the history of the Brazilian Popular Music because he bridged the gap between classical and the popular music. His music fuses the stylings of Pixinguinha, Jacob do Bandolim and Waldir Azevedo with the more recent artistry of Tom Jobim, Caetano Veloso, and Gilberto Gil, in addition to the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. Ranked among the most important Brazilian instrumentalists in the Brazilian history he has earned a place of honor alongside Pixinguinha, Hermeto Pascoal, Raphael Rabello, and Paulo Moura.

Born in Salvador, Bahia, the birthplace of famous Brazilian composers and artists, he plays his instruments with extreme virtuosity in a diverse range of musical genres. Beginning his career at the age of ten, after a 39-year career and 31 CDs released, he has become an international icon for the Brazilian culture and music. Armandinho performed in concert halls and festivals in Europe, the Middle East, North and South America performing alongside Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Daniela Mercury, Moraes Moreira, Raphael Rabello, Chico César, Gal Costa to name a few. In a 1999 poll of Brazilian Guitar Player magazine, 200 musicians selected him as one of the ten best guitar players of Brazil.

A charismatic performer, on stage Armandinho shows passion and creativity. As the greatest Brazilian instrumentalist to emerge in the last 20 years he has been proclaimed by the Brazilian media as The King of Choro, The King of Mandolin, The King of Bahian Carnaval, and Modern Jacob do Bandolim

Armandinho’s talent and career was influenced by his late father, Osmar Macedo, a guitarist and engineer who (with his partner Dodô) invented the Trio Elétrico and the Guitarra Baiana used in Bahia’s Carnival. Guitarra Baiana, a 5-string electric mandolin is the instrument that gives that special sound to the Bahia Carnaval music played on the Trio Elétrico. Trio Elétrico, created 53 years ago, is a giant sound truck topped with a stage used by over 200 bands during carnival in Bahia. Both inventions gave a new dimension to the Brazilian Carnaval celebrations.

Armandinho is one of the greatest Brazilian instrumentalists and is today an international icon for the Brazilian culture and music.

He discharges creative energy with his hands, in a variety of Brazilian rhythms and melodies that captivate the world with their grace, harmony and humor. With confidence forged by continuos years of experience and the pleasure in fingering the mandolin, he knows how to transmit and modernize each one of the classics that he chooses for his immense repertoire.

He performs outside Brazil in spectacular recitals, where all his talent is displayed by the most diverse rhythms and melodies of the planet. Recently in Israel, during a series of local performances, one composition caught the attention of everyone and was then played on all the radio stations there. He has performed with his groups in world music and jazz festivals in Switzerland, Portugal, France, Italy, United States and other countries. [He has toured Israel with Tucan Trio as part of Israel Festival and World Encounter Series.]

The Electric Mandolin Resource Page

Armandinho and his Guitarra Bahiana and Mandolin

Brazilian recording artist Armandin is a leading figure in a style of electric music known as frevo—an uptempo march originating in the city of Recife. He also plays another style called chorinho. Armandinho is also known as one of the foremost players of the guitarra baiana (Bahian guitar)—developed by his father, Osmar—which is, essentially, a 5-string solid body electric mandolin. Armandinho also continued with another of his father's innovations: the trio elétrico—a group (not necessarily a trio) that plays outdoors on a sound stage built on top of a truck, as pictured. Apparently the term trio elétrico may refer either to the group, the truck itself, or the loud, lightning-speed style of frevo that such groups play.

Armandinho is a virtuoso in electric and acoustic, cavaquinho and guitar. He has a place of honor alongside Pixinguinha, Hermeto Pascoal, Raphael Rabello, Aleh Ferreira, Guinga, Ulysses Rocha, Alessandro Penezzi and Yamandu Costa. His virtuosity in a diverse spectrum of musical genres has been influenced by his father, Osmar Macedo, a pioneer of the Trio Elétrico of which Armandinho became part in the 1970s. [Trio Elétrico is a giant stage-topped sound trucks]. A multiinstrumentalist, he has received equal recognition for his mastering of' 'guitarra baiana', a 5-string electric mandolin invented by his father), of the Northeastern style called 'frevo', and of the glamorous Rio style of 'choro'. He is one of the most brilliant instrumentalists of Brazil.

The Trio Elétrico
Armandinho, Dodô and Osmar, and his brothers Aroldo, Betinho and André
http://www.allbrazilianmusic.com/en/Artists/Artists.asp?Status=ARTISTA&Nu_Artista=41

Born in Bahia, Brazil and son of Osmar Macedo - the inventor of the trio elétrico, along with Dodô -, Armandinho Macedo was connected to the soundtrack of carnival from an early age. He stood out as a guitarist and playing the electric mandolin, also known as "guitarra baiana". In the 70s, he lined-up the group A Cor do Som, first as a back-up band for Moraes Moreira, but then they recorded five albums as a group. He toured Europe and the U.S, with the group Trio Elétrico, while releasing solo albums. Armandinho is one of the most important artists and promoters of the trio elétrico. Below, photos of Dodô and Osmar Macedo; Aroldo, Armandinho, Betinho e André Macêdo (Armandinhos’s brothers) and the Trio Elétrico in Salvador’s Carnival.

CD - A voz do Bandolim (Released 2001)
http://www.tribuna.inf.br/anteriores/2002/janeiro/15/bis.asp?bis=ponto
Instrumental music of top quality

The Bahian guitarist, son of Osmar Macedo, (one of the creators of the Trio Elétrico) who is a mandolin virtuoso, didn't spare on talent on recruiting Ari Dias on percussion and Dadi on bass, to accompany him on his most recent CD, "The Voice of the Mandolin". In this CD Armandinho pays homage to Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil and plays classics from MPB. The truth is that the CD reunites 12 tracks in which the instrumentalist interprets pearls of various phases of the Bahian composers. On the CD Armandinho dominates with facility the mandolin, without immerse too much into the virtuoso style, that sometimes becomes monotonous. The easy listening and the impeccable and direct interpretation of the CD gives the listener the intimacy to which he is accustomed to. This is an elegant repertoire in a project that Armandinho has been working on for over five years and that was worth waiting for.

In the CD, Armandinho, the former guitarist of the group The Color of Sound (A Cor do Som) has the 12 songs. They are "Expresso 2222", "Trilhos urbanos", "Se eu quiser falar com Deus" e "Você é linda". Also part of the repertoire "Luz do Sol", "Drão", "Qualquer coisa" e "London London". The songs "Procissão/ Domingo no parque", "Cajuína/Lamento sertanejo", and "Frevo rasgado/ Alegria alegria", are together in sets of two. Closing with a pot pourri of frevos, the CD is produced and directed by Carlos Andrade, is a good expression of the Brazilian instrumental music.

CD - Trio Elétrico, Armandinho Dodó e Osmar
(Released 2000)

Golden Celebration – Jubileu de Ouro
http://www.allbrazilianmusic.com/en/Artists/Artists.asp?Status=ARTISTA&Nu_Artista=645

Dodô and Osmar, inventors of the trio elétrico, met during a radio show in 1938. Both of them were studying music and electronics, and researching on how to amplify the sound of string instruments. They figured how to do it ten years later, and during the carnival of 1950, they went out on top of a ’49 ford, playing on adapted instruments the songs from the Academia de Frevo de Recife (Recife Frevo Academy), who were in Salvador, at the time. In one year, they perfected the instruments and included a new member, Temístocles Aragão, thus forming the trio elétrico in 1951. In the following year, a soda company noticed the raging success of the trio and offered them an adorned truck, launching the format that resists to this day.

Armandinho’s Selected Discography

From Bruce Gilman's Interview with Armandinho and Moraes Moreira
www.brazzil.com/musfe01.htm

ARTIST(S)	TITLE	LABEL	DATE
1. Armandinho 2. Trio elétrico Armandinho Dodô & Osmar	*A Voz do Bandolim* *O Jubileu de Ouro*	Visom Geleia Real	2001 2000
3. Armandinho	*Retocando Choro*	Tom Brasil	1999
4. Armandinho and Raphael Rebello	*Em Concerto*	Spotlight	1997
5. Armandinho and Época de Ouro	*O Melhor Chorinho Ao Vivo*	CID	1996
6. Armandinho and Raphael Rebello	*Musical—Série Música Viva*	Tom Brasil	1996
7. A Cor do Som	*Ao Vivo no Circo Voador*	Movieplay	1996 (Recorded 1994)
8. Trio elétrico Armandinho Dodô & Osmar	*A Dança da Multidão*	Independent	1994
9. Trio elétrico Armandinho Dodô & Osmar	*Estado de Graça*	RGE	1991
10. Armandinho	*Brasileirô*	Independent	1990 (Released on Movieplay in 1996)
11. Trio elétrico Armandinho Dodô & Osmar	*Trio Espacial*	CBS	1988
12. Trio elétrico Armandinho Dodô & Osmar	*Aí Eu Liguei o Rádio*	RCA	1987
13. Trio elétrico Armandinho Dodô & Osmar	*Chame Gente*	RCA	1985
14. Trio elétrico Armandinho Dodô & Osmar	*A Banda de Carmen Miranda*	Som Livre	1984
15. Trio elétrico Armandinho Dodô & Osmar	*Folia Elétrica*	Som Livre	1982
16. Trio elétrico Armandinho Dodô & Osmar	*Incendiou o Brasil*	EMI—Odeon	1981
17. Trio elétrico Armandinho (Compilation) Dodô & Osmar	*Ligação Colorida*	Continental	1981
18. Trio elétrico Armandinho Dodô & Osmar	Trio Elétrico Instrumental (Instrumental Compilation)	Continental	1981
19. A Cor do Som	*Mudança de Estação*	Wea	1981
20. Trio elétrico Armandinho Dodô & Osmar	Armandinho & Dodô & Osmar (Instrumental Compilation)	Continental	1980
21. Trio elétrico Armandinho Dodô & Osmar	*Vassourinha Elétrica*	Elektra/Wea	1980
22. A Cor do Som	*Transe Total*	Wea	1980
23. Trio elétrico Armandinho Dodô & Osmar	*Viva Dodô e Osmar*	Continental	1979
24. A Cor do Som	*Frutificar*	Wea	1979
25. Trio elétrico Armandinho Dodô & Osmar	*Ligação*	Continental	1978
26. A Cor do Som	*Ao Vivo em Montreux*	Wea	1978
27. Trio elétrico Armandinho Dodô & Osmar	*Bahia Bahia Bahia*	Continental	1977
28. Trio elétrico Armandinho Dodô & Osmar	*Pombo Correio*	Continental	1977
29. A Cor do Som	*A Cor do Som*	Wea	1977
30. Trio elétrico Armandinho Dodô & Osmar	*É a Massa*	Continental	1976
31. Trio elétrico Dodô & Osmar	*Jubileu de Prata*	Continental	1975