Biography

Violão (guitar) player and folklore researcher Noel Guarany strove to preserve the musical roots of his region on his albums. Being from São Luiz Gonzaga, one of the seven cities of the Seven Peoples of the Missions, his work is devoted to the influences of the Missions and of the Indians of the region. His first composition was "Fandango na Fronteira" (1957). At 18, in 1959 Guarany started the first of his long trips through several countries of Latin America, where he collected material for musical research. After one year, he returned to Brazil, engaging in a new journey in 1961 that lasted until 1964. From the next year on, he devoted himself to rural music of the Rio Grande do Sul, having developed a collaboration with two of the most authoritative experts in this area of music: Osvaldo Souza and Aníbal Sampaio. His poetry and music work "Filosofia de Gaudério" were published in 1971, the year in which he recorded his first LP, but after a couple of other albums released through major labels, he turned to self-producing, self-promoting, and self-distributing his records, consequently restricting his audiences which are concentrated within the borders of his home state, where folklore and tradition have a peculiarly strong meaning. Guarany also participated in the second volume of the Música Popular do Sul series, from the Marcus Pereira label, with his "Filosofia de Gaudério" and "Potro Sem Dono" (Paulo Portela Fagundes), the only song of his repertory that made it nationwide. In the '80s, with declining health, he abandoned his artistic activities. ~ Alvaro Neder, Rovi