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The death of Paulo César Santos this Monday, at the age of 68, moved the fans of the Roupas Nova. Paulinho, as he was best known, was the band’s vocalist and percussionist for more than 40 years, from when it was still called Os Famks.
His early disappearance still accentuates a historical injustice. Although it was a resounding success, Roupas Nova never had its importance fully recognized by critics.
Perhaps it was a matter of time. The beginning of the 1980s was a boiling point for our music. The winds of redemocratization were blowing and censorship was subsiding. Rita Lee sang the joys of sex from a female point of view. The protest songs played again on the radio. In 1984, bands like Paralamas do Sucesso, Kid Abelha and Barão Vermelho incorporated rock once and for all to the national repertoire. And in the midst of all that, the harmless New Clothes flourished.
The origins of the group date back to 1967, the year Os Famks appeared. Many records, dances and exchanges of members later, Os Famks arrived in 1975 in a formation that would continue for more than four decades: Cleberson Horsth, on keyboards, Kiko, on guitar, Nando, on bass, Ricardo Feghali, on piano and on keyboards. , and Serginho Herval, on drums, as well as Paulinho himself, with whom they all shared the voice.
Tired of recording versions of others’ hits – they released 14 albums under a heteronym, Os Motokas – the musicians decided to start a more authoritative work in 1980. They changed the band’s name to Roupas Nova, the name of a song by Milton Nascimento and Fernando. Brant. And they began to score one hit after another: “Canção de Verão”, “Sapato Velho”, “Bem Simples”.
Roupas Nova made a strong contrast to Brazilian rock at the time. His lyrics were not at all controversial. Their melodies stuck to the listener’s head, but they didn’t bring much news. It was solid and quality pop, without experimentation and openly commercial.
A type of sound that is often compared to that of the American band Toto. With whom, incidentally, Roupas Nova still had a marked point in common, the absence of a charismatic “frontman”. Although he possessed enormous talent and an impeccable voice, Paulinho was not Cazuza or Renato Russo, who impressed with a very strong personal brand and fascinated the crowd.
Known more for their professional competence than for fighting egos, the band members soon became very popular as studio musicians, accompanying stars like Gal Costa. Offstage, they went unnoticed by the public.
They also became the champions of telenovela tracks. They accepted commissions and delivered songs that entered television history, such as “Anjo”, “Guerra dos Sexos”, 1983, “Dona”, “Roque Santeiro”, 1985, or “Whiskey A-Go-Go”. , from “Um Sonho a Mais”, also from 1985.
One episode shows how the culture industry viewed the Outfit as something of a stick for everyone, but not exactly as superstars. The group has the original version of the theme of the Rock in Rio festival, of the verse “if life began now”. However, even with millions of records sold, they were not invited to perform in the first edition of the event, in 1985. A lack of respect that is only remedied in the second edition, in 1991.
Even more disrespectful was the term “sound hang gliding”, coined by snobs to designate the sunny, hissing pop of which the Outfit was the ultimate exponent. They said they were disposable songs, fleeting like summer rain. However, you only have to listen to a playlist by the band to see how many of those songs are imprinted in the memory of those who lived in the 1980s and 1990s.
Underwear never stopped recording and doing shows, but the glory days are behind us. The tragic loss of Paulinho, who underwent a bone marrow transplant shortly before contracting the new coronavirus, reminds that it is time to put the band in the prominent place it deserves in the pantheon of Brazilian music.
