“Canoeiro” (1959) – Dorival Caymmi * Written by Dorival Caymmi * LP: E Seu Violão * Label: Odeon
After the Brazilian singer-songwriter, actor and painter Dorival Caymmi died at 94 in 2008, the New York Times‘ Douglas Martin wrote of him as the man who “helped lay the foundations of bossa nova, [who] wrote Carmen Miranda’s first hit and gave legendary voice to the romance of the beaches, fishing villages and bathing beauties of his native Bahia.” He also refers to a quote from his colleage Ben Ratfliff, who called him second only to Antonio Carlos Jobim in “establishing a songbook” of “Brazilian identity.” Caymmi’s songs charm you with their humble simplicity. His “Canoeiro” (canoeist), for example, is a three-minute voice-and-guitar piece expressing an ocean of gratitude for a solitary fisherman’s craft.