Braguinha

Who was Braguinha?

Carlos Alberto Ferreira Braga, commonly known as Braguinha or João de Barro, was a Brazilian songwriter and occasional singer. He was born in Rio de Janeiro, where he lived all his life. Braga studied architecture in his youth, and, when he started to write songs, he adopted the pseudonym "João de Barro", as his father wouldn't approve of seeing the family name associated with the world of samba and popular music, then on the fringes of society.

Braguinha is most famous for his Carnaval marchinhas. Many of those, some composed as early as the 1930s, have become standards of Brazilian popular music, being sung by revellers year after year during Carnaval celebrations. His marchinhas have been recorded by some of the best-known Carnaval singers of the 20th century, such as Carmen Miranda.

In 1937, Braguinha wrote the lyrics to "Carinhoso", composed by Pixinguinha twenty years earlier. The sophisticated samba-choro would become one of the most recorded songs in Brazilian musical history. Another beloved classic, the lyrical "Pastorinhas", was written in collaboration with legendary samba composer Noel Rosa.