Los Índios Tabajaras
The Índios Tabajáras are a Brazilian guitarist duo who had a worldwide hit with the guitar instrumental María Elena in the 1960s .
Band biography
The two brothers Muçaperê and Erundi, two sons of a large family of chiefs, belonged to the Tabajara, a tribe of indigenous Indians who live in the extreme northeast of Brazil near Cariré in the state of Ceará . When they were young, they learned about a guitar and taught themselves to play their traditional music on it. They decided to travel the 2000 km across the country to the metropolis of Rio de Janeiro to try their luck there with their music. In fact, they were discovered there by a theater agent who managed them and gave them concert appearances and, from 1943, a record deal. They changed their names to common Brazilian names, but became known as the Índios Tabajaras .
They toured South America for six years. Then they went to Mexico, where they not only performed for a long time, but also looked for guitar teachers to perfect their guitar playing and to expand their repertoire in the direction of classical music. Performances in North and South America and a major European tour followed in the 1950s.
At the end of the 50s, the two brothers recorded several albums in Mexico, some of which were also released in the USA via the small label Vox. Her single María Elena was not yet a great success in 1958, but it sold steadily. The title was composed in 1933 by the Mexican Lorenzo Barcelata as a homage to the then wife of the President Pontes Gil and in 1941 it was already a million seller and number 1 hit in the USA in a sung big band version by Jimmy Dorsey . In 1962 their label RCA , with whose Mexican branch they were under contract, decided to bring out their instrumental guitar version in the USA. Surprisingly, the single was a huge success and reached the top 10 on the US charts. The following publication in Europe and other countries again brought a number of top 10 placements, including in Great Britain and Australia.
While Los Índios Tabajaras remained a one-hit wonder in the charts in most countries , they were also able to place the album of the same name María Elena in the top 10 of the album charts in the USA and with Always in My Heart they had a smaller hit afterwards .
They moved from Brazil to the United States in the late 1960s, and continued to release albums into the 1980s. Antenor Lima later retired from music. He has since passed away. Nato Lima continued to release music into the 2000s with his Japanese wife Michiko, who is also a guitarist.
Band members
- Muçaperê / Musaperi, later Antenor Moreyra Lima
- Erundi / Herundy, later Natalício Moreyra Lima
Discography
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Albums
- Maria Elena (1963)
- Always in My Heart (1964)
- Mellow Guitar Moods
- The Many Splendored Guitars of Los Índios Tabajaras (1965)
- Beautiful Sounds (1981)
- Born to Please (1991)
- The Joy of playing (1992)
- Stars on the Ground (1993)
- Notable Notes (1995)
Singles
- Maria Elena (1963)
- Always in My Heart (1964)
literature
- Julia Edenhofer: The great oldie lexicon . Bastei Lübbe, 1991, p. 307.
Web links
- Entry on Allmusic (English)
- Biography and Discography at Space Age Pop
- Biography and album review (English)