Osvaldo Lenine Macedo Pimentel, better known as Lenine, was born February 2, 1959 in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil.
Lenine is a singer, composer, arranger, musician and producer. In the early 1980s, a quite astonished audience saw Lenine and his band invade the stage and beating bass drums of rustic manufacture, singing traditional maracatú refrains from the state of Pernambuco, using a language with innumerable pop elements, balanced with the regional aspects of his music.
About fifteen years would be necessary for the maracatú – a Brazilian dance of African origin – to be accepted in the whole country and for Recife to be seen as a new cradle of musical creation in Brazil.
This reputation was built by the work of artists such as Chico Science & Nacao Zumbi, Antonio Nóbrega, Mestre Ambrosio and Maracatu Nacao Pernambuco. As all the cited artists above, Lenine always knew that maracatú was pop and that the only way to make Brazilian pop was to create radical MPB (Brazilian Popular Music), going deeply into the roots.
This man from Recife, has been living in Rio de Janeiro for over 20 years and has already been able to break through into the world of the local samba, composing many successful songs to Suvaco do Cristo, one of the biggest attractions of the street carnival in Rio.
Considered a very good composer, over 20 years in the business, he wrote more than 500 songs, including some recorded by famous artists from different generations and different styles, such as Gilberto Gil, Dionne Warwick, Sergio Mendes, Elba Ramalho, Fernanda Abreu, Ney Matogrosso, Zizi Possi, Margareth Menezes, Daude, 0 Rappa, Miyazawa, as well as many others.
Playing with Marcos Suzano, he released Qiho de Peixe, an album still worshipped by all fans of MPB. In 1996 and 1997, this album allowed him to travel abroad, on tour throughout Europe, the United States and Japan, stunning waudiences worldwide. In 1997 Lenine recorded his first solo album, 0 Dia Em Que Faremos Contato (The Day In Which We’U Make Contact), mixed at Peter Gabriel’s Realworld Studio and released by BMG records in Brazil. It was considered a revolutionary MPB landmark, matching acoustics and electronic high tech, regional roots and the language of international pop. With this album, Lenine gained two SHARP awards – the most important award of Brazilian Popular Music, in the category of MPB, as Best New Artist and Best Song.
In May of 1999 Lenine took part in the Project Carte Blanche, at the Cité de la Musique, in Paris, as Caetano Veloso’s guest, making a special concert that swept the French audience off its feet. That same year, Lenine released Na Pressao, his awaited second solo album. Na Pressao is the result of a musical sorcery that teams samba, rap, coco, maracatu, funk, embolada, balada, repente, baiao, rock, xaxado, techno, xote, jungle and a lot of coherence and creativity. The phrases and verses displayed in the 11 subjected themes work as an X-ray, a faithful picture of the daily routine: misery, fear, madness, longing and loneliness are some of the many of Lenine’s approaches, a sound chronicler of the end of this decade / century / millennium.
In the summer of 2001 the Pernambucan singer travelled to New York to record Falange Canibal, with two special guests: jazz trombonist Steve Turre and rock band Living Colour.
Discography:
Baque Solto, with Lula Queiroga (Philips, 1983)
Olho de Peixe, with Marcos Suzano (Velas, 1993)
O Dia em que Faremos Contato (Ariola, 1997)
Na Pressão ( BMG Brasil, 1999)
Falange Canibal (BMG Brasil 2001)
In Cité (BMG Brasil, 2004)
Lenine Acústico MTV (Sony BMG, 2006)
Breu (2007)
Labiata (Universal Music/Wrasse Records, 2008)
Chão ( Universal Music, 2011)
Triz (2013)
Carbono ( Universal Music, 2015)
The Bridge, 2016)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
