Alceu Valença (; born July 1, 1946) is a Brazilian singer, musician, and songwriter.
Alceu Valenca was born in the countryside of Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil. He is considered the most successful artist in achieving an aesthetic balance between traditional northeastern Brazilian music and a broad range of electronic sounds and effects from pop music. In most of his songs, one can find traces of maracatu, coco and "repentes de viola" (improvising fast-paced Brazilian folk music). Valença could utilize the electric guitar, the electric bass, and lately even a synthesizer was added to his broad scope of musical instruments.
Because of that, Valença was able to recreate Northeastern traditional music, like baião, coco, toada, maracatu, frevo, caboclinhos, embolada and repentes: all sung with a sometimes rock sometimes alternative sounding music background. His music and his themes are intangible, universal and unlimited. However, his aesthetic basis is genuinely Brazilian Northeastern music.
Biography
Alceu Valença was born in São Bento do Una in Northeast Brazil. When he was young, he used to listen to songs by Dalva de Oliveira, Orlando Silva, Sílvio Caldas etc. When he was 5 years old, he participated in a music contest, singing a song by Capiba. Some years later, his mother got sick and his family moved to Recife to live in his aunt's house. In this period, Valença got interested in some musical instruments, such as acoustic guitar and viola. However, he only won his own guitar when he was 15.
In 1970, Valença earned a law degree at the Recife Law School. However, he only followed the career for a few months. In fact, in the early 1970s, the reason he had no time for a law career was that he had already launched into a musical direction.
He started his musical career in 1968, with the group Underground Tamarineira Village, later known as Ave Sangria. He also played with Zé Ramalho and Elba Ramalho during this period. In 1972, he joined Geraldo Azevedo. Together, they participated of many festivals and, in that same years, recorded their first album: Alceu Valença & Geraldo Azevedo, also known as Quadrafônico.
Along his career, Valença recorded more than 20 albums and travelled around many countries, such as Portugal, France, Netherlands and United States. Actually, he is considered one of the greatest exponents of the music of Pernambuco.
Finally, with the 2013 release of Três Tons de Alceu Valença, a box with the oldies Cinco Sentidos (1981), Anjo Avesso (1983) and Mágico (1984) all of Alceu Valença's solo work is available on CD. In 2014, his album Amigo da Arte was nominated for the Latin Grammy Award for Best Brazilian Roots Album.
Discography
Albums 1972: Alceu Valença & Geraldo Azevedo, Copacabana (aka Quadrafônico) 1974: A Noite do Espantalho, Continental (soundtrack, movie by Sérgio Ricardo, with Alceu Valença and Geraldo Azevedo) 1974: Molhado de suor, Som Livre 1976: Vivo!, Som Livre 1977: Espelho cristalino, Som Livre 1979: Saudade de Pernambuco, released in 1998 as a supplement of the newspaper Jornal da Tarde 1980: Coração bobo, Ariola 1981: Cinco sentidos, Ariola 1982: Cavalo de pau, Ariola 1983: Anjo avesso, Ariola 1984: Mágico, Barclay 1985: Estação da luz, RCA Victor 1985: Ao vivo, Barclay/Polygram 1986: Rubi, RCA Victor 1987: Leque moleque, BMG Ariola 1988: Oropa, França e Bahia, BMG Ariola
1990: Andar, andar, EMI Odeon 1992: 7 desejos, EMI Odeon 1994: Maracatus, batuques e ladeiras, BMG Ariola 1996: O grande encontro, BMG Brasil, with Elba Ramalho, Geraldo Azevedo and Zé Ramalho 1997: Sol e chuva, Som Livre 1998: Forró de todos os tempos, Oásis/Sony Music 1999: Todos os cantos, Abril Music 2001: Forró lunar, Columbia 2002: De janeiro a janeiro 2003: Ao vivo em todos os sentidos, Indie Records/Universal Music 2005: Na embolada do tempo, Indie Records/Universal Music 2006: Marco Zero ao vivo, Indie Records 2009: Ciranda mourisca, Biscoito Fino 2014: Amigo da Arte, Deck 2014: Valencianas, Deck, with Orquestra Ouro Preto
DVD
2003: Ao vivo em todos os sentidos 2006: Marco Zero ao vivo 2014: Valencianas, with Orquestra Ouro Preto
References
External links Official Alceu Valença website The Music of Alceu Valença independent site with all the lyrics and sound clips Alceu Valença at NordesteWeb
MTV's Alceu Valença page Alceu Valença at Música de Pernambuco