Galo da Madrugada, a traditional block in Recife, recognized since 1994 by the Book of Records (Guinness Book) as the largest in the world, parades this Saturday (10) with a tribute to the singer and composer Reginaldo Rossi, considered the King of Brega, who died in 2013. The association promises a carnival of frevo and brega from Pernambuco, in a unique show.
A native of Recife, Rossi began his artistic career after studying engineering and teaching physics and mathematics. At the time, it was crooner (singer) in nightclubs in the capital and led the band rock The Silver Jets. He was part of the Jovem Guarda movement, which was inspired by international icons of the rock’n roll like Elvis Presley and The Beatles.
Almost five years after the first album, in the 70s, Reginaldo began romantic work that resulted in the album Looking for You. Since then, his songs, with lyrics with a strong sentimental appeal, have become popular and have been labeled “cheesy” by the elites.
At the same time, songs like My Love, Meu Bem, My Wife e Piece of Bad Path gained space among Brazilians and, at the beginning of the 80s, Rossi won his first gold record, selling 100 thousand copies of the album Sometimes.
From then on, his work reverberated inside and outside the country, Reginaldo played with the big names of MPB (Brazilian popular music) and pop national, revisiting his great successes, he was awarded, received tributes and elevated romantic music to higher levels.
Plurality
According to the directors of Galo da Madrugada, the theme Reginaldo Rossi in Reinado do Frevo seeks to bring together brega and frevo, like two important icons of Pernambuco popular culture, in a plural way, as Reginaldo Rossi sang about the beauties of Recife. “We have an immense plurality of artistic expressions, but, without a doubt, these two are among those that most take our identity to other parts of Brazil and the world”, declared the president of Galo, Rômulo Meneses.
Founded in 1978, Galo da Madrugada is one of the most traditional blocks in the capital of Pernambuco and, in 45 years, it has paid homage to great names in Pernambuco culture, such as the writer Ariano Suassuna and the singer and composer Alceu Valença. This year, the 30 electric trios that parade, over the course of nine hours, through the block are expected to bring together more than 2.5 million people in the center of Recife, the number of revelers reached in the 2023 carnival.
At the center of the celebrations, brega, almost ten years after the death of Reginaldo Rossi, in 2013, was considered by Recife city hall to be Intangible Cultural Heritage. Currently, the musical genre has gained the dimension of a movement and is produced and consumed throughout the metropolitan region of the capital of Pernambuco and in several other states, such as Pará, generating new genres such as tecnobrega.
Currently, countless artists are emerging on the Recife cultural scene through romantic songs in the style of the “king”, such as Conde Só Brega, who is one of the names acclaimed by the movement, as a successor to the strong legacy left by Reginaldo Rossi.