Composer, singer, instrumentalist, arranger, producer.
Why is Edu Lobo considered and respected as one of the greatest composers of Brazilian popular music?
Because his work is vast and one of the richest and Edu is perhaps the composer who has sailed in the most diverse seas of Brazilian music, always with a very unique and sophisticated class and signature.
He has won music festivals with popular songs, such as Arrastão and Ponteio. He has won the award for best arranger, has released many albums throughout the over 55 years of his career, has written tracks for ballet, theater, cinema, children’s programs and television series. Simply put, he made his music available to many other forms of art.
He wrote his songbook all by hand, he was the only composer of Brazilian music to do it.
Many of his songs have been successful and have been recorded by many singers and musicians from around the world, from Sarah Vaughan, Paul Desmond, Elis Regina, Maria Bethania, Gal Costa, Hermeto Pascoal, up to a new generation with Maria Rita , Ana Carolina, Roberta Sá and Seu Jorge.
He had many partner lyricists: with the first one, Vinicius de Moraes, he has a curious history; when they met at a party, Vinicius asked Edu if he had a new “sambinha”. Fortunately he had showed it to him then and there and the poet wrote the lyrics right then.
“So me faz bem” was born, their first partnership.
Edu put the lyrics inside his shoe and returned home in a radiant mood. The next day when he woke up, he realized that he was Vinicius de Moraes’s partner.
That was definitive enough for him to drop out of law school at PUC and dive right in as a musician.
He also made several partnerships with Paulo César Pinheiro, Chico Buarque, Aldir Blanc, Gianfrancesco Guarnieri and Abel Silva.
He shared an entire album with his greatest idol and friend, Antonio Carlos Jobim, the classic album Edu e Tom.
There was something curious about this about as well: the initial project was an album of Edu and guests, with Tom being the first to be recorded.
When he finished the recording, he turned to producer Aloisio de Oliveira and said: That is all there is? I want more!
Edu and Aloisio looked at each other and the whole story changed …. a record had just been born, half Edu songs and half Tom songs.
With Chico Buarque, Edu made a great and inspired partnership almost always linked to projects of theater, ballet, and cinema.
They made one of MPB’s most popular albums
“O Grande Circo Mistico”
From there, they left beautiful and unforgettable songs like: “Beatriz, A História de Lily Braun, Na Carreira”, among others.
Together they made more than 50 songs and won a Latin Grammy with the album of the musical Cambaio. Edu at age 75 continues to release albums and new projects with more yet to come.
He recently recorded and released an album with his friends Marcos Valle and Dori Caymmi and also the project “Dos Navegantes” with Romero Lubambo and Mauro Senise, which won him a Latin Grammy for best MPB album of 2018