The mystery singer

Another note on the mini-Mangueira show. It was actually a rather exhausting evening - it was a rough, pushy crowd (rare in Rio, but it had a bunch of young baile-funk types) and I wasn't feeling that well anyway. But I fought my way to the front row anyway, transfixed by a brilliant repinique player who was hiding out in the back (oh! he did SUCH COOL CALLS! and by the way, YES, the big triplets always END on the downbeat, I keep telling everyone, and so does Derek, but somehow it never sinks in, but they did it again last night and THE BIG TRIPLETS ALWAYS END ON THE DOWNBEAT).

And there was one other reason I stayed. See, there were three singers, trading off singing top Carnaval sambas from Beija-Flor, Mangueira, Imperio Serrano, many other escolas.

Two of the singers were really good. Great, even. Then the third singer, a short skinny black kid with bleached-blond cornrows, took the microphone and... oh MY. He was incredible. He had the most extraordinary velvety perfect effortless voice, a smooth strong bass (especially surprising coming from the smallest of the 3 guys!)

I kept thinking, why isn't he a world-renowned professional opera singer? He was that kind of world-class, that kind of magnificent. (and is there any other city in the world where every kid in the city is vetted for opera-level singing ability? The kind of singers they keep turning up here every year, for Carnaval... There are a hundred groups here who each need 3 Pavarottis each year, and somehow they keep finding them. It's like the old Soviet ballet, or the Chinese gymnastics team - screening practically the entire population for hidden talent).



I never heard what his name was. Who was that mystery singer? Anyone know his name? Whoever he was, watch for him, and take any chance you get to hear him sing.