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2002–2009
Daniella Thompson
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Daniella Thompson on Brazil
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Cláudio Camunguelo
An irrepressible sambista and chorão is gone.
On 20 June 2001, while visiting Rio de Janeiro, I went to the newly established (and short-lived) Clube do Choro with friends from the Agenda do Samba & Choro. The club was located in an old sobrado in Rua Frei Caneca, and the occasion was a tribute to the great trombonist Raul de Barros.
The musician lineup that night was impressive (Raul de Barros himself performed), but the man who caught my attention was someone I had never seen or heard before: the most perfect personification of a malandro I had ever encountered. He was playing the flute in a singularly captivating way, and I asked Paulo Eduardo Neves for his name. “Camunguelo,” Paulo answered.
As it turned out, Camunguelo (real name: Claudio Lopes dos Santos) was more than a flutist. He also sang, danced, and composed choros and sambas. Having been an inside secret for years, Camunguelo exploded upon the scene in his mid-fifties.
Now comes the news that Camunguelo died of diabetes complications on New Year’s Eve. He was 61 and had just recorded a CD of sambas and choros, financed by his long-time friend and co-author, Zeca Pagodinho.
