Cadáver Pega Fogo Durante o Velório
Fernando Pellon
1984
Rankings
Why This Album Matters
Cadáver Pega Fogo Durante o Velório, released in 1984, is an album that stands out in Brazilian Popular Music for its unusual and transgressive lyrical approach. With this work, Fernando Pellon refused to tread the conventional path of the phonographic market, delivering a repertoire that flirts with death, the pains of the oppressed, and blatant morbidity, characteristics that make it unique in its style. The work is considered an anthological album and a musical reference, known for its impactful title and for its lyrics that name social 'diseases', reminiscent of the writing of Augusto dos Anjos. The album navigates between samba and MPB, but with its own language that shocked the 'generalised hypocrisy' sold as good taste at the time, as pointed out by critic Tárik de Souza.
Context
Fernando Pellon began his artistic career in 1974, at the age of 18. Cadáver Pega Fogo Durante o Velório was produced during the most creative phase of the artists' collective Malta da Areia, a group of poets and musicians from Niterói, in the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region, of which Pellon was a part. The album's release occurred during the final period of the military dictatorship in Brazil (1964-1985), which brought significant challenges. The song "Com Todas as Letras" was vetoed by Federal Censorship, and the album was only released after about eight months of a long process, with the intervention of musicologist and researcher Ricardo Cravo Albin in the Superior Censorship Council.
Recording
The album was produced by journalist and music critic Roberto M. Moura (1947-2005) and featured musical direction from guitarist João de Aquino (1945-2022). For the instrumental foundation, the album brought together excellent musicians, such as Raphael Rabello on seven-string guitar, Helvius Vilela on piano, Marcelo Bernardes on wind instruments, and Oscar Bolão on drums, in addition to João de Aquino himself. The album was released by the independent label Vento de Raio.
Songs
The album's nine songs, such as "Porta Afora", "Altivez", "Com Todas as Letras", "Carne no Jantar", "Cicatrizes", "Vã Esperança", "Tal Como Nazareth", "Prazer Qualquer" and "Flores de Plástico ao Amanhecer", reveal a composer who refuses clichés. The lyrics are marked by profound pessimism, existential angst, and an obsession with death, often with acid humour. The track "Com Todas as Letras", for example, explicitly addresses the theme of suicide, which resulted in its initial censorship by the dictatorship. Another highlight is the song "Carne no Jantar", which, in a chorus like "Disfarça e olha" (Pretend not to notice and look), condenses life's contradictions, recognising the magnetism of misfortune and the social modesty in confronting it.
Legacy
Cadáver Pega Fogo Durante o Velório is considered a 'cult' album and continues to be highly praised by music critics, revered by fans, including rock enthusiasts. The work earned Fernando Pellon the Chiquinha Gonzaga trophy. The album is cited in lists of the best independent authorial works in MPB and is part of an online series by Rádio UFMG Educativa as one of four Brazilian 'classic, important, and influential' albums from each year starting in 1965. The album's sound and themes consolidated a tradition of 'blatant morbidity' in Brazilian popular music, with lyrics that shock between humour and death, drawing parallels with authors such as Augusto dos Anjos, Nelson Rodrigues, and Rubem Fonseca.
Tracks
Credits
João de Aquino, Paulinho Lemos
Roberto Moura
Tárik de Souza
Videos
CADÁVER PEGA FOGO DURANTE O VELÓRIO: análise do álbum cult de Fernando Pellon.
Roberto Bozzetti
Resenha de Cadaver Pega Fogo Durante Velório
Sonzeira Da Massa
Metavirtual 10mg - Cadáver Pega Fogo Durante o Velório (1984)
Tamires Menezes
Analyses
Samba que pinga sangue: 40 anos da obra-prima de Fernando Pellon
henriquebalbi.substack.com
The attitude reveals even more shrewdness when one recovers the album's context. More than George Orwell, at least in the Brazilian dystopia, the year 1984 marks the disappointment with the Diretas Já campaign – whose amendment was killed by Congress and definitively buried with Tancredo Neves.
Um disco que faz história e sobrevive ao tempo - Fernando Pellon
fernandopellon.com.br
40 years ago, amidst a long struggle with the censorship of the military dictatorship (1964-1985), the composer Fernando Pellon recorded the album "Cadáver pega fogo durante o velório", which is still considered today one of the most important musical works of his career.
Cadáver pega fogo durante o velório - Fernando Pellon
fernandopellon.com.br
Year: 1984 Record Label: Independent label "Vento de Raio" Highlight: Fernando Pellon's first career album suffered at the hands of the censorship of the military dictatorship regime (1964-1985).
Fernando Pellon - Cadáver Pega Fogo Durante o Velório
umcatalogo.substack.com
I remember Pellon's album title, "Cadáver Pega Fogo Durante o Velório", grabbed me immediately; we must all agree it's one of the best album titles in the history of Brazilian popular music.
IMMuB | Notícia - Disco vinil "Cadáver pega fogo durante o velório ...
immub.org
40 years after its release in 1984, the iconic vinyl album "Cadáver pega fogo durante o velório", by the composer Fernando Pellon, continues to be cited on the list of the best independent authorial works in Brazilian popular music.
