October 4, 2021

11:10

Bruno Pacheco – from Cenarium

MANAUS – The Brazilian violinist Sebastião Tapajós, considered a “genius of music” whose talent was recognized worldwide, died, at 78 years old, this Saturday, 2, due to complications from a surgery, at the Unimed Hospital, in Santarém, west of Pará. According to the hospital, the artist suffered an acute myocardial infarction. The governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho, declared a three-day official mourning for the musician’s death.

Originally from Pará, Sebastião was born in Alenquer (695.11 kilometers from the capital Belém), but moved as a child to the city of Santarém, where he learned to play the guitar with his father. At the age of 10, the child prodigy began to play professionally and made a name for himself in the music business. In his youth, he studied music in Belém, Rio de Janeiro, and Portugal, where he graduated from the National Conservatory of Music.

On social networks, fans, friends and admirers mourned the death of the violinist and paid tribute to the artist. “Sebastião Tapajós has left. A genius of Brazilian music, with his Amazonian guitar of astounding beauty. Here is one of his compositions that moves me the most: Navio Gaiola, with Tapajós himself and Nilson Chaves. This whole album, by the way, is beautiful”, commented the writer Luiz Antonio Simas, on Twitter.

For the president of the Brazilian Order of Attorneys (OAB) in Santarém, the lawyer and law professor Ítalo Melo, Sebastião Tapajós’ artistic legacy will continue to guide generations of musicians in the region and in the world.

“Yesterday Sebastião Tapajós passed from the physical plane to the spiritual plane. We have an enormous debt with his work to spread our culture. His artistic legacy will remain guiding generations of musicians in our region and the world #luto”, declared Ítalo Melo, in a post on Twitter.

President of the Union of Socialist Youth in the State of Pará and director of the National Union of Students, activist Ellana Silva mourned the death of the violinist and stressed that Paraense culture is in mourning.

“The Paraense culture is in mourning for the death of Sebastião Tapajós, a brilliant violinist and an incredible human being that I had the opportunity to meet. My condolences to his family, friends, and all the people of Pará”, Ellana wrote on Twitter.

Consecration in music

With more than 50 records released, Sebastião Tapajós has performed numerous times in Europe, mainly in Germany. Throughout his career, the violinist has played with renowned names of MPB such as Hermeto Pascoal, Jane Duboc, Zimbo Trio, Waldir Azevedo, Paulo Moura, Sivuca, and Maurício Einhorn. Among the international artists are saxophonists Gerry Mulligan and Paquito D’Rivera, bandoneonist and tango master Astor Piazzolla, and pianist Oscar Peterson.

In 1998, Sebastião composed the soundtrack for the Pará feature film Lendas Amazônicas, which chronicles famous legends and myths of the Northern region of Brazil, such as “O Boto,” “Matinta Pêrera,” “A Cobra Grande” and “Belém, Mitos e Mistérios.”

In 2017, the artist had the song “Rei Solano”, from the album “Aos da guitarrada”, included in the soap opera A Força do Querer, from the Globo Television Network.

Watch one of the violinist’s performances: