Zeca Pagodinho (b. February 4, 1959, birth name Jessé Gomes da Silva Filho) is a Brazilian singer and composer working in the genres of samba and pagode.| |Born in the neighborhood of Irajá, Rio de Janeiro, Zeca Pagodinho grew up around the most traditional types of samba and started making his own verses while still a kid. In the ’70s, Zeca started frequenting the Carnival Block of Cacique de Ramos, which took place in Rio de Janeiro every Wednesday and became a true pagode venu (pagode is a type of samba). At one of these jams, samba singer Beth Carvalho was impressed with Zeca’s skills and invited him to record the song “Camarão Que Dorme a Onda Leva”. From that point on, Zeca began to record his own albums. There are now 15 of them, and four DVDs. His creative, joyful, malicious songs translate the day-by-day of the typical easygoing carioca (citizen or Rio) and are a big success in Brazil. He’s one of the biggest-sellers in the country.
One of Zeca’s first hits is SPC and it appeared on his first album. The SPC (it stands for Credit Protection Service) is a blacklist of bad debtors from which it is hard to get one’s name removed . The song, a partnership between Arlindo Cruz and Zeca, tells the story of someone who asks a friend (or partner) to use their credit card on his behalf; afterwards, the relationship breaks up. Both of them are poor. |
