Cartola

Angenor de Oliveira, better known as Cartola—a nickname meaning “top hat” in Portuguese—was a Brazilian singer, composer, and poet who played a key role in shaping samba. He was born on October 11, 1908, in the Catete neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, the eldest of eight children. His mother’s family came from Campos dos Goytacazes, and his ancestors were enslaved people owned by the first Baron of Carapebus. His maternal grandfather, a famous cook, was recruited to work for President Nilo Peçanha at the Catete Palace. Cartola’s father played guitar and cavaquinho, and when Cartola was eight or nine, he gave him a cavaquinho. The family moved to Laranjeiras when Cartola was eight, where he joined the carnival ranches “União da Aliança” and “Arrepiados,” playing cavaquinho in the latter. He later suggested that the green and pink colors of the “Arrepiados” ranch be used for the samba school he helped found in 1928, Estação Primeira de Mangueira—though co-founder Carlos Cachaça claimed those colors came from an older ranch called Caçadores da Floresta.

In 1919, financial hardship pushed the family to Mangueira, then a small favela with fewer than fifty shacks. There, Cartola met Carlos Cachaça, six years his senior, who became a lifelong friend and frequent songwriting partner. Cartola left school in the fourth grade at age fifteen to work, first as a printer’s apprentice, then as a bricklayer. While laying cement, he wore a bowler hat to keep debris off his hair; coworkers said it looked like a small top hat, and the nickname “Cartola” stuck. His mother died when he was seventeen, and conflicts with his father over his bohemian lifestyle led to him being kicked out. He spent time wandering, drinking, visiting brothels, and sleeping in suburban trains, which left him sick and malnourished. A neighbor named Deolinda—seven years older, married, with a two-year-old daughter—nursed him back to health. They began a relationship, and when Cartola was eighteen, Deolinda left her husband, and Cartola raised her daughter as his own.

Cartola gained popularity in the 1930s, recording many sambas, but fame did not bring wealth. He supported his family by working as a bricklayer, fishmonger, and cheese seller, while his wife occasionally cooked. In 1940, he and Paulo de Portela hosted a radio program called “A Voz do Morro” on Cruzeiro do Sul, where they presented unnamed songs and let the public name them. By the late 1940s, things worsened. At thirty-eight, Cartola suffered a long illness; soon after recovering, his wife died of heart problems. He wrote one of his biggest hits, “Sim,” during his grief. He stopped composing and playing, moved with his new wife, Donária, to a slum in Nilópolis, and worked as a handyman. In 1952, he met Dona Zica, fell in love, and she encouraged him to return to music. In 1956, while washing cars in Ipanema, journalist Sérgio Porto rediscovered him and brought him back to the samba scene, arranging radio appearances and new partnerships. Still, samba’s popularity had faded, so Cartola took other jobs.

In 1963, with Zica and Eugênio Agostine, Cartola opened the Zicartola bar and restaurant in downtown Rio, aiming to bring favela samba to a wider audience. It became a key venue linking traditional sambistas with the emerging Bossa Nova movement, hosting figures like Nélson Cavaquinho, Pixinguinha, Nara Leão, Paulinho da Viola, and Zé Keti. In 1974, Cartola began recording solo albums, and at age seventy, in 1978, he gave his first solo live performance. He composed more than 500 songs, alone or with partners. He died on November 30, 1980.