Mandi & Sorocabinha

Career

Manuel Rodrigues Lourenço started the Caboclo Quartet in 1917 with Luís Antônio de Oliveira Júnior, Astrogildo de Lima Peazza, and Antônio Ferraz de Arruda. He balanced music with his job as a primary school teacher. While running the Rural School Group in Dois Córregos, he caught a show by guitarist Olegário José and asked him to join the Turma Caipira, a larger group that included Cornélio Pires, Arlindo Santana, Caçula, Ferrinho, Mariano, Sebastião Ortiz, and Zico Dias. After playing many shows in São Paulo during the 1920s, the duo went to Rio de Janeiro in 1929 for their first recordings. The Turma Caipira played its final show that same year in Santos. During the 1930s, Mandi and Sorocabinha cut over sixty records for Columbia, RCA Victor, Odeon, and Parlophon. They first appeared on film in 1934, performing Caboclo feliz, Caipira mulato, and Imposto do selo in the documentary Let's walk with Cornélio Pires, which Cornélio Pires directed. Alvarenga and Ranchinho invited them to play at the Urca Casino. After 1936, their work slowed because Sorocabinha moved to São Paulo while Mandi stayed in Piracicaba. They split for good in 1940, and Sorocabinha later played with other musicians before quitting music in 1951.