User:Djerome

New article about Brazilian guitarist and composer Dilermando Reis. More citations to be added. Most will be to Brazilian newspaper articles. My published article is available in pdf at www.jeromeguitar.com/Guitarist of the People, Guitarist of the Elite.pdf. Just a start, any advice welcome

Dilermando Reis (September 22, 1916-January 2, 1977) was a Brazilian guitarist and composer. He has been referred to as "probably the most famous Brazilian popular guitarist " and within Brazil "one of the most famous of all times. " He has been cited as a crucial figure in the popularization in Brazil of the guitar as an instrument to be studied by written music.

Born in Guaratinguetá, São Paulo he left for then federal capitol Rio de Janeiro as a teenager. There he participated in the developing field of live radio and recording. His programs dedicated to solo guitar made him a household name and his career was one of the most enduring in Brazilian radio, lasting from around 1934 until 1969.

He became part of the entourage of Governor and later President Juscelino Kubitschek (1902-1976.) During Kubitschek's presidential term (1956-1961) Reis accompanied kubitschek on many of his trips to the construction site of Brazil's new capitol, Brasília, and is included in monuments honoring the "pioneers" of Brasília. The two men remained friends after Kubitschek left office, traveling with him to Europe in 1970. Dilermando suffered a heart attack a few days after Kubitschek died in a car crash in August of 1977. He recovered but succumbed to second attack and died a few months later.

He recorded at least twenty-two 78rpm singles on Brazil's Continental Records (the first while the company was still called Columbia), and twenty-three albums as a soloist (often accompanied by Meira (Jaime Florence) and later Dino Sete Cordas (Horondino da Silva). He also recorded seven albums accompanying the singer Francisco Petrônio. A number of the albums and singles have been re-released as CDs.

His style combines what he called "the school of Tarrega," a classical right hand utilizing the rest stroke to produce a full sound, with the choro and other local popular and folkloric styles. His many years of work accompanying radio theater combined with his affinity for the Romantic tradition shows in a preference for illustrative titles and descriptive compositions. His use of steel strings on "classical" type repetoire has a hold over from an earlier generation of popular players. Although he recorded several albums with nylon strings, the combination of the classical right hand with the wide vibrato of steel strings remained his trademark sound. His influences included Levino Conceição, with whom he left Guaratinguetá for Rio, and João Pernambuco, with whom he roomed as a young man. His recordings include compositions representing works of lesser known Latin American guitarist/composers, as well as Barrios and Villa Lobos. His most ambitious recording includes Concertino #1 by radio colleague Radames Gnatelli.

To the members of the "bossa nova generation" Reis represented an overly sentimental, obsolete style. Books chronicling this period omit him or mention Reis only in this capacity. Guaratinguetá hosts an annual National Guitar Festival in his honor each September.