Janires
Janires "Jaja" Magalhães Manso (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʒɐˈniɾis maɡaˈʎɐ̃j̃s ˈmɐ̃su]; May 22, 1953 – January 11, 1988) was a Brazilian singer, songwriter, music producer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist.
[1] Born into a poor family and the son of a single mother, he spent part of his youth in strong contact with music, and later began to use drugs.
The group's first work was Mais Doce que o Mel, released in 1981 and which was criticized by religious leaders for using sounds that were previously forbidden in churches, such as distorted guitars and lyrics contextualized with the social and economic reality of the time.
[2] After leaving Rebanhão, he moved to Belo Horizonte, where he started a radio program, besides doing evangelization work with young people at the movement Youth for Christ (Mocidade para Cristo).
Unfortunately, before the release of Espelho nos Olhos, Janires was victim of a fatal traffic accident in January 1988, and his body was buried in Brasília.
In recognition of his contribution to music, he was honored by various ensembles and artists in a live event recorded on CD, entitled Tributo a Janires.
Since his childhood he did not understand his mother's explanations and advice, and ended up getting involved with drugs at the age of twelve, living this reality for about seven years.
After six months, Arlete, the coordinator of Desafio Jovem and a great friend of the singer, took him to São Paulo, where he attended Uncle Cássio's church and finally became a Protestant.
Later he left the group and moved to Rio de Janeiro with his belongings, where he met Pedro Braconnot, who would be his follower and one of the future leaders of the new Rebanhão.
[4] Paulo Marotta tells that he met the founder of the Rebanhão in 1979 in meetings at the Presbyterianism church in Copacabana, and that his appearance was totally against the beauty standards of that time: dark brown and unkempt hair, thin and slender, wearing a faded jeans jumpsuit.
In this Rebanhão record, he expresses his opinion clearly in verses of the song "Casa no Céu": "There will be no neighbors complaining about the increase in gas prices there", "There will be no holes in the middle of the street there", "There will be no pickpockets or thieves disrespecting the 80km/h speed limit, fleeing from pollution there".
In the same work he criticizes the way people live, as in the song "Hoje sou Feliz", where he says: "And I found out that I live in a South American country full of supermen flying and drinking from bar to bar, that artists seduce girls and good guys and bad guys are killing each other on the street corners, oh, how it hurts, to know that what is going on in the country it is not a child's dream".
According to Paulo Marotta, his departure caused pain for the members that remained, since he was the founder and mentor of the group, but they didn't lose contact, always advising or helping the band.
He also started to present a radio program called "Ponto de encontro", also recording an album with the same name, singing the songs "Casinha" and "Paz pra Cidade", the latter together with Rebanhão.
[11] Together with several musicians, he began singing, preaching, and leading worship at Mocidade para Cristo before a crowd of young people, and on Mondays at the well-known Clubão.
After an unusual event in a restaurant located in the Bus Station of Belo Horizonte, he chose the name of the new band he was forming: Banda Azul.
As the bus was passing through the city of Três Rios in the early hours of the same day, around 3:30 a.m. BRT, it got involved in a fatal accident, with Janires dying on the spot.
Among musicians from Brazil, Zé Rodrix, Taiguara, Ivan Lins, 14 Bis, Raimundo Fagner, Gonzaguinha, and Os Mutantes were some of his influences, among bands and artists from abroad, such as Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Genesis, and others.
[4]He ironized corrupt politicians, TV commercials, parodied movies and soap operas, talked about realities, dreams, failures and frustrations, sin and the resulting misery, to present, in stark contrast, the dazzling light, stupendous grace, and infinite peace of Jesus Christ.In his best known composition, "Baião", Janires makes an analysis of the social situation of the planet: "Without Jesus Christ it's impossible to live in this big world, it seems people are living in the backlands, it's knife and knife, bullet and bullet, machine guns and cannons, it seems colleges are only training Lampiões... and money is shorter than a snake's leg..."[13] Janires is often pointed out as one of those responsible for the modernization of Christian music.
[15] Several contemporary musicians, besides those of his time declared to be influenced, listened to or re-recorded songs of his authorship recorded by Rebanhão and Banda Azul, such as Luiz Arcanjo,[16] Carlinhos Felix,[17] Marcos Almeida,[18] Alex Gonzaga,[19] Paulo César Baruk,[20] Bruno Branco and Marcus Salles.
The production was from the movement Youth for Christ and the songs were performed by Banda Azul, Baixo e Voz, Verso Livre, Cia de Jesus, Expresso Luz, Nelson Bomilcar, Jorge Camargo, Paulinho Marotta, MPC Band, and Carlinhos Veiga.
