Factory SEALED 1940 ELSIE HOUSTON Native BRAZILIAN SONGS PABLO MIGUEL Piano 78

$

40

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This unusual and very rare album by Elsie Houston recorded in 1941, two years before her untimely death

In this very unusual Album, Brazilian singer Elsie Houston (yes, despite her name) with Pablo Miguel Piano regale us with never heard Brazilian Art songs in their typical rhythmic, folkloristic coloration. by Luciano Gallet, , Hakel Tavares&Jayme Ovalle,

RCA Victor, New York

1941 23. Foi numa noite calmosa [No. 5 Modinha Carioca] (arranged by Luciano Gallet) [text] 4:01   17 January 1941; (CS-060345-1) 13667   24. Bahia [Carateristica] (Alvaro Moreira/Hekel Tavares) 1:51 25. Danza de caboclo [Côco] (arranged by Tavares) [text] 0:50   24 January 1941; (CS-060371-1) 13667   26. Bia-ta-tá [Côco] (arranged by Tavares) [text] 1:23 27. Benedicto pretinho (arranged by Tavares) 1:01   24 January 1941; (CS-060372-2) 13668   28. Berimbau, Op. 4 (Manuel Bandeira/Jayme Ovalle) [text] 3:15   24 January 1941; (CS-060373-1) 13668   29. Chariô [Tres potos de Santo, Op. 10, No. 1] (Jayme Ovalle) [text] 1:03 30. Aruanda [Tres potos de Santo, Op. 10, No. 2] (Jayme Ovalle) [text] 1:05 31. Estrella do Mar [Tres potos de Santo, Op. 10, No. 3] (Jayme Ovalle) [text] 1:32   24 January 1941; (CS-060374-1) 13669   32. Tayêras [Song and dance of the Mulatresses from Bahia] (arranged by Gallet) [text] 1:39 33. Bambalelê [Song from Pernambuco] (arranged by Gallet) [text] 1:22   24 January 1941; (CS-060375-1) 13669   34. Canção do carreiro [Seresta No. 8] (Villa-Lobos) [text] 4:21   17 January 1941; (CS-060344-1) 17978

 

Here a review in Time Mag for the LP reissue of the album:

Between 1938 and 1943 the ears of U.S. music lovers bent to one of the most unusual singers they had ever heard. Her name was Elsie Houston; she was born in Brazil; she was the great-great-great-granddaughter of the grandfather of Texas' Sam Houston, and she could trumpet like a fishwife or trill like a bird. On the concert stage (once 22,000 people gathered at Washington's Water Gate to hear her), she divided her program between art songs and Brazilian folk songs. In nightclubs she liked to dim the lights to a pair of candles, pick up a finger drum, and let her voice go up in smoke for a savage voodoo number or wail some agonizing quarter tones in an ox driver's lament.

Then she would startle her listeners by a playful ditty sung with a lilting girlish quality.

At the summit of success, Elsie Houston found the world too burdensome, and one night in 1943 she ended her life with an overdose of sleeping tablets. But luckily some of her finest performances were captured on records and ten of them have been reissued on an LP as Elsie Houston Sings Brazilian Songs (Victor). Even her ghost makes other folk singers seem pale.

Songs on 3x 12" records with Original Album  M798 and booklet

12" 78 rpm record

Condition:

STILL SEALED IN ORIGINAL WRAPPER, UNOPENED

 

Elsie Houston (1902-1943) was a Brazilian singer.

Elsie Houston was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1902. She was the descendent of confederados, southern plantation owners that had come to Brazil after the American Civil War. Elsie's father was James Frank Houston, a prominent Rio dentist and Elsie Houston's mother, Arinda Galdo, was a native of Rio de Janeiro, and had Portuguese roots in the Madeira Islands. Elsie Houston figured in the Brazilian literary/art/music scene during a critical time in its history. It was an era of tremendous creative energy. In addition to Mário de Andrade and Patricia Galvão ( Pagu), Elsie Houston knew others famous members of this artists movement, including the composer Heitor Villa-Lobos , the painters Flavio de Carvalho, Anita Malfatti and Tarsila do Amaral, and the leader of Brazilian modernism, Oswald de Andrade.

Elsie moved to Germany and studied with Lilli Lehmann a renowned voice teacher. She then studied with another famed soprano, Ninon Vallin, first in Argentina and then in Paris. Houston's relationship with Heitor Villa Lobos began in her teens. Houston was definitely a soloist at Villa Lobos's 1927 Paris concerts. In 1928 she married Benjamin Péret, French surrealist poet, with whom she lived in Brazil from 1929 to 1931. Their son, Geyser, was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1931.

By the late 1930s, Elsie Houston had moved to New York. She was a brilliant singer, particularly skilled in the interpretation of Brazilian songs. The New York Times during this era praised for her performances. She was also an active supporter of young Latin American composers, performing early pieces by composers such as Jayme Ovalle and Camargo Guarnieri. She died in 1943, her death was listed as an apparent suicide.

 

Here are some excerpts from a Website celebrating the Art of Elsie Houston:

I was listening in my car  to a CD of recorded opera singers from the 1930s and 40s titled, A Record of Singing. A few tracks in, amid conventional soprano interpretations of notable opera pieces, a stunningly weird song--pounding  rhythmic piano and a swooping, shrieking voice. "What the hell?" I thought. I noted the track number. 

It was a Villa Lobos song (14 Serestas No. 8: Cancão do Carreiro) recorded by Elsie Houston and Pablo Miguel (piano) in 1941.  A short biography noted that she had been born in Brazil, educated in Europe, and that she had committed suicide in New York in 1943 at the age of 40.

I now own the Victor album, Elsie Houston Sings Brazilian Songs. It is an absolute gem of an album and it is a pity that it has never been re-released for over 50 years. While the other tracks do not reach the level of drama of "Cancão" (her version of Jayme Ovalle's "Berimbau" comes close) they firmly establish the truth of her critical appraisers during her New York period. Utterly charming. I can understand why patrons would return again and again to see her nightclub shows.

There is also a recent Brazilian publication, ELSIE HOUSTON : A FEMINILIDADE DO CANTO, that includes a CD with songs from her 1930 Brazilian 78s.

 

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