Jards Macalé

Jards Anet da Silva, known as Jards 'Macalé', was a Brazilian composer, singer and actor, known for his influential role in Brazil's tropicália movement in the 1960s.

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Life and career

Jards Macalé was born in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Tijuca, near Morro da Formiga, surrounded by music: on the hills, the drums; in the neighborhood, Vicente Celestino and Gilda de Abreu. At home, foxes, waltzes and folk songs played on the piano by his mother, Dona Ligia, and the accordion by his father. The family choir had his younger brother, Roberto, and Jards. On the radio, Orlando Silva,, Emilinha Borba.
As a boy, he moved to Ipanema, where he earned the nickname "Macalé" – who was the worst football player in the Botafogo team at that time. As a teenager, he formed his first musical group – the duo "Dois no Balanço"; later came "Conjunto Fantasia de Garoto", which played jazz, seranade and "samba canção".
He studied piano and orchestration with Guerra Peixe, cello with Peter Dauelsberg, guitar with Turibio Santos and Jodacil Damasceno, and musical analysis with Esther Scliar.
His professional career began in 1965 as a guitarist in "Grupo Opinião". He was musical director of the first performances of Maria Bethania. He had compositions recorded by Elizete Cardoso and Nara Leão, among others. With Gal Costa, Paulinho da Viola and his composition partner José Carlos Capinam, he created the Tropicarte Agency, to manage their shows.
In 1969, he participated in the 4th International Song Festival presenting the song "Gotham City", and released his first album, Só Morto. He worked with Gal Costa in her record Le-Gal and the show Meu Nome é Gal. In 1971 he went to London, invited by Caetano Veloso, with whom he performed and recorded. In the same year, back to Brazil, and released their first LP, Jards Macalé. In 1974, he released the album Aprender a Nadar.
He participated as an actor and composer of the soundtrack of the films The Amulet of Ogum and Tent of Miracles, by Nelson Pereira dos Santos. He also composed for the soundtracks of Macunaíma by Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, Antonio das Mortes, by Glauber Rocha, A Rainha Diaba by Antonio Carlos Fontoura, Se Segura, Malandro!, by Hugo Carvana, and the documentary Getúlio Vargas, by Ana Carolina. He also composed soundtracks for theater.
In 1976, he became partner of Moreira da Silva on some sambas.
Macalé was the author of songs like, "Anjo Exterminado", "Mal Secreto", "Movimento dos Barcos", "Rua Real Grandeza", "Hotel das Estrelas", "Poema da Rosa". He had as composing partners, Capinam, Waly Salomão, Torquato Neto, Nana Vasconcelos, Xico Chaves, Jorge Mautner, Glauber Rocha and even Abel Silva, Vinicius de Morais, Fausto Nilo. Among the interpreters of his songs are Gal Costa, Maria Bethania, Clara Nunes, Camisa de Vênus and O Rappa, among others.
Although he's also collaborated with the likes of Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, he has since walked away from these partnerships, claiming that tropicalism as a movement has been co-opted by the culture industry, losing its artistic independence.
In 1985, he participated in the musical Sands Body Heat.
In 2012, he participated in collaboration with the band Dorgas of the Ray-Ban series Meet The Legends, where he sang the song "Faisão Dourado " from the band's original authorship.
In 2013 he participated in Exile Songs event, which claimed to be an anarchist, and Tenda dos Milagres.
In 2019, his album Besta Fera was nominated for the Latin Grammy Award for Best MPB Album and considered one of the 25 best Brazilian albums of the first half of 2019 by the São Paulo Association of Art Critics. APCA also chose his album Coração Bifurcado as one of the 50 best Brazilian albums of 2023 and the collaboration Mascarada: Zé Kéti with Sergio Krakowski Trio as one of the 50 best albums of 2024.
Macalé died from a cardiac arrest on November 17, 2025, at the age of 82, after being hospitalized for treating lung problems.

Discography

;Contributing artistUnwired: Latin America

''Unwired: Besta Fera''