Manhã de Carnaval


"Manhã de Carnaval", often referred to as "Black Orpheus", is a song by Brazilian composer Luiz Bonfá and lyricist Antônio Maria.
"Manhã de Carnaval" appeared as a principal theme in the 1959 Portuguese-language film Orfeu Negro by French director Marcel Camus. The film's soundtrack also included songs by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes, as well as the composition by Bonfá "Samba de Orfeu". "Manhã de Carnaval" appears in the film, including versions sung or hummed by both the principal characters, as well as an instrumental version, so that the song has been described as the main musical theme of the film. In the portion of the film in which the song is sung by the character Orfeu, portrayed by Breno Mello, the song was dubbed by Agostinho dos Santos. The song was initially rejected for inclusion in the film by Camus, but Bonfá was able to convince the director that the music for Manhã de Carnaval was superior to the song Bonfá composed as a replacement. Orfeu Negro was an international success, and brought the song to a large audience.
"Manhã de Carnaval" became one of the first Bossa Nova compositions to gain popularity outside Brazil. In France, the song is also known as "La Chanson d'Orphée". Particularly in the United States, the song is considered to be one of the most important Brazilian Jazz/Bossa songs that helped establish the Bossa Nova movement in the late 1950s. It is still performed regularly by a wide variety of musicians around the world in its different vocalized versions or just as an instrumental. American songwriter Carl Sigman's relyricization called "A Day in the Life of a Fool" is a jazz standard and the melody may also be called "Carnival", "Theme from Black Orpheus", or simply "Black Orpheus" in the US. All versions of foreign texts were written by lyricists other than Antônio Maria, using Bonfá's original music.

Recordings

All recordings listed below were released under the title of "Manhã de Carnaval" and sung in Portuguese, except where noted.

Lyrics other than Portuguese

Although not as popular as the vast number of interpretations with Portuguese lyrics, the song can also be found with a few English lyrics adaptations and in some other languages as well. None of the versions in other languages were written by Brazilian songwriters.