Sambista, now 83 years old, was “baptized” in the 1960s at the Zikartola restaurant at the suggestion of “Sergio Cabral Pai” and Zé Keti.
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At 83 years old, Paulinho da Viola is remembering the origin of his artistic name, which was proposed by Zé Keti and Sérgio Cabral Pai in the 1960s at the Zikaltra restaurant and widely praised on social media by music luminaries.
This Wednesday, the 12th, Paulo César Batista de Faria, known as Paulinho da Viola, will turn 83 years old. The famous samba and MPB artist was born near Botafogo in Rio de Janeiro’s South Zone, and it was in the city center that he received the artistic name that made him famous. The setting was the “Zikaltra” restaurant, a venture company run by Dona Gica e Cartra, located in a townhouse at 53 Calle Carioca.
From 1963 to 1965, it was also here that the then Paulo César Battista de Faria performed for the first time and devoted himself solely to his musical career. Previously, I also spent time taking technical accounting courses and working in a bank. At the age of 21, the young man was introduced to this place by the poet Herminio Bello de Carvalho, where he played the guitar and cavaquinho to the accompaniment of the musicians who played in the space.
From the hands of Kartra he received his first reward. However, the suggestion for this artistic name came from Zé Keti, with whom Paulinho would form a future partnership, and the famous journalist Sergio Cabral, the father of music producer and former Rio governor Sergio de Oliveira Cabral Santos Filho, who was sentenced to more than 400 years in prison for crimes including corruption, money laundering and currency evasion.
“Zé Keti had organized a group that would leave some songs on record labels (…) People would sing and the technician would ask their names and they would say ‘Elton Medeiros’, ‘Jair de Cavaquinho’…And after I sang they would ask and I would say ‘Paulo Ceza’. They said, ‘Paulo César’ is no good. It was a joke. Then Ze Keti, along with Sérgio Cabral, published in the newspapers that I was ‘Paulinho da Viola’,” the samba singer declared in interviews throughout his career. The latest one was broadcast on TV Globo’s program Altas Horas in February this year.
This Thursday, on social media, Paulinho was praised by some of the biggest names in the world of entertainment and music. Fatima Bernardes, Carlinhos Braun and Martinho da Vila are some of those who congratulated the “Prince of Samba” and composer of works such as “Timoneiro”, “Argumento” and “Foy um Rio Que Passu em Minha Vida”.
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