Chico Buarque is best known for his music, which often includes social, economic, and cultural reflections on Brazil.
15 Facts About Chico Buarque
2.
The firstborn son of Sergio Buarque de Hollanda, Buarque lived at several locations throughout his childhood, though mostly in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and Rome.
3.
Chico Buarque wrote and studied literature as a child and found music through the bossa nova compositions of Tom Jobim and Joao Gilberto.
4.
Chico Buarque performed as a singer and guitarist in the 1960s as well as writing a play that was deemed dangerous by the Brazilian military dictatorship of the time.
5.
Chico Buarque released several more albums in the 1980s and published three novels in the 1990s and 2000s.
6.
In 2019, Chico Buarque was awarded the Camoes Prize, the most important prize for literature in the Portuguese language.
7.
Chico Buarque was born in Rio de Janeiro on 19 June 1944.
8.
Chico Buarque is brother of the singer Miucha and politician Ana de Hollanda.
9.
Chico Buarque made his public debut as musician and composer in 1964, rapidly building his reputation at music festivals and television variety shows when bossa nova came to light and Nara Leao recorded three of his songs.
10.
Chico Buarque had his first hit with "A Banda" in 1966, written about a marching band, and soon released several more singles.
11.
However, an existentially themed play that Chico Buarque wrote and composed in 1968, Roda Viva, was frowned upon by the military government and Chico Buarque served a short prison sentence because of it.
12.
Chico Buarque left Brazil for Italy for 18 months in 1970, returning to write his first novel in 1972, which was not targeted by censors.
13.
Chico Buarque wrote a play named Calabar, about the Dutch invasion of Brazil in the seventeenth century, drawing parallels with the military regime.
14.
Chico Buarque approached the 1983 Concert for Peace in Nicaragua as a valid forum to vocalize his strong political views.
15.
Chico Buarque later wrote Budapeste, a novel that achieved critical national acclaim and won the Premio Jabuti, a Brazilian literary award comparable to the Booker Prize.