Since the 1970s, Emilio Santiago has been an institution in brazilian music. One of the few artists to have remained signed to the national Som Livre label for over 10 years, Santiago carved out a career as the mums’ favourite crooner with his series of albums called ‘Aquarelas Brasileiras’ (‘brazilian watercolours’), a series that sold over 4 million copies and were guaranteed to fill the christmas stockings of everyone’s favourite auntie or grannie. But it wasn’t always that way. Former law student Emilio Santiago’s first recordings were almost always alongside the cream of Brazil’s musicians – guest spots on independent MPB productions by Antonio Adolfo, some of the better telenovela soundtracks and an unreleased session with Luiz Carlos Vinhas from 1974. Santiago was a musicians’ singer. From 1972 until 1975, when this record was made, Santiago’s main gig was as ‘crooner’ in Ed Lincoln’s Orchestra. As Lincoln’s long time friend and cohort, it was obvious that Durval Ferreira, (in his capacity as Artistic Director at CID) would be one of the first to recognise the extraordinary talent of the young singer; thus Ferreira signed a deal with Santiago to make this album, supported by absolutely the best players and arrangers, and singing songs by Brazil’s best composers. ‘Emilio Santiago’ is one of the jewels in the crown of the CID catalogue. whatmusic.com is very proud to present Santiago’s classic, reissued in its original form for the first time.
