[Monday Notes No. 50] Dolores Duran made a career out of music when she was still a child, using her exceptional talent to support her family after the death of her father. When she met Antonio Carlos Jobim, he was not yet a legend of Brazilian music and the term bossanova had not yet been invented.
The two met in a recording studio where the pianist was waiting for the poet Vinicius De Moraes to write the lyrics of one of his new songs. The young Dolores Duran anticipated his arrival and proposed a delightful poetic text, written on the spot, which Jobim was happy to accept. Por causa de você was born this way.
Dolores’s text narrates the return of the beloved after a painful absence that had taken away the joy of life not only from the abandoned lover but also from the house that had hosted the happy days spent together. It is a song of love and forgiveness, describing a acceptance without recriminations and without questions.
Dolores Duran sings with simplicity and generosity; although she has an impeccable technique, her style is clean and essential. Even the title of her albums ‘Dolores Duran canta pra voce dançar‘ (Dolores Duran sings to make you dance) is unpretentious and almost sounds like a justification: I sing just to make you dance, without pretension.
On the album, however, the singer shows great flexibility and mastery of several musical styles, singing in Italian, French, English and Portuguese with perfect pronunciation.
Dolores Duran would certainly have been a great protagonist of bossa nova, if her life had not come to an abrupt end at the age of 29, probably following a heart attack. Her few records and a handful of songs composed with Antonio Carlos Jobim are nevertheless a precious heritage that Dolores has left us, with her smiling and tender vocal style.
Until next Monday!