Clube da Esquina by Milton Nascimento & Lô Borges

The year was 1964 and president João Goulart was doing rallies defending the agrarian reform. Just a few years earlier in 1961, at the height of the Cold War, he went on a trade mission to China (also visiting the Soviet Union) and gave Che Guevara the Order of the Southern Cross—a sort of Brazilian Medal of Honor. He fancied himself a progressive;e should have known better. next there were marches with “Family, God and Freedom” banners, a US Navy ship stationed just off the Guanabara bay and tanks parading the streets. He was swiftly overthrown by the military.

Their rule would later be called a “soft dictatorship.” And, matter of fact, things didn't change much for the general populace. It's not like Brazil was used to democracy anyways—it was kind of there from 1945 when Vargas (the last dictator) was deposed until 1964. So it was business as usual for the majority of the country. Except, of course, if you were a student, or an artist or a journalist or... Well, mostly if you weren't willing to stay in line. Then it wasn't soft at all.

The National Truth Comission, an organization established in 2011 to investigate the human rights violations that occurred from 1946-1988, officially stated that a grand total of 434 people were killed and/or “disappeared” by the government during that period. Compared to other dictatorships such as Argentina's, where that tally reached upwards of 30.000 people, it was indeed one of the laxer regimes. But just one is enough to say “never again.”

In 1942 Maria do Carmo Nascimento was in a pickle. She was let down, left dry with a kid in her belly, another single mother, a heritage of former slaves that were freed in 1888 with neither donkey nor land. Housemaid she was, as was her own mother. At that time, if the girl got pregnant she was let go. Those worker rights were not yet, after all. However, her bosses didn't let her go. Still, she got depressed and, later on, tuberculosis.

Milton Nascimento was born but his mom didn't make past his two years old. It happened that Lília, the bosses' daughter was recently married and couldn't get pregnant. She asked his grandmother if she could adopt him and granny acquiesced. See, Lília was a music teacher. Her husband had a radio station.

Milton went to Rio, got invited to attend a house party. There he met singer Elis Regina, singer deity in the Brazilian pantheon. Milton went to her house—the concierge made him take the service elevator. Elis brought the house down, called a moving company and went to live in another building. Sometime later Milton would get invited to the TV show 'O Fino da Bossa' (The Bossa Class Acts) and then be promptly uninvited—apparently, nobody had told the producers he was black. Elis stormed out and said she wouldn't do the show without him. They brought Milton back. I should say her nickname was “little chilly pepper” (5'1" of sheer fierceness!)

In 1962, 10 years old Lô Borges was sent to buy bread and milk for the afternoon snacks. He lived on the 17th floor. Reaching the street, he ended up stumbling upon a 20-something Milton Nascimento playing and singing on the street. Hearing his voice—one of which, in later years, Elis Regina would say: “if God were to sing, He'd sound like Milton Nascimento,”—Lô was enchanted. It was the beginning of their friendship.

In 1967 there was a festival, it was the second edition of the International Song Festival in Rio. Milton Nascimento won as best interpreter, placed both second and seventh place with the songs “Travessia” (Crossing) and “Morro Velho” (Old Hill). Milton celebrated with Fernando Brant, co-author of “Travessia”, journalist and honorary member of the Corner Club. 15 year-old Lô Borges went to the store and bought himself a copy of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The festival in the following year was iconic, especially for the songs “É Proibido Proibir” (To Forbid is Forbidden) by Caetano Veloso and “Caminhando e Cantando” (Singing While Walking) by Geraldo Vandré—both songs with heavy overtones of protest.

In December of 1968 came AI-5, ”Institutional Act Number 5”—a coup within a coup. Congress was closed down, civil rights like the habeas corpus were suspended, and extreme censorship were implemented, alongside institutionalized arbitrary detentions and torture.

Geraldo Vandré was kindly invited to partake in an electric shock treatment and never recovered. Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Chico Buarque fled the country. Milton Nascimento went on tour throughout the United States and released the album “Coragem” (Courage). The Borges brothers, Márcio and Lô, were left behind, constantly moving houses, afraid to be taken in the middle of the night.

The recording of the album was, as to be expected from such a writing process, hectic and, even for the time, tremendously spartan—the majority of the sessions were conducted on a beach house in Rio de Janeiro, with the final recordings being done on antiquated two-channel equipment. This meant that most tracks were recorded basically live, with few overdubs, as any mistakes would ruin the whole track, and mixdowns would degrade the quality of the recording.

The record was also unique for being a double album, one of the first in Brazilian history.