Germano Mathias

Germano Mathias (2 June 1934 – 22 February 2023) was a Brazilian singer-songwriter and composer, who specialized in sambas. He was nicknamed the "Catedrático do Samba" ("the Samba Cathedratic").

Germano Mathias
Mathias in 2010
Born	2 June 1934 (1934-06-02) São Paulo, Brazil
Died	22 February 2023 (2023-02-23) (aged 88) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Life and career

Born in São Paulo, the son of two Portuguese immigrants, Mathias studied drums at the Rosas Negras School of Samba.^[1] He started his career as a musician in 1955, winning a 14-month contract with Radio Tupi in the radio contest for new music artists "À procura de um astro" ("Looking for a star").^[1][2] Following his first hit "Minha nega na janela",^[2] in a few years he got a significant success both as a singer and as a composer, but his popularity declined with the arrival of rock and other musical genres, up to the point he temporarily left his musical activities to work as a justice officer.^[1] His career eventually had a resurgence in the late 1970s, when Gilberto Gil recorded several songs composed by him, leading to many of his previous works to be rediscovered and re-released.^[1][2]

Mathias' last album was Tributo a Caco Velho, released in 2004.^[1] In 2021, the tribute album #PartiuZePelintra – Tributo a Germano Mathias was released, with some of his songs performed by prominent artists including Gilberto Gil, Fafá de Belém, Zélia Duncan and Leila Pinheiro.^[2]

Mathias died from complications of pneumonia on 22 February 2023, at the age of 88.^[1] At the time of his death he was preparing a new album, 67 anos de samba-tradição.^[3]

Discography

Albums

• 1957 - Germano Matias, o sambista diferente
• 1958 - Em continência do samba
• 1959 - Hoje tem batucada
• 1962 - Ginga no asfalto
• 1965 - Samba de branco
• 1968 - O Catedrático do Samba
• 1970 - 1970 Sambas pra seu governo (with Demônios da Garoa)
• 1971 - Samba é comigo mesmo
• 1973 - O Catedrático do samba 2
• 1999 - História do samba paulista (with Aldo Bueno, Thobias da Vai-Vai and Osvaldinho da Cuíca)
• 2002 - MPB Especial
• 2002 - Talento de bamba
• 2004 - Tributo a Caco Velho