Transcript and translation made by guitarist and researcher Kennedy

Cirino, especially for the great cataloguer, researcher and musicologist

Vincenzo Pocci.

Booklet of the CD “Origins of the Brazilian Guitar

– Levino Albano da Conceição, the blind
Levino” (produced by Brazilian guitarist Ezequiel
Piaz in 2009)

1883 – CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE

Composer, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and conductor.

Levino Albano da Conceição played in the core of Brazilian music, in the
origins of the Brazilian guitar. He was born on November 12, 1883, in Cuiabá,
Mato Grosso, Brazil. Son of Manoel Albano da Conceição, Bahia, lieutenant in
the Army, and Carlota Maria da Conceição, Santa Catarina, he had four
brothers. He was of black race.
He became blind at the age of six, caused by yellow fever, in the city of
Corumbá, Mato Grosso, where the family had moved. With a musical
tendency, Levino became interested in music at an early age. As a child, he
played with other boys, making rhythms on two spoons, and then he switched
to tin flute.
He increased his thirst for music and started building his own instruments.
Thus, he had the idea of making a “violazinha” (little guitar), with perforated
board and strings from the elastic bands of his father's boots.

Levino: “I didn't stop perfect boots; the old man needs to hide them from me”.

With this little guitar, he sang and accompanied himself by making sketches.
However, only the accompaniment would not satisfy him, so he had the idea of
building a new instrument.

Levino: “At that time there were two-kilogram lard cans (...), in which I used to
do percussion, singing and accompanying each other (...)”.

One night, his brother, a musician from the Second Battalion of the Army's
position in Corumbá – now extinct – after a serenade with his companions, he
brought home a small guitar called Quinto. Upon waking up in the morning,
Levino found the guitar in the corner of the wall.

Levino: “I sat down on a chair and began to strum the instrument with loose
strings; was tuned. And by chance, I put my first finger on the second string, on
the first fret, and the chord pleased my ear. Bigger. I was delighted, hours
forgotten to scrape the three strings. In new attempts, I run my finger on the first
string and found the second one of C (G major with seventh). So I didn't quit
the guitar, just doing first and second. And then I had the idea to compose.
With this rudiment I immediately made a waltz that I performed with one finger
(...)”.

The next day Faustino, owner of the guitar, went to get the instrument and that
made the boy Levino very sad.

Levino: “Wanting to catechize the owner of the guitar, who was also a
musician in the battalion, Faustino, I asked him if he wanted to teach me the
guitar (...), Faustino: “Wanting to catechize the owner of the guitar, who was
also a musician in the battalion, Faustino, I asked him if he wanted to teach me
the guitar (...), Faustino: "Oh my son, me who can see, I can't play well, let
alone you, who can't see. If I could teach what I know, I would gladly do it...".

That situation deeply touched the boy, who promised himself that he would
learn the instrument. He asked his brother so much that at the end of the month
he gave him a Quinto guitar.

Levino: “I went far with him. With a traveling salesman near the house, he
taught me A minor and E minor. With these two chords he made the devil: he
played at balls, accompanied accordions (...). One day there was a feast for
St. John and an accordion player took me to accompany him. I played the
day and night of 23; day and night from the 24th and until the 25th in the
morning. When the party was over, he took out four 500 réis notes that were still
left and paid me 2$000 (Two thousand réis). I went home, changed everything
in copper and put on my best clothes...”.

This experience would allow Levino to glimpse the possibility of making a living
from music professionally.

Levino: “Afterwards, I didn't want to play any more for free. I already thought I
was professional. I progressed so much that a year later Faustino himself
became my student”.

Throughout his career, Levino maintained these two activities, performing with
the guitarist and giving guitar lessons.
His uncle, Manoel Florêncio, also a musician who lived in Corumbá, gave him
some lessons, giving him the first notions of harmony, tones and relatives. At
fifteen, sixteen years old, Levino was already considered the best guitarist in
Corumbá and continued to expand his musicality, studying and researching
other instruments. Thus emerged the figure of the multi-instrumentalist.

Levino: “I increased my harmonic knowledge; I strained my ear more and was

filled with curiosity. Everything about instruments that I heard, I wanted to learn.
I learned mandolin, bandurra, cavaquinho. Then I started to learn wind
instruments: sax-horne, trombone, baritone, bombardino. This was around
1898/99. It was the only Banda de paisanos in the city; did sketches etc. In the
band I was called a 'hole filler'; I memorized not only my part but the part of
others (...)”. (interview given to the broadcaster Almirante – 1946).

“Henrique Foréis Domingues or “Almirante” (19/02/1908 – 22/12/1980), Brazilian composer,

singer, broadcaster and researcher. Known as "The greatest patent in Brazilian radio".
He was responsible for reviewing the only existing interview by guitarist Levino Albano da
Conceição, recorded in 1946 and from which certain excerpts contained in this work were
extracted.
Almirante, as he was known, was an unblemished artist and one of the greatest Brazilian radio
broadcasters.”

Levino followed in search of his music, improving himself more and more, with
determination and daring.

Levino: “So I started instrumenting for the band, not knowing music notation; It
hummed for each instrument its part and the musician wrote”.

Here we can observe an important fact regarding the method adopted by

Levino, to have his songs recorded in sheet music, to give guitar lessons, of
which there are notes on the sheet musicof the studies he weighed for his
students and as he said, to make arrangements for the bands and formations
he worked for.
In the future, he would become connoisseur of Braille musicography, as stated
by Dilermando Reis in his interview, to the Museum of Image and Sound, Rio de
Janeiro, on November 29, 1972. Certainly, Levino had as a system to play or
hum his musical ideas for musicians, students and friends to write and perform.
This was the case for a large part of his compositions recorded in sheet music.
Francisco Soares and Toledo Piza were some of those responsible for recording
some of Levino's works on the sheet music, in addition to studies written by
students such as Adriano Pereira.
Levino was considered the best guitarist in his land when he decided to move
to Rio de Janeiro to play, study and consult with doctors for his vision. On that
occasion, he left a promise in Corumba to a young woman that he would go
to Rio to attend to the visits and return to get married. Later he fulfilled that
promise.

1903 – LEVINO GOES TO RIO DE JANEIRO

Levino: “Thus, I acquired a name in my homeland and came to have among

my friends the title of greatest guitar player there. With this impression, I came to
Rio in 1903, assuming that I knew how to play the guitar well. I arrived on
September 1st, the day Santos Dumont arrived here”.

Upon consulting with doctors Moura Brasil, Fialho, Rego Lopes and Pires Ferreira,
the greatest experts of the time, he got the diagnosis that he would no longer
recover his sight. He became friends with Marechal Rocha's family, made up of
musicians who formed an orchestra. During these musical encounters, he met
Quincas Laranjeiras.

Levino: “On that occasion I met Quincas; he took me to his house, at Rua do
Senado, 5, a republic where he lived. And I learned with Quincas. All I needed
to do was listen to any song just once, then play it. First with great guitarists of
the time”.

On September 13, 1904, he entered the Benjamin Constant School, in Rio de

Janeiro, founded by D. Pedro II, the only one in Brazil at the time specialized in
teaching non-seers, using the Braille system, which had recently emerged in
Europe and still in the improvement phase.

He remained at the School from 1904 to 1906.

Thus, he began a path that would make him one of the protagonists and
founders of the Brazilian way of playing the guitar, alongside Quincas
Laranjeira, Américo Jacomino (Canhoto) and João Pernambuco.

Levino became one of the characters in this musical scene in full boil.

LEVINO AND THE BRAZIL OF HIS TIME - HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

The end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century were of
intense movements.

Profound changes took place in Brazil, resulting from the historical process
experienced since 1500, from the meeting of Amerindian, European and
African peoples. Many facts marked this period. Among the main ones were
the reflexes of the industrial revolution that arrived in Brazil, the abolition of
slavery in 1888 and the transition from the Monarchy to the Republic,
proclaimed on November 15, 1889.

From these changes in the socioeconomic scenario, slave labor was transferred
to the cities. Large groups of ex-slaves began to live in urban centers such as
Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, São Paulo and Recife. Many musicians from this
movement would contribute effectively to the process of creating Brazilian
music.

When Levino arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1903, he found an intense musical

activity there, as the city then concentrated an expressive group of musicians.
Coming from Minas Gerais, Bahia, Pernambuco and all corners of Brazil, Rio
welcomed a meeting that would become a true laboratory of Brazilian music.
Musicians coming from the farms, where there were bands composed by
slaves, now also formed the chorão groups that performed in urban parties, in
family homes, in halls and in places where they met to play.

One of the most interesting records from this period is the book “O Choro –
Reminiscências dos Chorões Antigos” by Alexandre Gonçalves Pinto, published
in 1936, in Rio de Janeiro. In his memoir, the author rescues the names of three
hundred musicians, from 1870 to the first twenty years of the 20th century, of
whom he would cite the names of eighty guitarists.

Musicians from different social classes and musical backgrounds played in this
scenario. They intensified their studies and research in the search for an
elaborate musical language. They traveled to Europe and in order to improve
their studies; they carried out excursions throughout Brazil to record the musical
manifestations of the people, the Indians, folklore, the sertão, the Amazon
forest. Among them, we cite: Henrique Oswald, Leopoldo Miguez, Glauco
Velasques, Brasílio Itiberê da Cunha, Alexandre Levy, Alberto Nepomuceno,
Villa-Lobos, Chiquinha Gonzaga, Ernesto Nazaré, Anacleto de Medeiros,
Eduardo das Neves, Zéquinha de Abreu, Pixinguinha, João Pernambuco,
Joubert de Carvalho.

Some of the guitarists active during this period were: Quincas Laranjeira,
Dunguinha, Américo Jacomino, Sátiro Bilhar, China, Donga, Levino, Tute,
Eduardo das Neves, Rogério Guimarães and Lili S. Paulo, among others.

Levino Albano da Conceição belongs to this period of Brazilian music of the first
Republic, located between 1889 and 1927, which Ary Vasconcelos calls
“ancient, primitive or heroic phase”. The musicians lived a search for an identity
for Brazilian music. They acted in their nuclei, in their cells of action, of work,
towards creation, like Brazilian music. Their creative efforts were mobilized and
their energies turned to a music that drank from the sources of miscegenation.

The appearance of the phonograph in Brazil, on November 9, 1889, effectively

marks the beginning of this new period. The apparatus invented by Charles
Cross and Edisom, in 1877, was fundamental at that moment of formation and
propulsion of Brazilian music, especially music originated in popular strongholds.
The first recordings of popular music recorded in Brazil took place from 1902
onwards, the first of which was a modinha called “Isto é bom”, sung by the
“very popular Baiano” (Ary Vasconcelos, Panorama da Música Popular
Brasileira, v1, p.13).

In 19123, the Edisom house installed on Rua 28 de Setembro, 50, in Rio de

Janeiro, the Odeon record factory, the first in South America and with which, in
1922, Levino would meet with the owner Mr. Fischer .

HERE IS THE REPERTOIRE RECORDED BY LEVINO

He wrote the waltzes Saudade do Rio Grande and Prece da Saudade; the
maxixes Reminiscências Baianas and Há Quem Resista?; the choro El Pasado,
the lyrical mazurkas Meditando e Triste Ausência, Canção Gaúcha, by E.
Martins and o Romance, by Schumann.

Levino intensely lived his search for musical improvement. He served as a

professional musician and definitively connected his music to the mission of
creating vocational schools for the visually impaired in Brazil. He also chose to
become a solo guitarist in concerts, being one of the greatest singles in Brazil of
his time, according to Dilermando Reis in an interview to MIS (Rio de Janeiro,
1972), who had the repertoire and name to perform an entire solo guitar
concert.

As he stubbornly continued on his journey, he studied, researched, composed

and made new friends. He had also become friends with João Pernambuco,
who, years later, would host Levino and Dilermando Reis in their hotel room in
Rio de Janeiro.

1903 to 1907: RIO DE JANEIRO

In the four years Levino spent in Rio de Janeiro, his musical activities were
intense. In the city, a Brazilian way of playing the guitar was developing.

Levino brought to this environment the sound of the sertão, the Mato Grosso
swamp, with the African swing. He went on to study the great masters of the
guitar and classical music. He lived with Quincas and João Pernambuco.
Curious how he recognized himself, he was interested in all sounds and was
increasingly looking for new information, experiences and technical and artistic
improvement.

In São Paulo, appeared the figure of Américo Jacomino, the Canhoto.

Composer and virtuoso of the guitar, he performed in 1916 a concert in the
main hall of the Conservatório Dramático e Musical de São Paulo, to a packed
auditorium. In 1919, he was invited to perform in Rio de Janeiro, with great
success. Author of one of the most successful classics in the Brazilian guitar
repertoire, Abismo de Rosas, Canhoto has recorded approximately thirty of his
compositions.

Despite being popular in the middle and lower classes, it was a time when the
guitar was still in its infancy in Brazil and recently gained access to good
concert halls and theaters. But Levino was attentive, determined and aware of
the direction taken in his musical purposes and goals. He would go on to study
works by Bah, Beethoven, Chopin, and Schumann, having recorded the work
“Romance” from the latter.

1907: LEVINO TRAVELS TO CORUMBÁ

This four-year period made Levino a more experienced artist. Through contact
with other musicians, with the musical universe, his stay in Rio de Janeiro
“opened his musical eyes” to what was happening in the music of Brazil and
Europe. He continued composing, studying Brazilian composers such as: Ernesto
Nazaré, Henrique Oswald, European composers such as Beethoven,
Schumann, Chopin; and also guitar masters like Tárrega and Sor.

With the acquired musical experience, studies and research, in 1907 he went
on vacation in Mato Grosso. However, some unforeseen events occurred,
which forced him to extend his stay in Corumbá. So, he made a contract to be
the “rehearser” of the Band of the Third Regiment of position, in that city.
Levino: “In 1907, I went on vacation to Mato Grosso. There, forced by family
circumstances, I had to interrupt my studies at Escola Benjamin Constant and
make a contract for Band Rehearser of the 3rd Position Regiment, in Corumbá.
A two-year contract”.

30 YEARS OF CONCERTS, CLASSES AND FIGHTING FOR THE

CAUSE OF THE BLIND

When he left the Benjamin Constant School in Rio on vacation in 1907, Levino
made a promise: he would work for the creation of new schools for the visually
impaired throughout Brazil.

Levino: “In the meantime I married a girl I left as my girlfriend when I first came
to Rio. With this new situation I was delaying my return to Rio, until in 1912,
whipped by conscience, I remembered the promise I had made when I left the
city. Benjamin Constant Institute: don't settle down until two more schools for
the blind in Brazil are official”.

Levino had a hard time becoming a student at the Institute and knew that
many others would find her. At that time, there was only this school for the
visually impaired in Brazil, which, in addition to being insufficient to meet the
great demand that arose, was inaccessible for most of them. Aware of this
situation, feeling responsible and able to effectively contribute to creating new
schools for the blind, he decided to definitely embrace his mission.

After a period of five years of work and care with his family in Corumbá, he
embarked for Asunción, Paraguay, starting a long concert season that would
last thirty years.

Levino: “I left Corumbá on March 7, 1913, bound for the capital of Paraguay,
with a wife, mother-in-law, a secretary, a blind man, an adopted son, a
daughter and a guide who was a cousin of mine, a boy of about 12 years old.
My capital was 5$000 in my pocket and a ticket to Asuncion. I boarded it
hidden from my father. On board my father gave me another 60$000”.

This was one of many trips undertaken in his campaign. When he left Corumbá,
headed for Rio de Janeiro, he was determined and had very clear his goals: to
promote his music, Brazilian music and open new schools for non-seers, through
his performance as a musician.
This trip was made by the Paraguay River, a waterway used by the inhabitants
of that region to different centers such as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná,
Rio de Grande do Sul and other countries in the Plate region.

Levino would report the trip in great detail:

Levino: “During the trip, the captain invited me to give a concert on board,
and that concert brought in a thousand reis. I landed in Asunción with 150$ in
my pocket (10 pounds). In the country it represented 1,500 pesos. I went to the
best hotel at an expense of £3 a day. On the second day, I had the happy
idea of taking the guitar, I sat on the hotel's balcony, on the first floor, and
purposefully started playing typical Paraguayan music. This caught the
attention and soon filled with people. Before long, the porter came to tell me
that there was a man there wanting to talk to me. He was the director of the
Official Gazette of Paraguay. He insisted that I give a concert in Asunción.: I
didn't come here for that...’ (pure lie..). ‘I'm going to Rio to attend a contract
with Casa Edisom and, therefore, I'm not prepared, I didn't bring any material.
(...)
But you have to give a concert, I'll take care of everything”.

Follows Levino:

“And he provided the publicity himself and days later, in the hotel lounge, I
gave my hearing, to the press, to high society and even to the representative
of the President of the Republic of Paraguay. And there I stayed 22 days. I gave
a concert at the National Theater and that day the theater was full.
Greater success!”.

Knowing the musical universe, he had developed a repertoire for concerts

capable of captivating the public. In this concert in Asunción, he played an
arrangement of his for “O Guarani”, by Carlos Gomes; he produced several
sounds alluding to the battle of the Retomada de Corumbá, imitating cannon
fire, the touch of the marching band, the march of soldiers; it made a strong
impression on the auditorium. He also reveals his project to record his
compositions at Casa Edison; what would happen in 1922.

Levino continued his journey, now heading to another country in South

America. This time, heading to Uruguay, where he would reveal his
performance on stage as a multi-instrumentalist, performing, in addition to the
guitar, other instruments learned in his childhood in Corumbá.

Levino: “From there I went to Montevideo. There I gave a concert at Instituto

La Lira. I was very successful. In this concert, after performing the first well-
chosen part in which I played the cello, flute, mandolin, bandurra...”.

Among some of the songs played in this concert, Levino cites Madrigal, by
Simonetti and Polka, or Idílio Pastoral, by Popi.
Levino was a great improviser. He had shown such ease in an episode that took
place in the intermission and second part of the concert in Montevideo.

As he would report:

"At the break, a committee of high society ladies came to ask me to play the
'Marcha Brasileira'. I thought that was the name of a song, said I didn't know.
They reproached me. I explained that in Brazil we had a lot of marching.
(...)
The lady hums and I'll see if I know her. She hummed: 'Saudades de minha
terra'. I had never played such a song and in the second part I improvised an
arrangement of the song and this improvised number was the biggest success
of the concert”.

Improvisation and spontaneous creation have always been striking and

determining elements in Brazilian music, as if it were a reflection of the dynamic,
natural, free and abundant life of the first inhabitants of Brazil. The Brazilian
musician, throughout history, is formed by these ethno-musical heritages:
Africans' ability and musicality to develop their music even in an unfavorable
situation; the Portuguese bringing his guitar, being influenced by Afro rhythms
and the magical musicality of the Indians; these are the formative elements of
the Brazilian musician.
With the “chorões”, improvisation became a striking feature of Brazilian music.
While they played, there was always the intention of surprising the partner with
phrases, chords, modulations and syncopations.
Still in Montevideo, Levino reported an experience that would be remarkable in
his career as a concert guitarist. After that first contact with the musical world,
on his first trip to Rio de Janeiro, he would now face a new situation, posed by a
young Uruguayan guitarist:

Levino: “In 1914, when I was already giving concerts in Montevideo, I received
my second guitar lesson; by Martin Iborda Pagola, Uruguayan guitarist. This very
sincere young man attended my concert and the next day he came to visit
me. Despite the praise he paid me, he sincerely advised me to correct the
position of my left and right hand. And he grabbed my left and right hand and
taught me to pull the strings…”.

SAUDADES DO RIO GRANDE (Miss the Rio Grande)

Levino returned to Brazil breaking all social, economic and cultural barriers that
existed at the time, as he played an instrument that was not yet seen with
“good eyes”. Also, he was black and non-seer. He then settled in Porto Alegre
and started teaching. He went through a period of five years without giving
concerts, from 1917 to 1922, but he continued composing and acting as a
teacher.

Levino: “I came to Brazil, entering through Rio Grande do Sul. In Sant'Ana do

Livramento I started my propaganda and for the moral uprising of the blind in
Brazil. And my disappointments were not small, because our people are only
used to seeing the blind ask. Sometimes I would show up at a friend's house
asking for a letter of introduction and instead of the owner, there would come
a maid to say: 'God help you...'. But that didn't intimidate me. And I continued
with the campaign.
(...)
I had to abandon my life as a concert performer from 1917 to 1922, I was
already there in Rio Grande. He lived in Porto Alegre, where I arrived in 1913.
There he had private students.
But before that I founded and directed a Municipal Band in Ijuí, a minor band”.

Levino showed a noble and determined character in the pursuit of his goals. In
all the cities that he visited or lived for some time, he gave concerts, classes,
presented projects to create bands, fought for the opening of schools for the
non-seers, visited influential people in society, authorities, governors, in short, he
continued in his campaign in seeking support and resources.

LEVINO TEACHER

Levino had many students throughout Brazil. Wherever he passed or lived for
some time, he was sought out for guitar lessons. Many of his compositions and
studies are dedicated to distinguished students. Levino was a student of the
works of great masters such as Tárrega and Sor, and so he developed a
didactic for the guitar, which he passed on to his students.

Among his studies are:

* Estudo para desenvolvimento do anelar da mão direita;

* Estudo Melódico para o polegar;
* Folhas Secas nº4;
* Sonatina – Estudo em Lá Maior;
* Andante Expressivo;
* Estudo em Mi Menor.

These are studies in which the author clearly demonstrates knowledge of the
guitar techniques used by the great masters.

Without a doubt, his most outstanding disciple was Dilermando Reis. Levino's
direct heir, he became the most successful composer guitarist of his time.

1931 – DILERMANDO REIS

In an interview at the Museum of Image and Sound in Rio de Janeiro,

Dilermando stated that:

Dilermando Reis: “Levino and João Pernambuco were the greatest Brazilian
guitarists at the time. Levino was the greatest concert guitarist working in his
time; I owe him the fact that I exist as a guitarist (...) I owe him everything I
learned (...) my artistic life”.

A configuration of factors made Dilermando Reis the first great successful

guitarist in Brazil. The radio and the record were his music propellants, making
him known throughout Brazil, so that he became a reference as a guitarist.
Born in Guaratinguetá, on September 22, 1916. He learned his first notes on the
guitar with his father; chico Reis and, around the age of fifteen, he was already
known in his city where he played informally.

Levino da Conceição was already a renowned guitarist and was in full swing
with his concert tours around the country, when he went to play in
Guaratinguetá in 1931. On that occasion, Dilermando went to the concert and,

introduced to Levino, played for him. Levino was impressed with the sound and
asked permission from Dilermando's parents to study with him and accompany
him on his concert tours around Brazil. The family consented and Dilermando
left to study with master Levino, starting one of the most brilliant careers in the
history of the Brazilian guitar.

After some concerts performed in several cities in the interior of São Paulo, in
which, sometime later, Levino presented his pupil in the second part of the
concert, they disembarked at the Central do Brasil Station in Rio de Janeiro and
went to look for João Pernambuco, in Lapa, where this one resided in a
pension. João Pernambuco received them in his room, where they stayed.
Pernambuco and Levino each slept on one face and Dilermando on the floor.

The disciple drank from the fountain; for, for days and nights, there he listened
to his teachers. Friends from when Levino had arrived in Rio in 1903,
Pernambuco and Levino had not seen each other for a long time, and so they
stayed for hours and told each other the news. Each one showed their new
compositions, new ideas, phrases, studies, techniques and research.

Always in search of his goal, Levino needed to return to his concert schedule,
so he left Dilermando Reis in Rio de Janeiro, with some paid hotel rates. It was
the definitive starting point for Dilermando, because from that moment on, he
started a cycle of intense work, first as a teacher, then as a radio musician,
since in the future he would have his own program.

Dilermando performed concerts in Brazil and the United States. He left intense
discography, edited scores and approximately forty years of radio experience.
In addition to being a composer, he was an excellent arranger and interpreter
of the work of Ernesto Nazareth, Pixinguinha and Levino himself, for which he
played songs on the radio and recorded Cateretê Mineiro. He was a defender
of Brazilian music, leading musical projects, including a guitar orchestra.

In his compositions, the influence of Mestre Levino was present. In his interview
to the Museum of Image and Sound, he left his gratitude to those who took him
to Rio de Janeiro. He died on January 2, 1977, in Rio de Janeiro.

TRAJECTORY OF OVERCOMING AND RECOGNITION

On Wednesday, December 12, 1934, the newspaper do Brasil, from Rio de

Janeiro, published an article, as transcribed below:
“The Recital by Levino Conceição, now at the National Institute of Music.
(...)
Today, at 9 pm, the halls of the Instituto Nacional de Música will open to
receive all the admirers of the great blind guitarist, Levino Conceição.
This notable artist, who intends to travel to Europe soon in order to perfect his
music studies, offers today's recital, as a farewell to his large audience in this
capital”.

Levino tirelessly walked the path of music. From 1903 to 1934, he performed
concerts, taught, traveled, fought for the cause of the blind. He crossed all
barriers until he performed on the guitar at the Instituto Nacional de Música, in
Rio de Janeiro. The greatest symbol of Brazilian classical music at the time, the
Institute was a project created by Francisco Manuel da Silva (1795-1865), a
direct disciple of Father José Maurício Nunes Garcia (1767-1803). the most
important Brazilian composer of that period. Father Maurício taught a music
course at his residence in Rio de Janeiro, where Francisco Manuel da Silva
studied and graduated. As the master continued his work, he was the first
director of the Conservatory of Music, inaugurated on August 13, 1848. The
Conservatory was attended by distinguished Brazilian musicians such as:
Henrique Alves de Mesquita, Anacleto de Medeiros, Francisco Braga and
Carlos Gomes. In 1890, the conservatory was renamed Instituto Nacional de
Música and had among its director’s names such as: Leopoldo Miguéz (1850-
1902), Alberto Nepomuceno (1864-1920) and Henrique Oswald (1852-1931).

In turn, Mário de Andrade and Antônio de Sá Pereira created a curriculum

reform plan, which was instituted during the administration of Guilherme
Fontainha, in 1934, the year of Levino's concert at the Institute. It was the first
official music school created in Brazil. It can be said that it was at the same time
the laboratory and the temple of Brazilian music elaborated, documented,
written, from that period.

Now here was Levino, performing at the Leopoldo Miguéz room, one of the
most important concert halls in Brazil, famous for its excellent acoustics. In the
repertoire of the evening concert of December 12, 1934, a year after bringing
Dilermando Reis to Rio, Levino presented his compositions, by Beethoven,
Chopin, Agustín Barrios, Tárrega, Henrique Oswald and Villa-Lobos.

Twelve years later, in 1946, in his interview to the Almirante, Levino revealed true
and rich details of his life, career and plans for the future, but, above all, his
mature and artistic vision. He was a musician aware of his time, of that period
so fundamental for Brazilian music. Levino was very clear on where he wanted
to go with his art. The importance of this interview to the Almirante is
immeasurable, as it translates Levino's own words, his thinking and acting, his
music. These were unpublished revelations, including in relation to the year of
his birth, 1883, which he asked the Almirante not to mention in his interview.

LEVINO ON DECEMBER 3, 1946

In interview to Almirante, in Rio de Janeiro, on December 3, 1946, Levino

Albano da Conceição had made the following statements:

Levino: “For thirty years I performed 1,468 (one thousand four hundred and
sixty-eight concerts): Rio Grande do Sul (for five years), Santa Catarina, Paraná,
Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Bahia, São Paulo, Sergipe, Alagoas, Pernambuco,
Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Amazonas, Pará, Maranhão, Piauí, Mato Grosso,
minus Goiás that I still intend to visit.
(...)
Everything I earned I spent on advertising: I stopped at each place and
installed myself. As I needed some accompanist, I looked for someone who
wanted to learn and started teaching; this was proof that a blind man can
teach seers. In each place, I exhibited the works of the blind at the Instituto
Benjamin Constant, all privately and at my expense. Brooms, dusting brushes,
knitting, beads and women's artifacts.
He tried to instill in the governments of the states, in the municipalities, the need
to support the blind, they are with asylums, but with houses of instruction and
work where they could find means to live, albeit modestly, but from their work.
(...)
The first result was the officialization of instruction for the blind in the State of
Minas Gerais, in 1925, during the government of Dr. Melo Viana. The Rafael
Institute was created, which is today one of the most beautiful ornaments of the
State's educational heritage, for the blind, in Belo Horizonte. As a direct result, I
was offered the position of Technical Director, which I declined because I didn't
want to drop my campaign. Another result was the foundation of the
Association for the Promotion of Instruction and Work for the Blind, in São Paulo,
which is headquartered in the capital and has four branches in the interior. In
the North, I got two small schools for the blind: in Manaus and Fortaleza. Still
influenced by my advertising, a small school is already in operation in Paraíba,
João Pessoa.
(...)
Ending my mission, I gave my concert in support of this idea, in benefit of the
Sociedade dos Cegos de Fortaleza, on February 20, 1943.
(...)
Back in Rio, having understood from my own experience that the guitar was
one of the instruments that best suited the blind in social and economic life, not
only for its ease of presentation but also for mobility and the ease of purchasing
the instrument, I sought out Dr. João Alfredo, current director of the Benjamin
Constant Institute and I exposed my ideas about the creation of a guitar course
at that Institute, and he received it with such sympathy that he arranged for my
appointment to that establishment, where I am Full Professor, since December
3, 1945.
I'm organizing the guitar course. This year I will present a class of six students.
(...)
Alongside my advertising for the blind, I used to advertise typical Brazilian music,
insisting on the performance of our old waltzes, tangos and schottisch. I did a
small study about the origin of our tangos, reaching the conclusion that our
songs originated in African music. Ours mainly. It originated in Maracatu. I
wanted to bring back the old songs from Brazil and I composed stylized drums
 until I entered the school in Nazareth. Afterwards I dedicated myself to
romantic music and, since last, didactic music, concert studies and
improvement studies”.

VICTORIOUS MUSICIAN

Levino Albano da Conceição was a fantastic human being and musician who,
even deprived of physical vision, had his musical eyes open and, through them,
fulfilled his mission, providing light to the lives of many, seers and non-seers.

He was the creator and creator of the guitar course at the Instituto Benjamin
Constant, in Rio de Janeiro, where in 1945 he was appointed professor. He lived
his last years with Cecília Coimbra, with whom he adopted a daughter, Carlota
Cecília Conceição Coimbra.

His name is mentioned in all records of musicians in Brazil, since the beginning of
the 20th century. His life and work, however, are still unknown to the general
public and the musical environment in Brazil and in the world, well known by
the many schools for the visually impaired, of which he is among those
responsible for his creation.

He successfully fulfilled his mission and achieved his goals. He made an essential
contribution to the evolution of the Brazilian guitar, Brazilian music and the
creation of schools for the visually impaired throughout Brazil.

Levino died in Niterói-RJ, on February 19, 1955.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

Brazil deserves the opportunity to meet Levino Albano da Conceição, this

extraordinary musician.

The objective of this work is to rescue and register part of the work of Levino
Albano da Conceição. Without the wonderful work of musicians Francisco
Soares and Toledo Piza, this task would be practically impossible. They are
responsible for writing, in the period between 1940 and 1950, a large part of
Levino's compositions that have been preserved. Still, it is interesting to broaden
the historical perspective and continuity of the musical action of these artists.

Among the proposals of this cultural project, it is opening the way for other
researchers to bring their contribution so that they can publicize the work of
what was one of the pillars of the Brazilian guitar.

Some difficulties encountered in carrying out the work of researching and

rescuing the life and work of Levino da Conceição. Sheet music, information,
documents and photos were lost over time. But many people aware and
sensitive to the importance of this work, of bringing the public and life and the
work of this Master, contributed in an essential way.

I especially mention the participation of José de Medeiros Correa, Seu Zezinho,

guitarist, and his wife Lucídia, singer, living in Niterói, on the same street where
Levino lived. They knew Levino personally and had recounted some episodes in
his life. This family welcomed me into their home with hospitality, joy and music.
We even played together. Dona Cidinha is the daughter of Mr. Antônio de
Freitas Oliveira, Seu Ioiô, whose house was frequented by Jacob do Bandolim,
Pixinguinha, Orlando Silva, Carlos Galhardo, Rogério Guimarães and
Dilermando Reis, among other musicians, the group Época de Ouro.

Responsible for locating and rescuing some of Levino's scores transcribed by

Toledo Piza, Seu Zezinho even made a big surprise when he introduced me to a
guitar that belonged to João Pernambuco.

A great musical soul, Jacob's mandolin can be seen at the Museum of Image
and Sound, in Rio de Janeiro, thanks to him, the instrument's donor. These
moments intensified my will in the search for paths in the history of the Brazilian
guitar.

Another invaluable contribution to this work was the presence of Professor

Ronoel Simões, who reported important facts about Levino and opened the
doors to his personal collection in São Paulo, allowing access to the recording
made by Levino and to some sheet music. Levino dedicated the Andante
Expressivo to his distinguished friend Ronoel Simões.

On a visit to the Benjamin Constant Institute, in Rio de Janeiro, I felt the

atmosphere lived by Levino at that time. The large imposing house preserves
the characteristics of the times of D. Pedro II. Many decades later, on my boat
crossings between Niterói and Rio de Janeiro, I wondered how many times the
great Levino had traveled that route.