Itamar Assumpção
| Itamar Assumpção | |
|---|---|
| Born |
September 13, 1949 Tietê, Brazil |
| Died | June 12, 2003 (aged 53) São Paulo, Brazil |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, songwriter |
Itamar Assumpção (September 13, 1949 – June 12, 2003) was a Brazilian songwriter and composer who was born in Tietê, a city in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Assumpção built a strong reputation in the Brazilian independent and alternative music scenes during the 1980s and 1990s, particularly in his home state of São Paulo.
Itamar Assumpção was one of the biggest names and contributors in the "Vanguarda Paulista" ("São Paulo Vanguard" in English), an alternative scene that dominated São Paulo in the very late 70s and the first half of the 80s. This movement united artists who operated involuntarily outside of the established commercial music industry during an era that pre-dated the Internet, the politics of downloading and the contemporary indie music scene. The "Vanguarda" was responsible for launching many new talents and establishing a foundation for autonomous, self-sufficient music production (and subsequent release) by artists such as Arrigo Barnabé and Grupo Rumo.
Assumpção's music was a fusion of various styles and was predominantly influenced by "rock", "samba" and "funk". The lyrics contained within the songs were infused with sharp satire and heavy social criticism, with the lyrical content of Assumpção's music also reflecting a number of influences - Adoniran Barbosa, Cartola, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, the poetry of Paulo Leminski and Alice Ruiz.
Assumpção was black; a great-grandson of Angolan slaves and grew up listening to the drums of umbanda (a kind of voodoo tradition also based upon Christianism) in the backyard patio of his home. It was later in his youth that Jimi Hendrix came to prominence and, being a self-taught acoustic guitar player, a young Assumpção fell in love with the rhythm section of the music of the now-legendary guitar virtuoso. Assumpção actually grew up in Arapongas, a municipality of the Brazilian state, Paraná, the area he moved to at the age of 12 after his birthplace of São Paulo. Embracing a passion for music from an early age, Assumpção reportedly left accounting school during the second term to perform drama at the theater and music concerts in the city of Londrina instead.
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