José Mauro, the overlooked Brazilian singer-songwriter who gained a cult following, in absentia, after disappearing in the 1970s, has died after a short illness. Far Out Recordings, the record label whose reissue of Mauro’s Obnoxius led to the discovery that he was alive, confirmed the news. Mauro was 75 years old.
Born in Jacarepaguá, in Rio de Janeiro, Mauro studied composition with the concert pianist Wilma Graça and guitar under Brazilian virtuosos Baden Powell, Roberto Menescal, and Wanda Sá. His early songs earned the attention of producer Roberto Quartin, who introduced him to songwriting partner Ana Maria Bahiana and went on to release Mauro’s music on his own label, Quartin.
That output comprised just two albums, Obnoxius and A Viagem Das Horas, both released in the 1970s. They flew under the radar, and soon after, he did, too. Though his music was not political, rumors swirled that he had fallen victim to Brazil’s military junta, which murdered hundreds of dissidents and exiled artists deemed threatening to the regime. Others, including some of his collaborators, believed he had died in a motorbike accident. His work was gradually rediscovered, partly thanks, in North America and Europe, to tastemaker producers like Madlib and Floating Points.
In 2016, Far Out presented the circumstances of his presumed death in materials accompanying its acclaimed reissue of Obnoxius. But the renewed attention prompted a surprising discovery: Mauro was living out of the public eye, in Rio de Janeiro, having quit his career to take up work at music theaters. Far Out tracked him down to promote the reissue of A Viagem Das Horas, though Mauro had long been unable to perform due to the onset of Parkinson’s disease. He told the label, “My body pushed me away from music, health became a stumbling block for me. If I had the strength to carry on with composing, I would have… always focused on achieving a sense of beauty, a sense of wonder.”
