Revival of vinyl records in Brazil spares a 77-year-old singer – and others – from oblivion

SAO PAULO (AP) — It took almost a half century for Brazilian singer Cátia de França to find her audience, but she finally has — with the help of a near-obsolete audio technology.

Born in Paraíba, a state in Brazil’s poor northeast region, 77-year-old de França’s blend of psychedelic rock with traditional rhythms and modernist poetry long went overlooked, even as she toured the nation in the 1970s and '80s.

During the pandemic, she retreated to a conservation area in the mountains above Rio de Janeiro, “where you can’t even imagine an internet signal,” she told The Associated Press.

Then one day in 2021 her phone rang. It was the co-founder of an independent label in Sao Paulo who wanted to reissue her 1979 debut album, “20 Palavras ao Redor do Sol" (20 Words Around the Sun), on vinyl.

“I thought, ‘This must be a prank,’” de França recalled. “He started talking to me, and I realized it wasn’t.”

De França has since been thrust into the limelight, with fans and concerts in the alternative circuit.

Her belated fame largely reflects a revival taking place in Brazil, where last year vinyl records outsold CDs and DVDs for the first time in decades. Revenue doubled to 11 million reais ($2.2 million) in 2023 from the prior year, and was more than 15 times higher than in 2019, according to Pro-Musica, an association of Brazil’s largest record companies. And those figures include only new releases, as second-hand sales are almost impossible to track.

The market for used LPs never fully died, and now is on the upswing, said Carlos Savalla, a 66-year-old music producer in Rio who owns more than 60,000 vinyl records.

There are thousands of vinyl traders on websites and Facebook groups, while local aficionados and foreign hunters scour fairs, flea markets and used record shops in search of the samba, bossa nova, tropicalismo and Brazilian Popular Music LPs to complete their collection.

Vinyl’s comeback in Brazil follows a global trend over the last 15 years. In the U.S. alone, revenues from vinyl records hit $1.4 billion in 2023, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Recent renewed American interest is sometimes attributed to Taylor Swift, whose 2022 “Midnights” album became the first major album release to have its vinyl sales top CDs since 1987. That year, Swift accounted for one of every 25 vinyl albums sold in the U.S.

In Brazil, surging interest isn’t due to top-streamed artists, who aren’t even releasing records, said Marcelo Fróes, a music journalist and researcher. Rather, today’s buyers are listeners interested in getting classic albums and discovering new artists or once-obscure musicians.

By 2008, all of Brazil's vinyl factories had shuttered. But, inspired by a revival in Europe and the U.S., producer João Augusto and his partners decided to buy — and resuscitate — a former vinyl pressing plant: Polysom.

“We started reissuing old albums with significant commercial appeal and demand. So now, the factory serves record labels, independent artists and reissues old albums,” said Luciano Barreira, Polysom’s general manager.

Fifteen years later, Polysom has pressed 1.3 million records and competitors opened two other factories in Brazil. One of them pressed a small circulation of a grant-funded vinyl for da França in 2019.

Also finding his vinyl groove at the time was João Noronha, a 32-year-old sound engineer who teamed up with two friends to start the label Três Selos in 2019, offering subscribers a freshly minted record by mail each month.

“We didn’t expect much,” Noronha said, but in the first month of operations, 120 subscribers sought the reissue of “Sinceramente," a 1982 album by Sérgio Sampaio, a Brazilian singer from the 1970s and '80s.

One of Noronha's partners, Rafael Cortes, noticed de França’s rare 1979 debut album was fetching up to 700 reais ($135) in the second-hand market. Once the partners got the green light from her former label for a reissue, they decided it was time to phone the singer at her mountain hideaway.

“She was extremely suspicious, asking: ‘Who are you? Where do you come from?’” Cortes remembered.

“I think her mistrust comes from the fact that the industry often pushed her aside,” he said. “Imagine her, a Black, northeastern, lesbian woman in the 1970s, who never made any concessions and stood by who she was: a combative person, firm in her principles.”

De França started as a musical director in theater plays then moved into performing, touring alongside some of the country’s most popular artists in the 1970s. She avoided traditional arrangements and used off-beat instruments like the accordion and the 12-string guitar, rendering her music markedly distinct from the prevailing sound.

That sort of noncommercial output made her record label, the Brazilian subsidiary of Columbia Records, reluctant to spend money in promotion, music writer said Chris Fuscaldo.

“She didn’t receive a major marketing effort from the label or the promotional investment that others did,” said Fuscaldo, author of the book “1979 — O ano que ressignificou a MPB” (1979 — The Year that Redefined Brazilian Popular Music).

But Fuscaldo, who wrote her doctoral thesis on the erasure of women from Brazil's music history, believes de França's suppression back then is what makes her appealing today: Her unique style didn’t go stale.

The 2,000 copies of the “20 Palavras” reissue quickly sold out among Três Selos' club members and other individual buyers.

Isadora Attab, a 35-year-old designer, was hooked at first listen.

“She’s absolutely brilliant — the artist I wish I had known as a teenager when I started listening to crazy American rock stars like Bob Dylan,” Attab said at a recent concert, where she snapped up the second-to-last copy on sale. “I look at this cover and imagine how the album will be displayed in my house. I want this woman’s face looking over me all day.”

While small, independent labels focus on elevating exiles from the pantheon of Brazilian popular music, larger companies want a piece of the action, too.

The Brazilian subsidiary of Universal Music started its own vinyl club in 2022, repressing albums by some of the country’s all-time greats like Gilberto Gil, Chico Buarque, Rita Lee and Maria Bethânia. It also sells imported records of foreign artists ranging from Billie Eilish to The Beatles and Ella Fitzgerald.

De França may remain in their shadow, but now she has a spotlight to call her own. On April 19, she took the stage at a warehouse transformed into a coveted venue in São Paulo for independent artists. The house was packed with 30- and 40-somethings, some with their own kids in tow. They shouted “Marvelous!” and “I love you!” while stage lights reflected on de França's short, cloud-like hair that was radiant against her dark skin.

“I’m here presenting a new record, while many thought I wouldn’t make another,” she said, smiling widely. “These songs have always been with me, but were dormant.”

A 12-string played a hinterland melody as de França kept rhythm with Afro-Brazilian rattles known as caxixis. Then she launched into her first song, letting her lyrics flow:

“I was reborn, rising from the ashes like a phoenix, disquieting my enemies ...”

After her show, she walked off stage and someone draped woolen garments over her shoulders to shield her from the evening chill. One might have mistaken her for just another elderly woman — and not the rockstar she has finally become.

AP videojournalist Lucas Dumphreys in Rio de Janeiro contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

FILE - Brazilian singer Catia de Franca, 77, belts out a tune at a warehouse converted into a venue for independent artists in Sao Paulo, Brazil, April 19, 2024. It took almost half a century for de França to find her audience. Her belated fame largely reflects a revival taking place in Brazil, where vinyl records outsold CDs and DVDs for the first time last year. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)

Deejay Mustafa Baba-Aissa, originally from Algeria, shows a copy of Carmen Miranda's The Brazilian Bombshell Ace of Hearts 1965 album, in his Vinil do Mustafa record shop, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, April 19, 2024. In Brazil, surging interest in vinyl records are listeners interested in classic albums and discovering new artists or once-obscure musicians. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

An operator trims a pressed record at the Polysom factory, in Belford Roxo, Brazil, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. In Brazil, vinyl records outsold CDs and DVDs for the first time last year. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Sound operator William Carvalho prepares the audios to start cutting an album, part of the first stage of vinyl production at the Polysom factory, in Belford Roxo, Brazil, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. In 2008, producer João Augusto and his partners bought and resuscitated Polysom, then a former vinyl pressing plant. Fifteen years later, Polysom has pressed 1.3 million records and competitors opened two other factories in Brazil. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Sound operator William Carvalho begins cutting a record on an acetate surface that is part of the first stage of vinyl production at the Polysom factory in Belford Roxo, Brazil, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. By 2008, all of Brazil's vinyl factories had shuttered. But, inspired by a revival in Europe and the U.S., producer João Augusto and his partners decided to buy — and resuscitate — the former vinyl pressing plant Polysom. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Operators work in the pressing stage of vinyl records production at the Polysom factory in Belford Roxo, Brazil, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Vinyl’s comeback in Brazil follows a global trend over the last 15 years. In the U.S. alone, revenues from vinyl records hit $1.4 billion in 2023, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Carlos Savalla holds an album produced by the Brazilian record company RGE founded in 1947, in his studio where he maintains his music collection, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, April 19, 2024. Savalla, a 66-year-old music producer in Rio, owns more than 60,000 vinyl records. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Carlos Savalla returns a batch of albums to a shelf in his studio where he maintains his music collection, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, April 19, 2024. Savalla, a 66-year-old music producer in Rio, owns more than 60,000 vinyl records. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Jorge Veiga's 1963 Samba E Ginga album cover is propped against a shelf filled with Carlos Savalla's music collection, in his studio in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, April 19, 2024. Savalla, a 66-year-old music producer in Rio, owns more than 60,000 vinyl records. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Deejay Mustafa Baba-Aissa, originally from Algeria, adjusts his sound system after placing a vinyl record on a turntable in his Vinil do Mustafa record shop, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, April 19, 2024. Vinyl records in Brazil outsold CDs and DVDs for the first time last year. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Deejay Mustafa Baba-Aissa, originally from Algeria, places a needle on a vinyl record on a turntable in his Vinil do Mustafa record shop, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, April 19, 2024. Vinyl records in Brazil outsold CDs and DVDs for the first time last year. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

FILE - Brazilian singer Catia de Franca, 77, performs using Afro-Brazilian rattles known as caxixis and a cow bell at a warehouse converted into a venue for independent artists in Sao Paulo, Brazil, April 19, 2024. It took almost half a century for de França to find her audience. Her belated fame largely reflects a revival taking place in Brazil, where vinyl records outsold CDs and DVDs for the first time last year. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)

FILE - Brazilian singer Catia de Franca, 77, performs at a warehouse converted into a venue for independent artists in Sao Paulo, Brazil, April 19, 2024. It took almost half a century for de França to find her audience. Her belated fame largely reflects a revival taking place in Brazil, where vinyl records outsold CDs and DVDs for the first time last year. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)

FILE - Brazilian singer Catia de Franca, 77, performs at a warehouse converted into a venue for independent artists in Sao Paulo, Brazil, April 19, 2024. It took almost half a century for de França to find her audience. Her belated fame largely reflects a revival taking place in Brazil, where vinyl records outsold CDs and DVDs for the first time last year. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — If every dog must have its day, one champion canine is about to have its year.

By the end of Tuesday night, one of the more than 2,500 hounds, terriers, spaniels, setters and others that entered this year's Westminster Kennel Club dog show will be crowned best in show.

Will Comet the shih tzu streak to new heights after winning the big American Kennel Club National Championship last year? Could Monty, a giant schnauzer who is the nation’s top-ranked dog, make a play for the Westminster title that narrowly eluded him last year?

Or would a wise bet be Sage the miniature poodle or Mercedes the German shepherd, both guided by handlers who have won the big prize before?

What about Louis, the Afghan hound whose handler and co-owner says he lives up to his breed's nickname as “the king of dogs”? Or Micah, the striking black cocker spaniel, or Frankie, the colored bull terrier?

All seven were set to face off in the final round of the United States' most illustrious dog show. It's being held in the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, home of the U.S. Open tennis tournament.

In an event where all competitors are champions in the sport's point system, winning can depend on subtleties and a standout turn in the ring.

“Just to be in the ring with everyone else is an honor,” Monty's handler and co-owner, Katie Bernardin, said in the ring after his semifinal win. “We all love our dogs. We’re trying our best.”

Monty, who also was a finalist last year, is “a stallion” of a giant schnauzer, Bernardin of Chaplin, Connecticut, said in an interview before his semifinal win. She described him as solid, powerful and “very spirited."

So “spirited” that while Bernardin was pregnant, she did obedience and other dog sports with Monty because he needed the stimulation.

While she loves giant schnauzers, “they’re not an easy breed,” she cautions would-be owners. But she adds that the driven dogs can be great to have “if you can put the time into it.”

Dogs first compete against others of their breed. Then the winner of each breed goes up against others in its “group.” The seven group winners meet in the final round.

The best in show winner gets a trophy and a place in dog-world history, but no cash prize.

Other dogs that vied in vain for a spot in the finals included Stache, a Sealyham terrier. He won the National Dog Show that was televised on Thanksgiving and took top prize at a big terrier show in Pennsylvania last fall.

Stache showcases a rare breed that’s considered vulnerable to extinction even in its native Britain.

“They’re a little-known treasure,” said Stache’s co-owner, co-breeder and handler, Margery Good of Cochranville, Pennsylvania, who has bred “Sealys” for half a century. Originally developed in Wales to hunt badgers and other burrowing game, the terriers with a “fall” of hair over their eyes are courageous but comedic — Good dubs them “silly hams.”

Westminster can feel like a study in canine contrasts. Just walking around, a visitor could see a Chihuahua peering out of a carrying bag at a stocky Neapolitan mastiff, a ring full of honey-colored golden retrievers beside a lineup of stark-black giant schnauzers, and handlers with dogs far larger than themselves.

Shane Jichetti was one of them. Ralphie, the 175-pound (34-kg) great Dane she co-owns, outweighs her by a lot. It takes considerable experience to show so big an animal, but “if you have a bond with your dog, and you just go with it, it works out,” she said.

Plus Ralphie, for all his size, is “so chill,” said Jichetti. Playful at home on New York's Staten Island, he's spot-on — just like his harlequin-pattern coat — when it's time to go in the ring.

“He's just an honest dog,” Jichetti said.

The Westminster show, which dates to 1877, centers on the traditional purebred judging that leads to the best in show prize. But over the last decade, the club has added agility and obedience events open to mixed-breed dogs.

And this year, the agility competition counted its first non-purebred winner, a border collie-papillon mix named Nimble.

Monty, a giant schnauzer, is walked during the working group competition at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Monty, a giant schnauzer, is walked during the working group competition at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Boo, an Irish setter, is walked during the sporting group competition at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

An English springer spaniel is walked during the sporting group competition at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Micah, a black cocker spaniel, is walked during the sporting group competition at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

A Great Dane waits for breed group judging at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

A dog watches breed group judging at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Dogs and handlers wait for breed group judging at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

A handler brushes her dog during the junior showmanship competition at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club dog show Tuesday, May 14, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Dalmatians wait to compete in breed group judging at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Monday, May 13, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

A dog watches breed group judging at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Monday, May 13, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

A handler holds a dog at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Monday, May 13, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

A handler runs with a dog during breed group judging at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Monday, May 13, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

A golden retriever handler wears a pendant during breed group judging at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

A golden retriever handler holds a brush during breed group judging at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

A golden retriever and its handler wait to compete in breed group judging at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Golden retrievers and their handlers wait to compete in breed group judging at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

A great Dane waits for breed group judging at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Golden retrievers and their handlers wait to compete in breed group judging at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

A great Dane waits for breed group judging at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

A golden retriever and its handler wait to compete in breed group judging at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Handler Alicia Jones runs with Afghan Hound Louis during breed group judging at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Monday, May 13, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Comet, a Shih Tzu, competes in breed group judging at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Monday, May 13, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)