João Bosco hands O Bêbado e a Equilibrista to Elis Regina’s son and granddaughter

João Bosco has given “O Bêbado e a Equilibrista”, the song he wrote with Aldir Blanc and that Elis Regina turned into one of the most recognisable recordings in Brazilian popular music, to her son Pedro Mariano and her granddaughter Rafa Mariano. Their version sits near the end of Amigos Novos e Antigos, the first album in Bosco’s long career built entirely on duets.

The record matters because Bosco is not using it as a greatest-hits lap. The guitarist and singer from Minas Gerais, whose partnership with Blanc shaped decades of MPB, hands his catalogue to two kinds of partners: contemporaries such as Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso, Martinho da Vila and Zeca Pagodinho, and younger voices including Jota.pê, Bruna Black, Silva and Tiago Iorc. Released by Som Livre, it runs to 18 tracks and close to 90 minutes.

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The Mariano thread runs deeper than one track. Pianist César Camargo Mariano, Elis Regina’s former husband and Pedro’s father, plays on “Casa de Marimbondo”, which puts three generations of the family on a single tracklist. Rafa Mariano, who plays piano and guitar, made her stage debut only recently, singing alongside her father.

The guest list leans toward players as much as singers. Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba joins Chico Buarque on “Incompatibilidade de Gênios”, mandolinist Hamilton de Holanda takes “Nação”, clarinettist Anat Cohen shares “Jade” with Jota.pê, and cellist Jaques Morelenbaum and singer Vanessa Moreno carry “Memória da Pele”. Trombonist Rafael Rocha wrote the string and brass arrangements and co-produced with Bosco, while his daughter Julia Bosco directed the project. “Perfeição”, sung with Tiago Iorc, was written with his son Francisco Bosco, and Ivete Sangalo closes the main run with a nine-minute “Corsário”.

“These songs were never only mine,” Bosco said in remarks quoted by Billboard Brasil. “From the moment they were born, they started to belong to people. Now they come back different, carrying the stories of those who sang, heard, recorded and lived with them.”

The format carries its usual risks. Duets albums by veteran stars tend to sag under their own guest lists, and 18 tracks at this length ask a lot of a listener who is not already devoted to the songbook. Bosco sings alone on only two of them, “Toma Lá, Dá Cá” and “Boca de Sapo”, and the repertoire comes entirely from his existing catalogue rather than new writing. Early reception in Brazil has been warm, with G1 critic Mauro Ferreira giving it five stars, but international listeners arrive with little context: Last.fm counted only around 720 listeners for the album in its first week.

The project marks Bosco’s 80th birthday, which fell on July 13, and its songs span his work from 1974 to 2011. Six of the tracks first appeared on an EP in July, before the full album reached digital platforms on September 25, 2026, with Martinho da Vila framing it at both ends on the opening and closing versions of “Odilê, Odilá”.

Tags: Brazilian music, MPB, Amigos Novos e Antigos, Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, João Bosco

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