Joubert de Carvalho was the composer of some of the biggest classics of Brazilian popular music, like the child songs "Cai, Cai, Balão" and "Tutu Marambá," the marcha-canção "Taí (Pra Você Gostar De Mim)" (which launched the then-novice singer Carmen Miranda, selling 35,000 copies), "Pierrô," "Maringá" (which became the name of the city in the Paraná state), and others. Since his early childhood, he was a music lover, making his own instrument (a recorder) and beginning to play the piano at nine. He moved to São Paulo, with his parents, at 13, when he was already playing by ear. His first composition, the valse "Cruz Vermelha," was written and published in that year. He published around 20 compositions, mostly tangos, between 1914 and 1918, among them "Zezé Leoni," "Último Tango," "Traição," and "Pressentimento." He began studies at medical school, while at the same time he was commissioned by editors Campassi & Camin (later Irmãos Vitale) to write two new compositions per month, which he did for three years. Some successful compositions of that period are the tangos "5 de Janeiro," "Lágrimas de Pierrô," and "Desalento." In 1921, his "Noivos" was his first recorded song. The second was the tango "Agonia," recorded by Pedro Celestino. In 1922, he had his first hit with "O Príncipe," which was also recorded in Europe with great success. He graduated with a degree in medicine in 1925. Two years later, he put music to two poems by Olegário Mariano, "Cai, Cai, Balão," and "Tutu Marambá," which has become part of Brazilian childhood. Mariano very much appreciated the result, and the two of them began a series of 19 classic compositions like "Hula" (recorded by Gastão Formenti in 1929), "Dor de Recordar" (recorded in 1930 by Francisco Alves and Orquestra Pan American), the cateretê "De Papo Pro Á," and the song "Zíngara" (recorded by Gastão Formenti in 1931), the intermezzo "Galanteria" (recorded by Jorge Fernandes in 1931), the foxtrot "Beduíno" (recorded by Gastão Formenti in 1932), the song "Caboclinho" (recorded in 1932 by Jorge Fernandes), "Amor, Brinquedo de Criança" (recorded by Jorge Fernandes in 1935), "A Carícia de Um Beijo," and "Canção do Abandono" and the operetta "Mariúsa" (opened in 1935). Alone, he wrote the tangos-canção "Canarinho" and "Rolinha" (both recorded by Gastão Formenti in 1928), the embolada sertaneja "Os Filhos da Candinha," also recorded by Formenti, who also recorded "A Casinha de Meu Bem" and "História de Toda Gente" in the next year. In 1930, Formenti recorded "Se Ela Te Oferecer Um Grande Amor" (with Osvaldo Orico), the tango-canção "Dor," the canção "Caboquinha," and others. But 1930 was the year of the big hit "Taí (Pra Você Gostar De Mim)." Recorded by the then-novice singer Carmen Miranda, it sold 35,000 copies, becoming a huge record for that period. In the next year, he wrote two other all-time classics of the Brazilian popular music, "Pierrô" (with lyrics by Pascoal Carlos Magno), recorded by Jorge Fernandes, and "Maringá," recorded by Gastão Formenti in 1932. The song's title was adopted as the name of the city of Maringá PR, now a metropolis. In 1932, he had another hit in the Carnival with Carmen Miranda's interpretation for "Amor, Amor." In 1936, "Lembro-me Ainda" was recorded by Francisco Alves with success. Two years later, Sílvio Caldas recorded "Com o Pensamento em Você" and "Não Me Abandones Nunca." In 1939, Orlando Silva recorded "Por Quanto Tempo Ainda?," recording the song "Maria, Maria" and the fox "Em Pleno Luar" in the next year. In 1946, Sílvio Caldas recorded "Minha Casa" and "Nunca Soubeste Amar." In 1962, Carlos Galhardo recorded "Desde Sempre" (lyrics by Mário Rossi), "Mundos Afora," "O Tempo Não Ficou," "Florita," and "O Amor e o Sol." ~ Alvaro Neder