Na Baixa do Sapateiro

Here's a nice page telling us about one of Ary Barroso's most famous tunes, after the ubiquitous Aquarela Do Brasil. The song is also known as Bahia, as anyone who's heard Fatha Hines' version knows(Pino - it was him wasn't it?). My personal favourites are Dorival Caymmi's heart-breaking guitar and (loud) vocal version, Joao Gilberto's solo guitar rendition, and Caetano Veloso's re-elaboration of the latter as a horn arrangement at the beginning of his own version, an overlooked gem in his reknowned 1997 Livro album.

Also, the song was so famous in the fifties, it was even featured in one of the dances in the landmark fifties comedy/entertainment movie, I Pompieri Di Viggiù. Bet you didn't know that.

And typing all of this has been very hard, because a cat has been sleeping on my lap throughout.