Ray Conniff - BRAZIL (Aquarela do Brasil - Ary Barroso) video free download

JOSEPH RAYMOND CONNIFF (November 6, 1916 -- October 12, 2002) was an American bandleader and arranger best known for his Ray Conniff Singers during the 1960s.

Conniff was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts, and learned to play the trombone from his father. He studied music arranging from a course book. After serving in the U.S. Army in World War II (where he worked under Walter Schumann), he joined the Artie Shaw big band and wrote many arrangements for him. After his stint with Shaw he was then hired by Mitch Miller, then head of A&R at Columbia Records, as their home arranger, working with several artists including Rosemary Clooney, Marty Robbins, Frankie Laine, Johnny Mathis, Guy Mitchell and Johnnie Ray. He wrote a top 10 arrangement for Don Cherry's "Band of Gold" in 1955, a single that sold more than a million copies.

ARY BARROSO

Ary Barroso (November 7, 1903 -- February 9, 1964) was a Brazilian composer, pianist, soccer commentator, and talent-show host on radio and TV. He was one of Brazil's most successful songwriters in the first half of the 20th century.

Barroso's two best-known compositions are the sambas "Aquarela do Brasil" ("Watercolor of Brazil"), written in 1939, and "Na Baixa do Sapateiro" ("Bahia"), composed a year earlier. "Watercolor of Brazil" was featured in Saludos Amigos (1942) and "Na Baixa do Sapateiro" in The Three Caballeros (1944), both Disney films. The two songs became international hits, and have been recorded by hundreds of artists around the world. Among his major interpreters are Carmen Miranda and João Gilberto.

In 1945, his song "Rio de Janeiro", featured in the 1944 film Brazil, was one of the five finalists nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

His song "Aquarela do Brasil" was used as the main theme of the 1985 film "Brazil".

He died of liver cirrhosis in 1964.