Noteworthy guardian of Brazil's music.

• Author: Holston, Mark
• Position: Musicologist Almir Chediak

If asked to name a singer, instrumentalist, or composer from Brazil who's made a mark on the world stage in the last half century, most serious music fans wouldn't pause long before coming up with such names as Jobim, Gilberto, Bonfa, Nascimento, Veloso, and Gil. But if pressed to identify the figure considered by Brazilian musicians themselves to be critical to the success of their art form, a diligent behind-the-scenes worker who toiled to formalize the enormous output of his land's best composers and make their music available to professional musicians, students, and scholars throughout the world, few would be able to come up with the name Almir Chediak. Sadly, it was only when news of his tragic and untimely death was given play by the international media that knowledge of this central figure to the success of Brazil's contemporary music culture would spread to those who indirectly benefited most from his efforts--Brazilian music fans around the globe.

On May 26 of this year, two bandits broke into Chediak's home in Petropolis, the old imperial capital of Brazil about fifty miles northwest of Rio de Janeiro, and murdered the noted musicologist while looting his possessions. The country, particularly those musicians who were closest to him, was stunned. "I was in Brazil that day watching television when I beard the bad news," recalls Rio born, New York City-based guitarist and composer Romero Lubambo. "I was completely shocked."

"His death was a shame for "all of us," Pedro Otavio Passos, manager of Modern Sound, a music mega-store in Copacabana that specializes in recorded mid published Brazilian music, laments about the endemic crime wave that threatens virtually every Brazilian.

"Almir's loss was a terrible one for the music," says famed MPB (Brazilian Popular Music) singer mid composer Joyce of his passing. "It was a loss for Brazilian cultural memory and personally for Tutty [Moreno, her drummer and husband] and me, as he was our close personal friend."

Although he was an accomplished guitarist, Chediak entered the world of music as a publisher of music-method books and histories, laboriously researched and painstakingly produced songbooks by noted Brazilian composers, and producer of recordings designed to showcase both composers and interpreters. His company, Lumiar Discos & Editora, produced dozens of one-of-a kind publications mad recordings, virtually all created with an international audience in mind, handsomely designed with...