On June 19, 1919, his father died and Zequinha moved, with his family, to São Paulo SP, where he was employed by the publishing house Casa Beethoven as a sheet-music demonstrator. When he asked for suggestions about the song's name, his bassist Artur de Carvalho replied that he had already named it: "Tico-tico No Fubá." He commented to his bandmates that those people were just like tico-ticos (a kind of little bird) eating corn meal. This jumpy, fast-tempo song made the dancing couples go crazy in the ballroom. In 1917, he played with his orchestra a new composition, still unnamed, at a ball. Around 1915, he had already written nearly 100 compositions. At this time, he was also a politician, but was composing even more: choros, marchinhas, valsas, tangos, and several other genres. Then, Zequinha formed the Lira Santarritense and Smart Orchestra (which played at the similary titled cinema), which were both very successful in nearby upcountry cities in 1911, the Lira earned second place at a band contest. In 1896, Zequinha composed the maxixe "Bafo de Onça." His xote "D'alva" and valse "Soluços" were published by Casa Sotero, RJ. Once in his hometown, he formed a locally renowned band. On his way home, he composed the valse "Flor da Estrada." One day, deciding to be a musician, he ran out of the seminary and went back home. Later he would study with Rossini Tavares de Lima (uncle of the famous researcher of the same name). There he began to take harmony classes with conductor José Pinto Tavares and Father Juvenal Kelly. At ten, he joined the group of José de Abreu, and, shortly after, in 1884, he entered the Episcopal Seminary to become a priest, his mother's wish. Moving to Itu to study at the Colégio São Luís, he was already playing an ocarina. At this time, he organized a little band with his classmates at school. At seven, began to take music classes with Dionísio Machado, and later with José Inácio. In this period, he was given a little harmonica, on which he quickly learned to play simple melodies. At five, Zequinha was already a music enthusiast, spending hours delightfully watching musicians play. His most famous composition, "Tico-tico No Fubá" (known abroad as "Tico-Tico"), is today still recorded by great artists worldwide, from all styles. Since then, Tico-tico has been performed or recorded by artists as diverse as Carmen Miranda, The Andrews Sisters, The Berlin Philharmonic, Charlie Parker, Liberace and the Grateful Dead.Zequinha de Abreu was one of the prominent Brazilian composers of the "Belle Époque," having contributed to the establishment of the choro genre. Her recording reached no.14 in the US pop charts in January 1945 and sold nearly 2 million copies worldwide. It was first recorded in 1931 by the Orquestra Colbaz and Ethel Smith performed Tico-tico as a song in the MGM film "Bathing Beauties" in 1944. He commented on this to the band and the tune was named "Tico-tico no fubá" - "Sparrow in the Cornmeal". In 1917 Abreu's band played a new up tempo number of his at a ball which had the dancers hopping about like little birds. His first three numbers - a maxixe, a xote and a valse were published in 1896 and, while continuing as band leader, Abreu pursued a career as a composer of choros, marchinas, tangos and valsas so that, by 1915, he had a list of one hundred compositions to his name. His musical education continued at the Episcopal Seminary where he studied for the priesthood, but he left to return home, formed a band and started to compose. Abreu was born in the little highland town of Santa Rita do Passa Quatro, to the northwest of Sao Paulo in Brazil, where he began to learn music at the age of seven.
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