Sambista is 83 years old and was “baptized” in the 1960s at the suggestion of Sergio Cabral Pie and Zie Kitty, at the Zicartola restaurant.
November 12
2025
– 9:01 pm
(Updated at 9:06 p.m.)
summary
Paulinho da Viola is 83 years old and remembers the origin of his stage name, which was suggested by Zé Kitty and Sergio Cabral Pai in the Zicartola restaurant in the 1960s, and which was widely praised on social media by musical figures.
On Wednesday the 12th of this month, Paulo Cesare Battista di Faria, known as Paulinho da Viola, turns 83 years old. A famous samba artist and MPB, he was born in the Botafogo neighborhood, in the southern region of Rio de Janeiro, and in the city center he got the artistic name that made him famous. The stage was the Zicartola restaurant, a project by Dona Zica e Cartola, in a townhouse on Rua da Carioca, No. 53.
There, between 1963 and 1965, Paulo Cesare Battista di Faria made his debut, devoting himself exclusively to his musical career. Previously, the time was also busy with a technical accounting course and working in a bank. At the age of 21, the young man was introduced to the venue by the poet Herminio Bello de Carvalho and played the guitar and cavaquinho to accompany the musicians who performed at the venue.
From the hands of Cartola he received his first wages. However, the suggestion for the stage name came from Ze Kitty, with whom Paulinho would form future partnerships, and also from the famous journalist Sergio Cabral, music producer and father of Sergio de Oliveira Cabral Santos Filho, former governor of Rio and sentenced to more than 400 years in prison for crimes of corruption, money laundering, currency evasion and others.
“Ze Kitty organized a group to leave some songs on a record company (…) When the people sang, the technician asked what the name was and they answered ‘Elton Medeiros’, ‘Jair do Cavaquinho’… After I sang, they asked me, and I answered ‘Paolo Cesare’. They said that the song ‘Paolo Cesare’ wouldn’t work and that was the joke. Then Zee Kitty, together with Sergio Cabral, wrote in the newspaper that I was ‘Paulino da Viola’ of their invention,” The Samba player said this in interviews throughout his career. The last one was on the Altas Horas program on TV Globo, in February this year.
On Thursday, Paulinho was widely celebrated on social media by figures from the world of entertainment and music. Fátima Bernardes, Carlinhos Brown and Martinho da Villa were among those who expressed their congratulations to the “prince of samba” and the composer of works such as “Temonero”, “Argumento” and “Foi Um Rio Que Passou em Minha Vida”.
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