Jorge Palma, one of Portugal's best-loved songwriters, has died at 76
The singer and composer died on Monday night of cardiorespiratory arrest, his family and agency said. Portugal's President called him one of the great poets of the country's music.
Jorge Palma died on Monday night at the age of 76. His family and his agency confirmed the death in a statement, giving the cause as cardiorespiratory arrest.
If you have lived in Portugal for any length of time, you have heard him without necessarily knowing it. “Encosta-te a Mim”, “Deixa-me Rir”, “Frágil”, “Dá-me Lume”, “A Gente Vai Continuar” — these are songs that a room full of Portuguese strangers will finish for you, word for word, at two in the morning. That is a rare kind of fame. It does not come from chart positions.
Fifty years, and never quite where you expected him
Palma played piano, guitar and harmonica, wrote his own words, and spent decades refusing to be filed anywhere tidy. He filled big halls and he played near-empty bars. He recorded with whoever he felt like recording with, disappeared for stretches, came back. Nobody ever doubted the talent. The reliability was his own business.
The official recognition arrived late and then kept arriving. He won the José Afonso Prize in 2002 for the album that carries his name, and in 2012 he was the first recipient of the Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores’ Pedro Osório Prize, for “Com Todo o Respeito”. This April, at the Coliseu dos Recreios in Lisbon, he collected the Career Award at the PLAY — Portuguese Music Awards, five months before his death.
His last album was called “VIDA”. The special edition shipped with a facsimile of his own handwritten first draft of the title track, and featured Manuela Azevedo and Rui Reininho.
A country said goodbye inside a few hours
The Presidency’s note spoke of great sadness and consternation, and of a country taking leave of one of its icons and one of the great poets of its music and its sensibility. The prime minister said Palma goes but the music stays, in the words, the melodies and the memory of several generations.
Portuguese musicians have spent a lot of the last year arguing about where songs should live — Salvador Sobral pulled his records off Spotify for seven months before putting them back. Palma’s answer was always simpler than any platform. The songs live wherever somebody is singing them.
His official site is still up this morning, the “VIDA” box still front and centre, as though nothing had happened.
By Lucy Bennett
Image: Jorge Palma
