In 1941, Henri Salvador announced, in Cannes, his famous tour of South America with Ray Ventura.
Handwritten letter from Henri Salvador to his mother.
In French.
One page, front and back.
23.3 cm x 18.1 cm.
Cannes, 1941.
Good condition of conservation.
Unique piece.
Original text in French, translated into Portuguese
I have good news for you. Mr. Ray Ventura has offered to make a tour with his orchestra in Spain and Portugal and possibly in South America and all this on very advantageous terms. Furthermore, the fact that I can come later to join you has decided to accept me despite one condition that bothers me very much: it is absolutely impossible for Mr. Ventura to take André with him.
At the age of fifteen, Henri Salvador (1917-2008) was enchanted by the jazz of masters Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington and decided to pursue a career in music. A love at first sight for the music of Django Reinhardt, heard on the radio, led him to choose his instrument: the guitar. Henri and his older brother, André, practiced day and night until they achieved their goal: to join an orchestra. The Salvador brothers played in Boulogne-sur-Mer, Paris and Nice, where they met Ray Ventura (1908-1979), a great French composer and jazz musician, who would choose Henri for a major Brazilian tour.
Twenty years later, Dans mon île is a huge success in Brazil: it is even said that this song inspired the first bossa nova compositions, being a delicious mix of jazz and samba.
When he returned to Brazil in 2006, Henry was received like a king. He left his handprints on the legendary Toca do Vinícius pavement and sang a duet with Gilberto Gil, then Minister of Culture, who awarded him the Order of Merit and lamented, two years later, the passing of "one of the main creators of bossa nova."
For those who love music in general and Bossa Nova in particular, Henri Salvador is one of the great names to have in your collection. This particular letter, in the middle of World War II, shows the beginning of the artist's career when he was invited by the renowned Ray Ventura to tour South America and Brazil; a very important tour for the history of the artist and Bossa Nova.
