Mamonas Assassinas

Mamonas Assassinas
Background information
Origin	Guarulhos, São Paulo, Brazil
Genres	Rock
Years active	1989–1996
Labels	EMI
Past members	Dinho Samuel Reoli Júlio Rasec Sérgio Reoli Bento Hinoto Marcio Araujo

Mamonas Assassinas was a Brazilian pop rock band. Known originally as Utopia, Their musical style employed a humorous mixture between rock and a wide range of styles, often borrowing elements from other music, among which were the main riff of the Portuguese Vira ("Vira-Vira"), Northeastern Brazilian rhythms like forró ("Jumento Celestino"), Mexican music ("Pelados em Santos"), heavy metal ("Débil Metal"), sertanejo ("Bois Don't Cry"), and even pagode ("Lá Vem o Alemão").

The band's name carries a double-entendre as, in Portuguese, mamonas can be either the name of the Castor oil plant, which contains the highly toxic compound ricin (their logo incorporated a castor bean) or the augmentative for mamas, meaning breasts (which were prominently pictured on the album cover). The band mentioned model Mari Alexandre as an influence to the name, and even translated the name into English as "Killer Big Breasts".

On 2 March 1996, the plane in which the band was traveling crashed into the Cantareira mountain range, near São Paulo, killing all five band members. Their short lived and "meteoric" success were celebrated for decades and the members are remembered and celebrated even to the present day in Brazil.

History

Early years and major era

The band started its activities in 1989 as a trio, without Dinho and Júlio, performing covers of Legião Urbana and Rush. Soon Dinho and Júlio were incorporated, and the band, then going as Utopia, performed in the suburbs of São Paulo. They managed to release an album, but it sold less than 100 copies. When it was clear that their comic skills and funny songs were better accepted than their serious performance, the band decided to fully embrace the comedy in their music, including a change to a double entendre name. Their first demo reached the artistic director of EMI-Odeon, João Augusto Soares. Soares didn't like the music, but his teenage son, Rafael, loved it. Convinced by his son, João Augusto hired the band.

The plane crash

The band's successful career came to an end along with all band members' lives on 2 March 1996, due to a plane crash. After a show in Brasília, the band was flying to São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport, in Guarulhos. They were going home to spend a day off with their families since the next day they would travel to Portugal to start a new tour. The plane crashed at the Serra da Cantareira, 20 miles away from the airport at 23:16 BRT. Along with the band members, four other people died in the crash: - Jorge Germano, the pilot; - Alberto Takeda, the co-pilot; - Isac Souto, a roadie and Dinho's cousin; and - Sérgio Saturnino, their body guard.

Band member Júlio Rasec told his hairdresser (who made a video in his salon of it) he'd had a nightmare the previous evening about a plane crashing and that he did not know what that meant. Júlio seemed deeply disturbed about it and it is reported that he was upset and introverted during the whole day. His hairdresser told Julio he'd pray for them. The video was aired multiple times on TV and it was the subject of several TV shows and documentaries.

The deaths of all members of the band created a great commotion in Brazil. The country was still mourning Ayrton Senna's death two years before, because at the time they were the most famous band in the country. The band's legacy is still strong in Brazil today, and their songs are celebrated and influential in the nation's music industry.

The aircraft was a Learjet 25 that was having multiple radar problems even prior to takeoff. On final approach to land on runway 09R, the pilot decided to abort the attempt and went-around. As it flew around the runway for a second attempt to land, it crashed into the side of a heavily forested mountain in the Cantareira range, at 23:16 (Brazil Standard Time, UTC-3:00).

Videography

• 1996: MTV na Estrada (MTV on the Road) (re-released in DVD in 2004)
• 2002: Show Ao Vivo em Valinhos 1996 (Live in Valinhos)
• 2008: Por Toda Minha Vida - Mamonas Assassinas (Exhibited in TV Globo)
• 2011: Mamonas para sempre (Documentary)

Band members

Principal members

• Alecsander Alves Leite (known as Dinho) - lead vocals (1989-1996; his death)
• Bento Hinoto - guitars (1989-1996; his death)
• Samuel Reoli - bass guitar (1989-1996; his death)
• Sérgio Reoli - drums (1989-1996; his death)
• Júlio Rasec - keyboards, backing vocals (1992-1996; his death)

Early members

• Marcio Araujo - keyboards (1989-1992)

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Album
1992	A Fórmula do Fenômeno, as Utopia Released: 1992 Label: Independent
1995	Mamonas Assassinas Released: 1995 Label: EMI

Compilation albums

Year	Album
1998	Atenção, Creuzebek: A Baixaria Continua (1998, posthumous album) Released: 1998 Label: EMI

Live albums

Year	Album
2006	Mamonas Ao Vivo (2006, posthumous album) Released: September 24, 2006 Label: EMI

Singles

Year	Single	Album
1995	"Pelados em Santos"	Mamonas Assassinas
	"Robocop Gay"	Mamonas Assassinas
	"Vira-Vira"	Mamonas Assassinas
	"1406"	Mamonas Assassinas

External links

• Cometa Mamonas - Unofficial website, currently out of service.
• Band's profile at CliqueMusic Archived 2007-08-07 at the Wayback Machine (in Portuguese)