Released 1977 Genre Brazilian Label Columbia | Recorded 1976 Length 5:01 Writer(s) Nonato Buzar | |
"Verão Vermelho" is a song by Santana which came off the album Festival. Carlos Santana pays homage to Brazilian singer, Elis Regina. This song features some excellent acoustic guitar with The Waters Family backing vocalists (Julia, Oren, and Maxine Willard Waters) singing the meaningless words, ”Badadup, badadup, badadup, ba pa pa ba pa pa.” It is carried along by a marching drum beat and maracas. Santana plays a flamenco guitar solo during the intro and at the conclusion. This is a first for him. The flamenco guitar solo during the coda is accompanied by a keyboard flourish by Tom Coster.
Verão Vermelho is Portuguese for Red Summer.
Elis Regina's version
This song was originally performed by Elis Regina, as it appeared on her 1970 album Em Pleno Verão. Her version only clocked in at 1 min 38 sec. Regina literally joins the orchestra in a wordless tour-de-force, which is ended by a fadeout. Santana's version of "Verão Vermelho" also has a fadeout ending with a flamenco guitar solo and flourish, which goes on for about a minute while gradually fading out. The song was composed by Nonato Buzar.