This is a really unexpected, fun ska version of Carlos Gomes’ opera “Il Guarani”, by Orquestra Brasileira de Música Jamaicana.

“Il Guarany” or “O Guarani” is probably the only Brazilian opera that most people remember. It’s opening tunes are particularly famous because they introduce A Voz do Brasil, an unbearable 1-hour daily radio show that has been aired all over the country in the early evening  for over 70 years. It is a compilation of announcements by the federal government imposed to all radios by law. You will hear references to A Voz do Brasil in this ska version.

Romantic composer Antônio Carlos Gomes (1836-1896) was the first author born in the Americas accepted by the European opera world. Despite embracing Brazilian themes (this opera is inspired by the homonym book by José de Alencar about the impossible love of a Guarani Native and a white girl), it was closer to conventional lyrical standards of the 19th century and, noblesse oblige, sang in Italian.

Here is the final aria of “Il Guarany”, as conceived by Gomes, sang by tenor Plácido Domingo as Guarany Peri and Verónica Villaroel as Ceci.