Cardoso, Lindembergue (1939–1989)

Lindembergue Cardoso was one of the major representatives of the Composers’ Group of Bahia, a state of Brazil. He was born in Livramento de Nossa Senhora, a small inland village in Bahia on 30 June 1939. There he started his musical life at eleven years old, playing in the philharmonic band. At age seventeen he moved to Salvador, the capital of Bahia, in order to further his studies at college level. While studying bassoon and singing at the Music School of the Federal University of Bahia, he made a living from playing saxophone in pop bands and dance hall orchestras. In 1964 he began to study composition with Ernst Widmer, and two years later he was among the founding members of the Composers’ Group of Bahia. Cardoso became professor of music at the Federal University of Bahia and the Catholic University of Salvador, where he taught composition, improvisation, and theory. Choir singing was his major musical passion. Throughout his professional life he conducted and created community choirs in churches and commercial companies, for which he wrote arrangements and original pieces. Nevertheless, Cardoso was outstanding in all instrumental media. In 1987 he was elected a member of the Brazilian Music Academy; this important national recognition of his musical talent and competence occurred one year before his premature death by heart attack on 23 May 1988.