Feiticeiro do Norte
Manuel Gonçalves, the 'Feiticeiro do Norte', an illiterate peasant from Arco de São Jorge who became a famous improviser of popular verses sung at Madeiran festivals; he died in 1927.
Manuel Gonçalves, born in the parish (freguesia) of Arco de São Jorge (‘arc of São Jorge’) in eighteen sixty-something and better known by the nickname of Feiticeiro do Norte (‘the Sorcerer of the North’), is an illiterate peasant without any degree of education. At about the age of forty he began to show an extraordinary aptitude for composing and improvising popular verses and songs, which soon won great renown among the country people of this island. To the sound of a rajão (Madeiran five-string guitar), in a monotonous chant, the Feiticeiro sang his verses. For their originality and picturesqueness, and above all for the interest their subjects aroused, they were eagerly listened to and were one of the great attractions at the various festivals (arraiais) of Madeira. From short verses and light recitatives he moved on to more elaborate compositions, many of which were printed as separate pamphlets. Among these we may mention: Santo Antonio, Chegada de Suas Magestades, As Raparigas dos bordados, O Lavrador, A Cidade do Funchal, As Inundações, O meu galo preto, A antiguidade de meu pae, A vida do Feiticeiro do Norte escrita por ele mesmo, A Madeira, etc. etc. Encouraged by the success of his compositions, Manuel Gonçalves went to Brazil, where he stayed for some time, and among the pamphlets he printed there is one entitled Pedro Alvares Cabral.
He died in the parish of Arco de São Jorge in April 1927.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 01Place
Places mentioned · 03
Abroad
- Arco de São Jorge
Santana. Birthplace and place of death of the Feiticeiro do Norte.
North-coast parish of the municipality of Santana, separated from São Jorge in 1676, over which the Pico do Arco de São Jorge (837 m) rises. It still had no cemetery in 1862 and became a julgado of the Funchal comarca in 1927. It is linked to Boaventura by a path across the Entrosa escarpment, and its forests were damaged in the 1919 fire.
- Brazil
He stayed there for a time and printed pamphlets.
Brazil is recorded in the Elucidário as a chief destination of Madeiran emigrants, including several clergy and writers. It was also a market for Madeira wine and brandy and a maker of wickerwork from Madeiran osiers. It was linked to Madeira by the 1874 telegraph cable and is the native country of the araçá.
- Funchal
Subject of one of his compositions.
The capital of the archipelago and seat of the principal captaincy, where settlement began; it was made a vila c.1451–52. Its bay, the widest in the archipelago, lies between Ponta do Garajau and Ponta da Cruz and offers sheltered anchorage, though its harbour had never been studied oceanographically. The Elucidário discusses it as a health resort with climate data and records the January 1906 disturbances, the Danish prince's visit in May 1846 and recent volcanic cones in the area.
People
People mentioned · 02- Manuel Gonçalvesd. 1927
Illiterate peasant poet from Arco de São Jorge, known as the Feiticeiro do Norte, whose sung verses were printed in pamphlets in Madeira and Brazil.
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Portuguese navigator, subject of a pamphlet the Feiticeiro printed in Brazil.