The composer Paulo Soledade had success with the marcha "Estrela do Mar" (written with Marino Pinto), recorded by Dalva de Oliveira; the marcha-rancho "Estão Voltando as Flores," recorded by Helena de Lima; "Insensato Coração" (written with Antônio Maria); "Já é Noite" (written with Fernando Lobo); "Sonho Desfeito" (written with Tom Jobim); "Poema dos Olhos da Amada," "O Pato," and "São Francisco" (all written with Vinícius de Moraes); and "Deixa o Velho Trabalhar" and "Calúnia" (both written with Marino Pinto). He also opened, in 1961, the Zum-Zum club (Rio), which became an important spot for the bossa nova; it was there that Aloysio de Oliveira presented his productions and where artists like Silvinha Telles and Lennie Dale performed regularly, the Quarteto em Cy having debuted there. Since his childhood, Soledade was involved with music, his professional debut came in the '30s was as an actor, though. Having founded in Rio de Janeiro the "Clube dos Cafajestes," a group of bohemians which became famous in the 1940s, he wrote for the group "Hino dos Cafajestes." "Zum-Zum" (written with Fernando Lobo) is also related to the club, being a homage to one of its members, the commander Carlos Eduardo de Oliveira, who died in an air crash. The composition was recorded by Dalva de Oliveira, a hit in the Carnival of 1951 and Soledade's first recorded song. In the same year, Soledade had another hit with "Calúnia" (written with Marino Pinto), also recorded by Dalva de Oliveira. In the next year, he had success with the marcha "Estrela do Mar" (written with Marino Pinto), again in Oliveira's rendition. Around the period of foundation of the Zum-Zum, in 1961, Soledade came out with the marcha-rancho "Estão Voltando as Flores," which became an anthem of the Carioca nights. Soledade also wrote the music for poems by Vinícius de Moraes, like "São Francisco" and "Poema dos Olhos da Amada," and staged the musical Um Vagabundo Toca em Surdina (written with Edu da Gaita and Grande Otelo). Soledade was the first to design a plot and to connect sketches and songs with continuity within the musical formula, as in Coisas e Graças da Bahia (written with Dorival Caymmi and Ângela Maria). With Carlos Machado, he organized several club shows, having had much success with Feitiço da Vila, in which Sílvio Caldas and Elizete Cardoso interpreted songs by Noel Rosa. In 1968, his "Fantasia de Arlequim" (written with Augusto Melo Pinto), recorded by Marlene, was awarded in the Carnival music contest organized by the Museu da Imagem e do Som (Sound and Image Museum). Soledade was paid tribute in 1990, in the O Som do Meio-Dia project. ~ Alvaro Neder, Rovi