Otoniel Fialho Campos

BIOGRAPHY

Otoniel Fialho (b. 1936) grew up in Capanema, Pará, a small town 175 km east of Belém along the Belém-Bragança railroad.

As a child, Otoniel helped support his family by selling his mother’s coconut candy in town. During the early 1950s, he got a job at the local bakery and began riding the train to distribute bread to nearby stops. He became friends with the newspaper vendor on the train, who also owned a sound system in Capanema called “Tuchaua.” After a short apprenticeship, Otoniel was entrusted with operating the sound system on his own. He recalled traveling around the countryside to play various events from Carnaval dances to electoral campaigns:

When we went to play in the rural interior, two horses could carry the entire sound system. It was a 50 watt amplifier, “Masco” was the name of the brand. And we had one record-player, a “Thorens,” that played 78 rpm shellac records with one song per side. We’d take along 50 of those records in a suitcase, and with those 50 records we’d keep the dance going all night. In between songs, we had to swap out the needle, because the needles were disposable and wore down. People would applaud, and when the song was really good, they’d call for an encore and we’d play the same song again.

Like many young men of his generation, Otoniel eventually moved to the capital city Belém in search of economic opportunity — and to be where the action was. During the 1960s, he established a successful record stand at the São Brás Market, and moved in to his own place.

*Otoniel at his record stand in the São Brás Market, c. 1966* | *PHOTO COURTESY O. FIALHO*

In 1969, a long-time acquaintance made Otoniel a proposal he couldn’t pass up:

When I first moved to Belém from Capanema, I lived on Franciso Monteiro Street, where there was a sound system — Sonoros Negrão was the name — and every evening the owner would set up his sound projector and take requests. The owner was a butcher at the São Brás Market, and we got to know each other over the years, and one day he asked me if I wanted to buy his sonoro. Since I already knew a thing or two about sound systems, and since I had access to the best music thanks to my record stand, I said, “Alright, let’s make a deal.” I baptized it “Tuchaua,” like the one in Capanema where I got my start.

Otoniel’s Tuchaua (later renamed “Tuxaua”) debuted in 1969 at Estrela do Norte, a working class dancehall known for playing hot Caribbean dance music.

*Otoniel (far R) with an early version of his sound system "Tuchaua" at the social club Imperial in Jurunas, c.1969* | *PHOTO COURTESY O. FIALHO*

In 1970, Otoniel started a “rádio publicidade” business in the São Brás neighborhood with a single projector speaker that he mounted to a telephone pole. During business hours, the loud speaker broadcast recorded music and advertisements for local vendors.

Otoniel’s family continues to operate the advertising radio business, now with over 200 loudspeakers distributed across multiple neighborhoods.

But Otoniel has retired Tuxaua from circulation, a decision he explained in the following way:

Once they started needing tractor trailers to transport sound systems, I gave it up. I didn’t want to follow the evolution. Milton [of Alvi Azul] wanted to build a big aparelhagem. Rubi wanted to make one even bigger. Tupinambá showed up, then Pop Som, and I thought, where am I even going to store an aparelhagem like this?
That’s when financiers were approaching owners, saying, “Let’s relaunch your sound system with these upgrades. We’ll finance it and get someone to operate it. You just have to be the owner.” But the revenue goes to the investor, and the owner ends up being owner in name only. So I said, “You know what? I’m done.”

All the changes notwithstanding, Otoniel has no regrets about his many years in the sound system business. After all, as he puts it, “It was Tuxaua that gave me this house, this patrimony.”

Otoniel

Otoniel Fialho Campos

BIOGRAPHY

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