Not to be confused with "The Elephant Never Forgets" by Jean-Jacques Perrey, which is the original opening theme for "El Chavo" in Mexico, not the opening theme for "Chapolin" in Brazil.
The Brazilian Chapulín opening BGM, also known as "BGM Chapulin 1993", "Chapolin Polka" or "CHAPOLIN_CHAMADA", is a mysterious "electronic polka" composition of unknown origin, composed not after 1985. A clip of 33 seconds of this music was famously used in the exclusive Brazilian opening of the popular Mexican comedy TV series El Chapulín Colorado (called Chapolin in Brazil) by the SBT network, from 1993 to 2024, but it had been used before in vignettes and as background music in some shows, which its earliest known use eight years prior.
Background and recorded usage history
SBT (Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão), founded in 1981, is the second-largest TV network in Brazil, noted for having introduced the successful Mexican comedy shows El Chavo and El Chapulín Colorado to the country in 1984, which were renamed respectively to Chaves and Chapolin to the Brazilian audience. At that time, the channel used seemingly random sources of audio in its programming, mostly instrumental snippets of commercial records and library music, especially of foreign origin.
The track was never heard outside of SBT programming. Although there are unverifiable accounts of earlier usage, the earliest confirmed record of its usage is in a 1985 frame of children's cartoons. In a short vignette for the cartoon Speedy Gonzáles (known as Ligeirinho in Brazil), this BGM played. This vignette was discovered in 2023 on Discord.
In 2022, after the passing of Jô Soares, the comedian featured in the sketch comedy show program Veja o Gordo, fans unexpectedly discovered the tune being played as BGM for one segment from 1988. A few extra seconds were discovered but are mostly drowned by noise. A second clarinet solo is briefly heard.
In the late 1980s the tune was associated with the Chapolin sister-series Chaves and heavily featured in promos for the show, while Chapolin itself used different openings, such as one that featured the song "Flying Fists" by Brian Bennett.
In 1993, the iconic opening for Chapolin with this song was created. It begins with "Trumpet Flourishes" by George Chase, illustrated by colorful silhouettes of old-fashioned soldiers playing horns. This is followed by a yellow heart (Chapolin's symbol) emerging from the background and knocking down the soldiers. The mysterious song then plays as a heart-shaped camera, surrounded by a colorful flashing background, shows a scene in which Chapolin, the series comedic super-hero protagonist, says his famous catchphrase "Não contavam com minha astúcia!" (They weren't counting on my cunning!). Finally, a yellow heart fits in the camera and letters form the series' logo. As the default unofficial theme in Brazil, the song was broadcast nationwide daily. It became an instantly recognizable tune for millions of Brazilian kids and adults, so its identification is highly anticipated by fans.
In 2020, transmission of El Chavo and El Chapulín Colorado was suspended internationally due to copyright disputes. In 2024, after the copyright issues were settled, SBT resumed broadcasting of Chapolin in Brazil using its original 1993 opening. However, after the two initial special holiday exhibitions, the song was edited out of the opening. In the new version of the opening, the mysterious song is replaced by "Flying Fists" by Brian Bennett, the same composition that SBT used in some pre-1993 openings of the show. The reasons for the replacement are unknown and still debated, with theories including copyright issues and that the woobly voice-like tune supposedly resembles some vulgar words in Portuguese. Notably, Chapolin's catchphrase "Não contavam com a minha astúcia" for some reason was also cut out. The last time the 1993 opening was featured was on November 22, 2024, ending over 30 years of usage. A SBT employee later confirmed that the track was removed for copyright issues: since no one knows where it comes from, keeping it could bring problems to the network if the original author happens to appear and claim it.
Search efforts
Since the popularization of the Internet in Brazil in the mid-1990s and early 2000s, fans of Chapolin and its related series, El Chavo (Chaves in Brazil), both created and starred by Mexican actor and comedian Roberto Gomez Bolaños (known as "Chespirito"), have been collecting information about the shows, including their lost episodes, cut scenes, old promos and music cues used in both original and dubbed audio. More than 500 songs have been identified to this day, but a few, including this one, remain unidentified.
In 2022, fans were able to contact a SBT employee in charge of the sound through Instagram. He revealed in a video that in the network's sound database they only have the 32 seconds already known and its original name was lost, frustrating fans.
On January 5, 2024, through an exhibition in honor of Bolaños' characters in São Paulo, the SBT network provided audiovisual elements related to the series including the mysterious song excerpt. Its organizers did not claim further information about the track. The same known excerpt was featured in a life-sized replica of the opening.
Old tapings of the show, commercials and promos are also heavily researched.
Internet forums about the show are still active and the mystery is actively debated among fans. The now closed thread discussing the topic was posted in 2013 and featured 203 pages.
Known information
- The song style has characteristics of polka and electronic music, therefore it can be described as an 'electronic polka' or 'electro-polka'.
- The song is composed at 107 BPM.
- The song key is B flat.
- The song was not created after 1985 and may in fact be much older.
- The wind instrument on the second part of the song is a soprano clarinet.
- The electronic analog drum used in this song is probably an ACE TONE FR-3 drum machine, first released in 1967.
- The song was not made especially for the show.
- The song has more than 32 seconds.
- The song was not composed by Jean-Jacques Perrey.
Misconceptions
The song is not part of the show. It is not present in any episode either in its original Spanish audio or in the Brazilian dub, but only in the opening of the Brazilian dub from 1993 to 2024. It was common practice for networks at the time to re-edit and replace song themes from international series.
After more than a decade of research, the most common suggestions were that the song's author was John Charles Fiddy, who composed many background tunes used in the Brazilian versions of El Chavo and Chapolin, or Jean-Jacques Perrey, the French composer of "The Elephant Never Forgets", the tune used as the opening of the original Mexican version of El Chavo. However, those assumptions were verified as wrong by the community.
The lead instrument is also commonly identified as a moog synthesizer, but it is not actually possible to determine what instrument it is. It has been suggested that the sound is too 'wobbly' and unstable to sound like a synthesizer and it is more likely to be some other instrument over a unknown pedal effect. The focus is on the unusual combination of clarinet and drum machine when researching this tune.
The melody itself does not seem to be based on an existing composition. It has been suggested to be 'Clarinet Polka' but there is no match between them besides style.
Despite only being heard in Brazil, it is likely not of Brazilian origin. The unusual electronic and experimental nature of its arrangement was unheard in Brazilian music of the time, which leaned more towards the acoustic side. Brazilian networks also heavily featured international songs in their programming, and SBT used an estimated 80% of conventional music releases in promos, openings and backgrounds of its programs.
Debunked Leads
Debunked artists
- Jean Jacques Perrey, composer of "The Elephant Never Forgets" (synthetiser version of Beethoven's Turkish March), the original Mexican opening for El Chavo
- John Charles Fiddy, co-composer of the album "Kids and Cartoons", used as background music in the Brazilian dub of Chapulín and El Chavo
- Tony Hymas, co-composer of the album "Kids and Cartoons", used as background music in the Brazilian dub of Chapulín and El Chavo
- Alan Hawksaw, another composer of background music used in the shows
- Mario Lucio de Freitas (also known as "Fominha", "Lominha" or "Robert Thames"), composer of "Aí vem o Chaves", the Brazilian opening for El Chavo, and other songs in the Brazilian El Chavo album
- Patty Prilly
- Giampiero Boneschi
- Nino Nardini
- Roger Roger (also known as "Cecil Leuter")
- Walter Ostaneck
- Dan Lacksman
- Tangerine Dream
- Brian Bennett
- Wendy Carlos
- Gershon Kingsley
Debunked labels
- Bruton Music
- KPM Music
- Sonoton
- Sound Ideas
- Parry Music
- Megatrax
- APM Music
- Universal Production Music
- BGM Production Music
- Manhattan Production Music
- Warner Chappel BGM
- Kosinus
- Sonor Music Editions
- Arcal
- Telemusic
- Valentino
- Electrosound
- Score Productions
Gallery
A 0:11 seconds clip of the song used in a 1985 Speedy Gonzale's cartoon vignette
25 seconds clip used in a 1988 commercial of Chaves TV show
New clip discovered in 2022 in a 1988 TV show
External Links
- The song in the Chapulin 1993 opening
- Edit of the 32 seconds of the song
- The song in a 2002 commercial of the Chapulin's show
- The song in a 1985 Speedy Gonzáles' vignette
- The first episode of "Veja o Gordo" show, where the song was appeared more complete
- The original 32 seconds of the song, released in 2022 unofficially by an audio engineer called Diego of the SBT network
- October 12, 2024 SBT airing containing the song