“CINEMA BRASIL”
comes to San Diego
By Brazzil Magazine
The first volume of A Canção no Tempo had analyzed and dissected such hits as
Ari Barroso’s “Aquarela do Brasil,” Ataulfo Alves and Mário Lago’s “Ai que
Saudades da Amélia,” and João Pernambuco and Catulo da Paixão Cearense’s
“Luar do Sertão”.
Here’s a partial list of the hits mentioned in the second volume year by year:
1958: “Chega de Saudade” by Tom Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes,
“Madureira Chorou” by Carvalhinho and Júlio Monteiro
1959: “Chiclete com Banana” by Gordurinha and Almira Castilho,
“Dindi” by Tom and Aloísio de Oliveira, and “Manhã de Carnaval” by
Luís Bonfá and Antônio Maria, and “A Felicidade” by Tom Jobim and Vinícius
de Moraes, composed for the film Orfeu do Carnaval (Black Orpheus).
1960: “Zelão,” a socially conscious tune by Sérgio Ricardo;
“Coração de Luto” by Teixeirinha sells one million copies, a number unheard of
at the time.
1961: “Ternura Antiga,” by Dolores Duran and Ribamar, “Fica
Comigo Esta Noite,” by Adelino Moreira and Nélson Gonçalves, “Insensatez”
by Tom Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes.
1962: “Estão Voltando as Flores” by Paulo Soledade, “Influência
do Jazz” by Carlos Lira, “Volta por Cima” by Paulo Vanzolini, “Na
Cadência do Samba” by Ataulfo Alves and Paulo Gesta, “Vou Ter um Troço”
(a Carnaval hit) by Arnô Provenzano, Otolindo Lopes and Jackson do Pandeiro. There were
also 13 foreign hits including “Et Maintenant” by Gilbert Bécaud and P.
Delano’s and “Let’s Twist Again by Kal Mann and David Appell.
1963: “Garota de Ipanema” by Tom Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes,
“Mais que Nada” by Jorge Ben (today Jorge Benjor), “Parei na
Contramão” by Roberto Carlos, and “Samba em Prelúdio” by Baden Powell and
Vinícius de Moraes.
1964: “Berimbau” by Baden Powell and Vinícius de Moraes, “Diz
que Fui por Aí” by Zé Keti and Hortênsio Rocha, “O Sol Nascerá” by
Cartola and Élton Medeiros, and “Luz Negra” by Nélson Cavaquinho and Amâncio
Cardoso.
1965: “Arrastão” by Edu Lobo and Vinícius de Moraes,
“Carcará” by João do Vale and José Cândido, “Os Cinco Bailes da
História do Rio” (samba-enredo) by Silas de Oliveira, Bacalhau and Dona Ivone
Lara, “Opinião” by Zé Keti, “Pedro Pedreiro” by Chico Buarque de
Holanda, smashing hit “Quero que Vá Tudo pro Inferno” by Roberto and Erasmo
Carlos, “Trem das Onze” by Adoniram Barbosa.
1966: “A Banda” by Chico Buarque, “Disparada” by Téo de
Barros and Geraldo Vandré, “Louvação” by Gilberto Gil and Torquato Neto,
Procissão by Gilberto Gil, “Upa Neguinho” by Edu Lobo and Gianfrancesco
Guarnieri, “Alegria, Alegria” (a Tropicalismo precursor) by Caetano Veloso,
“Carolina” by Chico Buarque, “Domingo no Parque” by Gilberto Gil,
“Ponteio” by Edu Lobo and Capinam, “Máscara Negra” by Zé Keti and
Hildebrando Pereira Matos.
1967: “Quem Te Viu, Quem Te Vê” and “Roda Viva” by Chico
Buarque, “Ronda” by Paulo Vanzolini, “Travessia” by Milton Nascimento
and Fernando Brant, “Vem Quente Que Eu Estou Fervendo” by Carlos Imperial and
Eduardo Araújo.
1968: “Alvorada” by Cartola, Carlos Cachaça and Hermínio Bello de
Carvalho; “Sabiá” by Chico Buarque; “Caminhando (Pra Não Dizer Que Não
Falei de Flores)” by Geraldo Vandré; “Geléia Geral” by Gilberto Gil;
“Soy Loco por Ti, America” by Gilberto Gil and Capinan; “Tropicália”
by Caetano Veloso; “Samba do Crioulo Doido” by Sérgio Porto.
1969: “Aquele Abraço” by Gilberto Gil, “Atrás do Trio
Elétrico” by Caetano Veloso, “Charles, Anjo 45” and “País
Tropical” by Jorge Ben, “Sinal Fechado” by Paulinho da Viola.
1970: “Azul da Cor do Mar” by Tim Maia, “Foi um Rio Que Passou em
Minha Vida” by Paulinho da Viola, “Madalena” by Ivan Lins and Ronaldo
Monteiro de Souza, “Pra Frente Brasil” by Miguel Gustavo.
1971: “Construção” by Chico Buarque.
1972: “Águas de Março” by Tom Jobim, “Pérola Negra” by
Luís Melodia.
1973: “Estácio Holy Estácio” by Luís Melodia, “Ouro de
Tolo” by Raul Seixas, “Só Quero um Xodó” by Dominguinhos and Anastácia,
“Viagem” by João de Aquino and Paulo César Pinheiro.
1974: “Quantas Lágrimas” by Manacéia.
1975: “De Frente pro Crime,” “O Mestre-Sala dos Mares,” and
“Dois pra Lá, Dois pra Cá” by João Bosco and Aldir Blanc; “O Mar
Serenou” by Wando; “Fé Cega, Faca Amolada” by Milton Nascimento and
Ronaldo Bastos; “Ponta de Areia” by Milton Nascimento and Fernando Brant.
1976: “Pavão Misterioso” by Ednardo
1977: “Maluco Beleza” by Raul Seixas and Cláudio Roberto,
“Romaria” by Renato Teixeira, “Saco de Feijão” by Chico Santana.
1978: “Força Estranha” by Caetano Veloso, “Maria, Maria” by
Milton Nascimento, “Folhetim” by Chico Buarque.
1979: “O Bêbado e o Equilibrista” by João Bosco and Aldir Blanc.
1980: “Admirável Gado Novo” by Zé Ramalho, “Lá Vem o Brasil Descendo
a Ladeira” by Moraes Moreira, “Meu Bem Querer” by Djavan.
1981: “Baila Comigo” by Rita Lee, “Dia Branco” by Geraldo
Azevedo, “Nos Bailes da Vida” by Milton Nascimento, “Luíza” by Tom
Jobim.
1982: “Bum Bum Paticumbum Prugurundum” by Beto Sem Braço and Aluísio
Machado, “Portela na Avenida” by Mauro Duarte and Paulo César Pinheiro,
“Tropicana” by Alceu Valença and Vicente Barreto.
1983: “Como uma Onda” by Lulu Santos and Nélson Mota, “Coração
de Estudante” by Milton Nascimento and Wagner Tiso, “Pro Dia Nascer Feliz”
by Cazuza and Frejat, “O Amanhã” by João Sérgio.
1984: “Fullgás” by Marina Lima and Antônio Cícero, “Me
Chama” by Lobão, “Óculos” by Herbert Vianna, “Vai Passar” by
Chico Buarque and Francis Hime.
1985: “De Volta pro Aconchego” by Dominguinhos and Nando Cordel,
“Geração Coca-Cola” by Renato Russo, “Papel Machê” by João Bosco
and Capinan.
Census
Some
Prosperity
The latest numbers from the PNAD (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra
Domiciliar—National Research by Home Sample) are in and there are some good and not
so good surprises. It reveals, for example, that more people now have access to basic
public services than in the beginning of the decade. Across the country the number of
houses with electricity reached 93.3% and those served by water has increased to 77.7%
while 62.5% are now connected to the sewer service. Trash is being collected in 76.3% of
all houses. Telephones, however, continue to be a rare item. Only 27.9% of the population
has a telephone line.
The creation of the Real – and the stabilization of the currency – helped to fuel a
surge on domestic appliances and gadgets. Ninety percent of Brazilians have now radio,
while 86% own a TV set. Another 80% have a refrigerator. The number of those who own their
own houses (73.7%), however, has remained practically the same since 1992, when 73.6%
owned a home.
On another front, the average size of a family dropped from 3.8 to 3.5 during the
period 1992-1997. People who are 60 or older now represent 8.6% of the population. Compare
this to 7.9% in 1992. At the same time the number of those who are 18 years old or younger
has fallen from 40.1% to 37.5% of the population in the same period.
Nation
Murder
They
Cried
The recent assassination of Alagoas state assembly member Ceci Cunha and three of her
relatives by a hired gun has once again drawn attention to an old problem in that state:
political murder without impunity. According to police the murderer was at the service of
House Representative Talvane Albuquerque.
It was very symptomatic that a confessed assassin gave a press conference after being
heard by the police about the case and then went calmly back home. The gunman is Maurício
Novaes, known as Chapéu de Couro (Leather Hat) who accused Talvane of trying to enlist
him for the execution.
According to attorney Pedro Montenegro, a member of the Fórum Permanente Contra a
Violência em Alagoas (Permanent Forum Against Violence in Alagoas), a non-governmental
group , the legislator’s assassination is an all too common occurrence in the state.
Montenegro talked about the problem in an interview with Rio’s daily Jornal do
Brasil: “A little before this assassination there were four other massacres all
of them by hired guns. In 65% of the murders committed in the state last year the police
haven’t even started an investigation. In Alagoas, there are people who look for a gunman
as if they were visiting a dentist or a doctor.”
Statistics compiled by the Fórum Permanente contra a Violência show that 10% or more
of the murders committed in Alagoas are execution style, with the victims being tied up,
hit with several shots and left in a remote location.
Alagoas senator Teotônio Vilela Filho, who was a political ally and a personal friend
of Ceci Cunha, believes that impunity is the main reason for this continued situation of
lawlessness. He has proposed a joint action by federal and state police to prosecute and
punish this type of crime.
Political assassination hasn’t spared anyone. Alagoas governor Ronaldo Lessa had his
brother, police chief Ricardo Lessa, killed while investigating a murder by a gunman who
entered the Intensive Care Unit of a hospital to execute a patient. Sílvio Viana, chief
inspector of the state Finance Secretariat was also gunned down by hired gunmen.
Last year the Federal Police helped chase an Alagoas military police gang, which was
responsible for assassinations and bank and car robbery. As a result, 95 policemen were
put in jail. Apparently, crime involving policemen has fallen dramatically. But, until
recently, 80% of organized crime involved the military and civilian police.
Obituary
Country Is
Poorer
Amid the celebrations of Christmas and New Year’s few Brazilians took notice of the
death of João Pacífico, a music great and one of Brazil’s last legitimate caipira
(country) composers. He has been often called the “best composer Brazilian caipira
music has ever had.” The author of
“Cabocla Tereza,” “Chico Mulato” and “Gota d’Água,”
among other musical treasures, died in Guararema in the Greater São Paulo from
respiratory insufficiency on December 30, 1998.
Son of an ex-slave woman, he was born in 1909 on a farm in Cordeirópolis, a town in
the interior of São Paulo state. Only one year later he would get his birth certificate
where he was registered as João Batista da Silva. The Pacífico epithet would come much
later, in 1932, given him by an RCA executive who thought the term was a perfect
description for his humble, quiet and calm demeanor.
In an interview with daily O Estado de S. Paulo, Assis Ângelo, a journalist and
an expert in popular culture agrees that the name fits well: “He was patient, calm,
attentive.” In one of his rare interviews Pacífico, when asked what he expected from
life, told the reporter: “Life is good, I do no harm to anyone, I drink my cachacinha
(sugar cane liquor), but I would like to see everything changing a lot, everything getting
calmer and more peaceful.”
Ângelo also talked about the importance of the composer for the Brazilian culture:
“With the death of Pacífico we lose a good part of pure Brazilian music. He leaves
admirers but no substitute. He invented a genre called historic tune. He was able to
create a narration using a classic theme of history.”
Pacífico, who went to school for a mere three years, was still a little boy when he
started playing percussion in a movie theater orchestra. By age 10 he moved to Campinas, a
bigger city. He continued playing, but had to find a job to survive and became a dish
washer aide at Companhia Paulista de Estrada de Ferro (São Paulo Railway Company). Always
humble, he used to talk about those hard times with humor: “I washed the dish so the
dish washer could wash it. Important stuff, hum? Top job, amazing.”
It was working in the wagon restaurant of the train that he met people that would help
him in his career. That’s where he met, for example, Raul Torres, the so-called Rei da
Embolada (Embolada King) who, after listening to some of his poetry became a long-time
partner. He also met renowned poet Guilherme de Almeida, who had a radio program and gave
him a chance to show his talent and recite verses like: “Don’t pay attention if you
see one day that the leaves have become yellow, it was longing that painted them this
way.”
During his career he would compose, according to his own estimate, close to 1,400
songs. He started a tradition of caipira music, in which the singer would recite
verses before starting to sing the song. Inezita Barroso, Rolando Boldrin, Sérgio Reis,
Tonico e Tinoco are some of the famous interpreters who sang Pacífico’s tunes.
After living many years in Vila Mariana, a neighborhood in the south zone of São
Paulo, Pacífico, who was a widower, was living with friends in Guararema at the time of
his death.
Laws
Dismantling
Bureaucracy
If everything works as planned the federal government will soon be losing close to
9,800 laws and codes that sometimes make federal legislation an inextricable maze where
only the more savvy and persistent can find the exit. The effort is called Consolidação
da Legislação Federal (Federal Legislation Consolidation) and intends to reduce the
thousands of federal regulations that exist today to 200 general laws.
The study for this sharp reduction was conducted by the presidency in compliance with
Complementary Law Number 95, passed in February, 1998. One of the results of the trimming
of the legislation is the absence in the new laws of the common-place expression:
“all dispositions to the contrary are revoked.”
The work was made possible by a special computer program created by Prodasen (Centro de
Informática e Processamento de Dados do Senado—Senate’s Information and Data
Processing Center), which allowed the comparison among laws and regulations that exist
today in every ministry and the way in which they fit with the 1988 Brazilian
Constitution.
Fashion
Dressed
to Kill
Male and female prostitution is thriving in Brazil. So much so that
enterprising minds are creating businesses exclusively to serve this often picky
clientele. In Goiânia (capital of Goiás), for example, there are companies specializing
in intimate apparel for transvestites and call girls. These new entrepreneurs are finding
their clients through newspaper classifieds, massage parlors, strip tease nightclubs, all
fertile soil for sex for cash.
As expected, the favorite colors for this kind of garment are red, black, silver and
gold. With an eye on TV and the invasion of sexshops, the new racy designers are adding
gloves, masks, whips and other features to bras and panties. Panties, by the way, are
always the pièce de résistance of the naughty clothing. They are always the dental floss
style and can be opened on the sides, a requirement for strip-tease shows. One of the more
sought after models is the so-called secretary panty, in which there is a strategically
located front opening and a discreet pocket to carry condoms. Transvestites have more
extravagant tastes and they ask for colorful garments full of flower patterns, plumes and
beads.
Rogéria Regina dos Reis and Eliene Cristina Miguel are two of the new entrepreneurs
whose business is booming. “Often call girls don’t stay too long in one place. They
take with them the clothes we make and talk about us. With this other girls are calling
and we start selling in their towns too,” said Rogéria in an interview with
Goiânia’s daily Diário da Manhã. Odalisk and Cat Woman are the most requested
model and more and more married women are also getting into the mood for kinkier
underwear, according to Rogéria.
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