Found in a trunk 24 years after its author’s death, The Yellow Sofa
is a delightful little masterpiece. Just released in the U.S., one
century after Eça de Queirós’s death, it still keeps its
freshness.
The Yellow Sofa, by Eça de Queirós, trans.
by John Vetch
(New Directions, 112 pp., $10.95 paper)
By
After an extraordinary successful summer European tour with frequent sold-out
concerts, singer-composer Gilberto Gil is coming to the United States with
his long-anticipated Quanta tour. Quanta , Gil’s latest CD—his first
original material in five years—draws inspiration from science, technology,
and modern life, as exemplified by the title song and “Pela Internet” (By
the Internet). “Pela Internet” had its premiere on the Internet before
the tune was released to the stores or played on radio. Another Brazilian
musical icon, Caetano Veloso, has said, “Gil is the prophet, I am only
his apostle.” Gil is bringing along guitarists Arthur Maia and Sérgio
Chiavazzoli, keyboadist Paulo Calazans, sax player Raul Mascarenhas, drummer
Jorge Gomes, and percussionists Leonardo Reiss and Gustavo de Dalva. The
U.S. show will include many of Gil’s old favorites. The Bahiano
(from Bahia state) singer-composer will perform August 31 in San Francisco
at the Masonic Auditorium and September 3 at the Hollywood Bowl.
The Home Team
An ex-truck driver, a former boxer, an ex-BBC journalist, and a soccer
coach—all of them Brazilian—are some of the players ESPN, the all-sports-all-the-time
channel, has chosen for its Brazilian team of journalists, commentators
and technicians. Working out of a cramped trailer outside the ESPN building
in the small town of Bristol—a 40-minute drive from New York City—the group
is responsible for feeding the considerable hunger Brazilians have for
sports through cable and satellite TV.
The team’s captain is sports commentator José Inácio Werneck,
60, who has worked for public TV in Rio and for the London-based BBC. Soccer
coach Flávio Pereira used to play for Juventus, a professional soccer
team from São Paulo. Now he is one of the editors for the material
produced by the Brazilians. Ex-boxer Roberto Figueroa works part time as
a narrator, and Ivã Zimmerman, who for a long time traveled throughout
the U.S. as a truck driver, is now in charge of broadcasting.
A Little Exposure
Nineteen of the most important modern and contemporary Brazilian sculptors
are being featured at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) headquarters
in Washington, D.C. The exposition, called “Brazilian Sculpture: An Identity
Profile,” comprises 60 works and represents a rare occasion to exhibit
the Brazilian talent in sculpture. It is also believed to be the most complete
panel of Brazilian sculptors ever shown in the U.S.
Organized by Emanoel Araújo, director of Pinacoteca do Estado
de São Paulo, the exhibit is divided in four segments and covers
works from the 1920s to the present. The first segment presents modern
sculpture through the works of Victor Brecheret, Alfredo Ceschiatti, Ernesto
de Fiori, Bruno Giorgi, and Maria Martins. The second shows concretist-influenced
sculptures by Sérgio Camargo, Amílcar de Castro, Lygia Clark,
Hélio Oiticica, Mary Vieira, and Franz Weissman. In a third segment
are Liuba, Caciporé Torres, and Nicolas Vlavianos, representing
the 60s. Francisco Brennand, Waltércio Caldas, Mestre Didi, Kracberg,
José Resende, and Rubem Valentim are grouped in the last segment
and representing the contemporary sculpting scene in Brazil.