Brazzil - Year 11 - Number 165 - September 1999

MUSIC: MONICA SALMASO SPELLS RENAISSANCE

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aril — No. 165 — September 1999

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----- Brazil is not a &rid - of-ernigr Before the '60s there was hardly a trace of Brazilians leaving the country. The military dictatorship installed in 1964 forced many into exile in Europe and elsewhere, but the vast majority went back home as soon as the dust settled. These were intellectuals, artists, professors. The first wave of Brazilians who moved to New York in the mid '60s was also made of middleclass folks. They opened little businesses with the money they brought from Brazil and kept their ties with the land. All of them promised they would return to Brazil even though some seem quite content with the new living arrangement.

Brazilians never fit the stereotypical immigrant mold. Those who decided to

8

Culture

Roberto Campos is the new immortal

leave were not the worse off and were not led to move overseas due to despair or hunger.

For the most part they were middle-class, well-educated individuals and families unhappy with their lack of perspective on the job market. Since the so-called lost decade of the '80s, the flux of Brazilians outside the country has considerably increased. According to estimates, from two to six million people have left the country. Most of them came to the US, some 600,000 to the New York area alone.

The level of these new exiles may have As you might know, Brazzil is a very small operation: one person and some volunteers who help as and when they can.

The magazine is coming out almost two months late and I'm sorry for that. I don't see me catching up soon, but rest assured that the content is fresh and you will get all the issues you've paid for. Thanks for understanding and all the best. R.M.

CONTENTS 31

Travel

Trying to find some grace in Brasilia

10 In Memoriam Jose J. Veiga, fantastic emeritus

33

Impressions

Exploring the magic on Olinda's streets

11 Cover The Brazilians among us

37

19

Cover by Salvino Campos

Political reform at long last

DEPARTMENTS

Politics

21

6

Society

Rapidinhas

An American among the excluded Brazilians

18

25

Letters

49

Space

The Cultural

Brazil's rocky road to the stars

Pulse

26

dropped a notch or two when compared to previous émigrés, but they are definitely not the tired, poor and huddled masses referred to on the statue of Liberty. There are college graduates driving cars, shining shoes, cleaning houses and offices and working as babysitters across the US. Today as much as 80% of Brazilians living in the US might be undocumented who overstayed their visas or who entered illegally through Mexico. In our cover story we tell some of these tales—heartbreaking ones, inspiring others—and show a new wave of Brazilians who are bringing a breath of fresh air to Framingham in the Greater Boston.

R.M.

51 Classifieds

Short Story

52

"Os Cavalinhos de Platiplanto"

by Jose J. Veiga

Brazilian

Music

The uncovering of Monica Salmaso

43

Literature

Manoel de Barros, poet of the little things

45

Impressions

The day I met mama Bahia

54

Special

The color black and national identity

That's

TIME TO RENEW? Sorry, we don't send Send mail to: P.O. Box 50536 - Los Angeles, CA 90050-0536 reminders. Look at the Ads/Editorial: (323) 255-8062 - Subscrip.: (323) 255-4953 label to know when your Fax: (323) 257-3487 - Brazzil on line: http://www.brazzil.com subscription ends.

E-mail: brazzil@brazzil.com Publisher and Editor: Rodney Mello / Commercial Director: Leda Bittencourt Entertainment Editors: Sam & Harriet Robbins / Book Review: Bondo Wy zpolski / Music Editor: Bruce Gilman Brazil Bureau Chief: Marta Alvim - E-mail: mItdalvim@yahoo.com - Tel.: 021) 539-9214 - Fax: (021) 581-0198 BRAZZIL (ISSN 1091-868X) is published monthly by Brazzil - 2039 N. Ave. 52, Los Angeles, CA, 90042-1024. Periodicals Postage rate paid at Los Angeles, CA. Single copy sold for $2. One year subscription for 12 issues is $3 (three dollars) in the U.S., $15 in Canada and Mexico, and $18 in all other countries. No back issues sold. Allow 5 to 7 weeks to receive your first issue. You may quote from or reprint any of the contents with proper copyright credit. Editorial submissions are welcome. Include a SASE (self addressed and stamped envelope) if you want your material mailed back. Brazzil assumes no responsibility for any claims made by its advertisers. The Liorary of Congress ISSN: 1524-4997

POST MASTER: Send address changes to BRAZZIL - P.O. Box 50536 - Los Angeles, CA - 90050-0536 BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

5

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Nice Girls & Naughty Fun "Born under the sign of fire, at age 23 this Arian is a blazing ember... He is a man for many trips. His dream: to have sex in a crowded train or on top of a horse.

Wow." Thus starts a profile on model Cesar Oliveira in the sixth and most recent issue of intima, only the latest entry in a stream of magazines being launched in Brazil whose main ingredient is naked men. The men-bare-all glossy mags can be seen in every newsstand these days competing with older publications such as Playboy, Ele e Ela, and Sexy, which have prospered hawking naked women.

While intima is the first naked-men Brazilian magazine made for a female audience, gay publications have pioneered in the field catering to those looking for male skin periodicals. Lacking their own publication, women in search of some eye excitement have helped boost the circulation of gay publications like G and Gold.

And now the gay public is doing the same for intima, representing 15% of the new magazine's readers.

The publishers of intima seem to be at a crossroads. Despite the ever-sung female romanticism and fantasy there is a revolt brewing among the magazine's readers who are asking a little more daring offered in the pictures. A forum on the mag's Website with dozens of critical messages against the soft approach to nudity had a sole complimentary note. Signed by Ly, the message said in part, "The magazine is excellent. Artistic nudity is better valued among us women while men prefer pornography."

All the other women who left messages don't seem to agree with her. There are several notes stressing the message, "Down with censorship". Marta, for instance, talks about starting a boycott: "Without penis in an interesting state I will not buy the magazine anymore. I don't know how you dare deprive us of the penis, this is absurd! I don't know who invented the idea that women don't like to see dick in interesting state. Let's boycott the magazine until it shows what interests us. Down with repression!"

Lenora asks: "When are you going to liberate the bilaus? Gee, so much repression! How can I fantasize if I cannot see the object of my desire, gorgeous, big and most of all hard?" Sandra demands equal rights: "Why do only men have the right to see naked women, we women want them naked too."

Clay also seems ready to start a revolution: "I can't get used to all this prejudice that resides in the minds of the men and some women who work in this magazine.

Haven't you found out that we are not the same anymore? I want everything that I have the right to. Pricks now!"

Eliza doesn't hide her disappointment: "Where's the dick?", she asks. "What's the purpose to show a naked man without showing what matters the most? When I thought I was going to see it... there was the hand of the poor man covering it. I

BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

am livid. Is this magazine perchance owned by a man? We want to see a stop to this."

Carla appears more resigned than revolted: "I suggest you take a look at G Magazine. There you will find men really and totally naked.

Lamentably we women still have to consume material destined to the gay public since the media simply ignores our hankerings and sexual desires."

According to G Magazine's editor Marcos Brandao women represent from 30 to 40% ofthe publication's readership. The closest competition to G, is Gold, created by Bauer, a former G photographer who wanted to show men in even more daring poses and fantasies than those portrayed in G. "We have no limits," he told Rio's daily Jornal do Brasil. "We don't like the idea of showing little buttocks, and shriveled pricks. Everybody wants to see the hot stuff, things on fire."

In lntima all the naked men are shot by women. Alessandra Levtchenko one of the photographers, explains her work: "My goal is to only reveal the intention of a hardon, but I need to show something. Women want to see."

Under pressure of the readers, Intima has become a little more daring. Marcos Salles, the publisher ofthe magazine, recognizes that they started showing frontal nudity when the readers demanded it.

"Here the women are the bosses," he says.

Apparently led by the Intima competition, other women's magazines are also showing more male skin. The Brazilian editions of Elle and Cosmopolitan, which is called Nova in Brazil, started to show more than naked backs of men. Elle went as far as putting for the first time a man on its cover. He is soccer player Rai.

BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

ffne Like It Top Hot Arrastdo is the act of dragging and is a fishnet. Arrastao is also the name of a wellknown 1965 tune by Edu Lobo and Vinicius de Moraes. But lately arrasteio is a term that strikes terror into the hearts of Cariocas (people from Rio). It's a gang raid that generally happens on the beach, with a band of youths acting like a big net and stealing at the same time as much as they can front beachgoers.

The first big arrastdo in the news happened in October '92 when organized bands attacked in Ipanema and Copacabana. More than 100 policemen were dispatched to the area before peace was restored. Since tlin several other big and small incidents of arrasteto have been reported. With the arrival of the hot season, Cariocas once again are bracing themselves for the worst. Police reports show there are 42 gangs disputing Rio's South Zone beaches, from Copacahana to Barra.

Most of these gangs come from the favelas (slums) that surround the city, but at least 12 of them are formed by middle-class youngsters who practice jiujitsu. They are a new breed of troublemaker having appeared only in the latest two years. Some of them are also connected to drug trafficking, spanking, and murder.

The four most dangerous areas accorOing to police are Quebra Mar and the sands just in front of the restaurant Bob's, both in Barra and two other sand stretches in Arpoador and Leme beaches. Some of the most dangerous gangs, which carry knives and wood pieces with nails as weapons, have claimed the places as their territory. They are each other's rivals and come from nbtorious favelas like Mangueira, Cantagalo, Jacarezinho, Morro do Alemao, Cesarao, and Cidade de Deus.

Favela dwellers and jiujitsu practitioners seem to be natural foes in Rio's beaches.

Daily 0 Dia talked to some of the gang lnaders. "We want peace, but nobody is going to take us from the beach," said afavela boy nicknamed Rato do Sape (Sape Grass Rat), adding: "We have less to lose than they have." To what Macarrao do Country (Country Noodle) from a rival tribe moored in Ipanema retorted, "Funkers and domin farofeiros (chow pan eaters) are not allowed here. We don't r.Poco. In AC Witt Ot OPO00000A0Et allow arrastclo either."

When the gang gets together trouble starts even before they arrive at thn beach and bury their guns and knives in the sand, according to a recent police report. It's common for them to mug oifi their way there. It's usual also for them to smoke pot and tansack buses. Some fear that a recent spate of gang violence against buses is just a harbinger of things to come. More than 130 buses where ransacked recently during the Independenlce Day (September 7) extended holidays.

Accusing the police of racism and oflooking the other way when dealing vi ith the jiujitsu gangs, a 17 year-old from the Fubd (Cornmeal) gang identified only as D.A. announced that things will heat up in the coming summer: "We won't run Crentes caem no golpe da 'corrente' from the war. We go to the beach to play in the water, but we won't be humiliated. This summer we will invade the Zona Sul (south zona) beaches. The enemies are forewarned."

To what X,124, from the Farme de Amoedo band replies: DISPUTAM PRA "Here they will not come. They can even pass by, but if they stay it will be hard to avoid confrontation. We need to impose respect, to defehd our territory. If we get lax these suburbanCarioca una ites will take it over and it's going to be hell." •distarce' contra roubo Times are going to be tough for the 400 or so lifeguards from the G-Mar (Grupamento Maritimo do Corpo de Bombeiros do io—Rio's Fire Department Maritime Group).

Just in case, together with saving techniques and swimming exercises they iave been practicing judo and jiujitsu.

'safari() de 100 mil

7

=LEE U Turn The Academia Brasileira de Letras (Brazilian Academy of Letters) is best known for its afternoon tea antd the diplomatic politeness of its 40 ancient venerable members. Lately, however, the academicians have passed more than the teapot during their somnolent meetings. The conversation among the illustrious writers was spiced by a controversy to elect or not a right-wing intellectual to seat 21 left empty by the recent death of Dias Gomes, a wellknown leftist playwright.

Vying for Gomes's place—and he ended up winning it—was none other than economist and former finance minister and ex-senator Roberto Campos, one of the brightest minds in the land, but also a man often accused of extreme coziness with the military regime during the two-decade long dictatorship (1964-1985) and unconditional backing of privatizing policies. Campos was Finance minister during General Castelo Branco's presidency (1964-1967).

Seat 21 seems predestined to oscillate between the right and the left. Dias Gomes, a communist, succeeded Adonias Filho, who was a fascist, while Adohias himself had replaced Alvaro Moreira, a communist. lampos got 20 of the votes against 16 for professor Bella Josef, the other candidate. The other two candidates—they didn't get any vote—were educator Hamilton Werneck and unknown Ismael Marinho Falcao. Writer Jorge Amado, another left sympathizer, was the only one who abstained from voting. Although sick, he could have mailed his ballot. According to tradition such an abstention is taken as displeasure with the voting process.

Alonso. Arinos de Mello Franco also didn't vote. But this was expected since he had not officially been inducted to seat No 17, which was vacated by the death of philologist Antonio Houaiss. from the other 36 Academy members 20 mailed their votes in and 16 went to cast their ballots personally. Nelda Pifion, who is teaching in the US, mailed her vote. The other two women in the Academy, Lygia Fagundes Telles and Rachel de Queiroz, did the same. Among the women, only Queiroz voted for Campos.

Dias Gomes died in May in a freak taxi accident in Sao Paulo. His wife, actress Bernadeth Lyzio, threatened to take Gomes's remains from the Academy mausoleum where he was buried if Campos won the vote. Dismissing the declaration of the stepmother, young trumpeter Guilherme Dias Gomes told reporters: "This has ta do with her desire to be in evidence. It must he her irresistible syndrome to be in the news."

This was the third time Roberto Campos was a candidate to the Academy.

He had lost previously to historian Jose Scatinburio and then in 1992 to diplomat Sergio Rouanet. Used to controversy, Campos commented on his victory while receiving friends at home: "I am a controversial man and not one that draws unanimity, but this exasperation of opinions around ideologies should not exist anymore at a time the world sees the end of ideologies."

And he added: "I thought this discussion about left and right had become obsolete. The world is divided today between liberals, like myself, and dirigists."

As for being "immortal", the designation the academicians receive, Campos said lightheartedly, "I consider myself an immortal since the article 230 of the 1988 Constitution, which! helped to put together, said that society has to respect the elderly."

The failed trial for the Academy in 1992 left Campos "disappointed" as he confessed later. In 1995 he!was awarded the ABL's Jose Ermirio de Moraes prize for Lanterna na Popa (Stern Lantern), his memoir book, a 14004page volume dealing with 50 years of Brazilian history. The work was chosan as the best of the year. Even this nod from the academicians though did not encourage him to try a third time for the Academy. en opposition to the Campos candidacy appeared on July when a letter attributed to academician Barbosa Lima Sobrinho, the president of ABI (Associacao Brasileira de Imprensa—Brazilian Press Association) announced his opposition to Campos and made an appeal that the Academy members

BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

e avio vote against the economist. Lima Sobrinho denied being the author of the letter, but restated his dissatisfaction with the Campos candidacy.

The Academy ritual calls for a ceremony in which ABL president Arnaldo Niskier burns the ballots after the election and announces that the winner was chosen by unanimity. Another myth buried by this last election is the one that the vote is secret, even though some academicians refused to tell for whom they cast their ballot.

Loathed Bob For decades now, Campos (Fields, in English), who considers himself a liberal, has been called Bob Fields by some of his foes, who cannot forgive him for his perceived Americanophilia. Cartoonist and writer Jaguar wrote in his column in the Rio daily 0 Dia: "We cartoonists call him only Bob Fields, hors-concours entreguista (pejorative term meaning a sellout merchant and imperialism's puppet). He must be feeling superb seeing the government dismantle Petrobras (the state oil monopoly), sticking precisely to his primer.

"But this is too little for so much megalomania.

His is lacking the 'glory that elevates and consoles,' as stated by Machado (Machado de Assis-1839-1908-- Brazilian's grandest writer and the founder of the Academia). He wants to be immortal. With Lex Luthor Machiavellianism he is running for the seat left vacated by Dias Gomes at the ABL—who would believe—Dias who always despised the huckster."

Jaguar ended his diatribe with a threat to the academicians: "If you elect Bob Fields it will be war: I will fulfill my promise to throw rotten eggs at the statue of Machado de Assis the day of the swearing in." Campos's induction to the Academy will occur on October 26, when according to tradition the former minister has to make a speech praising his predecessor in the seat. He already knows in part what he is going to say: "This is a multifaceted institution, in which we don't discuss ideology, only knowledge."

This coming March, the ABL will have another election. There are already four candidates in the race, among them writer Carlos Heitor Cony, who has a guaranteed vote: that of Campos.

The novelist defended in his newspaper-syndicated column the need to ignore ideology when choosing a new member in the Academy. He not only did not adhere to a movement to launch his own candidacy to face Campos but also appeared on a TV program backing the economist.

It's customary that the academicians visit the new immortal when he lives in Rio as is the case with Campos. But at least three ABL members didn't do so: jurist Evandro Lins e Silva, economist Celso Furtado, and writer Joao Ubaldo Ribeiro.

All of them voted against Campos.

BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

Cheap, Cheap Sex Promotion: Pay $10 and spend one hour ofpleasure with a beautiful woman.

Tel: 294-6850. Check it out!

Sauna Tres Chic, for man, relax, $5. From 2 PM to 11 PM daily. Rua 21 n° 71 Downtown. Tel: 212-0573.

Andreza —Blonde, soft to the touch, tender, pretty face and tasty mouth.

Complete service. $15. Tel: 944-6052.

Claudia — Blonde, 34, light eyes, small breasts, round and retrousse butt.

Complete servic . $10. Tel: 242-1837.

Camilinha A little-girl-style pussycat, 5"1', brunette, hard bod , pretty naughty. I adore pleasing who makes love to e. Tel: 242-1944.

GERAcA0 2000— With 16 girls to better serve you.

Check it out. Prrn motion: Erotic massage from 10 AM to 8 PM with room condom free. $5. Rua 240 Qd. 64 Lt. 40, St. Coimbra. Tel: 291-4190.

This is just small sample of dozens of ads from the Escort categor, which were published on Dicirio da Manhci, the lead ng Goiania (capital of the state of Goias) daily on a rand m day, September 28, 1999, a Tuesday.

Ads like this and even in more vivid description have been common for years and are found daily in every large paper across the country. What calls attention to the DM advertising is the incredibly cheap prices at which sex is being offered.

Excessive cpmpetition, dwindling clientele, and economic hard tim s have drawn prices down steeply in the Goias sex mark t as shown in the ads published at the DM and 0 Popular, nother daily from the area. In one such a complete sex p ogram including the lady, room and a condom is offer d for a mere $5 (or 10 reais theses days).

Two of the pl ces offering such a program during its happy hour (fro 10 AM to 8 PM) are Meson and Geracao 2000 (Generati n 2000). These are blue-collar places.

More sophistic ted houses, however, are also in a cutthroat competit on. Real Prive, Platinnum and Estancia NM, among oth rs, offer striptease all day long and credit cards are acce ted to pay for munchies as well as for copulation.

The girls fo sale seem to approve the price cuts, which reduce their ow paychecks. Talking to Diario da ManIrd, Renata, an exp rt in "erotic massage", a code name for sex, commente s : "Today it is very hard to find a man willing to spend $25 in n erotic session even ifhe has th. kind of money."

DM also listen e to businessman Marcio Delon, 6, who frequents theses places:" t sure is a different promotion. ut I still want to know the level of the women."

9

emory

Taciturn Creator "The written word always attracted me. I still didn't know how to read, but loved to keep watching the letters on pieces of paper, on all kinds of labels, on wall calendars and then I would try to copy the letters with coal on the sidewalks and walls, or on the floor with a little stick. As soon as I learned how to read I suffered a kind of disappointment. To me the stories I read seemed inferior to those that I imagined when I only could look at the letters. But that was because I lived in a very small town where all there was to read was the schoolbook. Only at age 12 when they took me to a bigger city I had access to other books and the enchantment came back and continues till this date."

Considered the most important Brazilian master ofthe fantastic realism current, Jose J. Veiga, who died September 19 from pancreatic cancer, at age 84 in Rio, didn't like to give interviews. The quotation above comes from one of the rare occasions in which he agreed to talk publicly about himself and his work. Probably he wouldn't care to know that his death was almost completely ignored by the Brazilian press.

The Goias media were among the few to mention his passing. After all Jose Jacinto Veiga was a son from that state even though he had spent his life in Rio. Veiga was born on February 2, 1915 on a ranch between Corumba and Pirenopolis. He moved to Rio when he was 20, after having finished high school at the Liceu de Goias in Goias Velho, the former capital of the state.

In Rio he was a shop attendant, prescription drugs peddler, radio announcer, and public servant. He graduated from Rio's law school Faculdade Nacional de Direito in 1943, but opted for being a journalist. In 1945 he moved to London to work for the BBC radio programs in Portuguese as a translator and commentator. After coming back to Brazil in 1949 the writer worked as journalist for the dailies 0 Globo and Tribuna da Imprensa, and for the Reader's Digest Brazilian edition.

His debut as a fictionist happened in 1958 with the publication of a series of short story in the Sunday literary supplement ofJornal do Brasil. Veiga was already 44 when he published in 1959 his first book, Os Cavalinhos de Platiplanto (Platiplanto's Little Horses), a collection of short stories, which won two national literary prizes: the Premio Fabio Prado de Literatura from the Brazilian Chamber of Book and the Premio Monteiro Lobato. Extremely shy, the writer spent two weeks locked in his house soon after the publication of the book.

Regionalist, gothic and leading representative of the Brazilian fantastic realism were some of the labels attached to Veiga's literary production. His work was translated to several languages, including English, Russian, Czech, Swedish, Spanish and French. In 1997 the ABL (Academia Brasileira de Letras—Brazilian Academy of Letter) gave him a life-achievement award, but he didn't care for the Academia and was opposed to literary theory, which according to him was a hindrance to literary creativity.

He was a good friend of late Guimardes Rosa, considered Brazil's greatest contemporary fictionist. Curiously they were both cat lovers and became friends after their wives struck up a friendship, having met in a veterinarian's office waiting room.

Bibliography: A Hora dos Ruminantes (The Hour of the Ruminants), 1966 A Maquina Extraviada (The Misplaced Machine), 1968 Sombra de Reis Barbudos (Shadow of Bearded Kings), 1972 Os Pecados da Tribo (The Tribe's Sins), 1976.

De Jogos e Festas (Of Games and Parties), 1981 Aquele Mundo de Vasabarros (That World of Vasabarros), 1982 Torvelinho Dia e Noite (Whirl Day and Night), 1985 A Casco da Serpente (Serpent Skin), 1989 0 Risonho Cavalo do Principe (The Prince's Laughing Horse), 1992 0 Relogio Belisorio (The Belisario Clock), 1995 Objetos Turbulentos (Turbulent Objects), 1998

10

BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

Go North, Young Man As unemployment grows and one crisis follows another, more and more Brazilians have been heeding the siren song of faraway lands and appeals to leave it all behind to build a new life in the United States or elsewhere. Things start getting rough when it is time to geta visa. But not until making the journey will the dreamers know how costly this adventure can be.

FRANCESCO NEVES After agonizing about how many men to send at the end of September to participate in the recent Australian-led multinational military mission to guarantee peace in East Timor—a former Portugal colony— the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration decided to dispatch 51 volunteers including officers, sergeants and privates, all of them trained in street patrol.

The small number of troops was ridiculed by the Brazilian media, whose members did not embark as planned on the same military plane that took the soldiers to East Timor.

The government found out that there would be more reporters than military men in the aircraft and canceled plans to carry the press. The initial proposal was to send 800 men from the Sao Leopoldo (Rio Grande do Sul state) Infantry Battalion who are. trained for foreign missions. The plan was soon dropped, however, when it became clear that the undertaking was dangerous and there was risk of several casualties.

It was in 1956—during the Suez BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

Canal crisis—that Brazil last sent troops to participate in an sulates) there are 1,560,162 Brazilian expatriates in the international force to impose peace. The 18 international world. The majority of these emigrants (600,000 of them) missions in which the country participated in the following are in the US, followed by Paraguay (350,000) and Japan 43 years offered little danger. According to Army officials (200,000). this is the most dangerous Brazilian military mission since New York ranks first among the foreign cities with the 1944 when the country participated on the side of the allies largest concentration of Brazilians. It has 200,013 Brazilin World War II in Italy. Twenty five thousand troops were ians, followed by Ciudade del Este in Paraguay (180,100), sent, 430 soldiers died with 13 Army and 8 Navy officers.

Boston (150,000), Miami (140,000), Nagoya in Japan They had a victorious campaign, winning the Castelnuovo (120,500), Asuncion in Paraguay (107.035), Tokyo (80,639), battle, helping to take the town of Montese, and Salto del Guaira in Paraguay (60,000), taking over Monte Castelo.

Washington, D.C. (48,000), Milan in This latest troop episode is in a way the story Italy (30,100), Lisbon in Portugal of Brazilian emigration, the uneasiness Brazil(22,052), and London (19.510). ians feel about leaving their country. Brazilians According to the 1980 US Census, A New Interest traditionally have preferred to stay home even there were 44,000 Brazilians living in in Exiles when times get rough, dreaming that things will the States at that time, 60% of them in the get better soon. They have been for the most part states ofNew York, New Jersey, Florida, There've been several incorrigible optimists. This has already been Massachusetts and California. Two thirds studies about Brazilian eminoted by renowned Brazilianist Thomas had arrived after 1965. gration. Elisa Massae Sasaki Skidmore observing a recent change in the naThe migratory influx increased draand Adriana Capuano de tional mood: "Emigration is a bad sign because matically during the '80s when stratoOliveira, both from Unicamp, Brazilians are famous for their optimism about spheric inflation—up to 80 percent a are studying the saga of the the country. Even during the military regime month—and high unemployment condekaseguis, the Japanese de[which lasted from 1964 to 1985], people who vinced many Brazilians to try their luck scendants who are going back went into exile came back as soon as they could." overseas. After having decreased in the to the land of their ancestors Despite this laissez-faire and we-can-wait early years of the Fernando Henrique to work. Ana Cristina Braga attitude, in the last 15 years Brazil has turned Cardoso administration, which started Martes, also from Unicamp, from importer of people and brain into an exon January 1", 1995, the exodus has analyses the importance ofreporter. The 2000 census is expected to give a gained momentum again, while the counligion for Brazilians who clearer picture of how many Brazilians have left try was able to contain its inflation at a moved to Massachusetts. the country in the last ten years in search of better cost too high for many: zero economic Glaucia de Oliveira Assis, economic opportunities. Experts estimate that at growth and growing joblessness. from Universidade do Estado least 1 percent of the 165,000 million population For Sao Paulo historian Jose Carlos de Santa Catarina, uses lethave done just that. From those 1.6 million, 1 Sebe Born Meihy, who soon will be ters, pictures and videos sent million chose the United States. The largest publishing the book 0 Brasil Fora de Si home by exiles to tell their contingent (around 600,000) stayed in or around (Brazil Out of Itself), a study on Brazilstories.

New York/New Jersey. Compared to other counian living in New York, Brazilian immiWeber Soares from Unitries Brazilian emigration to the United States is grants have a tougher time in the US than versidade Federal do Rio de small. Brazil didn't make the list of the 30 top other Latin Americans. He reveals that Janeiro and Valeria Cristina exporters of people to the U.S. most of them live in ghettos, survive in Scudeler from Unicamp, in It's curious that most Brazilian immigrants menial jobs, and never learn to speak different studies show how the prefer the American Northeast, an area comEnglish properly. dollars sent back to Goverpletely different from the tropical and subtropiMeihy, who teaches at USP (Uninador Valadares have imcal regions they come from. What would make versidade de SAo Paulo), backed by a pacted the development of that them endure inclement winters, discrimination— scholarship form Columbia University, city. And Gustavo Lins Ribeibeing called cucaracha is one of the insults spent a year interviewing over 300 Braro, from the Department of hurled at them—interminable hours ofhard work, zilian immigrants most of whom live in Anthropology of Univerjobs to which they would never subject themthe Queens area of New York. sidade de Brasilia (UNB), selves in Brazil? Economic hardship does not In an article published recently in the chose to study Brazilians who explain it all. Myth, dreams, fantasized stories of bilingual New York-based monthly The live in San Francisco, a city those who came first and "made it in America" Brasilians, Meihy divides the Brazilian dominated by Goianos (from help us understand. emigration to the US in three phases, Goias state).

The typical portrait of the immigrant is that while reminding us that he was unable to of the young man who, accompanied or not by establish precise numbers and data. The his family, comes to the US to work hard, get first phase began in the '70s, after the some money, and go back to Brazil where he might be able Brazilian "economic miracle" had run its course. About to buy a home, maybe start his own business, or both. The these pioneers he concludes: "This was a group, in general, events do not always follow the script, however. Some never formed by people who were fluent in English, had some save enough, many never go back. capital to apply in businesses and intended to be continuously moving between Brazil and the United States."

Why They Left The so-called "lost decade", the '80s, saw a second wave of Brazilians. Most of them left Brazil because they were According to the 1997 Second Census of Brazilians unemployed or didn't see any future in what they were doing Overseas compiled by Brazil's Foreign Ministry (based on there. "This generation, as the one before," observes the not-very-reliable information from 29 Brazilian foreign conhistorian, "maintained the tacit goal of 'returning one day."

12

BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

The third and current phase, is comprised of poorer people with less formal education than previous emigrants.

Writes Meihy, "While it is still common to hear that 'all want to go back,' it's also known that many of the new—some of them already born on North American soil—start to adapt themselves in order to assume a North American identity or at least minimize their original identity."

Rarer are the success stories of Brazilians who 'made it in America,' who started from nothing and built a fortune or at least started a prosperous business. According to reports (or legends) those Brazilian pioneers who moved north in the '60s and '70s were able to open their own shops—most of them on 46th Street in New York—in the area known as Little Brazil. Those were different times, though. Those businessmen were middle-class citizens who had jobs in Brazil and could have chosen to remain there. And they already had their nest egg. For most of them it was this money that they used to open their businesses.

In an interview with daily 0 Estado de S. Paulo, Meihy explained the title Brazil Out of Itself: "I chose it because one of my conclusions is that the community formed by Brazilians in the New York area is a recreation of Brazil, including the same vices, such as exclusion, social disputes and racial problems."

One of his conclusions: all 300 Brazilians he talked to have a better life now than they would have if they had remained in Brazil: "As they get paid by the hour, at the end ofthe week they have enough money to buy a television, for example, something they would not be able to do in Brazil."

One of his intervieArthur Osmar, multimedia artist wees, a woman lawyer who graduated from USP (Universidade de Sao Paulo, the best Brazilian college) is making $1,200 a month working in a lawyer's office, but only after everybody leaves. She is the cleaning lady.

Meihy divides Brazilians in New York-80 percent of them are undocumented—according to their activities. One of the more traditional groups are shoe shiners—Brazilians seem to have a monopoly in this sector—some 600 of them.

They work in subway stations, around the World Trade Center and on Fifth Avenue. For young women, the work as Go-Go Girls is widespread. Often Go-Go Girl is synonymous with prostitute. Close to 40 percent of the nightclub dancers in the area are Brazilians. People from Minas Gerais state represent 51% of the Brazilian population in the area followed by 30% of Paranaenses (from Parana).

Start Spreading the News New York has several stories of Brazilians who have made it. One prime example is businessman Joao de Mattos, who has a virtual monopoly on everything that's Brazilian in the city. For 15 years Mattos has been organizing the very successful Brazilian Day in New York, which takes place on a weekend around Brazilian Independence Day, September 7. In his monthly newspaper The Brasilians—the bilingual paper strong in economic activity was created in 1972 by Jota Alves—there is page after page of ads for his compaBRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

nies. Curiousl we never find ads from competing travel agencies.

One page they were three full pages in the September issue—is gene ally dedicated to BACC Travel, which sells round-trip tic ts from New York to Rio or Sao Paulo for as little as $375, ccording to the advertisement. But there are also tempting ffers from dozens of other cities in the US. Another full age presents Churrascaria Plataforma, "acclaimed by the American Press". Antenna Global Inc. gets another page. announcing the arrival of TV Globo to the US and the sale of a satellite dish to receive it.

Emporiun Brasil Café and Restaurant gets another page, and Viva Bra ii Restaurante, "authentically Brazilian" gets ere is also one page for Transfast Remitstill another. tance, a com any that sends money overseas, with seven branches on e American East Coast from New York City to Miami. Fi ally more than 500 names fill another page.

The names ar topped with the message: Happy Birthday!

BACC memb rs — September 1999. Another 12 full pages of the 48-page S ptember issue are used to show and tell of the success of th latest Brazilian Day celebration.

There are other success stories even though none so spectacularly successful as Mattos's. There is, for example, Yes, the biggest radio-taxi fleet from Astoria, New York, which belongs to a Brazilian. Aecio Silva, who started his business 14 years ago, is from Govemador Valadares. The service, which includes limousines, has 68 cars and among its drivers 22 are Brazilians (half of them ,•5 from Governador Valadares). Brazilians also represent 25 percent of Yes's clients.

Another example of success in New York is that of the J sisters from the state of Espirito Santo. There are seven: Janea, Jocely, Jonice, Joyce, Judseia, Juracy, and Jussara. Their beauty salon is frequented by the likes of Sophia Loren and top models Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss. They arned $1.5 million last year in their salon. They have becom famous in part due to their pubic hair trimming for women sing honeybee wax or the "Brazilian bikini wax" as thei clients call it.

This suc ess story started in 1980 when Jocely Padilha, then 28 wit no high school diploma, decided to visit New York. She h d no plans to stay and only $500 to spend on her planned two week trip. Instead she found a job in a beauty salon. In 19 7 she started her opened her own shop. Now she can charge a much as she wants. A haircut is never less than $100, but m n can pay as little as $60. For a manicure you pay $30 and for a pedicure $55. A mere eyebrow trimming will set you ack $25.

Now the are hoping to take over the world with plans to open branch s in Miami and Madrid (Spain). They also have just launche in Brazil a line of cosmetics bearing their brand with the sa e high prices as the best-known name brands.

Out of sight Despite ts size—and some American interest in Brazil— the Brazili n community in New York and around the country is p actically invisible. Brazilians are still confused with all oth Latin Americans and still speak Spanish for the great major ty of Americans. Between October 1" and 11, the New Y rk MoMA (Museum of Modem Art) (the museum pres nted recently a comprehensive retrospective of the Brazilia cinema) will be exhibiting the work of multi13

media artist Arthur Omar. There will be a retrospective grants. In Framingham Brazilians have spurred a revitalizaincluding seminal works like Triste Tropic() (Sad Tropic) tion of downtown, which had become downtrodden and from 1973 and this year experiments with abstractionism. over-run by prostitution and drugs.

That's just one more sign of American interest in Brazilian Commenting on the energy and brain-drain that the art and culture besides the continuous awareemigration has become, profesness of Brazilian music and Tropicalismo.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • sor Teresa Sales from Omar, who has no false or any other kind • • Unicamp' s (Universidade de • • of modesty, doesn't hide his enthusiasm: "I • • Campinas) sociology departBrazilians in Japan feel honored for having been selected. They • • ment told weekly magazine have carefully chosen the date so it would be • •• Epoca: "The country exports • the last exhibit of the century. It is as though • According to Japan's Justice Ministry today the most precious thing it my work was a synthesis of the millennium, • there are 222,217 Brazilians living and has, its population. They are because I shatter the frontiers between lan- • working in Japan.

They are the third largyoung men and women, who at • guages, genera, and technologies."

• est group of Brazilian exiles after the the peak of their productivity, The artist was invited for this show in United States and Paraguay (350,000). At leave for faraway places, low1996 by Larry Laurence Kardish, MoMA's the peak of the Brazilian emigration to ering their professional status curator for movies and video. In the Japan there were more than 230,000. They to find stability in life. Conretrospective's catalogue Omar is presented are the dekaseguis, the sons and grandtrary to previous studies, I noas "perhaps, the most provocative and prosons of the Japanese who moved to Brazil tice that Brazilians in Boston lific artist of Latin America." At MoMA there as early as 1908 when the Kasatu Maru are not an invisible population. is somebody who knows Omar very well. He ship took the first immigrants. As with They come, they multiply, build is Paulo Hemkenhoff, the adjunct-curator of most of the migrants, the dekasegliis—a an ethnic identity and don't go the painting and sculpture department. term which means to leave to make money unnoticed." Sales should know.

Hemkenhoff was the curator for the last S'ao was originally used to designate those For more than seven years she Paulo Bienal. He also happens to be BrazilJapanese from the north of Japan who has been observing and studyian. moved to the south in search of opportuing Brazilian expatriates who Among Omar's best-known movies is nities—moved to improve their economic live in the Greater Boston area.

Sonhos e Historias de Fantasmas (Dreams lot.

Sales, who has just released and Stories of Ghosts), a juxtaposition of two The Brazilian dekaseguiphenomenon Cenas do Brasil Migrante black communities originally made for the started at the end of the '80s. With the (Scenes of Migrant Brazil), a German TV: in one community their memdeteriorating Japanese economy, many book she co-authored, sees a bers are old and tired descendants of the dekaseguis returned to Brazil. In the last change of behavior in the latest Quilombos (communities ofrunaway slaves). few weeks, though, a new cycle seems to wave of Brazilian exiles: "We In the other there is the vitality of young have started as the Japanese economy have a redefinition about the funkers from Rio's Morro do Borel, a again picks up steam. Ads asking for expectations of Brazilians who shantytown. niseis and sanseis (second and third genmove to the United States. They In Inferno (Hell) again he juxtaposes: this eration Japanese) to work in Japan are leave due to crisis, but what time he puts side by side family pictures taken once again common in Japanese newspakeeps them longer and longer by his grandfather in the '20s and '30s, pers published in Brazil. Monthly salaries are the ties created there."

Camaval scenes and cattle being slaughtered. are around $3,500 for men and $3,000 for Governador Valadares, a Ressurreiceio (Resurrection)—you could women. city in the state of Minas Gerais, never guess—uses newspapers pictures of Brazilian exiles all over the world has 300,000 residents in its own massacres as raw material. Ursinho de Pehicia used to say that their immigrant condition territory. Another 44,000 live (Teddy Bear), on the other hand, is the real was only transitory and that they were in the United States and the story of a cat trying to rape a teddy bear. As going back to Brazil one of these days, as economy thrives as a result of the artist told Jornal do Brasil: "It's a hardcore soon as they put their house in order. the money these Brazucas (Bramovie, but the cat never fulfills his desire More and more they are not going back zilians living in the US) send because the teddy is an impenetrable object. even though they continue spreading ruhome. Every large and small This is quite symbolic." mors that they are almost ready to pack. business seems to accept payWhen dekaseguis say they are just passment in dollars. The more than Making a Difference ing through, though, they generally mean 70 travel agencies in town also business, although the average number of operate as exchange outlets and Different from Brazilians in New York, years they stay in Japan has increased there are around two dozen who have a hold on shoe shining and go-go from one and a halfto three or more years. schools specializing in teachgirl dancing, many of those who came to ing English.

Boston seem to be on the fast track to riches.

Curiously, Americans dis• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • They were even celebrated as "aristocratic covered Govemador Valadares Boston's new social climbers" by weekly magazine Epoca before the town citizens started flocking North. It was during in a recent cover story. It's in Framingham—Frerningun as World War II and afterwards that the Yankees started to hang most Brazilians seem to pronounce it—a small town (65,000 around the region looking for mica, an insulating material residents) 30 miles from Boston that the Brazilian presence used in radio transmitters. The first Valadarenses to go North has been more conspicuous. Official numbers talk about were lured by the tales and stories of these US citizens.

150,000 Brazilians in the state of Massachusetts, where Today, for those who live in Govemador Valadares, Framingham is located, but other estimates put that number getting a visa to the US is like winning the lottery and is at 600,000 including documented and undocumented immialmost as rare. Consulate authorities do a double-take when 14

BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

Mario Dantas 1aranjeira, 30, who was born in Bahia and who became a prosperous businessman in Boston: "The day I was barred from taking a test at school for lack of payment I decided to leave Brazil. It was too much humiliation. With $7000 in debts I left for the United States when I was 19. I entered throug Mexico with 15 other Brazilians. My adventure started in Tijuana, on the frontier. We walked for hours, oriented by a coyote, the guide. At night, we suffered a suspicious the when they took what little we had. We crossed a river and arrived at a sewer Touching Stories/Horror Stories 9 line. It was painful to go across the dark and fetid pipes. We walked bowing, sometimes we had to crawl. This Although there are the success Letters from Brazilian exile hell was one kilometer and lasted three stories, for many going to America hours—an eternity. I stepped in Amerithe trip will be closer to a nightmare as reported can soil barefooted. I lost the only than the fulfillment of a dream. They by daily 0 gstado de S. Pau shoes I had during that depressing know that almost invariably they crossing." will end up doing menial work they "The truth is that after two years you I se Brazilians in exile seem to ease the would have refused to do in Brazil. the energy to work two jobs at the same t e. pain and the humiliation with the They know, but probably don't beThis happens to almost everyone here. Or thought that one day they will be back lieve it. Men often get a job in they go back to Brazil or stay here with o ly in Brazil. It also helps when they have construction or cleaning offices, one job and then they are not able to save fly enough money to send some back to while women generally find a house money." the relatives they left. In many cases, to clean or a family where they (Jose Carlos, in a letter to his mother in however, they don't tell their parents work as baby sitters or as caretakers June 1992) or relatives how they are making this for the elderly and sick. money. The Brazilian Foreign MinisEpoca talked to some Brazil"My family knows, except for my fa er try estimates that Brazilians overseas ians who made it the United States, and my mother. It's a very tiring job. fine are sending $4 billion a year to their people like Mineiro (from Minas day, a guy ripped in two a $100 bill, plac d it country.

Gerais) Ronaldo de Souza, 39, who on me and told me that I would have the o er For those whose longing for Brazil told his story: "I came here with the half when I went to bed with him. He is till is too painful things have become a tad idea of working as a corpse washer. waiting. Some women have sex, others are easier these days. Those who wanted In Brazil I was told that the Boston married and have children. This is only anto keep watching their novelas (TV mortuaries paid $200 per body. To other way to get some fast cash. Since I ant soap operas) for years were able to buy my dismay, however, I was into go back soon I do it." or rent weekly tapes. Now Globo, the formed that to enter the profession, (Dancer I. field diary main TV network, can be seen throughI would have to complete a college out the US via satellite. People in Eucourse! Dead here are cool: they go "Dear Mom, I saw the tape of our rope and Japan can also see programs to the grave all dressed up, sparbirthday and I cried a lot, longing for you d at the same time Brazilians are watchkling, smiling. I gave up and went everybody, for my kids, grandchildren, n phing them. While the West Coast is back to being a house painter. Toews, in-laws. I don't even know whether I'm under-served, Brazilians on the East day I have my own company and going to see you again, God only know'."

Coast are able to buy CDs, books, have more customers that I can (Dulcineia in a letter from April 199') magazines, food and beverages imhandle. My youngest daughter is , ported from Brazil. The last product American. Her name is Stephanie "Everyone who travels to Brazil al ost included in the exiles' menu is Kibon Mary Ann de Souza, she is seven kills us with longing and sadness. It's ery ice cream. and speaks English like an adult." tough. Another day I found a map, look .d at All the talk about the Governador As it happens in other regions, it, placed my finger over Govern dor Valadares made it easier for another Brazilians in Boston with college Valadares, my heart beat fast, very fa t. I regional group, the people from diplomas are taking jobs they would can't live without you. I want at least to s ell Criciiima, in the southern state of Santa never have accepted in Brazil. A your scent."

Catarina, to move north and sneak in study by Teresa Sales, a sociology (Jose Antonio in a letter to his wife in I ay great numbers. Only recently the professor at Unicamp (Universidade 1986) American consulate in Sao Paulo, unde Campinas), revealed that while der whose jurisdiction Criciuma falls, 47% of the Brazilians in the Boston I. um mil owim Ino found a disproportionate number from area have a college diploma, 55% that city and neighboring regions applying for visas. of them work in jobs that require little or no qualification. For It is esti ated that since 1990, 25,000 Criciumenses men, dishwashing in restaurants is common. Women who moved to the US, most of them to the Boston area, and most used to have one or more servants in Brazil are now servants of them have remained illegally in the country. Hundreds of themselves. them, it was evealed recently, paid up to $7000 to arrange Epoca told the story of Fatima Miguel, a 39-year-old fake deeds, j b information and bank statements, all used to lawyer, who boasts of her ability to clean three houses in a convince U authorities they had enough resources to go single day. "I clean it the Brazilian way," she said. "I'm not back to Bra '1 when their tourist visas expired. lazy and I really scrub."

Some B azilian companies have taken advantage of The magazine also published the dramatic testimonial of

examining passports from people from that region of Minas Gerais. More than 300 Valadarenses travel to the American Consulate in Rio every month. Less than 30 percent of them get the expected stamp in their passport, however.

Valadarenses have developed several tactics to divert the consulate's sniffing dogs off their tracks. One of them is to get their passport—and if possible other documentation— issued out of the state of Minas Gerais.

BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

15

T those interested in entering the US charging exorbitant prices for this type of service. M/Brazil - Cursos & Intercambios from Jundiai, in the interior of Sao Paulo, for example, charges as much as $8,000 to arrange a job as an aupair in the US. Tilts price does not include plane tickets. The firm even has the chutzpah to charge $2,000 to submit the name of a candidate to the Green Card lottery offered by the American government to qualified foreigners.

Applying to this free lottery does not take more than a few lines on a piece of white paper and regular postage, sinee the INS does not accept applications sent via registered or certified mail. There is no fee charged to apply and since the winners are selected randomly by computer no one can improve the chances of someone winning.

The Miami Connection If the Brazilian middle class enters into a crisis expect downtown Miami to feel the punch and pain quickly. It's happening right now. Data from Miami's tourism authority show that there was a 40 percent decrease of Brazilian tourists during this summer vacation when compared to the same period last year. With those who are still coming spending less (50 percent of what they used to), Miami will have to say goodbye to $400 million it was expecting to make from Brazilians this year. For Rent signs have been sprouting up all over on doors that a few weeks ago exhibited the green and yellow Brazilian flag. Around 30 businesses catering to Brazilian tourists have already closed their doors since the Brazilian Real was' devalued in January.

Brazil is Florida's number one trade partner, buying fertilizer, machinery and manufactured goods and selling shoes, rubber and coffee. They love to visit Disneyland, to buy timeshares on beaches, to fill bags and crates with all kinds of electronics they will resell— or at least used to—for double the price at home, and they used to do this two or three times a year.

Data from US company Strategy Research Corporation show that Brazil has been demoted from 2nd to 7th place among the countries that send tourists to Miami. While there were 478,000 Brazilian tourists in Miami in 1998-535,000 at its peak in 1996— only losing to Canada with 580,000, this number has fallen to 285,000, which places Brazil between England (305,000) and France (188,000). And Brazilians are the top spenders with an average of $172 per person per day.

The economic relation between Florida and Brazil is a solid one. Statistics compiled by American Tourism Induatries show that in the last five years 34 percent of all Brazilian tourists coming to the US stayed in Miami. New York came in a close second with 30 percent of these vacationers.

There are more than 30 Brazilian multinationals operating in Florida. Companies like engineering firm Odebrecht, which has built the new Miami Arena. Odebrecht, which also has contracts in California, has already earned more than $1.3 billion from projects developed in the US. Another famous (or infamous depending on your point of view) Brazilian company doing business in America and manufac16

• turing guns in Florida is Taurus, whose weapon of the same name has won several awards in the US. "The year of 1999 was the decade's worst," said Oscar Fasano, CD and video store Kau's manager, in an interview with Jornal do Brasil. Brasilia Internacional, an electronic products shop had an 80 percent sales decrease in February, soon after the Real devaluation. Wilson Zanon, general manager of Victor's, another store specializing in electronics, estimates that they will make 40 percent less in 1999 than they did in 1998. In 1998 there was already a 30 percent fall compared to 1997. Zanon says he was forced to lay off 12 of their 60 employees to deal with the lost income.

In Orlando, the losses for Brazilian businesses were even more dramatic. There was a 90 percent fall in tourist-related earnings during the summer vacation compared to the same period last year.i Electronics stores that used to bring in $90,000 in one day, now need 12 days to make the same money. In years past, up to 200,000 Brazilians came to Orlando. Tour operators don't expect the number to reach , 25,000 until the end of 1999. For tourists that are still coming there is a big reduction in the time they have to wait in line to enjoy their favorite attractions. They wait 10 minutes for a ride which in the year before they had to wait one hour or more.

For the Brazilian business community in New York the situation is also very difficult. While last year tour agency Soletur alone was bringing up to 10,000 Brazilians every month to New York, this number has dwindled to around 2000. Sonte electronic and computer businesses in the area of 466 Street known as Little Brazil have closed their doors and others might do the same soon. Companies that depended heavily on the Brazilian tourist like Aqui Brasil, Brasil Computer and Che Brazil were not able to survive the crisis and went belly up.

Doing Their Job US consulates in Brazil have been accused of and reported in the press for racism and adoption of code letters to discriminate against applicants. One infamous case of racism happened in 1997 when Carlos Alexandre, 6, was denied a visa, while all of his classmatern/ho were going on the same tour got their entry permit without a problem. Little detail: all the other students were white. Carlos was black.

It was also in 1997 that Robert Olsen, a former deputy consul at Sao Paulo's American Consulate General filed a suit for what he called unfair dismissal. He claimed he had rebelled against some discriminatory practices to give visas and was fired. Olsen told a story that would make Big Brother proud or green with envy. Interviewers were supposed to use some odd two-letter abbreviations on the applications to help them with a final decision. Here are some of the gems: RK was for 'rich kid,' IC for 'take care,' TP for 'talks poorly,' LR for 'looks rough' and LP for looks poor'.

The Sao Paulq consulate admitted recently that it has become even mor igorous when screening candidates who might be likely to verstay their tourist visas in the States.

Since last year the number of rejected applications for tourist visas has increased from 6 to 20 percent. While 11,626 visas were denied in 1997, this number had skyrocketed to 37,669 by mid-September. At this rate, around 50,000 visas will be refused this year in the Sao Paulo area alone, or close to 200 denials every working day.

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OBLIQUE RACISM Does razi as t ea irmative action program? I visited Rio a few times, as a tourist and I do not profess to know much about Brazil.

However, my observation is racial inequality in Brazil is very subtle but strong.

Kam Ming Via Internet

OF BLACK AND WHITE As a citizen ot t e US I a. t cc ance to travel extensively when I was in the US Navy. We visited Rioonce and I enjoyed the city. I am also an African American and I can understand the complex issues of race that people face all around the world. One of the biggest differences between the US and other countries is the boldness of racism.

Often in the US the racism is very bold and obvious. For example, some white Americans won't let their children have black friends. In Brazil there seems to be a feeling of not upsetting the balance or status quo.

Just about all orthe progress that blacks have achieved has been through aggressive sometimes radical action. Blacks in the US insist on opening dialog and discussions on race.

Silence seems to benefit the majority white.

Corporations in America have started to wake up to the fact that their workforce pool is starting to become non-white. They compete.for the best workers by embracing diversity rather than fighting or ignoring the differences like they used to. Within the next year there will be at least 3 blacks heading the top 500 companies in the US. I hope that Brazilian blacks start to organize and realize their potential and to insist on sharing in the wealth.of their country. Quotas may be necessary in order to sec any substantial changes in the short run. Twill be visiting Brazil next year and look forward to the trip. Thanks for the article. "Proud to be Black Brian Coffee Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

HIGH ON LOW, LOW ON HIGH I am an African-American. pastor and have done extensive traveling in America, Kenya, and Trinidad. Your article (Brazzil, August 1999) underlines what I have observed everywhere I go, that blacks are singled out and left out because of "color". When the records are revealed, the country does not matter the end results are always the same.

From the total population .we are underrepresented with wealth, political influence, the arts and management level positions.

When the records are revealed, the country does not matter the end results are always the same from the total population we are overrepresented in jails/prispns, lowest positions in the job market, and in media.

Reverend James H. McMearn, New Jerusalem Baptist Church Fountain, Colorado

BRAZIL PROJECT I'm a Brazilian black and before Camila Pitanga, Isabel Filardis or Thais Aranjo were born was on TV. I was famous too, I had a band (Lilith) and I was working on Globo TV with Milton Goncalves and others big black actors This new generation of black artists is totally phony. They do everything to appear and they love to suck the white people. Now I live in Califormaand I have this project to make a movie about Brazil. I am trying to find people who can help me since I don't have any money to do that.

WHAT TO CELEBRATE? I was eartbro en w en I Nat about the National Encounter of the Pages and their problems (June 1999). As a young person studying history I learned how mean and cruel the native could be. They were also called savages.

Today I know better. It was the invaders who started all the problems and caused much pain to the natives. Can anyone imagine their suffering? Women being raped, disease which they could not cure killing thousands of them?

The beatings they endured, because they "were lazy", not good workers? Not to mention that the land for which they cared for thousands of years was being taken away from them. The invaders, so-called civilized, were the real savages! Disgracefully, all these sufferings continue today!

Next year there will be a great celebration.

Five-hundred years of invasion of most of the east coast of South America. The natives' cultures will mostly be ignored of course. I wonder, will anyone stop -for a minute of silence to honor the loss of life of thousands of natives confiscation of their land, and their habitat? certainly, will not take part in any festivities celebrating such atrocities. I feel ashamed to admit that I am a descendant of such cruel. savage people, the invaders! There, I feel better already.

Geoniora Oliveira Fountain Valley, California

A friend has told me about an article she read recently about a town in Southeastern Brazil, which is blessed with a young mayor whose principal occupation is in architecture. She relates that this young mayor has implemented some veryprogressive, perm.- .1.1 me mom mar =Me oft mui Nun dm

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DAZZLING 101 T s to Bruce Gilman for the interview with Mario de Aratanha..I'm going to put a link to it,I hope you keep it "on the air" for quite a while. It's essential that people in this country and others learn more about Kuarup. What he's doing is outstanding!

And he's a sweetie too!

Sheila Thomson http://www.maria-braziLorg

ADD THIS Your artic e on our- etter won s was almost complete. You forgot for penis. the words bambu and saroba, and for prostitute the word baranga (used in Rio de Janeiro a lot). This is my contribution to destroy the universal moral.

Luiz

Via Internet

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BRAZIL VIA BRAZZIL I rea y emoyee your atest issue, especially the articles "Life's a Beach" by John Miller and "Marking Time" by Phillip Wagner and Danielle V alim. I've never been to Brazil, so reading your magazine is as close as I will get for right now. Do you know of any good places in LosAngeles for Brazilian music or food?

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Write to: Letters to the Publisher

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I am very interested in starting a subscription with this magazine from what I have seen over the Net. lam doing a research paper on the current race relations based on historic legacies. My university offers capoeira as a class and I also have been studying Portuguese for a year now and hope to find out more about the current climate before venturing to Brazil. • Sparkle Williams Richmond, Virginia

haps even revolutionary programs to improve the lives of his constituency. She could not tell me where she had read about this miracle... but I wonder if you have also heard of this man and if you could possibly tell us (readers of Brazzil) more about him, his city, and his programs. I'm sure he has made considerable name for himself in Brazilian press. Do Gaetano y Gilberto know of this angel? Thanks for a wonderful...if perennially late publication.

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BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

Out of the blue, and perhaps for the wrong reasons, Brazil's three biggest political parties have agreed to push forward with a long-awaited political reform. It's not the entire package, and several convoluted and inefficient aspects of the political system will remain untouched for the time being. Still, if all goes according to plans, this is significant—it's the start of a much-needed adjustment that's vital to the country's future.

The agreement involves President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's governing center-left PSDB, and its two main allies, the rightist PFL, and the mostly centrist but at times hard to place on the political spectrum PMDB. An approaching deadline pushed the three parties into action: for any changes to take effect in next year's nationwide municipal elections, they must be approved in Congress by September 30—a full year before the vote in 2000.

Four major changes are on the table, and all converge to accomplish two objectives clearly on the minds of the governing allies: they strengthen larger parties, and weaken or even force out of existence smaller political contingents, often described in Brazil as "rent-a-parties" because of the way they quickly—often suspiciously—attach themselves to their richer, larger, more viable colleagues during a campaign.

Specifically, the four changes being proposed do the following: * Parties with less than 5 percent of overall votes cast in a given election would not be allowed to hold seats in Congress. Without sitting members, a party would be automatically shut out of public campaign funds, and free political airtime on radio and television. Had this item been in place for the last Congressional vote in 1998, the number of parties with sitting members in Brazil's lower house would have been reduced from 16 to just 5; * Parties would no longer be allowed to go into majority elections within pre-established alliances. In proportional elections (Brazil's case at all levels), overall votes cast for an alliance ofparties are considered, and the winners are the candidates within the alliance who individually receive the most votes. This has been a way for smaller party candidates to win seats—thanks to the overall vote tally within the alliance, made possible by a bigger alliance partner; BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

Movin at Las A modest political reform is being pushed through Congress. The real hot potatoes are not part of t e package at this time. But at feast the ball is now rolling.

ADHEMAR ALTIERI

CORNET() BRAZIIIENSE 0 JL II IC mow' i• 1\/ER PORI< )Ix IS NOS

* Parties would only be allowed to form pre-election alliances if these were national in scope, valid in every region and municipality. In other words, parties could no longer hook up with different partners in different areas, often with wildly varying political persuasions, as they do now— another blow to smaller political groups; * Candidates would no longer be allowed to run in an election if they changed parties less than 36 months prior to the vote. This will greatly diminish the party-hopping that has been so common over the years—and so heavily criticized. Less than a month after 1998's newly-elected Congress was sworn in, close to 50 members had already jumped to other parties; These four measures are what PSDB, PFL and PMDB leaders were able to agree on—the idea was to push ahead only with what can be rushed through Congress at this time without significant opposition. That gives the entire package a good shot at being passed by September 30—in time to take effect for next year's municipal elections.

What was kept out of this early stage of the reform, however, speaks volumes about Brazil's political system. Perhaps the biggest no-no is the disproportionately high number of members of Congress from poorer northern and northeastern states. This is a remnant of the military regime that ruled Brazil for 21 years until 1985. In order to subdue its more feisty congressional opponents, mainly from richer and more populous southern states, the regime simply increased the number of members from states where election outcomes could be more easily influenced. Thus, the number of"friendly" votes in Congress was artificially increased. Today, a member of Congress from Sao Paulo state needs at least 60 thousand votes to get to Brasilia, but it only takes a fraction of that to elect a member from some northern states.

Logic says this is a simple matter of once again reducing the number of congressional seats for those states whose representation was illegitimately raised. But this being politics, it just won't be that simple. States that benefited in the past now argue they ought to be better represented, to avoid dominance by the rich south. At best, they're willing to discuss an increase 19

in seats for other states, but not a decrease in their allotment. in some cases for years. This is only the opening phase of Party leaders actually did well to put this one aside for the political reform, and it's definitely not everything that needs time being. to happen. But it is an important first step.

No District Voting Another key element is the absence of district voting. A Adhemar Altieri is a veteran with major news outlets in Brazil, Canada and the United States. candidate for Congress or a State Legislature can be voted He holds a Master's Degree in Journalism from statewide, as can a City Council candidate gather votes Northwestern University in Evanston, citywide. In practice, this has created a breed of politicians Illinois, and spent ten years with CBS News reporting that answer to no one after the election, because they're not from Canada and Brazil. Altieri is a member officially responsible for anything. Some will work a speof the Virtual Intelligence Community, cific area to gather votes, and once elected respond to that formed by The Greenfield Consulting constituency, but this is a totally informal arrangement. It is Group to identify future trends for Latin America. left entirely up to the elected official to decide, after the He is also the editor of election, if he or she will care about a specific region or InfoBrazil (http://wvvvv.infobrazil.com), an English-language.weekly e-zine constituency at all. with analysis and opinions on Brazilian politics and Not surprisingly, it has taken several years to get the idea economy. You can reach the author at of district voting to even be discussed in Brazil. Most editorsAinfobrazil.com politicians want no part of it, because it spells the end of the near-total freedom they enjoy now.

Districts would force them to respond to a specific constituency, and would probably make getting elected a more difficult task. As things work now, a rich campaign fund usually does the trickâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the more far-reaching the campaign, the more votes it will gather, and chances are the candidate will be BEST SERVICE + BEST RATES elected. With electoral districts, a AIR - IATA 01-1-9279-012 well-regarded local candidate OCEAN - FMC 3853 would have a better chance, even against a well-funded opponent.

A third major element of political reform that will not be dealt with at this time is mandatory votTO ANY AIRPORT IN BRAZIL ing. In Brazil, there is no choice: every voter is expected to show up on Election Day, or justify the absence. Again, this makes life much easier for a candidate: no need to FULL CONTAINER & DIRECT CONSOLIDATIONS put much effort into getting out the WITHOUT TRANSLOADING IN MIAMI vote, since high turnouts are almost a certainty.

This directly affects the quality of election campaigns. Without the need to convince voters to take part, the vast majority of politicians at all levels treat Brazilian voters with gratuitous, shallow, unfocused and generally empty campaigns, more often than not hinged on image rather than substance. Optional voting would be a powerful instrument in the improvement of the electoral process in Brazil, and for that reason, it is naturally shunned by most politicians.

All things considered, the real 12833 SIMMS AVE. - HAVVTHORNE, CA 90250 â&#x20AC;&#x17E; hot potatoes of political reform are not part of the package at this time.

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BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

From August 31st until September 7th, I had the opportunity to walk with others from my neighborhood, Brasilandia (northwest periphery of Sao Paulo) to the 12th annual Grito dos Excluidos (Cry ofthe Excluded Ones) happening at the national cathedral in Aparecida, 170 km north of Sao Paulo. This national protest is sponsored each year by the National Conference of the Bishops of Brazil. The walk itself was organized by our Episcopal region of Brasilandia. Here is my testimony to the people, culture, and realities I encountered.

Day 1 I must admit that I was somewhat nervous going on a sevenday walk for over 170 kilometers, only knowing a few acquaintances and knowing that I would be speaking Portuguese the entire time. After throwing my fold-up mattress and two small backpacks into the truck that would be accompanying us, I found Nelma, my walking partner. Since both of us had wanted to go on the walk, but wanted to at least have one known person to go with, a mutual friend had introduced us before the walk.

Nelma had really wanted to make the walk the last year, but was working and not able to go. Since she had just lost her job two weeks before, she was free to go and was definitely walking not so much to denounce injustice, but to plead, along with millions of other Brazilians, for help from Mary, known by every single person in Brazil as Nossa Senhora de Aparecida (Our Lady of Aparecida).

Aparecida's image is a black woman with a heavy blue cloak and golden crown and she is central to popular and traditional religiosity—as popular as Our Lady of Guadalupe is to the people of Mexico. Nelma, who is 25 years old, is now one of the 1,800,000 unemployed people in the city of Sao Paulo alone, and she has a deep faith in Mary of Aparecida even through all the hardships of her life.

In our first few hours together walking out of the city, Nelma confided in me that she is struggling with the loss of her mother and her younger sister's alcoholism. Even with all of these problems heavy on her heart, Nelma told me how she was truly making this journey to thank Aparecida for blessing her with much love and support in her life, even though the hardships still exist. She was also going to bless a crucifix that her mother had given her younger brother before her death.

My reasons for walking were very different than my companion's. I wanted to get to know the people of Brasilandia better and especially the community organizers, church leaders, and activists who I knew would also be on the walk. I also wanted to go to show my support to the community and to affirm my solidarity with them.

However, Nelma's testimony to her life was extremely humbling and led me to think about my faith life and my own trust in God and to evaluate the ways in which I thank God for the love, joy, family, and friends in my own life. I realized how much I intellectualize and rationalize my ideas about faith and God, while many of the Brazilians I met simply depend on God with all their hearts.

Walking out of the city, it occurred to me how objective and concrete my goals were for going on this journey and that life is not always about production, the achievement of goals, or the making of a thing or a quantity of money. This pilgrimage and protest was a very simple act of faith and resistance in a country where the poor are ignored in order to fulfill the standards of foreign financers and the International Monetary Fund's restructuring requirements for loans.

It was a walk to say ENOUGH to the concentration ofland. As the spokesperson for Brazil's Catholic Bishops put it, "Either the government changes its political economic system, or we will change the government." People are tired of the unemployment, misery, and huge disparities between the minimum salary (US$70 a month) and the opulence of the small percentage of rich people.

This seven-day walk—that can be completed in 3 hours by car—was a prayerful, simple, communal, painful, and joyful time. We had started at about 9 AM after a round of Hail Mary's and a sendoff from Brasilandia's (northern Sao BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

ROMARRN GRIT° DOS brasil.

Filho feu nao

EXCLUMOS Foge a Luta Episcopal Brasilondia Arq. S. Paulo.

For lying Out Loud We left at 4 AM the next day.

Walking in the dark through the small roads the fields rising up above the fences and the fog settling in, I felt a sense of peace in the simplicity of our community and the beauty of our surroundings.

MICHELLE MYERS

21

Paulo where I live) very down-to-earth bishop Dom Angelico (he's known for inciting celebrations with, "You people are beautiful!" and "Whoever doesn't pray will turn into a bugl'' Very quirky, but committed to the people and social justia his archdiocese).

By 2:30 with the sun pounding down and my legs St to ache, I started to have my doubts about walking the e way. I couldn't believe it was only the first day and I St fantasizing about my trusty old Honda back in Dallas. We been marching in a single file line as we reached the highway, the traffic deafening, and the pollution soaking into our skin, hair, and clothing and making our stomachs hurt and our h ache. Mother Earth has a huge wound in her side that: getting worse here in Sao Paulo. As far as the eye could, asphalt, cars, trucks, smog, and fires on the edge .of where the poor burn their trash because garbage truc won't enter the periphery.

That day, as I was coughing up pollution and f muscles strain even though I had stretched and was we Hi-Tech tennis shoes, I looked up from the asphalt and not' Penha, a 60 year old Afro-Brazilian woman walking in fro me. She was wearing thongs, as most people were and her was steady.

Here is the God of the poor Walking in her simple dress, scarf around her hair and thongs on her feet.

She is endurance, accompaniment and she can't save you, but she keeps up and inspires you with her strength Day 2 Once the word got out that a person from the US was on the walk, I was bombarded with questions and started getting to know the other walkers. Having US clothing, friends, shoes, music, or having visited Disneyworld in Miami is the height of status in Brazil. I am definitely privileged by my skin color and US citizenship here in Brazil.

Then comes the questioning: "How long have you been, here?" "How long are you staying?" "What does your family', think about you being so far away?" "Don't you miss your Mom?" "You don't have any children yet?" "Do you kn w Leonardo di Caprio?" "Have you ever met Michael Jordan I must have answered these questions 50 times over, finally bored to death with myself, and the sterile image of the U learned to create dialogue better with jokes and asking q tions about their families and work.

I met a sixteen-year-old young man who is very charismatic in his Catholicism and hoping to one day become a Franciscan or Dominican brother. He was wearing a T-shirt with a blue,- r. eyed Jesus and matching baseball hat and, no matter what I told}', him, he couldn't understand that not everyone in the US is white:, nor that we don't just eat hamburgers and French fries: Tragically, but not accidentally, McDonald's and Hollywood are our most powerful cultural representatives here in Brazil, and I would say in the world. I also met Ana Maria, w is heavily involved with the Worker's Party, which is clos tied to the Catholic Church because of its similar work with poor, in community organizing, and its desire that Brazil be of international debtors and privileged multinationals.

Met a thirteen-year-old, Luis, who lives in afavela (random grouping of shacks in the middle or on the edge of the city) with his ninety-year-old grandmother. Throughout the walk Ite checked in on me and made sure I was getting enough water. I also met one ofour leaders, apriest Ze Renato who led us in song and chants from the back of a tiny Chevy for the entire sevenday period. He would yell out, "Quem temfe..."(Who has faith) and we would respond, rhyming, "...vai ape'" (goes by foot") and "Being a Catholic in our society...." and we responded, "...means a commitment to the community." "Brazil! Your sons/daughters would never flee the struggle!"

After 24 kilometers we reached the Catholic community that would host us for the night. All of us in painâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the second day was the hardestâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;sunburned (except me slathered in sunscreen) and tired. Although the showers were freezing cold, they were clean and we all passed out on our mats, re-energizin for our 6-AM departure. Just walking all day, the neces 22

fe become clear: water, food, rest, and companionship. I realized, even if I had been physically capable and knew the route, I could never complete the day's journey without singing, laughing, or conversing with the others.

Day 3 This day as of music as our goal was 44 kilometers26 miles! The soh kept us going in the heat and the hills. This one was written one of Brazil's most popular musicians, Milton Nascimento in homage to Mary.

Maria, Maria, is a gift f force that alerts us a certain magia a woman that serves to live and to love like any other on 'planet Maria, Maria s the sound, is the color, is the sweat of a ple who laugh when they should cry and who don't live, but just endure.

But it is necessary to have strength, to know the force of ur energy always.

Maria, a mixture of pain and joy.

But it is *cessary to have the dawn, to have grace and to ys dreani Whoever carries Maria with them possesses the strange ia of havOig faith in life.

WI song that is central to Brazil's northeasterners, who 9 of Brazil's most destitute states, is "Asa Branca" ite Wing). This huge rural region of Brazil is arid dry with any similarities to West Africa in its geography. Millions of rtheasterners have journeyed to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro south of work, leaving their beloved land and families because of extreme drought and loss of land to huge land speculators/owners. The northeasterners on our walk knew this song by heart and sang it with pride. Here are some ofthe lyrics: . Today many far leagues away When the green of your eyes hi a sad solitude is scattered on the fields I await the rain to fall once more I assure you, so don't cry, so I would be able to return to my land that I'll return my heart.

This land is our life our people, our foundation our faith,*ur hope, the reign of our land Other music having to do with dreams of equality and All I want is to look at the fields I just want to sing my song Only that I don't want to sing alone I want a chorus of birds with me I want to bring my friendly song to whichever friend that needs it I want to have a million friends, and to be able to sing with more strength I want to believe in a peaceful future I want to have a yard without fences I want my child to stand firm singing loudly, smiling freely....

I was in so much pain by the end of the day that I started inging every song I knew in Spanish, English, and Portuguese Ito distract myself. Making somewhat of a scene singing in English, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet the five 18-21 year olds who had decided to make the journey to Aparecida.

When I started singing "Shake it up baby now," one of them joined in and knew all of the words! It was a fun way to connect with this group who also knew, by heart "Stand by Me," "Rock around the Clock," and we had a three-way harmony going on to the chorus of "My Girl." Then they sang their favorite samba songs and I hummed along.

All of these young men and women live near my neighborhood in the northern periphery and although they like school, are extremely crea 'veâ&#x20AC;&#x17E; and socially conscious, they know that , BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

because they have attended public high schools that they will not be priority admission for the University of Sao Paulo. This university, like many others in Latin America, is free of charge, top education, and is meant to be a social equalizer in countries with such high poverty rates. Unfortunately, because more and more students cannot afford private universities, the University of Sao Paulo has become more crowded and more elitist leaving the youth from the lesser-advantaged public schools in the peripheries in the cold.

We finally arrived in the rural community of Jacarei and were warmly greeted once again and split into groups for warm showers in people's houses close by the church! This was a wonderful luxury (especially after having taken freezing showers where a tiny stall included both toilet and showerhead).

We all attended mass which was led by the community's humble priest, Father Alfonso and directed by the parish's Youth Pastoral. The community is very committed to the Landless Movement and accompany landless people who live in plastic shacks about four blocks from the church.

This nationwide movement seeks to pressure Brazil's government, which has never implemented land reform without pressure, even though the laws clearly call for an end to huge landowners called fazendeiros. (If you'd like to learn more about Brazil's landless movement, look for pictures by Sebastiao Salgado in a book called Terra.) The liturgy ended with theater done by the youth drawing attention to hunger, concentration of land, and racism in Brazil, then they played a rock song called "What Country Is This?" and danced up and down the aisles with the Brazilian flag, the Landless Movement's flag, and holding up cards that spelled out DIGNITY. Day 4 I had slept in the church the night before very peacefully and we had the entire morning free since the organizers did not want to push us too much after our 44-kilometer walk of the day before. Therefore, some of us, including myself visited a landless community near the church that morning. In order to pressure the government to implement its land reform laws, these poor families and small farmers occupy apiece ofland that is not in use and the Landless Movement usually accompanied by the Church files the legal proceedings.

It is in no way a simple or easy process. This community was suffering from attacks by police hired out by the huge landowners. While we were there, Father Alfonso made it clear that ifthe police come again, the families should take refuge in the church.

He joked that the walkers had invaded it the night before, so it was nicely broken in if the families should need the church for protection. Everyone laughed, but tears came to my eyes as I realized how seriously this community believed in hospitality and welcoming the stranger and the outcasts. Later Father Alfonso related to us that once when the police came to attack, the community was ready and stood in peaceful protest singing: Sou, sou teu, Senhor Sou povo novo, retirante, lutador Deus, dos peregrinos, dos pequeninos Jesus Cristo redentor I am yours, Lord I am just arriving, the migrant, a fighter God of the travelers, of the little ones Jesus Christ, redeemer This day before lunch we held handsin a circle and called out the different forms of exclusion in Brazil and we thanked God and Aparecida for being fortified by the example of the people's struggle for agrarian reform and decent housing in this town. As we left the next morning, we serenaded the community BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

with the song t at they had taught us.

Day 5 â&#x20AC;˘ After anoth r long day of walking, we stopped and rested at a community i the middle of the countryside called Sao Jose dos Campos. S . Lucy's (who was the first recognized woman saint in the Ca olic Church, by the way), was the name of the tiny antique c urch that barely held us. We sang around a campfire and a e hotdogsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;which Brazilians adore! Somehow, we also had t energy to dance forro (pronounced foe-hoe) which is simil to the country two-step, but with more wiggle.

It's even more opular than samba dancing and definitely easier for foreigners to pick up! It felt great to swirl around under the stars after marching on concrete for so many days.

By day 5, I had thought a lot about the homeless people in San Jose, San Francisco and Dallas who walk or sit alone all day long without a community with whom they could debrief, share a meal with and recognize the pains and joys of life. The monotony would drive me crazy.

Walking tends to make you take the long view. You pay attention to the pains that hurt the most and you let the other ones go a little bit so you can keep going on, up and down along the vibrantly unjust and beautiful road of life. If you know you have a long way to go, you conserve your energy and you share more about your life as ea h day seems a little more precarious along the edges of the r ad.

Day 6 We left thi area at 4 AM the next day. As I drank my coffee with a few oth r stragglers, most of the group again prayed the Hail Mary in t e dark, under a golden sliver of a moon. Walking in the dark thrs ugh the small roads, the fields rising up above the fences and th fog settling in, I felt a sense of peace in the simplicity of i ur community and the beauty of our surroundings. Violenc is not endemic to Brazil or any other part of the world. I beli ve it is a result of the ripping away of the sacredness of eople and their land. It is a result of selfishness and power an it breeds fear and ignorance.

Violence dso comes from twisted theologies that tell the poor that they are stuck in their poverty because they did not pray enough, c id not let themselves be saved, and are simply not good enough fpr God. One ofthe most powerful experiences on the walk was an this day when we arrived at the community that welcomed us. kgain we were gratefully able to take showers in people's houses.

I went in a group with two other women from an extremely poor land occupation near my neighborhood. Yolanda and Luciana are very involved with the struggle for the land where they live. They work, raise children, and are involved with their community all while living in thin wooden shacks often without electricity and potable water. The woman's house we were welcomed into was a three-story house that even had an elevator!

When we commented on how pretty her house was and thanked her f r her hospitality, she stated that it wasn't her doing, but all God's blessings. I realized she was a person very grateful to God for the things she had, but at the same time, I was horrified by how hurtful her statement could be to my two companions. Would they think that God is punishing them because they do not have even a house? Would they consider themselves unworthy? Do they, along with this woman have an image of God that is judging and who takes and gives at whim?

How do I need to talk about God in a world that is so full of class, gender, and race inequalities?

Day 7 "Indepencence" Day. We made it!! As we .came down around a curve of the highway the reddish-gold enormous 23

structure of the cathedral came into sight. It was a relief and a joy to know we had accomplished our goal. As we had walked we had both denounced the Brazil and world that is trapped in violence and greed and we announced the justice-filled, peace-loving world that we do want.

We attended mass with about 50,000 other people and after the mass was the Grito—the Cry of the Excluded. The Bishops along with the Central Worker's Union, the Union of Popular Movements. the National Confederation of Agricultural Workers, and the National Confederation of Teachers denounced the privatization of Brazil's water, light, and phone systems and heightened interests on debt—all requirements of the International Monetary Fund.

People already starving and suffering from unemployment do not want the streamlining of jobs by foreign multinationals nor more taxes from loans of which they will never see the benefits.

The Pope and the Catholic Church are calling for a Jubilee 2000— freedom of debts for poor countries (You can get in touch with Maryknoll or Bread for the World for more information).

Many heavily indebted poor countries, including Brazil, have already paid of the quantity of their debt many times over in

New Year's Eve Party Rio de Janeiro

interest rates and will never be able to pay off the entire amount.

Also, as in Brazil's case, much of the debt is acquired by dictatorships that do not allow public opinion in national financing or other issues.

We arrived on Brazil's Independence Day to declare that there can be no true independence with the amount of suffering and poverty that prevails in this nation. At the end of the Grito, the organizers had picked a person from different sectors of society and asked them, "What does it mean to share the bread?" What does the Eucharist really mean for each of us and how do we live out our promise to be in communion with our neighbors? The end of impunity! Equality between blacks, latinos,. and indigenous peoples! Full participation of women! Better distribution of land!

A Brazil full of happiness, creativity, and true freedom.

Michelle Myers, originally from San Jose, California, graduated in Sociology and Women's Studies from the University of San Francisco. In Dallas, Texas, she worked for two years with Central American asylum-seekers at Proyecto Adelante, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing legal and other support services for undocumented immigrants. Michelle is currently a lay missioner with Maryknoll and lives in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where she works on issues of health, human rights, and citizenship with women who prostitute downtown and with new communities of land occupations on the periphery of Sao Paulo. Please send questions or comments to email: sejupl@ax.apc.org or Michelle Myers, Caixa Postal 10027, CEP 03014-970 Belenzinho, Sao Paulo SP, BRAZIL

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No-Go Brazilian_participation in the International Space Station might end very soon if Brazil does not come up with the money to pay for its share in the project. NASA is already thinking about _getting an alternate provider for the Ekpress Pallet, a component that was entrusted to Brazil.

FRANK DIRCEU BRAUN

Brazil's second attempt at launching their Veiculo Lancador de Satellites (VLS-1) rocket will take place "sometime in December", according to Luiz Gylvan Meira Filho, president of the Brazilian Space Agency.

"The rocket is presently being transported from its facilities in SAo Jose dos Campos to the launchpad in Alcantara." Meira said.

Brazil's first attempt to launch the VLS-1 in 1997 was unsuccessful, when the rocket had to be destroyed after it veered off course. The second VLS-1 will attempt to put a Brazilian built microsatellite, the SACI 2, into orbit. The 83-kilogram SACI 2 satellite was designed by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE), and will contain experiments from various Brazilian Universities, according to Meira.

Meanwhile, Brazilian space officials are "wondering if we chose the right partner" in Boeing Co., Seattle, to help them develop the preliminary specifications for the hardware Brazil is committed to providing to the International Space Station, according to Marcio Nogueira Barbosa, director of Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, (INPE).

In an exclusive interview during the III Workshop on Commercial Space activities in Rio de Janeiro recently, Barbosa said that the Brazilians are "displeased" with Boeing's decision to stop work on a $10 million contract with INPE, because the Brazilians are approximately $3 million in arrears on payments.

Citing the eight-month payment interruption due to difficulties in the Brazilian economy, Barbosa emphasized that Boeing may have jeopardized a 15-year potential relationship with INPE, by stopping work on the current contract, closing its office, and returning its representative to the US. "Brazil has faithfully paid up on its two previous contracts with Boeing," Barbosa said, "and now that we are going through some tough times in the last eight months, Boeing decides to stop work because there has been a delay on the payment of a relatively small sum. Although I'm not saying we cannot resume work with Boeing sometime in the future, I must also say this will not be forgotten."

Bill Olsen, who headed Boeing's Brazil Project office in So Jose dos Campos until recently, claimed that the company... "slowly reduced the scope of its work hoping the money would be forthcoming.., but then were instructed by our management on June 1° to put everything on hold."

Shortly thereafter, Boeing shut down its office in So Jose BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

dos Campos and r turned Olsen to the US. Although Boeing's work was to repre nt approximately half Brazil's expenditure on the Station, E braer, the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer, was selected to 1 d the construction effort.

Olsen said tha Boeing is still prepared to support Brazil as soon as funding i in place and that its contract with INPE is "still fully in pla e, still fully functioning".

Barbosa said that part of the reason for the delay, in payments for its ontributions to the Station are caused by the •severe pressures posed by the International Monetary Fund on Brazil, result g in severe cuts throughout the national budget.

"We need $23 million reais for INPE' s budget and we now have only $4 mil ion reais available" he said.

But Barbosa pressed confidence that INPE's request for supplemental fun ing will be approved, and that the Brazilian national gove ent is committed to fulfill its Space Station obligations.

"We expect at the Executive branch will seek additional funding for INP 's budget based on better than expected national economic performance", Barbosa said.

An official from NASA's Space Station liaison office also present at the Rio conference indicated that NASA will be sending INPE and the Brazilian Space Agency a letter requesting confirmation of Brazil's financial commitment and budget allocation for an external research facility, otherwise known as the Express Pallet, that houses experiments outside the Station and is part of Brazil's hardware contribution to the International _Space Station.

This official indicated that NASA will soon have to make a "critical path" decision on whether to find an alternate provider of the Express Pallet, if the Brazilians are unable to come up with the financing for that hardware item in the near future.

Shelley Harrison, chairman and CEO of SpaceHab Inc., indicated his companies' interest and capabilities to work with Brazil on the Express Pallet and microgravity research during his presentation at the conference. Michael Kearney, vice president of Marketing & Sales for SpaceHab said that, "SpaceHab's work on the Express Pallet for Brazil might be an option once the Brazilians have determined what the' relationship is with Boeing" Besides the npressurized Express Pallet, Brazil's hardware contributi ns to the Station, set to total $120 million (dollars), includ s a cargo handling interface assembly and a unit to deliver h dware to the station while it is being built.

Frank Dirceu Braun, an award-winning journalist, was born in Brazil and raise in the United States. You may contact him at fbraun@adnc.com

Copyright° 999 by Braun Communications. All rights reserved, inclu • mg the right of reproduction in whole or in part, in any fo 25

Plaliplanto's Little Horses Suddenly, the audience let out a scream of surprise as it had rehearsed it. Boys jumped and screamed pulling the arms of whoever was close, the girl stood up and sat down clapping. From the middle of the trees little horses of all colors started to appear. They were a little bigger than a small calf.

JOSE J. VEIGA 0 meu primeiro contato corn essas simpaticas criaturinhas deu-se quando eu era muito crianca.

0 meu avo Rubem havia me prometido urn cavalinho de sua fazenda do Chove-Chuva se eu deixasse lancetarem o meu pe, arruinado corn uma estrepada no brinquedo do pique. Por duas vezes o farmac'eutico Osmasio estivera la ern casa corn sua caixa de ferrinhos para o servico, mas eu fiz tamanho escarceu que ele nao chegou a passar da porta do quarto. Da segunda vez meu pai pediu a seu Osmasio que esperasse na varanda enquanto ele ia ter uma conversa comigo. Eu sabia bem que especie de conversa seria; e aproveitando a vantagem da doenca, mal ele caminhou para a cama et' comecei novamente a chorar e gritar, esperando atrair a simpatia de minha me e, se possivel, tambem a de algum vizinho para reforcar. Por sorte vovii Rubem ia chegando justamente naquela hora.

Quando vi a barba dele apontar na porta, compreendi que estava salvo pelo menos por aquela vez; era uma regra assentada la ern casa que ninguem devia contrariar vovo Rubem. Em todo caso chorei urn pouco mais para consolidar minha vitoria, e sO sosseguei quando ele intimou meu pai a sair do quarto.

Vow) sentou-se na beira da cama, pas o chapeu e a bengala ao meu lado e perguntou por que era que meu pai estava judiando comigo. Para impressional° melhor eu disse que era porque eu nao queria deixar seu Osmusio cortar o meu pd.

Cortar fora?

Nao era exatamente isso o que eu tinha querido dizer, mas achei eficaz confirmar; e por prudencia no falei, apenas bati a cabeca. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Mas que malvados! Entao isso se faz? Deixa eu ver.

Vovo tirou os Oculos, assentou-os no nariz e comecou a 26

BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

fazer urn exame demorado de meu pe. Olhou-o por cima, por baixo, de lado, apalpou-o e perguntou se dofa. Naturalmente eu nao ia dizer que no, e ate ainda dei uns gemidos calculados. Ele tirou os oculos, fez uma cara muito seria e disse: —E exagero deles. Nao 6 preciso cortar. Basta lancetar.

Ele deve ter notado o meu desapontamento, porque explicou depressa, fazendo cocega na sola do meu pe: —Mas nessas coisas, mesmo sendo preciso, quern resolve é o dono da doenca. Se voce nao disser que pode, eu nao deixo ninguem mexer, nem o rei. Voce nao é mais desses menininhos de cueiro, que nao tern querer. Na festa do Divino voce jã vai vestir urn parelhinho de calca comprida que eu you comprar, e you lhe dar tambem um cavalinho pra voce acompanhar a folia.

—Corn arreio mexicano?

—Corn arreio mexicano. Ja encomendei ao Felipe.

Mas tern uma coisa. Se voce nao ficar born desse pe, no vai poder montar. Eu acho que o jeito é voce mandar lancetar logo.

—E se doer?

—Doer? E capaz de doer urn pouco, mas nao chega aos pés da dor de cortar. Essa sim, é uma dor mantena. Uma vez no Chove-Chuva tivemos que cortar urn dedo--s6 um dedo—de urn vaqueiro que tinha apanhado panariz e ele urinou de dor. E era um homem forcoso, acostumado a derrubar boi pelo rabo.

Meu avo era urn homem que sabia explicar tudo corn clareza, sem ralhar e sem tirar a razao da gente.

Foi ele mesmo que chamou seu Osmusio, mas deixou que eu desse a ordem. Naturalmente eu chorei urn pouco, no de dor, porque antes ele jogou bastante de langa-perfume, mas de conveniencia, porque se eu mostrasse que nao estava sentindo nada eles podiam rir de mim depois.

Enquanto mamae fazia os curativos eu sO pensava no cavalinho que eu ia ganhar. Todos os dias quando acordava, a primeira coisa que eu fazia era olhar se O pe estava desinchado. Seria uma macada se vovo chegasse corn o cavalinho e eu ainda nao pudesse montar. Mamae dizia que eu no precisava ficar impaciente, a folia ainda estava longe, assim eu podia ate atrasar a cura, mas eu queria tudo depressa.

Mas quando a gente é menino parece que as coisas nunca saem como a gente quer. Por isso é que eu acho que a gente nunca devia querer as coisas de frente por mais que quisesse, e fazer de conta que s6 queria mais ou menos. Foi de tanto querer o cavalinho, e querer corn forga, que eu nunca cheguei a te-lo.

Meu aye) adoeceu e teve que ser levado para longe para se tratar, quern levou foi tio Amancio.

Outro tio, o Torim, que sempre foi muito antipatico, ficou tomando conta do Chove-Chuva. Tio Torim disse que enquanto ele mandasse, de la nao saia cavalo nenhum para mim. Eu quis escrever uma carta a vovo dando conta da ruindade, cheguei a rascunhar uma no caderno, mas mamae disse que de jeito nenhum eu devia fazer isso; vovo estava muito doente e podia piorar corn a noticia; quando ele voltasse born ele mesmo me daria o cavalo sem precisar eu contar nada.

Quando eu voltava da escola e mamae no precisava de mim, eu ficava sentado debaixo de uma mangueira no quintal e pensava no cavalinho, nos passeios que eu ia fazer corn ele, e era to born que parecia que eu já era dono. SO faltava um nome bem assentado, mas era dificil arranjar, eu so lembrava de BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

nomes muito batidos, Rex, Corta-Vento, Penacho. Padre Horacio quis ajudar, mas s6 vinha corn nomes bonitos demais, tirados de livro, urn que me lembro foi Pegas6.

Urn dia eu fui no Jurupensem corn meu pai e vi la urn menino alegrinho, corn o cabelo c ido na testa, direitinho como ode urn poldro.

Perguntei o nome dele e le disse que era Zibisco. Estipulei logo que o meu cavalinho ia se ch ar Zibisco.

0 tempo passava e vo 6 Rubem nada de voltar. De vez em quando chegava uma carta de ti Amancio, papai e mamae ficavam tristes, conversavam coisas de d • enga que eu nao entendia mamae suspirava muito o dia inteiro. Um da tio Torim foi visitar vovo e voltou dizendo que.tinha comprado o Ch ve-Chuva. Papai ficou indignado, discutiu corn ele, disse que era mar teira, vovo Rubem nao estava em condicoes de assinar papel, que ele ia contar o caso ao juiz. Desde esse dia, tio Torim nunca mais foi la m casa, quando vinha A cidade passava por longe.

Depois chegou outra carta, e eu vi mamae chorando no quarto.

Quando entrei la corn d sculpa de procurar urn brinquedo ela me chamou e disse que eu n ficasse triste, mas vovo nao ia mais voltar.

Perguntei se ele tinha m rrido, ela disse que nao, mas era como se tivesse. Perguntei se ent a gente no ia poder ve-lo nunca mais, ela disse que podia; mas nao convinha.

—Seu aye esti muito mudado, meu filho... Nem parece o mesmo homem—e caiu no chors de novo.

Eu nao entendia por ue uma pessoa como meu avo Rubem podia mudar, mas fiquei corn ii edo de perguntar mais; mas uma coisa eu entendi: o meu cavalinho nunca mais. Foi a Unica vez que eu chorei por causa dele, nao havia co solo que me distrafsse.

No sei se foi nesse dia mesmo, ou poucos dias depois, eu fui sozinho numa fazenda iova e muito imponente, de um senhor que tratavam de major. A gente chegava la indo por uma ponte, mas nao era ponte de atravessar, era Oe subir. Tinha uns homens trabalhando nela, miudinhos la no alto, no ineio de uma porgoeira de vigas e tabuas soltas.

Eu subi ate uma certa alrnra, mas desanimei quando olhei para cima e vi o tantao que faltava. Comecei a descer devagarinho para nao falsear o pe, mas urn dos home s me viu e pediu-me que o ajudasse. Era urn servigo que eles precisav m acabar antes que o sob entrasse, porque se os buracos ficassem abertos de no ite muita gente ia chorar lagrimas de sangue, nao sei por que era assim, mas foi o que ele disse.

Fiquei corn medo que isso acontecesse, mas nao vi jeito nenhum de ajudar. Eu era muito peq eno, e sO de olhar para cima perdia o folego.

Eu disse isso ao homem, tnas ele riu e respondeu que eu nao estava corn medo nenhum, eu estava era imitando os outros. E antes que eu falasse qualquer coisa ele pego4i urn balde chOo de pedrinhas e jogou para mim.

—Vai colocando ess s pedrinhas nos lugares, uma depois da outra, sem olhar para cima ne para baixo, de repente voce ve que acabou.

Fiz como ele mando , so para mostrar que nao era facil como ele dizia—era verdade! An es que eu comegasse a me cansar o servigo estava acabado.

Quando desci pelo outro lado e olhei a ponte enorme e firme, resistindo ao vento e a c uva, senti uma alegria que ate me arrepiou.

Meu desejo foi voltar pa a casa e contar a todo mundo e traze-los para verem o que eu tinha feit ; mas logo achei que seria perder tempo, eles acabariam sabendo sem ser preciso eu dizer. Olhei a ponte mais uma vez e segui o meu camin o, sentindo-me capaz de fazer tudo o que eu bem quisesse.

Parece que eu estav corn sorte naquele dia, senao eu nao teria encontrado o menino q e tinha medo de tocar bandolim. Ele estava tristinho encostado num lobeira olhando o bandolim, parecia querer tocar mas nunca que co ecava.

— Por que voce nao oca?—perguntei.

—Eu queria, mas te ho medo.

—Medo de que?

—Dos bichos-feras.

—Que bichos-feras —Aqueles que a gen e ye quando toca. Eles vem correndo, sopram urn bafo quente na gent , ninguem agienta.

—E se voce tocasse de olhos fechados? Via tambem?

Ele prometeu experi entar, mas so se eu ficasse vigiando; eu disse que vigiava, mas ele dis e que sO comegava depois que eu jurasse. Nao vi mat nenhum, jure i. E e fechou os olhinhos e comecou a tocar uma 27

%.;

toada tao bonita que parecia uma porcao de estrelas caindo dentro dagua e tingindo a agua de todas as cores.

Por minha vontade eu ficava ouvindo aquele menino a vida inteira; mas estava ficando tarde e eu tinha ainda muito que andar. Expliquei isso a ele, disse adeus, e fui andando.

—Nã° vai a pe nao--disse ele.—Eu you tocar uma toada pra levar voce.

Colocou novamente o bandolim em posicao, agora sem medo nenhum, e tirou uma musica diferente, vivazinha, que me ergueu do chao e num instante me levou para o outro lado do mono. Quando a mOsica parou eu baixei diante de uma cancela novinha, ainda cheirando a oficina de carpinteiro.

—Estao esperando voce—disse um moco fardado que abriu a cancela. 0 major já esta nervoso.

0 major—um senhor corado, de botas e chapeu grande— estava andando para la e para ca na varanda. Quando me viu chegando, jogou o cigarro fora e correu para receber-me.

—Gracas a Deus! disse ele.—Como foi que voce escapuliu deles? Vamos entrar.

—Ninguem estava me segurando--respondi.

— E o que voce pensa. Entao nao sabe que os homens de Nestor Gurgel estao corn ordem de pegar voce vivo ou morto?

—Meu tio Torim? 0 que é que ele quer comigo?

—E por causa dos cavalos que seu avo encomendou para voce. Sao animals raros, como nao existe la fora. Seu tio quer toma-los.

Se meu tio queria tomar os cavalos, era capaz de tomar mesmo. Meu pai dizia que tio Torim era treteiro desde menino. Pensei nisso e comecei a chorar.

0 major riu e disse que nao hayia motivo para choro, os cavalos nao podiam sair dali, ninguem tinha poder para tira-los. Se alguem algum dia conseguisse levar um para outro lugar, ele virava mosquito e voltava voando.

Sendo assim 'eu quis logo ver esses cavalos fora do comum, experimentar se eram bons de sela. 0 major disse que eu nao precisava me preocupar, eles faziam tudo o que o dono quisesse, disso nao havia duvida. .

—Alias — disse olhando o relogio — esta na hora do banho deles. Venha pra voce ver.

Descemos uma calcadinha de pedra-sabao muito escorreguenta e chegamos a urn portaozinho enleado de trepadeiras. 0 major abriu o trinco e abaixou-se bem para passar. Eu achei que ele devia fazer um porta° mais alto, mas nao disse nada, so pensei, porque estava corn pressa de ver os cavalos.

Passamos o porta° e entramos num patio parecido corn largo de cavalhada, ate arquibandacas tinha, s6 que no meio, em vez de gramado, tinha era uma piscina de ladrilhos de agua muito limpa. Quando chegamos o patio estava desert°, nao se via cavalo nem gente. Escolhemos urn lugar nas arquibancadas, o major olhou novamente o relOgio e disse: —Agora escute o sinal.

Um clarim tocou nAo sei onde e logo comecou a aparecer gente saida de detras de umas arvores baixinhas que cercavam todo o patio. Num instante as arquibancadas estavam tomadas de mulheres corn criancas no cob, damas de chapeus de pluma, senhores de cartola e botina de pelica, meninos de golinhas de revirao, meninas de fita no cabelo e vestidinhos engomados.

Quando cessaram os gritos, empurreies, choros de meninos, e todos se aquietaram em seus lugares, ouviu-se novo toque de clarim. A principio nada aconteceu, e todo mundo ficou olhando para todos os lados, fazendo gestos de quem nao sabe, levantando-se para ver melhor.

De repente, a assistencia inteira soltou uma exclamacao de surpresa, como se tivesse ensaiado antes. Men inos pulavam e gritavam, puxavam os bracos de quern estivesse perto, as meninas levantavam-se e sentavam batendo palm inhas. Do meio das arvores lam aparecendo cavalinhos de todas as cores, pouco maiores do que urn bezerro pequeno, vinham empinadinhos marchando, de vez em quando olhavam uns para os outros como para comentar a bonita figura que estavam fazendo. Quando chegaram a beira da piscina

estacaram todos ao mesmo tempo como soldados na parada.

Depois urn deltas, urn vermelhinho, empinou-se, rinchou e comecou urn trote dancado, que os outros imitaram, parando de vez em quando para fazer mesuras a assistencia. 0 trote foi aumentando de velocidade, aumentando, aumentando, e dai a pouco a gente se) via urn risco colorido e ouvia urn zumbido como de zorra. Isso durou algum tempo, eu ate pensei que os cavalinhos tinham se sumido no ar para sempre, quando entao o zumbido foi morrendo, as cores foram se separando, ate .os bichinhos aparecerem de novo.

0 banho foi outro espetaculo que ninguem enjoava de ver. Os cavalinhos pulavam n'agua de ponta, de costas, davam cambalhotas, mergulhavam, deitavam-se de costas e esguichavam kola pelas yentas fazendo repuxo.

Todo o mundo ficou triste quando o clarim tocou mais uma vez e os cavalinhos cessaram as brincadeiras. 0 vennelhinho novamente tomou a frente e subiu para o lajeado da beira da piscina, seguido pelos outros, todos sacudiram os corpinhos para escorrer a agua e ficaram brincando no sol para acabar de se enxugar.

Depois de tudo o que eu tinha visto achei que seria maldade escolher um deles so para mim.

Como é que ele ía viver separado dos outros? Corn quemia brincar aquelas brincadeiras tao an im adas?

Eu disse isso ao major, e ele respondeu que eu nao tinha *le escolher, todos eram meus.

—Todos eles?—perguntei incredulo.

—Todos. sao ordens de seu avo.

Meu avo Rubem, sempre born e amigo! Mesmo doente, fazendo tudo para me agradar.

Mas depois flquei meio triste, porque me lembrei do que o majo,r tinha dito que ninguem podia tird-los dali.

—E verdade—disse ele em confirmacao, parece que adivinhando o meu pensamento.—Levar nao pode. Eles s6 existem aqui em, Platiplanto.

Devo ter caido no sono em algum lugar e nao vi quando me levaram pant casa. SO sei que de manha acordei já na minha cama, na° acreditei logo porque o meu pensamento ainda estava lotige, mas aos poucos fui chegando. Era mesmo o meu quarto—a roupa da escola no prego atras da porta, o quadro da santa na parede, os livros na estante de caixote que eu inesmo fiz, alias precisava de pintura.

Pensei muitote devia contar aos outros, e acabei achando que nAo. Podiam nal) acreditar, e ainda rir de mim; e eu queria guardar aquele lugar perfeitinho como vi, para poder voltar la quando quise4se, nem que fosse em pensamento.

The original title of this short story is "Os Cavalin hos de Platiplanto" and was published in Os Cavalinhos de PlanyAnto, 3r ed, Rio, Civilizacao Brasileira, 1972

The Misplace Machine We are so used to the presence of the machine in the square, that if one day it collapses or if someone from another city comes to take it, proving with documents, , that he has the right, I don't know what would hapPen, I don't even want to think about this. The machine is our pride and don't you think I'm exaggerating. We still don't know how to use it, but this doesn't matter at all any more.

JOSE J. VEIGA Voce sempre pergunta pelas novidades daqui deste sertao, e finalmente posso lhe contar uma importante. Fique o compadre sabendo que agora temos aqui uma maquina BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

imponente, que esta entusiasmando todo o mundo. Desde que ela chegou nao me lembro quando, no sou muito born em lembrar datas, quase nao temos falado em outra coisa; e da maneira que o povo aqui se apaixona ate pelos assuntos mais infantis, e de admirar que ninguem tenha brigado ainda por causa dela, a nao ser os politicos.

A maquina chegou uma tarde, quando as familias estavam jantando ou acabando de jantar, e foi descarregada na frente da Prefeitura. Com os gritos dos choferes e seus ajudantes (a maquina veio em dois ou tres caminhOes) muita gente cancelou a sobremesa ou o café e foi ver que algazarra era aquela. Como geralmente acontece nessas ocasiOes, os homens estavam mal-humorados e nao quiseram dar explicacaes, esbarravam propositalmente nos curiosos, pisavam-lhes os pes e nao pediam desculpa, jogavam pontas de cordas sujas de graxa por cima deles, quem no quisesse se sujar ou se machucar que saisse do caminho.

Descarregadas as varias partes da maquina, foram elas cobertas corn encerados e os homens entraram num botequim do largo para comer e beber. Muita gente se amontoou na porta mas ninguem teve coragem de se aproximar dos estranhos porque um deles, percebendo essa intencao nos curiosos, de vez em quando enchia a boca de cerveja e esguichava na direcao da porta. Atribuimos essa esquiva ao cansaco e a fome deles e deixamos as tentativas de aproximacao para o dia seguinte; mas quando os procuramos de manha cedo napensdo, soubemos que eles tinham montado mais ou menos a maquina durante a noite e viajado de madrugada.

A maquina ficou ao relento, sem que ninguem soubesse quern a encomendara nem para que servia. E claro que cada qual dava o seu palpite, e cada palpite era to born quanto outro.

As criancas, que nao sac) de respeitar misterio, como voce sabe, trataram de aproveitar a novidade. Sem pedir licenca a ninguem (e a quem jam pedir?), retiraram a lona e foram subindo em bando pela maquina acima, ate hoje ainda sobem, brincam de esconder entre os cilindros e colunas, embaracam-se nos dentes das engrenagens e fazem urn berreiro dos diabos ate que apareca alguem para solta-las; nao adiantam ralhos, castigos, pancadas; as criancas simplesmente se apaixonaram pela tal maquina.

Contrariando a opiniao de certas pessoas que nao quiseram se entusiasmar, e garantiram que em poucos dias a novidade passaria e a ferrugem tomaria conta do metal, o interesse do povo ainda ndo diminuiu. Ninguem passa pelo largo sem ainda parar diante da maquina, e de cada vez ha urn detalhe novo a notar. Ate as velhinhas de igreja, que passam de madrugada e de noitinha, tossindo e rezando, viram o rosto para o lado da maquina e fazem uma curvatura discreta, so faltam se benzer. Homens abrutalhados, como aquele Clodoaldo seu conhecido, que se exibe derrubando boi pelos chifres no patio do mercado, tratam a maquina corn respeito; se urn ou outro agarra uma alavanca e sacode corn forca, ou larga urn pontape numa das colunas, ve-se logo que sao bravatas feitas por honra da firma, para manter fama de corajoso.

Ninguem sabe mesmo quern encomendou a maquina. 0 prefeito jura que no foi ele, e diz que consultou o arquivo e nele nao encontrou nenhum documento autorizando a transacao. Mas mesmo assim nao quis lavar as maos, e de certa forma encampou a compra quando designou um funcionario para zelar pela maquina.

Devemos reconhecer—alias todos reconhecem—que esse funcionario tern dado boa conta do recado. A qualquer hora do dia, e as vezes tambem de noite, podemos ve-lo trepado la por cima espanando cada vao, cada engrenagem, desaparecendo aqui para reaparecer ali, assoviando ou cantando, ativo e incansavel. Duas vezes por semana ele aplica caol nas partes de metal dourado, esfrega, esfrega, BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

sua, descansa, esfrega de novo—e a maquina fica faiscando como joia.

Estamos tab habituados corn a presenca da maquina ali no largo, que se urn dia ela desabasse, ou se alguem de outra cidade viesse blasca-la, provando corn documentos que tinha direito, eu nem sei o que aconteceria, nem quero pensar. Ela o nosso org lho, e nao pense que exagero. Ainda nao sabemos para que ela serve, mas isso já nao tern major importancia. F que sabendo que temos recebido delegacdes de outras cidad s, do estado e de fora, que vem aqui para ver se conseguem compra-la. Chegam como quem nao quer nada, visitam o prefeito, elogiam a cidade, rodeiam, negaceiam, ab m o jogo: por quanto cederiamos a maquina.

Felizmente o prefeito e de confianca e é esperto, nao cai na conversa macia.

Em todas as datas civicas a maquina é agora uma parte importante das frstividades. Voce se lembra que antigamente os feriados era comemorados no coreto ou no campo de futebol, mash e tudo se passa ao pe da maquina. Em tempo de eleicao todo os candidatos querem fazer seus comicios a sombra dela, como isso nab é possivel, alguem tern de sobrar, nem to os se conforrnam e sempre surgem conflitos.

Mas felizment a maquina ainda nao foi danificada nesses esparramos, e spero que nao seja.

A Unica p ssoa que ainda ndo rendeu homenagem maquina e o vigario, mas voce sabe como ele é ranzinza, e hoje mais ainda, corn a idade. Em todo caso, ainda nao tentou nada contra ela, e ai dele. Enquanto ficar nas censuras veladas, vamos tolerando; e urn direito que ele tem. Sei que ele andou falan o em castigo, mas ninguem se impressionou.

Ate agora o nico acidente de certa gravidade que tivemos foi quando u caixeiro da loja do velho Adudes (aquele velhinho espi ado que passa brilhantina no bigode, se lembra?) pren eu a perna numa engrenagem da maquina, isso por culpa • ele mesmo. 0 rapaz andou bebendo em uma serenata, e em ez de ir para casa achou de dormir ern cima da maquina. No se sabe como, ele subiu a plataforma mais alta, de ma gada rolou de la, caiu em cima de uma engrenagem e corn o peso acionou as rodas. Os gritos acordaram a ci ade, correu gente para verificar a causa, foi preciso arranj uns barrotes e labancas para desandar as rodas que esta am mordendo a perna do rapaz. Tambem dessa vez a ma • uina nada sofreu, felizxnente. Sem a perm e sem o emprego o imprudente rapaz ajudana conservacao da maquina, cuid ndo das partes mais baixas.

Já existe a ui urn movimento para declarar a maquina monumento unicipal—por enquanto. 0 vigario, como sempre, esta ontra; quer saber a que seria dedicado o monument°. ce ja viu que homem mais azedo?

Dizem que maquina ja tern feito ate milagre, mas isso-aqui para n6s u acho que e exagero de gente supersticiosa, e prefiro nao icar falando no assunto. Eu—e creio que tambem a gran .e maioria dos municipes—ndo espero dela nada em partic jar; para mim basta que ela fique onde esta, nos alegrando, nos inspirando, nos consolando.

0 meu re eio é que, quando menos esperarmos, desembarque qui urn moco de fora, desses despachados, que entendem e tudo, olhe a maquina por fora, por dentro, pense um pouc e comece a explicar a finalidade da maquina, e para mostra que é habilidoso (eles sao sempre muito habilidosos) pe a na garagem um jogo de ferramentas, e sem ligar a nossos protestos se meta por baixo da maquina e desande a apertar, martelar, engatar, e a maquina comece a trabalhar. Se is o acontecer, estara quebrado o encanto e nao existira mais naquina.

The original title of this short story is "A Maquina Extraviada" and was excerpted from A Mriquina Extra viada, Rio, Ed. Prelo, 1968 29

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and thousands of public servants fell into a deep depression.

The Id Brazilian dream of an inland capital had always b en dismissed as expensive folly. What possessed K bitschek to actually do it? Politics. He made the buil ing of Brasilia a symbol of the country's Brasilia is a utopian horror. It should be a symbol of power, deternai ation and ability to become a great economic but instead it's a museum of architectural ideas. power, ubitschek successfully appealed to all BraArt critic Robert Hughes zilians t put aside their differences and rally to the doing so, he distracted attention from the cause.

The impression I have is that I'm arriving on a different social and economic problems, gained enorcountry' planet. mous pe sonal popularity and borrowed heavily from Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin the inter ational banks. His legacy to the country was rampant inflation.

Brasilia must have looked good on paper, Orientation and still looks good in photos. In 1987 it was Seen from above, Brasilia looks added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage like an airplane (symbolizing the fastSites, being considered one of the major exest way out of town) or a bow and amples of this- century's modern movement in arrow (signifying the penetration of architecture and urban planning. But in the flesh, the interior and the destruction of the forget it. The world's great planned city of the indigenous people). The planned city, 20th century is built for automobiles and the piano pilot°, faces the giant artifiair-conditioners, not people. Distances are enorcial Lago do Paranod. In the plane's mous and no one walks. The sun blazes, with no fuselag (or the arrow) are all the government buildtrees for shelter. ings an monuments. The plaza of three powers—the It's a lousy place to visit and no one wanted to live there.

Palacio o Planalto, the Palacio do Congresso and the Bureaucrats and politicians, who live in the model 'pilot plan' Palacio da Justica—is in part of the city, were lured to the cockpit. Out on the Brasilia by 100% salary hikes wings (asas) are block and big apartments. Still, as after block of apartment soon as the weekend comes, buildings (known as they get out of the city as fast or Superquadras as possible—to Rio, to SA° Quadras) but little else.

Paulo, to their private clubs in You can rent a car, the country—anywhere that's take a tourist tour or comless sterile, less organized, less bine a city bus (circular vapid. Brasilia is also one of buses leave from the city the most expensive cities in Brasilia is built for automobiles, not rodoviciria) with some Brazil. people. The sun blazes, with no trees long walks to see the bulk The poor have to get out— for shelter. It's a lousy place to visit and of Brasilia's edifices. Rethey have no choice. Mostly no one wanted to live there. member that many buildfrom the Northeast, these Bureaucrats and politicians et out of ings are closed on week(pioneers) work in candangos the city as fast as possible s soon as ends and at night. the construction and service the weekend comes. But the cathedral Memorial JK industries. They live in is a great place to see and t e Parque Along with the tomb favelas , which they call Nacional de Brasilia ecologi al reserve of JK (President Kubi'anti-Brasilias', as far as 30 a good place to rela . tschek), the memorial feakm from the center. This physitures several exhibits recal gulf between haves and lating to the construction have-nots is reminiscent of of the ity. It's open from 9 am to 6 pm.

South Africa's township system.

Tower All this is the doing of three famous Brazilians: an urban Th 75-meter observation deck of the TV tower is planner Lucio Costa), an architect (Oscar Niemeyer) and a open om 9 am to 8 pm. At the base of the tower, on landscape architect (Burle Marx), each the leading figure in his week ds, there's a handicrafts fair. field. They were commissioned by President Juscelino C tedral Metropolitana Kubitschek to plan a new inland capital, a city that would th its 16 curved columns and its stained-glass catalyze the economic development of Brazil's vast interior. interi r, the cathedral is worth seeing. At the entrance With millions of dirt-poor peasants from the Northeast working are the haunting around the clock, Four Disciples Brasilia was built in statues carved by an incredible three Ceschiatti, who years—it wasn't also made the exactly finished but * aluminum angels it was ready to be hanging inside. capital the The cathedral is (Niemeyer today open from 7.45 admits that it was am to 6 pm daily. all done too Governquickly). On 21 ment Buildings April 1960, Brazil's Down by the capital was moved tip of the arrow from Rio to Brasilia

I sought the curved and sensual line. The curve that I see in the Brazilian hills, in the body of a loved one, in the clouds in the sky and in the ocean waves.

Brasilia architect Oscar Niemeyer

Outland sh Land

BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

31

you'll find the most interesting government buildings. The Palacio do Itamaraty (open Monday to Friday until 4 pm) is one of the best—a series of arches surrounded by a reflecting pool and landscaped by Burle Marx. There's also the Palacio da Justica, the Supreme Court (open Monday to Friday from noon to 6 pm), with water cascading between its arches, and the Palacio do Congresso (open Tuesday to Friday from 10 am to noon and 2 to 5 pm), with the 'dishes' and twin towers. The presidential Palacio da Alvorada is not open to visitors.

Santuario Dom Bosco As impressive as the cathedral, or perhaps even more so, the Santuario Dom Bosco (Dom Bosco's Shrine) is made of concrete columns, with blue stained-glass windows. Located at Quadra 702 Sul, it's open daily from 8 am to 6 pm.

Parks The Parque Nacional de Brasilia ecological reserve is 'a good place to relax if you're stuck in the city. This park is open Tuesday to Sunday from 9 am to 5 pm, and is very popular on weekends. Apart from the attraction of its natural swimming pools, it is home to a number of endangered animals, including deer, banded anteaters, giant armadillos and maned wolves. The `Agua Mineral' bus from the city rodovidria goes past the front gate.

Another good park is the city park, Parque Recreativo de Brasilia Rogerio Pithon Farias, where you'll find a swimming pool, and small lunch places at which to grab a snack.

Organized Tours If you want to save your feet, guided tours of the city cost around $18. The Hotel Garvey-Park is the travel-agency capital of Brasilia, and most companies there offer sightseeing tours.

You can also book bus tours at the airport or the rodovidria.

Places to Stay (See the book) Places to Eat Both the shopping complexes near the rodoviciria have lots of places to eat, with many offering lunch specials. The one on the north side (Conjunto Nacional) has the best selection.

Restaurants are located along the main avenues or in between the quadras. A couple of places with a good selection of restaurants and bars are the spaces between Quadras 405 and 404 Sul and between Quadras 308 and 309 Norte.

In the following addresses, SCL means Setor Comercio Local, which is the space provided in the qtiadras for shops, restaurants, etc. N or S means Norte (North) or Sul (South), followed by the quadra number, the block number and the store number.

There are good restaurants scattered around, too. A popular place is the Bar Academia, at SCLN 308, Bloco D, loja 11/19.

For nordestino cuisine, the Xique-Xique has came de so/ and feigio verde with manteiga da terra. It's at SCLS 107, Bloco A, loja I. Tiragostos is one of the city's oldest bar/restaurants. It's a famous meeting point for artists and musicians, and has outdoor tables under trees. The prices are reasonable. It's at SCLS 109, Bloco A, loja 2/4.

Vegetarians needn't feel left out. For some good, natural food, there's Cheiro Verde, SCLN 313, Bloco C, loja 20. It's open Monday to Friday from 8 am to 8 pm. Coisas da Terra, at SCLN 703, Bloco D, loja 41, is open from 11.30 am to 2.30 pm and 5.30 to 8 pm on weekdays; weekend hours are noon to 6 pm.

Getting There & Away (See Book) Getting Around (See Book) AROUND BRASILIA Estancia de Agua de Itiquira Itiquira is a Tupi-Guarani Indian word meaning 'water that falls'. From the viewpoint at this 170-meter free-fall waterfall, you can see the valley of the Paranas to the south. There's forest, several crystal-clear streams with natural pools for a swim, and the requisite restaurants and bars.

Itiquira is 110 km from Brasilia; you need a car. Leave through the satellite cities of Sobradinho and Planaltina and the

town of Formosa. The road is dirt for the next 35 km.

Cachoeira Saia Velha This is a pleasant swimming hang-out not too far from the city. Take the road to Belo Horizonte for about 20 km. When you reach the Monument° do Candango, a ridiculous statue made by a Frenchman for the people who built Brasilia, there's a sign to the waterfall. The road is to the left of the monument.

For $8 per car, you can sample the live music on Saturdays, Including food and beer. There are also several natiiral swimming pools. There are camping areas but ne hotel.

CachoOra Topazio This is 4 pretty fazenda with a waterfall, camping facilities, food and drink. To get there, take the road to Belo Horizonte to the km 93 marker. Turn right, taking the road out to the cachoeira. Admission is $8 per car.

Brasilia—Capital of the Third Millennium In 1883 an Italian priest, Joao Bosco, prophesied that a new civilization would arise between.parallels 15 and 20 and that its capital would be built between parallels 15 and 16, on the edge of an artificial lake.

Brasilia is cbnsidered by many people to be that city and a number of cults have sprung up in the area.

About 45 km from Brasilia you'll find the Vale do Amanhecer (Valley of the Dawn) funded in 1959 by a clairvoyant, Tia Neiva. The valley is actually a small town, where you can see (or take part in) Egyptian, Gteek, Aztec, Indian, Gypsy, Inca, Trojan and Afro-Brazilian rituals. They take place daily at 12.30,2.30 and 6.30 pm. The 2000 mediums who live there follow the 'Doctrine of the Dawn'. They believe that a new civilization will come with the third millennium. The main temple was inspired by the spiritual advice received by ha Neiva. In the center is an enormous Star of David, which forms a lake, pierced by an arrow.

About 80tkm from the valley, near Santo Antonio do Descoberto, is the Cidade Eclectica (Eclectic City), founded in 1956 by Yokanam, an ex-airline pilot. The main aim of its 3000 believers is the unification of all religions on the planet, and the values of fraternity and equality are expounded. Their ceremonies take place on Wednesday and Friday at 8 pm and on Sunday at 3 pin. There are strict dress regulations, but if you're notidressed suitably, they will give you a special tunic to wear.

In Brasilia itself, the Granja do Ipe (Ipe Estate), on the southern exit from the city, is the site of the City of Peace & Holistic University. This institution aims to form a new generation with a mentality suited to the needs of the third millennium.

The Templo da Boa Vontade (Temple of Goodwill) is at 915 Sul. It incorporates seven pyramids, joined to form a cone that is topped with the Excerpts from Brafi/ biggest raw !crystal you will ever See. A Travel Survival Kul Some people also 3rd edition, believe that, in certain

by Andrew Draffen, regions around BrasiChris McAsey, lia, extraterrestrial Leonardo Pinheiro, contacts are more likeand Robyn Jones. ly—on km 69 of the For more information BR-351 highway, for call Lonely Planet: instance, or on the pla(800) 275-8555. teau that exists in the Copyright 1996 Lonely satellite city of Brasilandia. Believe it or Planet Publications. not!

Used by permission.

32 BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

Past and Charm UNESCO in 1982 declared Olinda part of the World's Cultural Heritage.

Its residents are forbidden to alter its architecture or construct new buildings not compatible with the colonial motif. The whole of the old town is to remain a living museum.

HABEEB SALLOUM

"Now we are in Olinda the beautiful", the young guide's voice seemed to come to life. After half a day of monotonously describing the touristic sights in Recife, Brazil's northeastern capital, she now appeared to be enjoying her work.

"In this place a seed was sown and the Brazilian nation grew", Jeisane, our attractive shepherdess, pointed to the town we were entering whose colorful buildings were half hidden by coconut palms and other luxuriant greenery. From the seafront roadway along which we were driving, it appeared like a jewel waiting to be uncovered.

Turning up a steep narrow street we made our way upward past ancient churches and colonial style homes— flaunting the traces of history. A few hundred feet from the topmost point of the hill we parked our vehicle and walked the remainder of the way to Alto da Se, the city's social center, located at the very summit of Olinda.

"Now you are in the heart of historic Brazil. It was on this spot in 1537 A.D. that the Portuguese explorer Duarte Coelho Pereira stood and declared: 'Oh linda situacdo para uma vila' (What a magnificent site for a village). During the same year, the king of Portugal granted him the land where he had stood—the heart of today' s Olinda. Here, he built the first Portuguese colonial capital in the Americas—a status the city retained until 1827. Later the Dutch occupied Olinda for a brief time, from 1630 to 1654, and expanded it into a city".

Jeisane, a recent university graduate, went on to give us a quick outline of BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

33

Olinda' s history.

More than any other urban center in Brazil, this small attractive city, carries the aura of an illustrious and affluent past. This prosperity was thanks to the cultivation and trade in sugar, which reached its peak at the end of the 16th century.

The high demand on the international market for sugar during the 16th and most of 17th centuries created the wealth, which drew several religious orders that, in the ensuing years, built the town's numerous educational and religious structures. Subsequently, the sugar trade somewhat dwindled, but even today Olinda is still surrounded by sugar cane fields.

The city is considered to be the origin of the entire Brazilian culture of the 16th century. In that bygone era, law schools, painting, sculpturing and the theatre, all flourished in Olinda and from this once proud capital spread to the other parts of the nation. Vestiges from that age of opulence remain in its monuments and the workmanship of its dwellings. It is one ofthe largest architectural reserves of Colonial Brazil and the most important art center in the northeast of the country.

These ornate-historic remains led UNESCO in 1982 to declare Olinda part of the World's Cultural Heritage. Today, its residents are forbidden to alter its architecture or construct new buildings not compatible with the colonial motif. Hence, the whole of the old town is to remain a living museum portraying the remnants of history. Today, this historic section of the city, about 10% of a modern city of 350,000, is encircled by structures of the 20th century.

Passing by stands selling artwork, handmade tapestry and other artisan products, intertwined with small food stalls and bars, we made our way through Alto da Se—during the day or at night, the most frequented quarter in Olinda. Jeisane allowed us to wander around for a few minutes to savor the atmosphere of this outdoor market place before we continued on our tour.

It was near sunset when we reached the MisericOrdia Church—a venerable place of worship erected in 1540.

After a short visit to examine its rich woodcarvings and gold decorations, Jeisane led us to an elevated spot a few dozen yards away. "Look! I am sure it is one of the most memorable scenes in the world. The artists who live here in great numbers say it is a spectacle crying for the brush", she pointed to the fairytale-like compact town below with its red tiled roofs and bright colored structures nestling in the rich green landscaped series of hills. Beyond, the twin city of Recife, glimmering in the twilight, could be seen in the distance while nearby the ocean, like a blue sparkling necklace, emphasized the beauty of Olinda. The last of the sun's rays gave the spectrum a rainbow effect creating an unforgettable kaleidoscope of color. With this panorama still captivating our very souls, we fully agreed with the words of our guide, "You have been privileged to see one of the most enchanting scenic views in Brazil".

That magic lantern which ended our day whetted my appetite for more. A few days later, I returned with a friend to spend a whole day and an evening exploring this charming town and savoring its historic remains. We meandered through well-preserved winding cobbled streets, which sneaked up and down hills offering a world of color and surprises. These quaint laneways, trodden for centuries, often led unexpectedly to public squares where we would rest and partake of refreshments.

Revitalized we would continue, never ceasing to be captivated by the picturesque homes with their blue, pink and white stucco walls. These brightly painted homes appeared to be more Portuguese or Spanish than Brazilian.

Their heavy doors, latticed windows (Arabic, mashrabiyas), colorful tiles and balconies exhibited a remarkable Moorish influence. It was apparent that the Arab leftovers in Portuguese architecture had been transferred to the New World.

In between these charming abodes we found a good number of ancient convents and churches—some of the oldest in Brazil. During our rambling we stopped to examine a number of the some 20 historic Baroque churches, convents and colleges. No doubt, all were worth a lingering study but we only had time to stop briefly at the Cathedral Church, commanding a fantastic view, and once the parish Se for the northeast of Brazil; the Church of our Lady Carmo, the most ancient church of the Carmelite order in the country; the Convent of Our Lady Neves, the first Franciscan establishment in Portugal's New World; the Seminary of Olinda, a rare example of cinquecentist architecture; and the Monastery of Sao Bento, home of the first law school in Brazil.

When we tired of exploring religious edifices, we sauntered to the Ribeira Market in order to examine its galleries of folk art and hand-woven articles, then left to have a look at the exhibits in the nearby Contemporary Art Museum— once an ecclesiastical prison. Fatigued, we ended our day of sightseeing by taking a taxi to the Sambura Restaurant where we enjoyed a delicious meal of fish—fresh out of the water.

A half dozen times during our tour we were accosted by pre-teenage youths asking questions such as, 'Mister do you want to know the story of Olinda'? For a few cents, some would relate romantic stories, many, without question, fantasies, about important men and women who once trod the city's streets. Others would tell ofbygone wars and cherished events from Olinda' s past, tales which were in most cases, exaggerated anecdotes of mystery and courage.

Yet, even more than these youthful imageries created by make believe storytellers, the evening we spent on Alto da Se outdid these narratives in its true to life magic. The streets and squares were packed with humanity, including a good number of tourists. Peddlers of ceramics, laced tablecloth, and countless other hand produced items, sold their goods amid vendors of sugarcane drinks, boiled corn, barbecued fish and similar foods of the people.

Here and there, groups of folkloric dancers and singers entertained the clustered encircling audiences. Around them lovers walked hand in hand and young men seeking female companionship eyed the young ladies—as a whole, some of the most beautiful in the world. The Carnaval atmosphere was all encompassing and exhilarating. To me, only the Jamaa El-Fna square in Marrakech could match the weekend evenings at Alto da Se. However, for those who truly enjoy festivals and parades, the best time to travel to Olinda is when its annual Carnaval is held. One of the three great carnavals in the country—the other two take place in Rio de Janeiro and Salvador—it lasts for ten days and attracts visitors from all parts of the country as well as many foreign tourists. They come to a city decked with colored lanterns, ribbons and streamers, enhanced by colored lights. Amid this embellish-

34 BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

ment, costumed parades, dancing, lively music and other organized events fill the streets of the old town, creating a magic world of enjoyment. The only drawback is lodging is hard to come by—bookings should be made in the Recife hotels, a $12 taxi ride away.

For tourists and other travelers staying in Recife, Olinda, less than half an hour away, is very accessible. Known as the twin cities, they form the gateway to northeastern Brazil. Situated on the coastline, they are both a mixture of the antique and the modern. The coconut palm shaded beaches of the sister cities make them the most superb resorts on Brazil's Atlantic shore.

Millions of sun worshippers travel here from the four corners of the globe to romp and carouse in their tourist facilities and relax on their sun drenched beaches. Of course, when they come, many would want to explore beautiful Olinda with its ornate houses of worship and splendid colonial homes.

In both towns, accommodations, eating places and nightspots are numerous and cater to all strata of visitors.

Most are located on Recife's Boa Viagem Beach, 32 km (20 mi) from the heart of Olinda. However, nearby, to the north of town, edging a beach, is the Hotel Sofitel Olinda where one can revel in the luxury of the modern age and, at the same time, be near historic Olinda.

A five-star deluxe abode, it is the finest hotel in the area and incorporates all the features of the top-notch hotels in the world. In this modern abode, a visitor can enjoy the bordering ocean, a superb swimming pool, excellent sport facilities, shopping in interesting stores, dining in fine eating places, an evening in an impressive night club and exploring

next-door 0 inda—truly an ideal lodging spot in which to rest while relishing a tranquil and fascinating vacation.

Neverthe ess, even though the Hotel Sofitel is an excellent choice, especially for ones with some affluence, Recife's Boa Viagem Beach hotels are the retreats where the majority of tourists spend their sojourn. Yet, it matters not where a visitor stays, visiting resplendent Olinda is a must. The legend of Duarte Pereira, when he saw the view from atop present day Olinda' s highest point, exclaiming in another fame us phrase, 'Oh! Linda vista!' (Oh! Beautiful view!) from whence comes the name Olinda is still valid. The centuries that have passed only make this romantic town more seductive and bewitching.

Habeeb Salloum, who resides in Toronto, is a Canadian author and freelance writer specializing in travel and the culinary arts. Besides books and chapters in books, Habeeb has had hundreds of articles about food and travel published.

Among his most important works are the books: Journeys Back to Arab Spain (1994); with J. Peters, From the Lands of Figs and Olives (1995 HB; 1997 PB); with J. Peters, Arabic Contributions to the English Vocabulary (1996); and Classic Vegetarian Cooking From the Middle East and North Africa, (in press). You can contact him at salloum@chass.utoronto.ca

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36 BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

The waiting is over, as Monica Salmaso„ the lyric soul of Brazil launches the renovation of Brazilian popular music.

BRUCE GILMAN

"It was an unforgettable night," say. Monica Salmaso, winner of the 1999 Premio Visa de MPB Voca Edition. "When I entered the stage and saw the theater complet ly full and the orchestra ready, I understood why I was there, an I wanted to sing as well as I possibly could. I became emotional wh le I was singing, letting out my feelings, being sincere."

The Premio Visa de MPB, a compe ition for young musicians created and produced by Eldorado Ra • to and sponsored by Visa, took place for the first time in 1998, a arding instrumentalists, as the 1999 edition awarded vocalists, a d next year's will award young composers. Performers in the • cal edition were selected from a record 1,247 applicants, who ha • to be Brazilian or residents of Brazil for at least ten years, be unde twenty-nine years of age, and present a program of Brazilian music—any period or genre.

A contingent of jurors headed by Maestro Nelson Ayres (president of the jury during the entire competition) made a preselection of twenty-four singers who began presenting on March 1, 1999.

Candidates were directed to change th ir repertoire at each step of the competition and to be sure that half • ftheir selections were wellknown in order to allow the jurors co parative parameters. From the preselected candidates, twelve sem malists emerged, and from these, the five finalists who performe • on Monday evening, May 31, 1999, in the Sala Esther Mesquita of e Teatro Cultura Artistic a.

For her final performance of the c Impetition Monica Salmaso was accompanied by the Orquestra J z Sinfonica on two works written by Chico Buarque and Edu obo, "A HistOria de Lilly Braun" (The Tale of Lilly Braun) and "0 Grande Circo Mistico" (The Great Mystic Circus). Her climat c selection, "Canto de Tres Racas" (Chant of Three Races) by Paul • Cesar Pinheiro and Mauro Duarte, was arranged for voice, cuica, urdo, and six congas by the 13PMIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

37

singer and percussionists. Hers was a victory of elegance and sobriety, oftechnique and emotion. Salmaso's prize: forty thousand reais (approximately twentyone thousand dollars), a recording deal for one CD on the Eldorado label, and a new Volkswagen.

Salmaso does have an exquisite instrument, a stimulating, acutely precise natural voice with a wide range and huge timbric palette that emits effortlessly.

Her vocal style has been admired for its purity of tone, perfect intonation, instrumental concept, and highly refined sense of harmonic climax by some of the most important names in Brazilian music: Paulo Bellinati, Edu Lobo, Leny Andrade, and Jose Miguel Wisnik.

"About Monica," says singer-songwriter Joyce, "I think she's one of the most interesting new voices in Brazil today.

She doesn't sound like anyone else. Most young singers are still trying to sound like Elis, Bethania, or Gal Costa, especially like Elis. Monica seems to have her own sound already. This is rare!"

Exuding warmth and an intimacy with words, the 28-year-old mezzo-soprano has been delighting listeners for almost ten years. But until recently, she had been solely a cult figure with a small legion of devoted fans on the furiously competitive Sao Paulo club and theater scene. On stage, she imparts sincere, yet controlled emotion, free from any kind of egotistical gestures or exaggeration, each movement choreographed with grace, so that you have to both hear and see to believe. Salmaso also has something important to say about music and tradition, and she says it without compromising her standards in any way.

Originally intending to become a journalist, Salmaso changed her career plans after a month of voice lessons, an activity that she took up during her university preparation as a form of relaxation. Through a friend she was introduced to theater director Gabriel Villela in 1989, who was opening a work titled 0 Concilio do Amor (Congregation of Love) and needed a young singer to play the role of Veronica and to interpret Gregorian chant. Salmaso stayed with the show for one year then started working the Sao Paulo club scene, and it was there, in the famous Vou Vivendo, frequented by the bohemians of Sao Paulo, that composer Eduardo Gudin heard her, became an immediate fan, and invited her to participate in his recently created group, Noticias dum Brazil. Gudin, at that time, had some projects running with the Velas record label and intended to record the complete Afro-Sambas by Baden Powell and Vinicius de Morais.

Salmaso became the principal solo38

ist with Gudin's group in 1992 and re- • Tuaregue e Nag6 corded the Noticias dum Brazil (News (Lenine e Braulio Tavares) From Brazil) CD for the Velas label. • During this time she also sang on a Paulo • Tatit project, Cancdes de Ninar •• E a festa dos negros coroados (Lullaby), which won two Premio Sharp • No batuque que abala o firmamento awards. Salmaso left Noticias dum Bra- • E a sombra dos seculos guardados zil in 1995 to pursue a solo career and to •• E o rosto do girassol dos ventos record Afro-Sambas as a duo with vir- • tuoso guitar player Paulo Bellinati. Afro- • E a chuva, o roncar de cachoeiras Sambas was released on the Atracao Na floresta onde o tempo toma label in Brazil (due to a "misunderstanding" with Velas) and GSP in the United • impulso States. It was nominated for the Premio • E a forca que doma a terra inteira • Sharp in 1997.

• As bandeiras de fogo do crepusculo In 1998 Salmaso drew public atten- • tion when the foremost instrumentalists Quando o grego cruzou Gilbraltar in Brazil invited her to join Orquestra Onde o negro tambem navegou Popular de Camera (Popular Chamber • Beduin() saiu de Dacar Orchestra). Each member ofthis orches- • E o Viking no mar se atirou tra has a prosperous solo career, and their names—Teco Cardoso, Benjamim • Uma ilha no meio do mar Taubkin, Paulo Freire, Toninho Ferra- • Era a rota do navegador gutti, Mane Silveira, and Caito Marcon- • Fortaleza, taberna e pomar • des to name a few—appear on hundreds • Num pals Tuaregue e Nage, of important recordings by the distin- • guished artists who make up Brazilian E o brilho dos trilhos que popular music. Collaborating as an ensuportam semble, these players communicate in 0 gemido de mil an extraordinary musical language and dialogue with instruments typical not canaviais only of an urban orchestra (cello, piano, Estandarte em veludo e pedrarias contrabass, woodwinds)but also ofpopuBatuqueiro, cm-nab dos carnavais lar Brazilian music, folk forms, and choro (bandolim, accordion, viola caipira, perE o frevo a jogar pernas e bracos cussion, bamboo flutes).

No alarido de um povo a "This kindred musical language takes se inventar into account not only a tremendous amount of information," says Salmaso, E o conjurio de ritos e misterios "but also the musical personalities of E urn vulto ancestral de each member, which in turn is considalem-mar ered at the moment arrangements are made and during improvisations. The Quando o grego cruzou Gilbraltar essence of sound has been central to this Onde o negro tambern navegou whole group. Never just 'sound,' but Beduino saiu de Dacar more an invitation to alter one's way of E o Viking no mar se atirou perceiving music. We create experiences out of texture and timbre, adding instruEra o porto pra quem ments in unison washes of sound while procurava projecting our voices in search of 'the' 0 pals onde o sol vai se p6r Brazilian sonority. In my case, I sing in E o seu povo no ceu batizava the orchestra, without lyrics, only vocalAs estrelas no sul do Equador izing, as another instrumental voice. The experience is very important because, for me, it is a school for the voice as Bate Canela another musical instrument. I have to (Public Domain) balance equally in arrangements with twelve other instruments. It's a very special lesson for me, and musical relaOra, bate canela que eu quero ver tionships among the group members are • • very rich. " Sinha Maria tern sete filho • I've always felt that a great recordTodos sete pequenininho ing is one which transcends the every- • Panelinha pequenininha day, a dynamic experience that transTodos sete querem corner ports the listener to a different time- . element, a sphere beyond himself. This • is the feeling I have when I listen to Afro- • • BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

• Sambas interpreted by Paulo •• Bellinati and Monica Salmaso, • a project that clearly demon• strates the personality of It is the festival of the crowned blacks • • Salmaso as an interpreter. It is With a cadence that shakes the sky • also the case when I listen to It is the shadow of the centuries kept • Trampolim (Springboard), The face of a sunflower in the wind •• Salmaso's first solo CD, which . has just been released in the • United States on the Blue It is the rain, the roar of the waterfall ▪ Jackel label. The recording is • In the forest where time clutches • a testimony to Salmaso's inimpulse • terpretive gifts and to Edu It is a force that tames the entire land • Lobo's comment that any • • praise you bestow upon MoniFlags of fire in the dawn • ca Salmaso is not enough in • relation to her talent.

When the Greek crossed Gibraltar • Any CD, if carefully con• Where the black also navigated • sidered, crosses the categoriThe Bedouin left Dakar • cal boundaries reviewers set And the Viking threw himself on the sea • for it. And sometimes these • An island in the middle of the sea • pigeonholes bog down in po• lemics and illogical distincIt was the route of the navigator •• tions because the experts are Fortress, bar, and orchard • desperately unsure of their In the country Tuareg and Naga • capacity for esthetic judgment; •• because most were never It is the radiance of the way that • trained as musicians, musisuppgrts • cologists, or academic anaThe rnOaning of a thousand lysts; and because they are • fearful of looking ridiculous if plantations • some other "authority" proStandard in velvet and jewels •• claims them wrong. But music Drummers, heart of the carnavals • does not evolve in straight • lines, and Trampolim overlaps It is the frevo that throws legs and arms • more boundaries than most.

• On the yells of a people Evocative and expressive, • inventing themselves • the CD is both a challenge to It is the bond of rites and mysteries • conventional notions of qual•• ity popular music and a work It is the ancestral ghost from beyond • devoted to the rediscovery of the sea • Brazilian roots. It shows an • „ unusual respect for original When the Greek crossed Gibraltar • sources, one that gives Where the black also navigated • musicology an almost The Bedouin left Dakar ; meticulous authority, And the Viking threw himself on the sea • but one that also gives • the interpreter a freeIt was the port for those who • dom from the rigidity • searched The country where the sun would set • of accustomed forms.

• Trampolim delineates And the people baptized the stars •• regional characterisIn the sky south of the equator • tics of the Brazilian • people and their folk.• lore, not from a reDancing • gionalist point-of• view, but rather from Now, dance so I can watch •• an objective and uni. versal perspective.

• The CD travels through a selMaria has seven children • dom inhabited repertoire of All seven are very small • • work songs, religious liturgy, Small pots • legends, and songs from All seven want to eat • Brazil's indigenous people, all • , passed through the prism of • this modern interpreter whose • voice is the optimum vehicle •

Tuareg e Nage)

BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

to passionately project these poetic texts. It is a demanding and authentic project, one of those rare, must-listen to from beginning to end recordings that continues to appreciate with repeated listenings.

Trampolim is not only a rare work of art but also a fundamental response to the polluted popular, pseudo-eclectic industry formulas; there are few, if any, concessions to commerciality. And like th Premio Visa de MPB festival, Trampolim functio s as a showcase for Salmaso to unveil Brazili n popular music of the highest quality. By being igorous and critical in choosing this particular epertoire (one that would have been disastrous ith a lesser voice), Salmaso is proclaiming a reno ation within Brazilian popular music and creatin a kind of spiritual independence that seems, better t an anything else, to define what is characteristic about the CD. Re ecting the connection that exists between religious practice and the continuous musical activity of festivals, funerals, and processions that accompany it in Brazil; Trampolim bears an almost spiritual overtone. But says Salmaso, "I don't have a religion, and I have a pessimistic impression of all of them, as institutions. But I have a deep individual feeling of spirituality. I may view religion with suspicion, but I view and have much love fc1r the people who have faith. I feel a profound, personal affection for this characteristic."

The starting point for Trampolim was a project called Mundo, Selo Paulo that Rodolfo Stroeter, bassist and owner of the Pau Brasil record label, was directing in 1997 with the purpose of introducing the public to new talents from Sao Paulo perforining with the Orquestra Jazz Sinfonica.

"Willi a was one of the participants," says Stroeter, "and fom the very beginning I felt, that besides her a azing voice, she had what I would call in Portuguese 'alma lirica brasileira' (lyric soul of Brazil). She is deep into a certain view of Brazilian music that connects the very modern with the very traditional."

After the Mundo, Sao Paulo project was mixed, Stroeter called the singer, expressing his interest in having her record for the Pau Brasil label. "It took Monica and me about a year to decide which songs we were going to record. We met every week to listen to and talk about songs that she brought. Of course, this was a pretty arduous process, and the funny thing about it was that we never played a single note while we were in this initial stage. It was primarily listening and more a matter of fin ling the right musicians that could collaborate w ith this kind of project." roughout the process Salmaso kept returning to songs whose melodic and poetic characteristics reminded both singer and producer of the mysti al and religious aspects of their Afro-Brazilian culture. Says Salmaso, "Rodolfo pointed this 0 t and proposed that we follow this concept 39

in order to have a common thread, a unity for the CD, and this became my major preoccupation.

From there we categorized the first repertoire, and then I started looking for other songs that would be in line with this theme. I conducted research and interviewed important researchers in Sao Paulo.

Edgar Pops showed me "Bate Canela," and introduced me to the music of Antonio Tavernard and Waldemar Henriqueâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the great translator of music from the Amazon. Paulo Dias, a serious collector of Brazilian folk material from the University of Sao Paulo, showed me "Canto dos Escravos" and introduced me to the music ofMestra Virginia."

After the repertoire was selected, Stroeter and Salmaso began discussing arrangements and which musicians were going to participate. The players had to understand both the structure of the indigenous tunes and possess a musical language that was modern, sophisticated. Nana Vasconcelos (percussion and voice), Lelo Nazario (keyboards), Toninho Ferragutti (accordion), and Paulo Bellinati (guitars) were the principals chosen. An interpreter who embodies what she sings and who refuses to be bound by the gimmickry, limited trends, and popsy touches of the industry's formulas; Salmaso surrounded herself with a contingent of musicians capable of rendering the traditional with the utmost integrity and the contemporary with finesseâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the duality that permeates Trampolim.

Opening the CD, "Canto dos Escravos" (Chant of the Slaves) is a V issungo, or work song of the African slaves who were brought to Brazil. It was discovered in Sao Joao da Chapada, Minas Gerais

by Aires da Mata Machado. Making a request to God and to the Virgin Mary to bless the work of the day that is beginning, the text blends the Portuguese and Tupi languages and refers to both Catholic and native divinities. This arrangement for voices and percussion features the atmospheric playing and vocalizing of master percussionist Nana Vasconcelos, a marvel who accomplishes his infinitely fine musical embroidery by means of allusion and elision. .Vasconcelos fragments and reassembles phrases, creating a many-layered backdrop of contrasts and large-scale rhythmic tensions into which Salmaso pours her full coloristic range. Their interpretation is profound, richly textured, and beautifully expressive. The listener only needs an appetite for a hypnotic, sometimes dizzyingly textural arrangement and a willingness to indulge himself to appreciate this performance.

"A Permuta dos Santos" (The Exchange of the Saints) by Chico Buarque and Edu Lobo from the ballet Danca da Meia Lua (Dance of the Half Moon) is a song whose 'lyrics comment on the distinctive religiosity ofthe poorer Brazilian population and specifically talk about a Catholic ritual called "procisstio" (procession) in which images of the saints are carried on the shoulders of the faithful from one church to another.

The believers sing, pray, and ask several favors of the saints (gracas) and follow this ritual of sacrifice with the objective of obtaining what they requested as proofs oftheir faith. But in "A Permuta dos Santos," there is an ironic twist. If at the end of all these efforts the gracas are not fulfilled, the 40

Na Volta Que o Mundo DA (Vicente Barreto and Paulo Cesar Pinheiro)

The World's Return

Um dia eu senti urn desejo profundo De me aventurar nesse mundo Pra ver onde o mundo vai dar

One day I had a profound craving For adventure in this world To see where it was going

Sal do meu canto na beira do rio E fui prum conves de navio Seguindo pros rumos do mar

I left my nook on the edge of the river And took to the deck of a ship Following the routes of the sea

Pisei muito porto de lingua estrangeira Amei muita moca solteira Fiz muita cantiga por la

I stepped into many foreign ports And loved many single girls Singing many songs along the way

Varei cordilheira, geleira e deserto 0 mundo pra mim ficou perto E a terra parou de rodar Corn o tempo Foi dando uma coisa em meu peito Um aperto dificil da gente explicar Saudade, nao sei bem de que Tristeza, nao sei bern por que Vontade ate sem querer de chorar Anaustia de nao se entender Urn tedio que a gente nem cre Anseio de tudo esquecer e voltar Juntei os meus trocos num saco de pano Telegrafei pro meu mano Dizendo que ia chegar Agora aprendi por que o mundo da. volta Quanto mais a gente se solta Mais fica no mesmo lugar

I crossed mountain ranges, glaciers and deserts I was at one with the universe And the earth stopped turning But with time Something kept slipping into my heart A tightness difficult to explain Longing, for what, I don't know Sadness, I know not why Wishing, almost wanting to cry Anguish of not understanding Tedium you could not believe Anxiety within everything to forget and return I put all my belongings in a cloth bag Telegraphed my brother Saying that I was going to arrive Now I know that one's world returns The farther the separation The stronger the bond

BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

Lenda Praieira Beach Legend (Mario Gil and Paulo Cesar Pinheiro) Nasceu num barco pesqueiro Pescava desde menino Mestre das aguas proeiro Do litoral nordestino Em roda de jangadeiro Deixou seu nome Quirino Quern vive em chAo de saveiro E o chap do mar seu destino Foi isso que deu-se um dia Cacao virou seu veleiro Foi luta de valentia Do peixe contra o barqueiro Sangue, suor, maresia 0 ar ficou corn esse cheiro Subia agua e batia Tudo sumiu no aguaceiro Houve arrastAo na baia Do quebra-mar a costeira Do fundo nada surgia S6 da jangada a madeira As mocas em romaria Puxavam reza praieira No fim do setimo dia Fez-se a oracao derradeira A sua hist6ria foi bela Virou cordel seu destino Tern nome em pano de vela Verso em cheganca e divino Mas uma moca donzela Teve depois um menino A cara do filho dela Era de novo Quirino

Born in a fisherman's boat He had fished from childhood Master of the bow From the Northeastern coast Among the group of raft men He was known as Quirino One who lives on the deck of the fishing boat Has the ocean floor as his destiny This is what happened one day The shark capsized his sailboat It was a valiant fight Fish against boatman Blood, sweat, the smell of the sea The air filled with that smell The water rose up and beat down Everything vanished in the squall There was a dragging of the bay From the breakwater to the coast From the depths came nothing But pieces of the raft The young girls in pilgrimage Prayed together After seven days They made a final prayer His story was beautiful And became a legend His name appearing on sails And in festivals But afterward a virgin Gave birth And the face of her son Was that of Quirino

Tajapanema—Foi Tajapanema—It Was the Boto, Sinhi Dolphin, Mistress (Waldemar Henrique and Antonio Tavernard) Tajapanema chorou no terreiro Tajapanema chorou no terreiro E a virgem morena fugiu pro costeiro Foi Boto, sinha Foi Boto, sinha Que veio tend E a moca levou E o tal dancara Aquele doutor Foi Boto, sinha Foi Boto, sinha Tajapanema se pas a chorar Tajapanema se Os a chorar Quern tern filha moca é born vigiar 0 Boto nao dorme No fundo do rio Seu dom é enorme Quem quer que o viu Que diga que informe Se Ihe resistiu 0 Boto tido dorme No fundo do rio BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

Tajapanema cried in the yard Tajapanema cried in the yard And the dark skinned virgin fled to the coast It was the dolphin, mistress It was the dolphin, mistress That came to tempt And took her To that ball That doctor It was the dolphin, mistress It was the dolphin, mistress Tajapanema started to cry Tajapanema started to cry Those with young daughters should be wary The dolphin does not sleep On the bottom of the river His talent is enormous Those who have seen him Say that he is crude If you resist him The dolphin does not sleep On the bottom of the river

¶ar Pinheiro) . "Dancape" (Mario r 2. "0 ento" (Dorival aymmi) " I inha" (Vinicius de Moraes / Chico Buarque) 4. "C to em Qualquer Canto" (Ná Ozzetti Itarnar Assum cao) 5. "Sil nciosa" (Fatima Guedes 6.. "Be dero" (Chico Cesar) 7. "A ioleira" (Tom Jobim / Chico Buarque) 8. "Se orinha" (Guinga / Paulo Cesar Pinheiro de Indio" (Djavan) 9. "C 10. "1 arana" (Joyce / Paulo Cesar Pinheiro) 11. " eguinho do Pastoreio" (Joyce / Silvia Sangir di) inha Palhoca" (J. Cascata) 12.

13. "II -Aye (Cabana / Nor ival Reis) 14."A e Maria no Morro" (Herivelto M 15."C ario do Reino"

Teco ardoso - flutes Nailor "Proveta" Azevedo - cIarin J Toninho Ferragutti - accordion Mario Gil - arrangements and Paulo Bellinati - arrangements and gui Webster Santos - guitar. 12-string bandolim Paulo Freire - viola caipira (folk gui Bass - Rodolfo Stroeter Piano and arrangements - Benjamim Taubl Keyboards - Lelo Nazario Marcos Suzan° - arrangemen GuellO - percussion Eduardo Contrera - percussion Caito Marcondes - percussion Zezinho Pitoco - percussion

Orquestra Popular de Camara Monica Salmaso - voice Teco Cardoso - flute, bamboo flutes, Mane Silveira - flute and saxaphone Toninho Ferragutti - accordion Paulo Freire - viola caipira Dirrios Goudaroulis - cello Luiz Coimbra - cello Benjamim Taubkin - pia Sylvid Mazzucca Jr. - contrabass RonermiiAltman - bandolim Guell - percussion <-1Caito arcondes - perc Zezinho Pitoco - perc

Web sit Monica Salmaso: msalmaso.htm Blue Jackel: http://ww.bIttej Pau Brasil: http://www.paub Nacleo Contemporaneo: http: Related back issues of Brazzil: http:/ www.brazzil.com/poroct97, http:/ www.brazzil.cong 41

images of the saints will be left behind to return to their Dorival Caymmi's "0 Vento," is much like Trampolim in altars by themselves. The arrangement is based on the that it presents a panorama of Brazilian song. And indeed maracatu rhythm and is embellished by Toninho the sheer breadth of styles and their musicological thorFerragutti's sinuous accordion artistry, which speaks oughness and care make the disc a kind of compendium directly to the subconscious and projects the tune's of Brazilian musical history. But unlike Trampolim, the otherworldly pigment. songs talk about Brazil in a more internal way through the "Tajapanema—Foi Boto Sinha" (Tajapanema—It Was lyrics, rhythms, and melodies. There is less work with the Dolphin, Mistress), a song from the Amazon region keyboards and much more percussion, acoustic piano, and one of the first songs chosen for the project, recounts bass, and acoustic guitar. Among the 15 tracks there are the legend of Boto, the dolphin, who transforms himself pieces by Guinga, Paulo Cesar Pinheiro, Chico Buarque, into a human being at night and seduces a young virgin.

Fatima Guedes, two tunes by Joyce, and one from Chico In this arrangement for voice and guitar by Paulo Bellinati, Cesar.

Salmaso communicates her palpable love for sonority Salmaso invited Rodolfo Stroeter to produce Voadeira, and rhythm with an earthy sexuality; Paulo Bellinati, an as they have played together for two years, have a mutual insightful and prolific musical partner with whom Salmaso understanding of the recording process, and have already has recorded and performed for almost six years, plays made one CD together. And as with Trampolim, the with an economy that is as brilliant and eloquent as it is constellation of talented musicians was culled from the dynamic. Bellinati's arrangement for the tune is a perfect Pau Brasil and Nucleo Contemporaneo stables: Paulo example of how he incorporates soul and creativity with Bellinati, guitar; Benjamim Taubkin, piano; Paulo Freire, virtuosity to great effect. viola caipira; Marcos Suzano, percussion; Nailor "ProFor the Lenine and Braulio Tavares composition veta" Azevedo, clarinet; and Teco Cardoso, flutes (see "Tuaregue e Nago," keyboard player Lelo Nazario prebelow for complete list). The project was recorded in pared an original and impassioned arrangement that spotvarious duet and quartet arrangements in the studio with lights the musical interchange among gifted instrumenas live a setting as possible in order to create the kind of talists that characterizes Trampolim) The Tuaregue, or chemistry, the greater fluency and musical dialog within Tuareg, are a nomadic tribe of a people who live in the the various ensembles, that occurs on stage. extremities of the Sahara desert; Nage) is a name that With beauty and rapport as her primary criteria, refers to Brazil's African Salmaso demonstrates on culture. The tune's lyrics Voadeira that she is an speak in a planetary way artist who not only strives about miscegenation, race, to reach the audience, to Selected Disco graphy: and the cultural diversity of move it emotionally, but the Brazilian people. And who also does so with Artist Title Label Date Salmaso's rich mezzo-soonly the finest material, Monica Salmaso Voadeira Eldorado 1999 prano, impeccable phrasing, despite an industry whose Monica Salmaso Trampolim Blue Jackel(US) 1999 and emotional depth on this emphasis is on formulaic Pau Brasil(Brasil) 1998 piece reveal the kind of efVarious artists Canc5es Curiosas Palavra Cantada 1998 mega-releases. "I am the fortless singing that has enMonica Salmaso Afro-Sambas GSP(US) sergeant of myself," says 1997 abled her to encompass such & Paulo Bellinati Atracao(Brasil) 1996 Salmaso. "I am not going a wide variety of material.

Various artists Cancaes de BrincarPalavra Cantada 1996 to behave like the voice Yet, this is only the doorway Various artists Cancoes de Ninar Palavra Cantada 1995 of MPB that for years has Eduardo Gudin Eduardo Gudin to a stirring repertoire that Velas 1993 aligned itself with the inincludes among other gilte Noticias dum Brasil dustry before testing the edged tunes, "Saci" (Guinga possibilities." Salmaso and Paulo Cesar Pinheiro), may never succumb to the "0 Bern do Mar" (Dorival Caymmi), "Lenda Praieira" pasteurization necessary for the greater commercial suc(Mario Gil and Paulo Cesar Pinheiro), "Na Ribeira Deste cess that is massively propagated on the radio—and Rio" (Dori Caymmi and Fernando Pessoa), and "Na Volta certainly, radio exposure determines tastes, sales, and Que o Mundo Da" (Vicente Barreto and Paulo Cesar frequency of recording. But those who are fortunate Pinheiro). enough to'discover the work of this strongly instinctive Just as Trampolim was a conceptual "taking off' that interpreter will experience an intoxicating sonic pleasure. grew out of Salmaso's interests as well as her work with Monica Salmaso is the singer that Brazil has needed for so Paulo Bellinati on the Afro-Sambas CD, there exists a long. As Edu Lobo, says, "I sign my name to this without natural parallel between Trampolim and her new CD, giving it a second thought."

Voadeira (Flyer), which possesses that same sense of intuitive rightness of form and texture that distinguishes ' "Tuaregue e Naga'," appears on the classic CD 0/ho the two earlier works. Says Salmaso, "This points out the de Peixe on the Velas label, which has not been available way I have chosen to sing, according to my artistic from Velas for years due to another "misunderstanding." personality, which is still developing. I look only to be It is slated to be released on Lenine's Mameluco label, a truthful with myself and to love my work, and I am subsidiary of BMG. preoccupied with both. In relation to the repertoire on the new CD, I continue to be very interested in talking about Bruce Gilman, music editor for Brazzil, Brazil as a country rich in diversity, geography, and received his Masters degree in music from California customs, but without the clear focus on folklore that ' Institute of the Arts. He leads the Brazilian jazz ensemble occurs in Trampolim."

Axe and plays cuica for escola de samba MILA. The repertoire of Voadeira, which includes classics You can reach him through his e-mail: like "Ave Maria no Morro" by Herivelto Martins, and cuica@interworld.net 42

BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

Beyond Pantanal An original artist, Manoel de Barros, is a poet specializing in the little things.

JOSE GERALD() COUTO At 83 (he was born in 1916), with a new book out, Retrato do artista quando coisa (A portrait of the artist as a thing), 81 pages, Manoel de Banos can no longer be referred to as simply the "poet of the Pantanal". With 14 books published BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

since 1937, today he is renowned by his critics as one of the great n es of contemporary Brazilian poetry. Each year his po sularity increases since being discovered by the Rio de aneiro-Sao Paulo hub of intelligence in the 80s. His w rk has been referred to as ecological, earthy and primiti e. Of these labels the only one he appreciated was the las "One d y they called me primitive:/ I was in ecstasy" he describe in one of the poems in his latest book. The truth is, the image most incorrect that one could have of Manoel de arros, is one of a poet dedicated to singing the praises of e scenery and wildlife of the Pantanal. As he has reiterat d uncountable times, his interest has returned to the small humble, underrated things by the utilitarian reason in o r society. The beings that his poetry is filled with are per winkles, rocks, frogs, slugs, salamanders and at times, a eron.

"I was orn with the vision from below" he summarized in Ret ato do artista quando coisa. But it is not with the spirit of photographer or entomologist with which he encompass s these beings, but rather with,the objective of reaching th "epiphany oftransformation", in other words, an illumina ion of the sacred mystery of life. The search is less intell ctual than it is spiritual. Without mocking the solemnity f the poetry ("A poem, before anything else, is unuseful, 'he wrote in Arranjos para assobio (Arrangements tow istle) in 1982), Manoel de Barros agrees that it was an e ential work in the search for knowledge.

As all g eat artists, Manoel does not conform to the incomplete ess of man (which nevertheless he considers "the greate asset") and their incapacity to integrate with the anonym us flow of nature. An artist's utopia is greater than all ot ers' : to abolish the distance between the subject wh sees the universe and their actual universe.

Verses suggesting "nature becomes sick of us" (0 livro das ignorek s (The book of ignorance)) and commenting "It's neces ary to be in the state of a tree" (Retrato do artista qua do coisa) are most characteristic of the poet which sugg st a wish to erase the limits between man and other being of the world. The root ofthe impulse towards cosmic inte ration—very similar to searching for "satori" in Zen-Buds hism or enlightenment—results in an absolute overth ow of syntax, which is seen as a form of imprisonm nt of analogous words through the domestication of b ings by everyday logic.

An ex pie of this tendency to overcome the barriers of languag are the verses: "Where the river starts a fish, / river me th'ng / river me frog / river me tree" (0 livro das ignoreincas . Nouns that become verbs, verbs that become adjec ives—in the literature of Manoel de Barros the languag is considered a live organism, fluid, unobstructed. H. power of synthesis and condensing is each time greate —because of this his poems and books continue to di inish in size.

Unique Life To arriv at the linguistic liberty and at the same time the formal purification, was a long road. The angle Manoel de arros has on life is as individual as his poetry.

Born in Cu aba in 1916, he was raised as a farm boy, amongst th country animals on the rivers of the Pantanal region. He tudied in a private school, but at a young age was alread familiar with the great cities, beginning in Rio de Jane o. In the 1930s, at the age of 20, he undertook an adventu us trip that included Bolivia and New York.

He publish -d his first book at 21 in 1937: Poemas concebidos sem pecado (Poems conceived without sin).

No one not ced.

In the fo lowing decade, while living in Rio de Janeiro, 43

he married Stella, the daughter of Minas Gerais farmers and Syntax of thit Illiterate his partner still today. In Rio, timid and withdrawn, he was unable to get close to the literary resources of the era. One Possibly the Ierson who has become most captivated by interesting episode illustrates his situation. One day he got the ambivalence of Manoel de Barros—a man in the up the courage and found the home of his greatest idol, the confluence between beastly nature and a more refined culpoet Manuel Bandeira. "I knocked on the door of his apartture—has to be the cinematographer, Joel Pizzini (Mato ment in Esplanada do Castelo, a neighborhood in Rio—and Grosso) who dedicated his short film, Caramujo Flor (RetiI waited, trembling with emotion. And, when the poet waited cent Flower), in 1990, to the poet. The two sides of Manoel to open the door, I broke out running for the stairs, six or de Barros—modern and archaic, rural and urban, rustic and seven floors, with a pulse of 120, surely", he reported in an sophisticated—appears in the film divided into two "alter interview. egos", one interpreted by Ney Matogrosso and the other by Rubens Correa.

On another occasion, in the Pantanal, he was introduced to Guimaraes Rosa, who visThe year 1990 was also the ited the region. Timidly, first time Manoel de Barros Manoel exchanged informacombined all of his work into a tion with the author of Sagasingle volume, Gramatica Excerpt rano regarding the animals and expositivadochtio (Expository regional dialect of the Pangrammar from the ground), A major riqueza do homem é a sua incompletude. tanal. The conversation was which was almost entirely poNesse ponto sou abastado. not very long, but the affinity etry, edited by Civilizacdo Palavras que me aceitam como sou—eu nao aceito. between the two writers was Brasileira. Thanks to that colNao agtiento ser apenas urn sujeito que abre evident. Manoel de Banos— lection, which has taken the title portas, que puxa valvulas, que olha o relegio, que who often is referred to as the of one of his first books pubcompra pao as 6 horas da tarde, que vai la fora, "Guimaraes Rosa of poetry"— lished in 1966, his work has que aponta lapis, que ve a uva etc. etc. confesses that it has taken a lot become more accessible to a Perdoai of strength to not succumb to larger audience that was unMas eu preciso ser Outros. aware of the author's first prothe influence of the fictionist Eu penso renovar o homem usando borboletas." duction. Thanks to this it was from Minas Gerais. Along (from "Biografia do Orvalho") discovered that Manoel de with the books that he still Barros since his first two plans to publish, there is a reMan's biggest wealth is his incompleteness.

With this I am wealthy. books—Poemas concebidos constitution, half true, half inWords that accept me the way I am—I don't accept. sem pecado (1937) and Face vented of his dialog with Rosa.

I can't stand being just a guy who opens imovel (Immovable face) In 1949, with the death of doors, who pulls valves, who watches the watch, who (1942)—had cultivated some of his father, Manoel de Barros buys bread at 6 in the afternoon, who goes out there, the core characteristics of his saw himself at a crossroads. who sharpens the pencil, who sees the grape, etc., etc. work: paying attention to linHe had to choose between conForgive me. guistic creations in popular tinuing in Rio, anonymous and But I need to be Others speech, childhood memories, isolated, discretely publishing I intend to revitalize man by using butterflies. humor and irony of the literary his books from time to time or (from "Mist biography") culture, etc. return to the Pantanal region, Manoel de Barros, today, III to take care of the land he I. spends more time in the city inherited from his father, in (Campo Grande) than on the farm. Dividing his time bethe Corumba area. By his wife's suggestion, they became tween talking to the general public and writing, he seeks the farmers. awkward syntax of the illiterate, the crazed and children.

Ever since, Manoel de Barros has divided his "The normal definition of words is not time between taking care of the land and creating good for a poem", he wrote in Oguardador poetry. He continued publishing his books (releas•11 1,3 I, AR de aguas (The keeper of the waters) ing four between 1956 and 1970), and slowly burtv.4444) (1989). He writes every day by hand, in rowed through the barrier of animosity, becoming small notebooks. His greatest work will recognized in growing circles ofreaders. His discovCL.11-0come later when he shapes what he has ery was not ignored by the great centers of the written, throwing out everything comSoutheast, in 1980, when he sent his book, Arranjos monplace, redundant and predictable.

40) para assobio, to the writer, drawer and humorist Before he is satisfied with his poetry, his Mill& Fernandes, from Rio. Mill& liked his work so wife Stella gives her opinion of whether it much that he personally made every effort to publiis complete or needs more work. cize the book amongst intellectuals and journalists in That is how the "workshop" of one of Rio. Soon after, Manoel became, in the middle of most original poets of our time functions. academics and great-thinkers, a type of cult author.

The result of observation and lived expeNewspapers and magazines began requesting rience because of an acute intelligence interviews, in most cases with unsuccessful results. and an absolute generosity of words and Contrary to the truth, the publicity and the social life can be found in bookstores for all to columns created a myth which referred to him as an read. "animal of the land" leading the life of a hermit that distanced himself from the world and only talked to animals.

This article was originally published in Problemas Beyond the initial timidness, the author manifests as amiable Brasileiros, which you can read on line at http:// and talkative, capable of discussing everything from the www.uol.com.br/sesc/spu.htm animals of the region, to literature, cinema or plastic art— Translated copy by Jamie Sundquist always offering his doubts wanting to avoid sounding like a (jmsund@excite.com) professor.

arvolj 4.6?i

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BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

I have often been asked how I got interested in Brazil. It started in 1978, when I saw Black Orpheus, the 1959 Oscar winning film. I was er thralled by the story, music, and colors, of this film classic. Nine years later, I was in Brazil. I am going to share with you notes from my diary when I first went to Bahia in 1987. I visited the magical city of Salvador, Bahia, aka, Roma Negra (Black Rome). After reading this, you may understand how that first experience had such an impact on me. Get yourself a nice cup of cafezinho, relax and enjoy...

In 1986, I befriend Geraldo. He was one without a place to St taught him English. arranged for me to sta is a daily journal that

d a Baiano (a person from Bahia) named f the first Afro-Brazilians I met. He was , so I offered him my house and also e became great friends. A year later he with his family in Bahia. The following kept of my day-to-day experiences....

February 16, 198 Mulattos, More $ e Cabo Verdes 8:00 AMâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Arrive in Salvador. Looking out the windows, the scenery reminds e of Martinique, many palm trees laden with coconuts. It's an awareness that I'm experiencing now, coming from San Die â&#x20AC;˘o where it feels like Geraldo, the Navy, and are the only blacks living in Point Loma sect n of San Diego. In Salvador the majority II the people have Africa in them. ile eating dinner with his family, I was disc ssing the movie The Brother from Anothe Planet, sharing with them Geraldo's exp rience in San Diego and describing him as t e "brother from another country." In talki g to them in Portuguese, I made use of the ord preto to refer to us blacks. I could In the middle of all this I experience a sens from their reaction, that this was not a feeling comparable to what I felt in wor that they use to describe themselves.

Martinique, Haiti, New Orleans, Watts, The were mulattos, morenos, cabo verdes.

Dominica. I am black, African, Afro-American In B azil, the concept of race is not as rigid as amongst brothers and sisters I have never in t e U.S. In the U.S., if you have any met before. But for accident of where the Afri an heritage, you are considered black, slave ships disembarked, I could have been rega dless of skin color, or hair texture. In born in here and they in San Diego or New Bra 11, the concept of race is much more Orleans. It's a feeling of belonging and not flui . Black people come in all shapes, sizes, having to justify your existence or defend and olors. I see so many more faces here than your rights because of your race.

I ha e seen back in the States. found out that Brazil like the United STEVE BAIANO Stat s has many different terms to describe peo le of African heritage based on their skin cobo , hair texture, and facial appearance.

The only differenc is that in the U.S. despite, the terms, the individual is still co sidered black. In the U.S. they use terms like redbone, high yellow, rimey, etc. In Brazil, some ofthese are: sarara: fair skinned blond hair; mulatto: mixture of African and Caucas'an; pardo: a mixture more African than Caucasian; cab o ve defidark skin with straight black hair and preto: black F.O.B. 'Fresh off the boat" with no intrusion of Indian or Caucasia bloodline. Their African Diaspora is a beautiful quilt that s retches all around the world. Hinton and Elsa, Geraldo's au t and uncle have treated me just like a long lost relative.

The people I'v met are wonderful. Yesterday, Rose Angela, Geraldo's ister and Indaia, Geraldo's cousin, took me to Rio Vermelh to drink coco gelado (ice-cold coconut).

I made the mistake of saying coca gelada (ice-cold Coke), which is an entirel different thing, and eat acaraje (fried black eye pea fritter ooked in palm oil stuffed with peppers), vatapa and seasoned s rimp. The Baianas (women cooks) sat

At Home, in Bahia

BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

45

stooped over their pots filled with azeite de dende (red palm oil) and meticulously prepared their savory treats, just as they have done for centuries. Friends of mine from Nigeria say they eat the same thing. In Nigeria, it is called acara.

February 17, 1987 Trios Eletricos We went to the beach last night and there were thousands of people celebrating. In the middle of the celebration was this enormous multicolored sound truck called a trio eletrico. It blasts sound.

Rose Angela, Claudia, and I danced behind this moving wall of sound as it moved slowly up and down the streets.

Imagine a Greyhound bus with a band on top, fill the inside of the van with generators, amplifiers and speakers, add lots of lights and you now have a trio eMtrico.

We met Nelson, Rose Angela's exspouse. Also met Indaia's brother and his family. His daughter said that I have an accent like a Paulista, someone from Sao Paulo. Salvador is a big city divided into cidade baixa (lower) and alta (upper). The roads aren't too bad, but the people drive like Haitian cab drivers. In size and population, it is comparable to San Diego, about 2 million people and very spread out.

The biggest difference that I notice is that the majority of the population is of African descent, 80% to 90%. The people came from the same West African gene pool that African-Americans are descended from.

They are a major part of the African Diaspora. Being in Salvador has awakened something inside me. It is like a key has opened the box, coming home and reconnecting to culture and a people. I've seen naturals, dreadlocks, short hair, straight hair, curly hair, wavy hair, but no Jheri curls.

Baianos have a pride in themselves and their own natural beauty of which there is an abundance and the likes of which I have never seen before.

February 18, 1987 Bonfim and Itaparica Great day. I went to the magnificent church of Senhor do Bonfim. Inside the A section of the church were hanging hundreds of waxen limbs, heads, torsos, and breasts. I learned that they were left there as a token of thanks for the many who have been cured of their illnesses.

46

We went to Eurico's house for breakfast and took the 45-minute ferryboat ride with Indaia and Rose Angela to Itaparica. Itaparica is a large scenic island in the middle of the Baia de Todos os Santos (Bay of All Saints). It is a rustic and tranquil place that time has forgot with barefoot kids running, fishing, having fun.

I got sick while I was there. Had a diarrhea attack and was on the toilet for what seemed like an eternity. On the way back from the island, I laid down in the back of the car, dreading the ferryboat ride back to the city in my condition. The ride back temporally calmed me down. I rested my head in Rose Angela's lap as Indaia drove. I kept them laughing with my impressions of James Brown, Tarzan, and a macaw. They think I am a little maluco (crazy).

As Indaia drove back to the house, weaving in and out of traffic, I felt my stomach churn like a blender. My salivary glands were acting up. As the car entered the underground driveway, I could sense an impending disaster of enormous proportions. I gotta get to the bathroom ASAP. As soon as I opened the door, I felt the sweet nauseating taste that signals the start of regurgitation. I rushed outside, and began convulsing uncontrollably as the food from the last three days discovered a new way to exit from my body. Whew, what a horrible feeling of relief... The nausea was gone, but I still felt like shit. Anyway, I went upstairs, and showered... No more acarafe. l am feeling a little frustrated. I have spoken virtually only Portuguese for the last three days. I know in the long run that it is best for me, but I would like to hear a little, "Hey brother, whaz up?" every now and then. Indaia knows how to speak English, but will only use it in an emergency.

February 19, 1987 Shopping / People / Observations It's 10 AM and I am still in bed. That is the nice thing about being on vacation... Good to be able to stay in bed if you choose and not have to be ruled by time... Go where you wanna, when you wanna, or not go anywhere at all. We went to Iguatemi shopping center, the equivalent of Horton Plaza in San Diego.

Many shops, great clothing, but not a lot of clothes for a guy like me. I am a tad taller and broader than the average Baiano.

As I get out each day, I am getting more of a feel for the city and its people.

I have seen the equivalent of slums that! found in Tijuana. I have also seen some very nice areas around Barra, Rio Vermelho, Pituba, and Ondina.

I have never seen so many attractive and beautiful women in one city in my life. The women have beautiful smiles, great figures and are very friendly.

Rose Angela and !go to Iguatemi, and get tickets to go see Gal Costa, one of Bahia's best singers. We took the bus to the Mercado Modelo and saw capoeira. The participants were all powerful, and graceful athletes. When they finished they asked for a donation. I met some of the local artists. One of artists who I approached said that because of my color, he would give me a break on the prices. He thought I was from Africa. He said that it was his observation that many European tourists would come through clutching their bags and never smile. He said that a little smile goes a long way and is always appreciated.

I purchased a glorious balangandei (knickknack) that was made out of brass. Below the Mercado Modelo, we went to a place that slaves used as a hiding place. It was dark and the water was cool. One could feel the haunting, wailing of the souls who had passed through there. We later went to visit Katia and Beto. Beto is very nice, but crazy. We jumped in the car and drove to the beaches of Itapod. Along the way, we passed swamps, lakes, and lots of lush vegetation. Itapod was a very beautiful beach.

We bought crabs and shrimp to take home for the gumbo I am cooking tomorrow. I like to share my culture with other people. It is a two-way mirror. The open-air market is not like your local Vons or Ralph's, but they have things there that you will never find a Ralph's or Vons. There are fruits likejacas, pinhas, or palm oil, and dried meats. The sights, sounds, and smells you experience really put your senses through their paces. The section of Itapod beach we visited was unpaved. The warm emerald and turquoise waters are breathtaking.

I tried to candidly take photos of some of the women. That wasn't working too well, so I just went up and said do you mind in I take your picture. They all obliged. It was a great day for making friends, eating churrasco (Brazilian BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

barbecue), crabs and drinking Brahma beer. Beto explained the differences between male and female anatomy. He felt that may come in handy one day. The day at the Itapod beach was heavenly.., warm and cool breezes caressed my body... The women in Bahia have beautiful bundas (buttocks).

February 21, 1987 Restaurants & Gal Costa & he Aiye We ate at Baby Chick's Restaurant. For less than $3.00, you get one Baby Chick (whole chicken), sausage, and a steak. Their Mr. Bigburger was not too good, it makes me yearn for a Boll Weevil 1/2 pounder. The only thing big about Mr. Bigburger was the big bun. "Where's the beef?" We met Katia & Beto at the Gal Costa concert, which costs $3.00 to get in. The Convention Center had state of the art lights and sound. Gal Costa was fantastic. She radiates charm and charisma. It sprinkled off and on during the concert and we took cover under the bleachers.

After the Gal concert, we drove to a very old section of the city. It must have been 2:00 AM. It was still raining, but there were literally thousands of people in the streets partying to the rhythm of drums. The air was moist and bodies were moving back and forth like an onda negra (black wave). We were in the middle of he Aiye. Bahia's first bloco Afro. This AfroBrazilian Cultural Group) was founded in 1974 by Vovo as a protest against discrimination towards blacks in Bahia.

In the middle of all this I experience a feeling comparable to what! felt in Martinique, Haiti, New Orleans, Watts, Dominica. I am black, African, Afro-American amongst brothers and sisters I have never met before. But for accident of where the slave ships disembarked, I could have been born in here and they in San Diego or New Orleans. It's a feeling of belonging and not having to justify your existence or defend your rights because of your race.

Reggae Music is very popular in Salvador. Africa is in Salvador, well so is Jamaica. Dread locks are worn with pride. After visiting Ile Aiye, we went to Bloco Afro Muzenza. Upon entering the place, I felt that ! was back at Spanky's, a Reggae Club in San Diego... Dreads everywhere, pictures of Bob Marley, and Jamaican flags. The beat was jammin'... Brothers and sisters was skanking like crazy. One of the brothers who looked like Bob Marley came over and asked me if I was from Jamaica. I had a Jamaican flag on my shirt.

I responded no, I was a tourist from San Diego and love reggae music. He spoke a little English with a West Indian accent. His name was Lino de Almeida and was a judge for the dance contest and show. We exchanged addresses and numbers. He said that if something is really good, the black people in Salvador say "massa, bicho." Later on, we met Aurelio, ex-boyfriend of Rose Angela. He was into the music and culture of Bloco Afro Muzenza, and was also a capoeirista. Because of his blond curly hair, light skin, and blue eyes, the average person would assume he was Caucasian.

Getting back to Aurelio, the boy could not stop. His body was able to move in 4-5 different directions simultaneously. He later made a comment after he had not been given one of the Muzenza brochures, because he was big, looked white and people assumed he was a tourist from America. How ironic I thought to myself. I am here and people assumed I am Baiano and he's Baiano and people assumed he's American.

As the night went on, we got down with the music generated by the 25 drummers playing various sizes of the Brazilian surdo drum. A surdo drum may be as big a garbage can and produces a sound that is irresistible to dance to. The more intense the beat the stronger you dance. There is no other beat or kind of music that! have experienced that affect me that way. It awakens something deep inside me.

On the stage were seven beautiful Baianas dressed in African clothing and adorned in jewelry, dancing together in unison on elevated platform. Like a moth drawn to a flame there I went. The women had their hips gyrating, arms waving, feet moving.., the music intensified. The crowd caught up in the frenzy, and I thought to myself, this is not even Carnaval yet. I wish I could package this experience and share it with all of my friends.

We left at 5:00 AM. It was raining dogs and cats... empty streets,! do not recall seeing many homeless although there was a lot of poverty. I fell asleep as Rose Angela drove home. I was awakened by the sensation of being on a miniature roller coaster ride. Rose Angela had fallen asleep at the wheel and was trying to regain control of the vehicle. We were very lucky that we hit nothing. "Praise the BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

Lord" as my grandmother used to say.

What a day in Salvador... Days spent at the beach and the night at he Aiye and Muzenza... Massa bicho.

February 22, 1987 Filhos de Gandhi / Jerry Springer moment Tonton, Geraldo's brother, is a member of Filhos de Gandhi (an 8,000 member afaxe group founded in 1949 by Afro-Brazilian dockworkers who identified with Gandhi's non-violent movement to fight oppression) They dress in beautiful white robes and turbans during Carnaval. When they move down the street it is an impressive sight.

On the way to the Filhos de Gandhi rehearsal, we passed the location where they filmed the movie "Dona Flor and her Two Husbands." It was a beautiful part of the city with quaint architecture and houses painted in soft pastel greens, pinks, and shades of eggshell white.

We drive to the rehearsal hall. It is hidden behind a wall. I can't see them, but I can feel them. Those drums, those chants.., a connection to Africa that is so strong, so powerful, so intact. A measure of a people's culture. It is their traditions, oral and written language, art, music, dance, love of life. No one culture or race is superior we are all equal, different in some ways but alike in many more ways. Anyway, back to Filhos de Gandhi.

We get out of the car and there are masses of people milling around trying to get in. Believe me this is a sellout and there is not S.R.O. (Standing Room Only). We go to the gate and Tonton flashes his Filhos de Gandhi membership card. It is not enough to get us in.

We wait.., we hope... the crowd grows in size. I have already mapped out my escape route. I am prepared to scale a seven-foot wall if it gets out of hand. The door opens. ..The crowd surges and like a miniature tidal wave, Tonton and his wife Velma get pushed in. But Rose Angela and I don't. The gate locks.

Drums a pounding, Police are called in to keep order... machine guns displayed... people screaming... it's chaos... I feel like I am in a movie... A very surreal experience Rose Angela and I wait for the next opening. It comes, we surge, we get separated and she gets pushed in. I am still on the outside facing armed police and an angry mob. A woman, for lack of a better term, cuts in front of me. I will never forget what she did. Her leg locks me so I can't move and she uses her body 47

as a barricade to keep me from getting inside.

Not laying a hand on her, I submarined her and made my way in. She made me mad with her rude behavior. I was determined to get in. What an experience once we were all inside. Congo drums, agog& and the chanting of the Filhos de Gandhi...

Back in Brazil 10 years later On September 1, 1999, I arrived back in San Diego after spending five and a half weeks in Brazil. It was an incredible trip. I have been to Brazil six times, but this trip was my first visit to the big "B" since 1994. My last visit was Carnaval in Bahia. I will never forget riding on top of Olodum's truck with Joao Jorge, Paulo Gaudenzi, Regina Case, and Caetano Veloso.

Being away from Brazil for five years will give anyone a lot of saudades. My twin goddaughters, Karol and Karine, who live in Rio, are now nine years old.

This trip was a very unique experience. I was hired to work as a bodyguard for the U.S. Postal Service Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation as required by 39 USC 3685 I. Publication Title: Brazzil 2. Publication No.: 1091-868X 3. Filing Date: October 8, 1999 4. Issue Frequency: Monthly 5.

No. of Issues Published Annually: 12 6. Annual Subscription Price: $3.00 7. Complete Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication: Brazzil, 2039 N. Ave. 52, Los Angeles, CA 900421024 8. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business Office of Publisher: Brazzil, 2039 N. Ave. 52, Los Angeles, CA 90042-1024 9. Full Names and Complete Mailing Addresses of Publisher: Rodney Mello, 2039 N. Ave. 52, Los Angeles, CA 90042-1024; Editor: Rodney Mello, 2039 N. Ave. 52, Los Angeles, CA 90042-1024; Managing Editor Rodney Mello, 2039 N. Ave. 52, Los Angeles, CA 90042-1024 10.

Owner: Rodney Mello, 2039 N. Ave. 52, Los Angeles, CA 90042-1024 11. Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders Owning or Holding 1 Percent or More of Total Amount of Bonds, Mortgages, or Other Securities: None 12. N/ A 13. Publication Name: Brazzil 14. Issue Date for Circulation Data Below: September 1998 15. Extent and Nature of Circulation: Actual No. Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months 2100 A. Total Number of Copies: B. Paid and/or Requested Circulation I. Paid/Requested Outside County 1416 2. Paid In-County Subscriptions 108 3. Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors and Counter Sales: N/A 4. Other Classes Mailed Through the USPS N/A C. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation: 1524 D. Free Distribution by Mail: 0 E. Free Distribution Outside the Mail: 474 474 F. Total Free Distribution: G. Total Distribution: 1998 H. Copies Not Distributed: 102 I. Total: 2100 J. Percent Paid and/or 76% Requested Circulation

Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date 2200 1357 97 N/A N/A 1454 0 539 539 1993 207 2200 73%

16. This Statement of Ownership will be printed in the September 1999 issue of this publication. 17. 1 certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading information on this form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including multiple damages and civil penalties). (Signed) Rodney Mello, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief

48

Masked Magician, known in Brazil as Mr. "M". He had the highest rated TV show on Fox, when he revealed the secrets of magic. We arrived in Rio on July 26th. Two hours after we land there is a press conference with 50 journalists.

It was a media circus with cameras flashing and the press asking him very provocative questions about his magic show and personal life, things like: are you gay, are you married?

Later that night we went to the Xuxa Show to promote the Mr. M Brazil Tour '99.

As we arrive at the Globo studios in the stretch limo, I realize how big this really is. The muvuca (a whole bunch of people) goes crazy, they start flinging themselves on top of the limo, yelling screaming, trying to open the car doors, and this is only the second day. A phalanx of 50 security guards escorts us in and out of the studio. Mr. M's time on the Xuxa Show was magic. They danced together and he revealed his face to her on stage. After the press, the fofoca (gossip) started... What's up with Mr. M and Xuxa? Everyone wanted to know.

The next day Mr. M took a helicopter ride over the beautiful city of Rio. Sugarloaf, Maracana, Corcovado were landmarks he said he would never forget. For those who have never been there, Rio is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. After the helicopter ride, we had a police-escorted motorcade down Ipanema and Copacabana beaches. The beaches looked as beautiful as ever and were filled with tanned bodies exercising, jogging, riding bikes, working out on the outdoor gym, or just laying on the beach.

Our motorcade ended at the Criancas de sao Martinho orphanage, where Mr. M put on a special magic show for the kids. The faces of the kids lit up when Mr. M took to the stage. They were a great audience. I was touched when at the end of the show, a girl who couldn't have been more than 12 years of age asked Mr. M if he could do a magic trick and make her pregnant belly disappear. He told her that the gift oflife she carried in her belly is the most important gift there is and that the children are the future of Brazil.

Later that night, we made an appearance at Xuxa's house for her daughter Sasha's birthday party. It was like going to one of the kingdoms in Disneyland.

The compound even has a McDonald's in the backyard. She lives far from Copacabana and Ipanema. We drove for at least 45 minutes until we arrived at her gates. The fans went nuts when Mr. M exited from the limousine. I was thinking to myself, 'Elvis, the Beatles, Michael Jackson generate this kind of hysteria and I am in the middle of it making sure his security is taken care of.'

We took a golf cart ride up a windy road to her house. It was amazing. The place was rocking with lights, music, dancing, celebrities were everywhere.

When we entered her house to wait for her to meet Mr. M, we were introduced to Simone (one of my favorite singers). At the party were Tiazinha, Carla Perez, Ivete Sangalo, Ronaldinho and Valeria Valenssa (Ms. Globeleza). Despite the vast number of high profile celebrities, Mr. M was the star of the party.

Everyone wanted his autograph or the opportunity to take a photo with him. Mr. M never said no to anyone, he was always willing to sign that last autograph, or take an extra photo. It didn't matter if you were the president of a company or the maid in the hotel.

While in Rio we stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel in Sao Conrado. Within walking distance from the luxurious hotel was the massivefavela (shantytown) known as Rocinha. Over 1 million people live there. I read that McDonald's is planning to build a restaurant there. That was one of the biggest changes I noticed in my five years away from Brazil. McDonald's restaurants are everywhere. I read in a Brazilian newspaper that after the government, McDonald's is the second largest employer in Brazil, with a workforce of over 33,000 people.

Our shows in Rio were at the Metropolitan in Barra. It is an enormous facility, seating over 5,000. Mr. M's nine shows were all sellouts. One of the things I will always remember about the Metropolitan is the kindness and the professionalism of its staff. From Pepe who runs it to Yolanda who did our sewing and ironing. She was a miracle worker. The whole staff was great.

Being associated with a magic show was a unique experience for me. I did whatever I could to make the show work, from repairing props, to offering suggestions on costumes, and lights. I am pleased to say that some of my ideas were used in the show. The hours were long, sometimes 14 to 16 hours when you include rehearsals, shows and after parties, but there was never a dull moment.

You can reach Steve Baiano at brazilsd@sd.znet.com BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

t-sellers RIO A Familia E Tudo (Family Is Everything)—Drama. Written and directed

by Fernando Berto, with Beth Schmitz, Rita Waehneldt, Marta Rosa, Angelica Breyer and Marco Antonio. A large family gets together to celebrate the 80th birthday of its patriarch and goes in crisis when a granddaughter shows up with her boyfriend. Espaco Cultural dos Correios Cart as de Rodez (Rodez Letters)—Drama. Based on the letters French playwright Antonin Artaud (1896-1948) wrote his doctor when he was at the Rodez mental institution where he was submitted to several electroshock sessions. Directed by Ana Teixeira, with Stephane Brodt.

Teatro Benjamim Constant.

Opereta—O Homem Que Sabia Porfugues (Operetta—The Man Who Knew Portuguese)—Comedy. Written by Tim Rescala, directed by Chico PelOcio, with Mauricio Tizumba, Regina Sposio, and Marina Machado. A fortyish Portuguese teacher tries to find a wife though the newspaper personals. Teatro Villa Lobos Ensaio para Damon (Rehearsal for Danton)—Drama. Written by Georg Buchner, directed by Marcio Marciano and Sergio de Carvalho, with Companhia do Latao. Adapted from The Death of Danton, which occurs during the French Revolution. Teatro CCBB.

SAO PAULO Que Misterios Tern Clarice? (What Mysteries Does Clarice Have?)—Comedy. It uses short stories, letters, interviews and newspapers columns written by celebrated writer Clarice Lispector.

Adapted by Luiz Arthur Nunes and Mario Pragibe. Directed by Luiz Arthur Nunes, with Rita Elinor. Teatro Next.

1492—Musical. The life and adventures of Christopher Columbus, based on Ridley Scott's movie. Adapted and directed by Deto Montenegro, with Estela Cassilatti and Evelyn Klein.

Teatro Dias Gomes.

As Filhas da Mtle (Mom's Daughters)—Comedy. Directed by Gilda Vandenbrande, with Ronaldo Ciambroni and Anna Claudiah Vidal. An overprotective mother does what she can and can't to guarantee her two daughters' success. Teatro Martins Penna.

BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

Just-released American movies:

Runaway Bride (Noiva em Fuga), The 1Floor (13° Andar), A Filha do General (T e General's Daughter), Brokedown Palace Viagem), The Haunting (A Casa Amaldic ada), Big Daddy (0 Paizao), The Blair Wit 'h Project (A Bruxa Blair), Hi-Lo Count (Terra de Paix5es), T e Out ofTowners (Perdid s em Nova York), Aust n Powers (Austin Powers 0 Agente "Bond" Cam Dois Cdrregos (Tw Brooks)—Brazi1/1999 Drama. Directed by Lu Villaca, with Beth Go lart, Ingra Liberato an Carlos A. Riccelli. Sto narrated in flashback. T antics and dilemmas of Ana Paula and h friend Lydia at the family's ranch in Do C6rregos.

Todo Sobre Mi Madre (Tudo Sobre Minh Mae)—Spain/France, 1999—Drama. B Pedro Almodovar, with Cecilia Roth an Marisa Paredes. After death of son, who die without knowing who his father was, moth .r goes looking for ex-husband, a transvestit to tell him about the son he never knew had.

Nono Me Dejes Nunca (Tango)—Spain/A gentina, 1998—Drama. Directed by Carl Saura, with Miguel Angel Sofa and Cecili Narova. An author and director start rehear ing a tango show to distract from his ow personal problems.

0 Viajante (The Traveler)—Brazi1/1998 Drama—Directed by Paulo Cesar Saracen with Marilia Pera, Jairo Mattos, Leandr Leal, and Miriam Persia. How the arrival f a salesman changes the life of a Minas Gera state little town.

Notting Hill (Urn Lugar Chamado Nottin Hill)—Englanc1/1999—How a chance counter between the most famous Boll wood star and a businessman changes ther lives. Directed by Roger Michell, with Juli Roberts and Hugh Grant.

Ayeneh (0 Espelho)—Iran/1997—Drama Girl decides to perambulate through th streets of Teheran when her mother does n t come on time to pick her up at school. B Jafar Panahi, with Ymina Mohammed-Khan

No Se Lo Digas a Nadie (Nilo Conte Ninguent)—Peruil 998—Drama— Directe

by Francisco J. Lombardi, with Christia Meier, Lucia Jimenez, and Santiago Magil Middle-class youngster gets involved wit drugs while trying to find his own identity

FICTION 1 Canoas e marolas, Joao Gilberto Noll.

Objetiva, R$ 15 2A casa dos budas ditosos, Luxtiria, Joao Ubaldo Ribeiro. Objetiva, R$ 19 3 0 Clube dos anjos, Gula, Luis Fernando Verissimo. Objetiva, R$ 16.80 4 Victoria, Rosamunde Pilcher. Bertrand, R$ 30 5 Musashi vol. 1, Eiji Yoshikawa. Estacao Liberdade, RS,48 6 0 martelo de Eden, Ken Follet. Rocco, R$ 35 7 Ramses, a batalha de Kadesh, Christian Jacq. Bertrand. R$ 30 8 0 fantasma, Danielle Steel. Record, R$ 22 9 Mal secret°, Inveja, Zuenir Ventura.

Objetiva, R$ 22 10 Homem que matou Celan° Vargas, JO Soares. Companhia das Letras, R$ 25

NONFICTION 1 Capiteies do Brasil, Eduardo Bueno.

Objetiva, R$ 24.50 2 0 Essencial, Costanza Pascolato.

Objetiva, R$ 39 3 A Viagem do descobrimento, Eduardo Bueno. Objetiva, R$ 18 4 Ndufragos, traficantes e degredados, Eduardo Bueno. Objetiva, R$ 19.50 5 A casa do Rio Vermelho, Zelia Gattai.

Record, R$ 25 6 Minhas mulheres e meus homens, Mario Prata. Objetiva, R$ 24 7 208 maneiras de deixar um homem louco de desejo, Margot Saint-Loup.

Ediouro, R$ 9.90 8 As Melhores piadas do planeta e da casseta tambem, vol.2, Casseta e PI aneta.

Objetiva, R$ 12

9203 man eiras de enlouquecer um homem.

Olivia Saint Claire. Ediouro, R$ 10.90 10 A dddiva dos judeus, Thomas Cahill.

Objetiva, R$ 28

ESOTERICA/SELF-HELP 1 A divina sabedoria dos mestres, Brian Weiss. Sextante, R$ 19.50 2 Ndo lava tempestade em copo d'eigua, Richard Carlson. Rocco, R$ 19.50 3 A tiguia e a galinha, Leonardo Boff.

Vozes, R$ 16 4 Somos todos profetas, Paiva Netto.

Elevacao, R$ 20 5 0 livro de ouro da mitologia, Thomas Bulfinch. Ediouro, R$ 29 6 Saber cuidar, Leonardo Boff. Vozes, R$ 16 7 0 sucesso é ser feliz, Roberto Shinyashiki. Gente, R$ 20 8 0 advogado de Deus, Zibia Gasparetto.

Espaco Vida e Consciencia, R$ 20 9 A fonte da juventude, Peter Kelder. Best Seller, R$ 12.50 10A verdade de cada urn. Zibia Gasparetto.

Espaco Vida e Consciencia, R$ 20 According to Jornal do Brasil, http://www.ib.com.br 49

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Babalawo Zezito D'Oxum, 45 anos no Rio. Rua do Carmo 15.

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BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

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TO PLACE AD: Send ad with check, money order or your Credit Card number (plus your name and expiration date) to: BFtAZZIL P.O. Box 50536 Los Angeles, CA 90050-0536. letter with pho o; Wilfred Edwards; PO Box 2025, Missouri City, TX 77 59, USA Email: wilfred.edw rds@usa.net [166] Brasileiro-Americ no, 36 anos, romantic° e atraent ,procurando relacionamento co brasileiraou americana. (818)3 -1881 [166] Seeking beautiful English-speak in woman for best fri riage. Write to: 1492, Morrobay 93443-1492, USA

rofessional; Carioca nd and marodaps, Box California 163]

Swedish gentlema , widower, 58, well educated, peaks Port., seeks independent, warmhearted, educated 1: dy with humor, and good p ofessional status in Brazil, U A or anywhere. Write B om Gunnarson PO Bok 17242, Stockholm, 10462 Sweden - Email : bj orn_s@dataphone. se [164] ' American°, 38, atraente, romantic° e since -o. Procura brasileiria 18-45. Eriviar foto para 2440-166 St, No. 1 9, San Francisco, CA 94103 [158] Seeking Bay Area single Brazilian women to meat nice, single, attractive American men in the Bay Area for friendship, romance, and marriage. No fee.

Send color photo and profile to Love Connection - 964 Howard St, San Franciko, CA 94103 Suite 20 [160] Seeking ladies 18-45 years old to correspond with American men for friendship and companionship. FREE fcr all ladies.

Write: TigerLilies, 2709 Lookout Dr., Suite 5206 Garland TX 75044 USA [160] PERSONAL MAN SEEKS MAN

Brazilian bottom, 33 y./o, 55",

123 lbs, white skin, seeks black young top man who wanna move to Brazil and share a whole life.

Valdeck - Phone 011 5571 981 1990, valdecka@hotmail.com [163] Very handsome, professional, 40's WM seeks sincere, VGL/ black/Brasil man. Truly love the music from Caetano to Nana to Gil and more! Maybe we can make music! I'm real thing! (323) 227-8935 [158] RENTAL

The ideal apartment for vacation or business - Beautiful airconditioned studio apartment with all new appliances and parkay floors, in the heart of Copacabana, located on quiet tree-lined street, around the corner from shopping area and restaurants, just 2 blocks from the beach. Building is clean, well managed and has 24-hour security. Perfect for one or two people. $45 per day during low season and $55 during high season.

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(212) 757-3080 Consulting BBJ (Br. Bus. Junction) (212) 768-1545 Food & Products Amazonia (718) 204-1521 Coisa Nossa , (201) 578-2675 Merchant Express (201) 589-5884 Publications Brazzil (323) 255-8062 The Brasilians (212) 382-1630 Brazilian Voice (201) 955-1137 OCA Magazine (516) 596-1853 Portugal-Brasil News (212) 228-2958 Samba Newsletter (718) 937-0574 Restaurants Brasilia (212) 869-9200 Brazil 2000 (212) 877-7730 Brazilian Pavillion (212) 758-8129 Cabana Carioca (212) 581-8088 Indigo Blues (212) 221-0033 S.O.B. (212) 243-4940 Tapaj6s River (201) 491-9196 Travel Agencies Barb Tour Service (201) 313-0996 Odyssea Travel Service (212) 826-3019

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(415) 587-4990 Money Remittance Brazil Express-Vigo (415) 749-0524 West Brazil (415) 695-9258 Music Celia Malheiros (415) 738-2434 Fogo na Roupa (510) 464-5999

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(415) 626-8727 Janete & Pedro Br. Food

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(202) 822-8277 Banks Banco do Brasil (202) 857-0320 Banco do Est. de S. Paulo (202) 682-1151 Clubs & Associations Braz. Am. Cult. Inst.

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Portuguese, Japanese, Spanish, Italians, Arabsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Don't Miss The Most Brazilian Soap Opera on Television --Advertisement for the Bandeirantes Television Network Telenovela Os Imigrantes (1981) AtiiMMEI At the end of an escalator that only goes up, I have a vision of Brazil's ethnic world. The escalator is in a nondescript building in Sao Paulo's traditional immigrant neighborhood of Born Retiro. On the ground floor are tiny storefronts, one after another, selling clothes, cloth, handbags, and belts. Pushing through this teeming gallery, I reach the escalator. As I step off, there is a crowd negotiating their identities as Brazilians. In front of me is the little lanchonete serving "typical" Brazilian bar food like esfiha or kibe that might be recognized in the Middle East, or the suggestively named "Beirute" sandwich that would not. To the right is Malcha's, a falafel shop, owned by a woman who left Yemen to settle first in Israel and then in Brazil. Her menu reveals her clientele: it is written in Portuguese, Hebrew, and Korean. On the left side are a group of tiny Korean restaurants that share the rest of the floor with sweatshops that I glimpse through cracked boards. A peek inside suggests that most of the laborers are Bolivian and that most of the owners are Korean. The lingua franca is Portuguese, and home is a Brazil where shared culture revolves around social and economic opportunity.

Born Retiro has long been viewed as an "ethnic" neighborhood. When Italians and Portuguese settled there in the nineteenth century, they saw the luxurious country homes that dominated the neighborhood along with the nearby Jardim da Luz, founded as Sao Paulo's botanical garden. Later, as Greeks and East European Jews entered, they mixed uncomfortably with students from elite educational institutions like the Escola Politecnica and Escola de Farmacia e Odontologia, both later incorporated into the University of Sao Paulo. Immigrants

By asserting that geography was the basis of race "white' immigrarits in Brazil would create a European-like national identity that would smother the native and African populations with its superiority. Even the word raga was fluid: it could refer to people or animals or, even more generally, species.

may then have seen the world ofthe elite up close, but it was still far away. Recently, however, things have changed. Today, every corner in Born Retiro has a newsstand full of glossy magazines with titles like Japao Aqui (Japan Here) and Raga Negra (Black Race). The ostensibly African religion of candomble has exploded while practice of the syncretic umbanda has diminished noticeably. The music shops sell compact discs by the sertanejo group Nissei/Sansei, who proclaim that Brazilian country-western music, when sung in Japanese, achieves a "particularly artistic melody." To the consternation of some Jewish residents, Born Retiro 's Renascenca school has a number of Brazilian children of Korean immigrants who do not seem to mind studying Hebrew as part of their educational program.

Ethnicity, it seems, has become a popular motif in modern Brazil. While such open expressions may be new, ethnicity has been critical to the negotiation of Brazilian national identity over the last 150 years. This haggling undoubtedly happened at all levels of society, but my focus is on how and why immigrants and their descendants entered into public discussion with Brazil's political and intellec-

tual leaders. These real-life strangers were, as Zygmunt Bauman has argued, "relevant whether.. .friend or foe." They were diferente in a country where the popular definition ofthe word describes something that straddles the border between acceptable and unacceptable.

What the newcomers understood, however, was that an apparently static elite discourse was in fact ambiguous. Unlike Eric Hobsbawn's peasants who "work[ed] the system.. .to their minimum disadvantage," these immigrants both manipulated and changed the system, rapidly becoming an integral part of the modern Brazilian nation even as they challenged how that nation would be imagined and constructed.

The sense of being different yet similar was particularly noticeable among the non-Europeans who stood to gain the most by embracing both an imagined uniform Brazilian nationality and their new postmigratory ethnicities.

These identities were multiple and often contradictory, and the symbols available to draw upon and rework were in constant flux. Throughout the twentieth century, members of a growing immigrant elite (university students, directors of farming colonies, small and large business owners, journalists, and intellectuals) engaged actively in a public discourse about what it meant to be Brazilianâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;via newspapers, books, the political arena, and frequently in mass actionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;with influential state and federal politicians, intellectuals, and business leaders. They created written and oral genres where ethnic distinction was reformulated to appropriate Brazilian identity. Some insisted that they were "white" and thus fit neatly into a traditional society that ran along a bipolar black/white continuum. Others, however, refused to categorize themselves with those terms. These immigrants (and their descendants) insisted that new hyphenated categories be created under the rubric "Brazilian." This was not an easy or smooth process, and attempts to legislate or enforce brasilidade (Brazilianness) were never successful. As the millennium approaches, Brazil remains a country where hyphenated ethnicity is predominant yet unacknowledged.

What does it mean to be a public "Brazilian," and how is "Brazilianness" contested? From the mid-nineteenth century on, both terms, and the notions behind them, were increasingly arbi-

BRAZZIL- SEPTEMBER 1999

trary, creating the space needed by ne comers to insert themselves into, or o change, paradigms about national ide tity. A single or static national identi never existed: the very fluidity of t concept made it open to pushes a pulls from below and above. While a relatively coherent elite discourse a serting ethnicity as treasonous was i tended to constrain and coerce new res dents into accepting a Europeanized an homogeneous national identity, th should not be confused with the actu ways in which it was perceived at eith the elite or the popular level. Indee immigrants and their descendants d veloped sophisticated and success 1 ways of becoming Brazilian by alterin the notion of nation as proposed b those in dominant positions. The thesi that elite conceptions of national ide tity were predicated on the eliminatio of ethnic distinctions thus must be modi fled to include the challenges progre sively incorporated into notions o Brazilianness.

The shifting sands of nationality an ethnicity were frequently revealed i discussions over the desirability of cer tam n immigrant groups. Much of the Ian guage stemmed from Lamarckian eu genics, which theorized that traits, an thus culture, were acquired via loca human and climatic environments. Th eugenic proposition that a single "na tional race" was biologically possibl provided a convenient ideological scaf fold for national and immigrant elit support of policies to promote the ent of "desirable" immigrants who woul "whiten" the country. Eugenics-in fluenced policy initially favored the entryl of German, Portuguese, Spanish, an Italian workers as bracos para a lavour (agricultural labor). Yet a fear of social and labor activism, and concerns about whether even Central Europeans would assimilate (Silvio Romero's 1906 attack on the "dangers [of] Germanism" was the most famous) encouraged a look at non-European groups. This necessitated a modification in the language that linked desirability to Europeanness. The elite craving to make immigrants "white," regardless of their ostensible biological race, matched neatly with immigrant hopes to be included in the desirable category. "Whiteness" remained one important component for inclusion in the Brazilian "race," but what it meant to be "white" shifted markedly between

1850 and 1950.

The experiences of Syrian, Lebanese, and Japanese immigrants and their descendants (known respectively as "Syrian-Lebanese" and nikkei) show the transformation of whiteness as a cultural category. Three very flexible strategies emerged that, while at some times in competition and at others intertwined, crossed group, spatial, and temporal lines. Some immigrant elites argued that their own group was ethnically "white," proposing to render their premigratory identities harmless in return for inclusion in the pantheon of traditionally desirable groups. Others proposed that "whiteness" was not a necessary component of Brazilianness. Instead, they promoted the idea that Brazil would improve by becoming more "Japanese" or "Arab," terms constructed to mean "economically productive" and/or "supernationalist." These immigrants sought to interpret class status as a marker of Brazilian identity, allowing ethnicity to be maintained even as its importance was dismissed. They also proposed that a presumed blind loyalty to rulers prior to migration would be turned into modern Brazilian nationalism. Finally, many immigrants and their descendants seemed to reject all forms of inclusion by creating ultranationalist groups that, at least on the surface, sought to maintain political and cultural loyalty to the countries of origin.

The subjects of this book constructed and used multiple ethnicities that operated in both parallel and intersecting planes. Assimilation (in which a person's premigratory culture disappears entirely) was a rare phenomenon while acculturation (the modification of one culture as the result of contact with another) was common, even among those who ostensibly rejected majority society by remaining in closed communities. While the "special sorrow" (to borrow Matthew Frye Jacobson's term) of immigrants and their descendants was to create a vision of an unreal national past, hyphenated Brazilians incorporated many elements of majority culture even as they endured as distinct. Acculturation, not surprisingly, often went unrecognized by both outsiders and insiders.

Members of the Brazilian elite were as bewildered as immigrants about the relationship between ethnicity and national identity. Some saw desirability as

55

geographically based and urged prohi- ism, but this is not exclusively a study of bitions on immigrants from Asia and the bigotry. Rather, prejudice and the steMiddle East. Others saw the granting of reotypes that emerge from it were one the full legal and social rights of citizen- way that identity was contested as negoship to Syrian-Lebanese and nikkei as a tiating positions were expounded and reasonable price for economic growth. then revised as different publics reStill others wavered, wondering if the sponded. This cultural, economic, and Brazilian state might insist on the disap- political bargaining left neither side unpearance of immigrant ethnicity and changed, keeping Brazilian majority sogarner the benefits of immigrant labor. ciety and postmigratory identities in a My analysis of these disparate positions constant state of flux. In the end, a suggests that mesticagem, which many homogenization of national or cultural scholars have taken to mean the emer- identity simply never took place. *** gence of a new and uniform Brazilian Since the mid-nineteenth century, "race" out of the mixing of peoples, was often understood as a joining (rather the world of non-European immigrant than mixing) of different identities, as ethnicity could be found in large and the creation of a multiplicity of hyphen- small cities throughout Brazil, from ated Brazilians rather than a single, uni- Porto Alegre in the south to Belem near the mouth of the Amazon. It could be form one.

I have constructed a research model found in agricultural colonies in Sao that explores public immigrant ethnicity Paulo, Parana, and Rio Grande do Sul. It as expressed in the language of the ma- could be found in the hinterlands of jority. While much of this discourse has Goias and Minas Gerais. While been ignored by scholars both in Brazil non-European immigrants came from the Middle East and and abroad, this is not a story of "hidden tranAsia, they were not of any single national, rascripts." Rather, the While the cial, or religious group. written, oral, and visual Tying them together was texts I have used were dominant openly expressed and social and economic opforces insist understood by immiportunity in a country so consumed with notions grants, their descenfalsely that all dants, and members of of race and ethnicity that citizens are the majority society even futebol players whose public positions were believed to have members of the reveal much about prithe "qualities" of a larger nation, vate strategies of inclu"people," and the scorthe mask of sion and cultural maining of four goals in one tenance. Much of the game by nondiscrimination documentation was creseventeen-year-old Pele is removed ated in Portuguese, and made him "racially perI have had the good forfect." The relationship when tune to find translations between race and Bradiscussing of materials ranging zilian identity, however, from Arabic-language immigration. is not one of color alone. poetry to JapaneseIndeed, the concept of language haiku and race is far more comgovernment docuplex, and perhaps dements. Taken together, this material based, than the fifteenth- and shows how attitudes about ethnicity are sixteenth-century European dictionary both constructed by, and construct, no- definition of a "population.. .of human tions of national identity. beings who through inheritance posAs private identities were interpreted sessed common characteristics." Culfor the public sphere, a tug-of-war took tural presumptions about racial hierarplace between the leaders of non-Eu- chy and categories formalized in the ropean immigrant communities seeking seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to define social spaces, and politicians, reflected and promoted a sense of Eurointellectuals, and the press attempting to pean superiority, and many Brazilian create the boundaries of Brazilianness. thinkers were monogenesists who saw The tension was often expressed as rac- race as biologically and environmen-

56

tally linked. The German anatomist and naturalist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, author of the influential De generis humani varietate nativa (1775/1776), was one of the most frequently cited of the early scientific racialists. He believed that the area around the Caucasus Mountains produced "the most beautiful race of men," and he placed the "Caucasian race" at the top of his racial hierarchy. Such ideas touched the core of Brazil's elite, desperate to derive legitimacy through tentative connections to distant places and cultures. By asserting that geography (i.e., nature) was the basis of race, "white" immigrants in Brazil would create a European-like national identity that would smother the native and African populations with its superiority. Even the word raca was fluid: it could refer to people (the human race) or animals (breeds) or, even more generally, species. The same words could describe a person's cultural identity or dehumanize him/her as a "half-breed."

Race was an elusive category, and the language of race shows a visceral concern with defining the "other."

Nothing allowed social chemists to see their country as a "racial laboratory"â&#x20AC;&#x201D;that ubiquitous metaphor for Brazilâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;more than immigrants. Immigration played a central role in policy from at least 1850, when it became clear that slavery would not exist long into the future. Although most elites did not seek to use immigrants as a replacement for an eliminated native population (as was the case in Argentina), they did assume a high correlation between immigrant entry and social change. An influential nineteenth-century book on colonization viewed immigrants as the "seed" of municipal life from which would spring the "powerful force of homogeneity and cohesion that will pull together and assimilate" the population at large. Ii 1888, the literary critic Silvio Romero used the language of chemistry in asserting that immigration was a social reagent to be handled with the greatest of care since Brazil had "a singular ethnic composition." In the 1930s the anthropologist and Brazilian National Museum director Edgard Roquette-Pinto made the same point as he tried to distinguish between those who "created" wealth and those who "consumed- it.

More recently both Brazilian scholars and international observers have looked to Brazilian culture for its "unique"

BRAZZIL- SEPTEMBER 1999

Marrano (the derogatory term used to describe New Christians who secretly Immigrants Entering Brazil, 1880-1969, by Decade maintained their non-Christian Middle religion) popuPortug. Italian Spanish German Japan. Easterners Others lation of the 1880-1889 104,690 277,124 30,066 18,901 colony was 17,841 1890-1899 219,353 690,365 164,293 17,084 4,215 significant. In103,017 1900-1909 195,586 221,394 113,232 13,848 861 26,846 50,640 dependence 1910- 19 19 318,481 138,168 181,651 25,902 27,432 38,407 85,412 from Portugal in 1920-1929 301,915 106,835 81,931 75,801 58,284 40,695 181,186 18221ed the new 1930-1939 102,743 22,170 12,746 27,497 99,222 5,549 62,841 Brazilian impe1940-1949 45,604 15,819 4,702 6,807 2,828 3,351 34,974 rial government 1950-1959 241,579 91,931 94,693 16,643 33,593 16,996 87,633 to allow the 1960-1969 74,129 12,414 28,397 5,659 25,092 4,405 47,491 practice of non-Catholic Christianity, but power of assimilation. Ethnicity, then, enous descent, are aware. A contrary "the native population [showed] a great was never only about social culture, it example comes from the United States, jealousy and dislike for foreigners." In was about econotnic culture as well. where seemingly inflexible categories 1889 a republic was declared, and the Immigrants challenged simplistic of both race and ethnicity put power and government's first immigration decree notions of race by adding a new ele- "Americanness," but surely not "white- banned the entry of Asians and Afriment-ethnicity-to the mix. All of the ness," up for grabs among those of cans. Thirty years later the government 4.55 million immigrants who entered non-European descent. imposed these prohibitions on anyone it Brazil between 1872 and 1949 brought While the dominant forces in Brazil, judged "African" or "Asian," including premigratory culture with them and cre- Mexico, the United States, and other those who had never been to Africa or ated new ethnic identities. Yet it was the nations continue, in their own ways, to Asia. Immigration was the construction 400.000 Asians, Arabs, and Jews, insist falsely that all citizens are mem- of national identity. deemed both nonwhite and nonblack, bers of the larger nation, the mask of Asking questions about the public who most challenged elite notions of nondiscrimination is removed when dis- construction of immigrant ethnicity national identity. Double assimilation cussing immigration. During the Mexi- opens many windows to Brazilian nawas the key to creating a clear national can Revolution, Chinese and Jewish tional identity. Nineteenth-century deidentity: as colonists became Brazilian, immigrants found themselves attacked bates over Chinese entry took place Brazil would become European. Thus, both physically and in the press as being within the context of abolition of slaas ideology metamorphosed into policy, unable to integrate to what was ostensi- very and the creation of a republican who was denied entry became as impor- bly an all-encompassing Mexican race. regime. The arrival of tens of thousands tant as who entered. Words like imigrante In the United States ofJapanese immiand brasileiro came to have much of the the melting pot grants came dursame fluidity as "rap," applicable to rhetoric did not preing a radicalpresent residents or potential ones, to vent the establishization of Brazilthose born inside and outside of Brazil. ment of immigraian politics in the The ethnicities that these immigrants tion quotas or the 1920s. The rejecbrought and constructed were situational denial of naturaltion of Catholic rather than "immutable primordial ization rights to immigrants from indentit[ies]." At various moments, im- Asians.

Iraq came in the migrants and their descendants could Brazil shows aftermath of the embrace their "Japaneseness" or some similarities to Revolution of "Lebaneseness" as easily as their the cases men1930 and the tri"Brazilianness." Ethnicity often inter- tioned above. Official discrimination umphs of fascism and Nazism. In spite sected with nationalism (Brazilian and with regard to potential residents was of the structures created to manipulate otherwise), making identity extremely common from the seventeenth century ethnic hierarchies through the control of pliant. The Brazilian case thus suggests through at least 1942, and immigration discourse and policy, immigrants often two immediate comparisons, one simi- policies were explicitly and unapo- stood firm, creating dialectical spaces lar and one different. The former emerges logetically bigoted. During Brazil's co- where serious negotiations about nafrom Mexico, where the ideology of a lonial era, heretics (the code word for tional identity took place. Probing the "Cosmic Race" suggests a social and Jews and MusliMs) were banned from intersection of ethnicity and national cultural equality of which few Mexi- entering, even though the New Chris- identity allows a picture to emerge of cans, especially those of clearly indig- tian (recent converts to Christianity) and how immigrants and elites reacted when

BRAZZIL- SEPTEMBER 1999

57

confronted with a changing world that demanded new responses to cultural questions. It helps explain curious outcomes, such as when "dominant" elites and "subordinate" immigrants came to agree that Brazil was engaged in a mythic search for a "national race."

My discussion of ethnicity and its relation to national identity should not suggest that race can be dismissed as a factor in understanding Brazil. In the nineteenth century some powerful intellectuals and politicians sought "pure" European immigrants who would re-create the Old World in the New. Others argued that the reality of miscegenation underneath the fiction of racial democracy prevented Brazil from achieving its rightful place among elite nations. Since "racial purity," from both a biological and a cultural standpoint, was (and is) necessarily an illusion, a product of nostalgia for an imaginary era of harmony and homogeneity, the mixing of conceptual categories like "nation" and "ethnicity" was often described with racial language. This has led many scholars to subscribe to what might be called the triangle theory of Brazilian society: a "civilization" created from the "collision of three races": Africans (blacks), whites (Europeans), and Indians (indigenous), where the mixture of peoples found within the area enclosed by the borders of the triangle created infinite genetic possibilities.

Disease combined with the often murderous policies of the various Brazilian colonial, imperial, and republican governments to remove indigenous peoples almost entirely from the equation. This compressed the triangle into a continuum that combined ethnicity and skin color by placing Africans (blacks) at one end and whites (Europeans) on the other. Thus, according to the traditional paradigm, Brazil is a country struggling with an identity that always exists at some point along the continuum, and many academics have presumed or implied that anyone without African or indigenous ancestry is, by definition, in the "white" category. A number of studies make this point in their titles: Roger Bastide and Florestan Fernandes's

58

Brancos e negros em Selo Paulo, Thomas Skidmore's Black into White, Carl Degler's Neither Black nor White, Lilia M. Schwarcz's Retrato em branco e negro, Celia Maria Marinho de Azevedo's Onda negra, medo branco, and George Reid Andrews's Blacks and Whites in Selo Paulo Brazil, 1888-1988 are just a few of the better-known examples.

Although Brazil's ethnic world of immigrant nonwhites and nonblacks often intersects traditional black/white society, it parallels it as well.

Cursory readings of anything from nineteenth-century rural slave-owner reports to mid-twentiethcentury diplomatic correspondence show that it was the rare person who believed 'that a Tupi was a Guarani, a Portuguese Catholic was a German Protestant, or a Hausa Muslim was a Yoruba orisha cultist. By exploring outside of the black/white continuum, we can better analyze how cultural meetings spawned new hyphenated ethnicities, all of which had in common their Brazilianness.

How non-European immigrants sought to define their place within Brazilian national identity, and the reaction to these attempts, are the focus of this book. Chapter 2 examines elite discourse on non-European ethnicity in the nineteenth century and suggests that the debates over Chinese immigrant labor created the overarching paradigm against which all other non-European groups would struggle. Chapter 3 investigates how Syrian and Lebanese immigrants manipulated elite discourses on ethnicity to create a hyphenated space for themselves and how, in response, the state and press sought to redefine one Christian Arab group hoping to immigrate to Brazil as "Muslims" and "fanatics" in order to prohibit their entry. The next three chapters analyze how ethnicity and economics came together in the twentieth century to redefine what it meant to be Brazilian, focusing on the massive immigration of Japanese that began in 1908.

The story, however, begins in the early nineteenth century as nervous planters began to search for replacements for slaves. European workers, perhaps from Switzerland or Prussia, captured the Brazilian imagination.

There was a problem, though. European wage laborers were neither economically cheap nor socially servile. Soon a perfect new group was discovered. They came from faraway Asia, a place few had been but everyone knew.

Sources: Brazil, Servico de Estatistica Economica e Financeira do Tesouro Nacional, Ministerio da Fazenda, Quadros estatisticos, resumo anual de estatisticas economicas, 1932-1939 (Rio de Janeiro: Imprensa Nacional, 1941), pp. 80-82; Brazil, "Discriminacao por nacionalidade dos imigrantes entrando no Brasil no periodo 1884-1939," Revista de Imigraca' o e Colonizactio /, no. 3 (July 1940): 617-642; Armin K. Ludwig, Brazil: A Handbook ofHistorical Statistics (Boston: G. K. Hall, 1985), pp. 104-106; Maria Stella Ferreira Levy, "0 papel da migracao internacional na evolucdo da populacao brasileira (1872 a 1972)," Revista de Sazide Priblica supp., 8 (1974):71-73.

Note: The Middle Eastern category is made up of many different national immigrant groups. Until 1903 the only groups to appear in official statistics were Syrians and Turks. In 1908 Egyptians and Moroccans were added. Later additions were Algerians, Armenians, Iraqis, Palestinians, and Persians. In 1926 the Lebanese category first appeared, and almost immediately thereafter the numbers of people entering as Turks dropped significantly. In 1954 the categories Iranian, Israeli, Jordanian, and Turk/Arab were added.

This is the first chapter of Negotiating National Identity â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Immigrants, Minorities, and the Struggle for Ethnicity in Brazil by Jeffrey Lesser, Duke University Press, 1999, 282 pp Jeffrey Lesser is Associate Professor of History at Connecticut College.

He is the author of Welcoming the Undesirables: Brazil and the Jewish Question and co-author of Arab and Jewish Immigrants in Latin America: Images and Realities.

BRAZZIL - SEPTEMBER 1999

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