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Cover Brazil 00 years. The biggest ash ever. While the world is getting ready for a new millennium, Brazil is busy preparing its biggest bash ever to celebrate its half millennium. It was April 22, 1500 when Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral, by real or calculated mistake, arrived to the shores of the land of Santa Cruz (Holy Cross), the name the country was called at first. The celebrations start even before the New Year. On December 31, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso will be in Rio to receive the Chama do Conhecimento (Knowledge Flame), which will be arriving in Brazil coming from Lisbon after a one-month-long crossing of the Atlantic. All the big Carnaval parties—Carnaval will be celebrated in early March in 2000—those in Rio, Salvador, Pernambuco, SAo Paulo, Porto Alegre will have patriotic tones and tunes. The tourism industry is gearing up to sell the green and yellow of the Brazilian flag. Travel agents are promoting packages to the historical cities such as Ouro Preto in Minas Gerais, and Porto Seguro, in Bahia. Despite lean times, Brasilia is willing to spend as much as $15 million to pay for at least 150 big events not only in Brazil, but also in Portugal, Germany and England. These projects don't include festivities held by the states and municipalities. And the country should stop on April 22 when the scene of Cabral's arrival will be reenacted in Cabralia, state of Bahia. Happy new millennium, happy half millennium, Brazil. R.M.
Contents 01
Culture There's a new Aurelio dictionary
11
Obituary Ze Keti, Mr. Samba himself
10
Memory No more censorship for Plinio Marcos
21
Nation Who's afraid of tax reform?
21
Politics Too many personal interests
23
Blacks Again the racial democracy myth
25
Emigration Brazilians no one sees
27
Short Story "Leme Memories" by Willer de Oliveira
32
Travel Brazil's Wild Mato Grosso
90050-0536
31
Music Sambaguru, a Brazil of many flavors
Ads/Editorial: (323) 255-8062 Subscrip.: (323) 255-4953 Fax: (323) 257-3487 Brazzil on line: http://www.brazzil.com E-mail: brazzil@brazzil.com
43
Impressions Surviving and thriving in Rio
41
Art Flavio de Carvalho, born to provoke
54
Special Roughing up in the streets
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 a little more than a month 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 and all the best.
R.M.
Send mail to: P.O. Box 50536 - Los Angeles, CA
Publisher and Editor: Rodney Mello Art&Design Director: Marina Yoshie
(marinayoshie@hotmail.corn) Commercial Director: Leda Bittencourt Entertainment Editors: Sam & Harriet Robbins Book Review: Bondo Wyszpolski Music Editor: Bruce Gilman Brazil Bureau Chief: Marta Alvim
Departaments
E-mail: mltdalvim@yahoo.com - Tel.: (021) 539-9214 - Fax: (021) 581-0198 TIME TO RENEW? Sorry, we don't send reminders. Look at the label to know when your subscription ends. 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 rasponsibility for any claims made by its advertisers. The Library of Congress ISSN: 1524-4997 POST MASTER : Send address changes to BRAllIL P.O. Box 50536 - Los Angeles, CA - 90050-0536
BRAZZIL -NOVEMBER 1999
OB Rapidinhas 18 letters 49 Cultural Pulse 51 Classifieds 52 That's Brazilian
Behavior All The
ik AI
On newspapers, books and TV famous women are talking about sex, writing about sex, answering about sex, while acting sexy. At age 24, Anna Barbara Xavier Mendes is a rising star on Brazilian TV. She is famous mainly for being able to ltai,k with finesse about delicate sexual themes as erection. imotence, masturbation and ormists veja - 12101/99 m. Best known as Babi, she emcees Erotica, an MTV prime time program and soon will be doing double duty at SBT, proba a late-night interview show similar to David Letterman's program on Ameriain People generally think of Babi on her favorite set: a round bed where she receives • her guests. Babi started as a model, starred in some TV ads an d had a little part as Aninha, a secretary on Por Amor (For Love), a TV G lobo novela (soap opera). The host, who confessed having lost her virginity when she was 15, answers.questions from teens •who call from throughout the country. Some of the qtrstions; Should a woman fake an orgasm? Is it normal for a man to gc limp on the first time? When a young man asked singer Baby Consuelo, one of her guests, if sh everparticipated in a bac• chanal, the singer answered: "Thank God, no. Wb iya bacchanal?"
Is
Casual Former model Monique Evans, 42, also uses a bed on her De V oite na Cama (At Night in Bed), a daily TV show on the Shoptime channel. "Herenobody has to feel embarrassed. I use a typically Carioca (from Rio) language and show that the program is a big funny game." Evans job is to sell erotic products. She doesn't see any conflict between her work and the fact that she is a practicing evangelical, and explains: "I talk in anatural manner indeec. We can accept Jesus without changing our way of be rig." So, Monique doesn't even blush when she praises the virtues of an erotic vibrator, saying: "Wow, tins is cool. It gets into anyplace."
On her popular program on Bandeirantes Silvia Poppovic teems to talk only about sex. "Why I Gave Up Being a Whore", "How I Went to Bed With MyNeighbor", and "I I.,ove Sex with Fantasy" are some of the themes discussed in recent shows. Besides being often mde with her guest% Pomo* is famous for her verbal intemperance. One of these days while discussing the theme of lesbianism, she ream d: "Man and woman complete each other. It's the pinto (dick) that goes inside the xoxota (pussy)."
6
BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
Psychoanalyst and sexologist Regina Navarro Lins reaches he public through the newspaper and books. In Na Cabeceira da Cama (At the Bed's ead), there are 100 short chapters dealing with all kinds of sexual themes: infidelity divorce, bisexualism, sex without love, and cybersex. She also wrote A Cama na Vara da (The Bed in the Porch). Says she,"! like to talk about sex in order to break taboo and eliminate prejudice... Sex is mediocre in the West. We are a patriarchal society in hich men pursue the male ideal of strength and power. Worried about failing, men are m re interested in penetrating fast than in pleasing his partner." Dispensing sexual advice is something that Navarro h been doing for 25 years on her practice. More recently, she has found another outlet for what she seems to consider a mission: a weekly column on Rio's daily Jornal do Brasil. You can also visit Navarro on http://www.cama-na-rede.psc.br
Scatology Is In On a parallel front, Brazilian TV, which for decades has been doing ads that would never be shown on Yankee tubes has entered a new era in laissez-faire. No bad manner seems to be bad enough to be excluded from the ad grid. Cursing, nose-digging, burping, loud farts, everything is fair game. In a commercial for an Internet provider a handsome young man starts to pick his nose in front of a group of girls. In the grossness department the more talked about piece is a spot for Silidron, an anti-gas medicine. The commercial opens with a well-dressed couple having a romantic dinner in a restaurant. Suddenly, the lady, unable to control her urge to fart, provokes an accident with the waiter while she gets prompt and sonorous relief. "We are human, this is an everyday problem," explains Antonio Carlos Crippa, vice president of Z+G Grey, the ad agency which created the commercial. And he adds: "The competition is much more famous and we needed to create an ad that the public would remember." Banco Bandeirantes is promoting itself among youngsters with an ad in which a boy during a family dinner, mad with all the prohibitions, lets escape a porra, a vulgarity meaning sperm that is very close to the ever-present fuck in American conversation. The piece was created by the ad agency Giovanni, FCI3, to sell a new checking account for the pre-15 crowd. Rynaldo Gondim, from the company's creation department, explains: "For the age group we want to reach we have no choice but to use this kind of language. Less than that it would be considered dumb."
This Call Is for You Does the Carioca (someone from Rio like to be cursed? Apparently yes. A collection of insu lts taped in a voice-message service called BR Telecom became a big hit. So many people called at the same time that the service went down. The game goes like this. Som one gives you a telephone number saying that somebody call d and needs to talk to you urgently. When the number rings, man with avery educated voice asks who wants to talk. Rarely eople notice that it is a recording and give their name and wai . Suddenly a man in a very angry voice starts screaming: "A , is that you, you son of a bitch," and then for close to one m ute he dumps a ton of obscenities and curses. The numb- soon spreads because nobody wants to be the only one to be caught and he passes it to a friend. When BR Telecom close the box, it just pops up someplace else on the service. Since eople can open these message boxes without identifying the selves and don't have to pay anything upfront, this kind of tri k is very easy to play. There is a number where the recording s a woman screaming her head off and saying obscenities as f she was having the best and wildest orgasm of her life. In another ox, a man, who changes daily his message, plays a horny and su ve Don Juan, making imaginary sex and telling the details to homever calls. A woman who used to call everyday told d ily 0 Dia: "He says he is making love in the bathroom, on field, on the beach. He says what every woman would like to ar, mainly those in need." This lady writes the telephone num er, leaves it at the desks other colleagues at work and then stays around to see their reactions when they call.
Learning in School In Goiania, capital of Goias, a teacher has found out that love poems and p rnography are a great aid to teach mathematics among teens. Uislei Marques Pereira, who wrote Poematica, compares learning mathematics to romancing: "To teach mathe atics is like making love," he told daily Dicirio da Manhci. The teacher needs to love it and ave a hard on, so students have an orgasm and pleasure, in what they do. Without this ere will be limp members and total despair." Pereira uses mathematic concepts and formulas to make poems full of doub e entendres as when he writes in "The Trigonometric Passion:" "I am gonna trace the bi ector in order to find out the value of its hypotenuse" he wants students to use malice, since tracar (to trace) in Po guese means also to screw. He says, "When the students hear this they start thinking about pornography, an essenti I theme to stimulate students' interest. But soon he will find that bisector is just a straight line that divides an angle i half and that hypotenuse is the largest side of a triangle." BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
AM•
7
Word b Word In Brazil the name Aurelio is synonymous with dictionary. So famous is the
Aurelio dictionary that the publication, which was first released in 1975, has sold
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in its quarter-of-a-century career 15 million copies, much more than any book published in Brazil except for the Bible. Despite this tremendous success the work had not been updated in 13 years. When we look at the fast pace new terms have been added to the language--just think about technology and Internet in particular this period might seem more like a whole new era. For those most Brazilians—whose only Portuguese-language authority is the Aurelio, the wait is over. The new version of the Book, which is now called Novo Aurelio Seculo XXI (New Aurelio Century 21) has just been released. For starters, 100,000 copies were printed. It has 300 pages more than the previous edition and 28,000 new terms—for a total of 168,000—found a place inside its 2160 pages. The new Aurelio will cost around $50. Initially 55,000 copies were printed, but 50,000 more should be on bookstores shelves soon. The new edition, the same as the previous, has a CD-ROM version. The dictionary will have a version for children too, with games and multimedia resources. It also can be checked on line at WWW.aurelio.com.br
Aurelio Buarque de Holanda Ferreira—uncle of famous composer Chico Buarque de Holanda--, the ph i loiogist from the state of Alagoas who gave his name to the dictionary, led personally the effort to put together the previous two editions. Since his death, however, in 1989, the mission was taken over by Marina Bald Ferreira. Ferreira was a Holanda student who became his wife. The second edition of the Aurelio had been dedicated to her. The Aurelio first edition came out in 1975, but the research work had started in 1968. For the latest edition the research effort started in 1986 led by Hollanda himself who continued working in the project until his death. The team, which has seven linguists and more than 40 experts in several areas, is already busy preparing the next edition although there is no prediction for its release. When Holanda finished his research in the mid '70s and went looking for an editor he heard many negatives before Carlos Lacerda—former Guanabara's governor who had been stripped from his political rights by the military that had taken over the Brazilian government—decided to publish the dictionary. Lacerda was then the chief of the Nova Fronteira publishing house. The Aurelio is not the most complete dictionary in Brazil. The Michaelis Moderno Dicioncirio da Lingua Portuguesa, for example, has 201,174 terms, 30,000 more than the Aurelio. While the Michaelis has 2259 pages, the Aurelio has 2160. Since its release in 1998, the Michaelis, however, has sold less than 90,000 copies. Using an endless number of examples and literary citations, its trademark, the Aurelio continues winning the popularity contest. Antonio Hoauiss, the man who translated James Joyce's Ulysses into Portuguese has been researching for years what is considered the most ambitious dictionary ever in Portuguese language. But nobody knows when the Houaiss will be making it to the bookstores. The new words introduced in the new Aurelio are slang, as well as medical, scientific and computer terms that appeared in the last 13 years. Two thousand new words are Africanisms. Sorbonne Universityprofessor Michel Lapan was in charge of Africanisms. those terms borrowed from Africa and Portugal's former colonies that have been incorporated to the everyday language. Among the new slang there is roubacla (stolen), a term that now also means bad deal. Among computer terms just borrowed from English there are: download and bug. Professor Margarida dos An jos, who together with Marina Baird Ferreira, coordinated the new edition, stressed that their work was to incorporate into the dictionary words already being used in books, newspapers, radio, and TV. "The use is what makes the language and the terms used in computer books and the media were ratified by us. As for the terms brought by science, they are the consequence of discoveries that occurred in the last 13 years." Despite the fact that Aurelio and dictionary are interchangeable in Brazil you will not find the term aurelio in the Aurelio. Just a case of modesty. "My husband was very modest and he didn't want to include his name in the second edition," explained Marina. She simply followed his lead. Editora Nova Fronteira, the dictionary's publishing house, used a thinner paper and a different typeface in a way that the new A ioic"tho has the same size and is lighter than the 1986 version even though it has 25% more terms.
8
BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
The Voice of the Hill He was born Jose Flores de Jesus, then became Ze Quietinho de Bento Ribeiro, and finally Ze Kai, who recorded in 1946 "Tio Sam no Samba", his first single. He was already considered first-rate by other celebrated musicians like Monarco, Ventura, and Paulo da Portela, but it was with "A Voz do Morro." in 1955, that Ze Keti became famous. This classic goes like this: They can beat me, they can jail me, they can live me without food, butt will not change my mind
Podem me bater, podem me prender, podem me deixar ate sem corner, mas eu no mudo de opiniao"
"A Voz do Morro" became a hit thanks to movie director Nelsob Pereira dos Santos, who after being presented to the composer at Rio's Vermelhinho bar, decided to use the song in his Rio 40 Grans (Rio 104° F) movie. The film would also become a classic and the first manifestation of the Cinema Novo wave. In 1998, Ze Kai received the Premio Shell, a life-achievement cultural prize. On the occasion he referred to the award as the first ever in his career. The memory was already betraying him. He received several prizes during his life, most of them during the 60s, his golden decade. When his heart stopped at age 78, on November 14, 1999, the composer was living in Rio's Conjunto dos Milsicos (Musicians Condominium), modest building that sheltered other musical geniuses in the past, like Clementina de Jesus and Pixinguinha. Ze Keti died from kidney and lung complications at the Hospital Ordem Terceira da Penitencia, in Tijuca, in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro His most famous song is a Carnaval marchtnha from 1966 called "Mascara Negra." Year after year it is one of the favorite songs when Carnaval rolls. Tanto rzso, oh, quanta alegria mais de mil palhacos no salao Arlequim esta chorando pelo amor da colombina no meio da multidao. Fin born te ver outra vez fazendo urn ano oi no Carnaval que passou u aquele Pierro que te abracou que te beijou, men amor...
So much laugh, oh, so much fun more than one thousand clowns on the ballroom Arlequin is crying for the,loveof Colombine amid the crowd. It was good to see you again it's been one year it was in the last Carnaval I am that Pierrot that hugged that kissed you, my love
a", and "Diz Que Eu Fui par Ai" w ere some of "Mascarada," "Malvadeza Durao", "Meu Pecado", "Nega the other hits he composed. In the 60s, Ze Kai together with Jodo do Valle contributed to the success of Opiniao (Opinion), a legendary show directed by playwright Augusto Boal with singers Nara Ledo and Maria Bethania. This was in 1964, soon after the military took over the country. From this show is his well-known song "Opiniao-, with such incisive verses: Eu sou o samba A voz do morro sou eu mesmo, sim senhor Quero mostrar ao mundo que tenho valor Eu sou o rei dos terreiros
I am the samba The hill's voice it's myself, yes sir I want to show the world I have value I'm the king of the courtyards
He was 13 years old when he started hanging around the Mangueira esco la de samba to listen to the samba club's rehearsals. In the early 40s, however, he became an officer with the military police His first Carnaval song appeared in 1943. It was "Se o Feio Doesse" (If the Ugly Hurt). His last CD came out in 1996. It was 75 Anos de Samba (75 Years of Samba) a collection of his best-known songs.
BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
9
He never finished third grade, but this didn't prevent him from becoming Brazil's most important playwright beside Nelson Rodrigues. He had abandoned school unable to cope with the pressure from his teacher who forced him to write with the right hand even though he was left-handed. Plinio Marcos de Barros, who died from a heart attack at the age of 64, on November 19, created a world Brazilians weren't used to hear about peopled by cynical and tough characters from the society's underside: prostitutes, criminals, drug-addicts, and transvestites. The writer was diabetic and had implanted four bypasses in 1995. In August a stroke had impaired his memory. He died in the Instituto do Coracao from Sao Paulo's Hospital das Clinicas. Born on October 29, 1935, in a lower middle-class family in the coastal city of Santos, state of Sao Paulo, Plinio Marcos had a series of odd jobs before and after becoming the celebrated author. He was a clown known as Frajola (Tricky), a soccer player at Portuguesa Santista, a soldier, peon, and handyman. He confessed being as a child "envious of the clown's power of seduction over women." According to himself, however, the job of street peddler was the only one he did with proficiency. The playwright was 22 when he wrote Barrela in 1957. It was his first play, which was first staged in 1959. Barrela, a story inside a jail, was made into a movie and is being shown right now at the Teatro de Arena in Sao Paulo. Fame would come in 1966 with Dois Perdidos numa Noite Suja (Two Lost Men on a Dirty Night), the crude-language tale of two men in a room acting as if they were in a boxing ring. His most staged play, Navalha na Came (Razor in the Flesh), appeared in 1967. Its crude language and its story about a prostitute and her masochistic relationship with her gigolo irked the censorship, which forbid the play to be shown. Reporting to his chief, the censor wrote that he had found a "profusion of obscene sequences. dirty terms, anomalies and morbidity." The text was only liberated through the intercession of respected actress TOnia Carrero, who argued: "If I am doing the play it cannot be pornographic." Neville de Almeida adapted Nova/ha to the cinema in 1997 with actress Vera Fisher getting the juicy part ofNeusa Sueli, the story's prostitute. Tonia Carrero once again was praising Plinio after his death: "He deserves all the honors of great author, which he is and will always be. Few people wrote as well as he did. Nelson Rodrigues had a broader view and Plinio was more local. No one better than him knew how to describe the poor Brazil. During the 80s, although his plays continued to be staged, Plinio Marcos used to sell makeshift editions of his own plays to survive. He also started to read Tarot cards something he learned during his stint at the circus. The author received his clients at the single in the Copan building, in downtown Sao Paulo, where he lived for two decades. The bohemian and prostitution area was the favorite set forhis plays. For many years Plinio Marcos was a mascot of plushy restaurant Gigetto, where he could drink and eat without paying. Only in the last two years, his wife, journalist Vera Artaxo, convinced him to move to a bigger apartment in the', exclusive neighborhood of Higienepolis, the same in which President Fernando Henrique Cardoso own an apartment He also started to dress a little nicer after years of walking the streets like a bum. Plinio Marcos was able to buy his apartment only because writer Marcio de Souza, as president ofFunarte (a foundation dedicated to promote art) acquired the copyrights of his work for a ten-year period. The playwright had three children with his first wife Walderez de Barros, one of which is actor and writer Leo Lama. Plinio Marcos wrote more than 40 plays as well as novels and short stories. Brazzil published an excerpt of his novel, 0 Assassinato do Ando, in August 1998 (http://www.brazzil.com/shoaug98.htm). All of his plays had a problem with the censors and Plinio Marcos was jailed several times due to his writing. Barrela, the first play he wrote, for example, was only liberated in 1980, like most of his other works written in the 60s and 70s. Plinio was already 32 when his first play was staged. It was Dors Perdidos numa Noite Suja. But after a few presentations it was also forbidden by the military censorship. The author was often confused with the characters he created and the image he himself portrayed in interviews. While he used to call himself an illiterate, Plinio Marcos was a self-educated man who devoured books. Aki His most famous plays: • Barrela (1958): The action based in a true story happens inside a prison. After being raped by his cellmates a young man kills one by one all of the rapists. • Dols Perdidos numa Norte Suja (1966): The two lost souls in a dirty night are Paco and Tonho. The first resigned to be a criminal, the latter struggling to be an honest person. • Nova/ha na Carne (1967): The love and hate relationship between a prostitute, her violent gigolo and a homosexual. • Abatur Lads (Lilac Lampshade) (1975): Giro is a sadist homosexual and Dilma, a prostitute, whose young son is a prude. The action set is a whorehouse. • A Danca Final (The Final Dance) (1994): Attheir 25th wedding anniversary a husband notices that he has become impotent.
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BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
Internet Less than one month after starting its Brazilian operation, Yankee Internet provider America Online has already changed its president, after a less than promising beginning in which the press headlined that the AOL installation kits were altering the configuration of computers and in some instances preventing computer owners entirely from using their machines. The company also had to answer to Procon, the government's consumer protection agency, which acted after several complaints by disgruntled AOL subscribers. This wasn' t the script AOL had written though. The Internet giant, which has 19 million users aroun d the world, entered the Brazilian market as if going for a stroll, confident that in a few months, one year at the most, it would be king of the market. Despite all its might AOL came too late to use what would belts natural internet address: aol.com.br. They couldn't arrive at an agreement with the people who bought the name in hopes of making a killing and instead opted for br.aol.com and americaonline.com.br. Early December president Francisco Loureiro was fired and Charles Herington, AOL' s president for Latin America, took over temporarily. hi an interview with ComputerworldOnline Loureiro informed that he was sent packing for financial reasons. Herington, however, declared that Loureiro's departure was due "exclusively to philosophical differences in conducting business." The interim chief, as expected, also said that AOL is growing more than anticipated, but didn't give any numbers about growth or expectation, "for strategic reasons." The American Internet provider was presented to Brazilians as "a revolution in the Brazilian Internet market," when it was officially started on November 16. They even brought Hollywood actor Michael Douglas to spice up the opening festivities. AOL Brazil is using the same war tactics of saturating the field with CD-ROMs containing the company's installation kit as it did in the US. The company is investing $200 millions in what should be the initial push to conquer Latin America. The plan is to distribute 20 millions disks even though there are only 3 million Brazilians connected to the Net today, and this number should rise to 5million by 2002. In a massive national campaign AOL used well-known names from the entertainment world, including dancer Carla Perez, veteran actress Dercy Goncalves and composer Carlinhos Brown. The Internet company is charging $18 a month for unlimited use of its services. The provider also partnered with IBM to offer an Aptiva computer in easy installments and two years of free Internet service. The competition didn't take it lightly and moved fast to match or beat A01; s prices and offers. Market leader UOL (Universo Online), which has 500,000 subscribers in 115 Brazilian cities, for example, announced a partnership with Compaq to sell a computer with the right to free unlimited use of the Internet for one year. The other two biggies, ZAZ (300,000 subscribers) and Starmedia, the third biggest provider, also announced sweeter deals than the ones they usually offer. Reacting to the A OL' s noisy start, Starmedia's president Bob Wollheim commented: "It's not enough to invest in marketing to be the leader in this market. No one is going to be leader by press release. We have the money to make the investments needed. If someone has to be worried this is AOL because we are not here to play."
Fashion On Top of the World With blue eyes, curly brown hair, an impish freckled face, a big odd nose, and generous breasts, Gisele Biindchen, 19, has become Brazil's most famous and most beautiful export product. Bilndchen was just chosen model of the year at the VH1-Vogue Fashion Award, an event sponsored by celebrated fashion magazine Vogue. She's been twice on the cover of the publication this year; one by herself and another together with the world's top models like Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss. The Vogue recognition was an award to top a year of successes for the girl of German extraction from the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. In May she had her first nude pictorial. It was shot by photograph er Irving Penn and once again for Vogue. A few weeks ago Gisele left model agency Elite to go work for IMG, the competition. Her move infuriated John Casablancas, Elite's owner andthe man who made her a star bringing her to New York in 1996. when she was still 16. He was the one who drew a detailed plan for her career. The ever so polite and suave Casablanca lost it this time, accusing her former protĂŠgĂŠ of being stingy and power-hungry. In an interview with Veja, the snubbed Casablancas said: "Gisele is a predator. She soldherself as Judas to IMG. She is the most selfish and greedy creature I've ever met." He even accused her of smoking pot, something she vehemently denies although confirming her Franciscan habits that include cleaning her own Manhattan apartment and cooking. Gisele was a mere 14 when she finished first in the 1994 Elite Model Look. This was the regional competition, which happened in Horizontina, the little town close to the frontier with Argentina where Mindchen was born. Thatwasherticket for the national competition in which she won second place. Despite her second place, Casablancas chose Gisela to participate in the world competition. Since then she has been a constantpresence in Europe, modeling clothes for all the biggest names in the fashion world including Armani, Calvin Klein, Gianfranco Ferre, Ralph Lauren, Valentino, and Versace. How is Miss Bundchen, who was just the cover story of Brazil's most read weekly magazine, Veja, dealing with fame at 19? Not very easily as revealed in her talk to the publication: "You wouldn't believe how suddenly everybody thinks he is my friend, that he saw be being born. This is hell." BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
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BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
Brazil will celebrate its 500-year anniversary in April. With the focus on history and rediscovery, the commemorations will not only recognize the accomplishments Brazil has made on a national level but also on an international level. Many countries have contributed to the development of Brazil and the focus of the commemorations. JAMIE SUNOQUIST
Portugal was well known in Europe for their ship building and technological advances in the early 14th century. With the invention of instruments such as the astrolabe and the compass, that would allow a ship to travel for extended periods of time and accurately calculate the location of a ship on open water, the design of the ships became an important component of Portuguese exploration. In order to withstand rough water and difficult conditions on the Atlantic Ocean the first ships were constructed with long masts and rounded sails that were extremely tall to provide the most resistance. The sails were positioned so that the ship would be easy to maneuver in the event of attack. For this same reason cannons also were incorporated in the first designs. To accommodate the demand for commercial use, the builders eliminated the passenger quarters to create more room for cargo and artillery. Portugal was the only country in the 1500s to use wood for shipbuilding. The bow, the stern and the hull were built from hard pine. The sleeping quarters were made of chestnut and oak, however rarely were the inner walls constructed of this soft wood because it would not withstand the temperate ocean waters. Early in the 16th century more exotic woods were used as ships were bringing back wood from the New World. A wood shortage in the mid-16th century, which compromised the quality of the ships caused King Don Joao II to begin regulating the farmers who supplied the wood. Beyond the monetary and social implications, there were practical purposes for Portuguese ship construction and technical advances. Life at the time was difficult in Europe due to long winters. The explorers sought spices from India to preserve food and counter the problems of hunger that resulted from the
harsh conditions. Due to the discovery of the all water route to India by Vasco da Gama in 1498, the Portuguese referred to the frequently traveled route as "Carreira de India" (Race to India), which insured exc usive Portuguese travel between Europe and India. The constant c3ntact with a new culture and people became a means for explorers to not only increase commercial wealth but also develop cultural ties. Lisbon soon became one of the most cosmopolitati cities in Europe as explorers returned with news of foreign 1 nds and products that were unlike anything in Europe. The ships were considered "floating fortresses" that carried enormous numbers of people and an abundance of resources. In addition to being a means for exploration, social and economic development the ships were a sign of man's technical capacity. Pedro Alvares Cabral prepared for the voyage to the New World on March 8, 1500 to establish new Portuguese territories, in addition to a scheduled trip to India before he returned to Portugal. On April 23, 1500 native Brazilians living in the region that is now considered Porto Seguro in the Bahia were suddenly surprised by the arrival of 13 ships off the coast. The fleet arrived the night before at the mouth of the Cai River where they encountered the native Brazilians for the first time. The fleet continued along the coast until they reached a sheltered reef off the beach of Coroa Vermelha in the Bay of Cabralia. On April 26, 1500 Father Henrique Soares conducted the first mass of the New World. BRAZIL REDISCOVERED With the co mg of the 500-year anniversary and Brazilian interest in redis4overy, the country has combined efforts with Portugal to commemorate Pedro Al vares Cabral's voyage to the New World through an array of mediums. Various projects planned as part of the commemoration of Brazil's discovery have been orgar ized by the National Commission of the Commemoration for the Discovery of Brazil, the body responsible for all event coordination, in both Portugal and Brazil. Artists and musicians in the two countries will celebrate the anniversary through creative presentations of works reflecting on the various eras in B azilian history and the international influences, which shaped Brazilian culture. Incorporating the ship building skills that the Portuguese perfected in the late 15th century,
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Portugal and Brazil are reconstructing the ships that were part of the original armada to relive the voyage that took place 500 years ago this spring. In addition, authors and historians alike have become involved in the uncovering ofthe first documents of the courageous explorers of the early 1500s and compiling the fragile chronicles into readable texts. Reflecting on the historical and cultural formation of Brazilian identity over the last 500 years, the National Commission seeks to stimulate the debate surrounding the discovery of Terra de Vera Cruz (Brazil's original name) by Portuguese explorers, the ethnic and cultural assimilation which occurred, the narratives and interpretations of Brazilian culture today and the elements that characterize the major artistic movements in Brazil. At a time when borders are diminishing and customs among states are homogenizing the affirmation of Brazil's international presence depends on the ability of the country to recognize and value it resources. Most importantly the Commission wishes to distinguish Brazil as a country of cultural placidity, receptive to multiple influences and traditions, in an era of ethnic disputes and religious differences throughout the world. In an effort to express Brazilian identity and integrate the two diverse countries, the Commission plans to build a library dedicated to Brazil's 500 year history, promote theatrical, musical and cinematic presentations, organize conferences and seminars, and construct a memorial in honor of the first encounter Portuguese discoverers had with native Brazilians. Contributing to the projects are multiple Brazilian state and federal universities, public and private associations. The Memorial of the Encounter will be located in the area adjacent to Coroa Vermelha, in Santa Cruz Cabralia county, in the state of Bahia. The memorial is in remembrance of the encounter between the Portuguese and the native Brazilians in 1500, which marks the initial starting point of an expanding nation characterized by ethnic and cultural pluralism. Particular focus of the project was given to the efforts to provide better living conditions for the Pataxo Indians that currently live on the land. Combined efforts of the Commission and the federal government have designated the surrounding areas as federal reservations composed of residential villages, schools and a community center. The complex features three modules: a monument symbolizing the union of the original peoples in Brazil, a museum of reproduced pieces, historical documents and multimedia resources of the first contact between the explorers and natives
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with a focus on Patax6 Indian villages. In addition to national expositions, various countries such as Germany, Poland, Holland, Spain and Italy were chosen to hold expositions in their respective countries under the title "Descobrindo o Brasil" (Discovering Brazil) as part of an international tribute to the 500 year anniversary. The project centers around creative literature that emphasizes the contributions made by each country to the multiethnic and cultural matrix in Brazil. The construction will occupy an area of approximately 400 square meters consisting of panels of photographs, original and reproduced plays and historical documents. The exhibits in each country will be accompanied by cultural expressions of Brazil's history featuring performances by Denise Stoklos and Antonio NObrega, movies and photography, academic forums and musical concerts. One of the projects features Portuguese artists describing the vision of Pero Vaz de Caminha in a painted masterpiece, which will later circulate throughout both countries. Included in the artistic representation, an ambitious exposition of Brazilian visual art has been evolving over the last two years to be unveiled in Sao Paulo in early May. Composed of 6,000 pieces including objects, paintings and sculptures, the aim of the exposition is to reacquaint Brazilians with their heritage. For example, the curator, Nelson Aguilar, has compiled rare Tupinamba pieces from the 16th century, normally on display in museums in Belgium and Denmark. Divided into nine parts including Indigenous and Afro-Brazilian Art, Pop Art, Art from the 17th, 18th and 19th Century, the exposition is representative of the major artistic movements in Brazil . The segment featuring valuable and prestigious Afro-Brazilian art, is the first of its kind in Brazil. The segments on the 17-18th centuries represents Brazil's colonial history through religious sculptures of such artists as Manuel black) da Costa and Antonio Francisco Lisboa, better known as Aleijadinho. A diverse segment representing Pop Art captures the tendencies of the era to escape European culture. By contrast, works featured from the 19th century represent vast European influences on artists of that era. Overall, the project takes an interesting look at the historical contributions made by artists in Brazil under the influence of religions and cultures from various foreign countries.
LITERATURE During the era of Portuguese discovery, various explorers wrote of their experiences and descriptions of what each explorer encountered in the New World and the struggles they
BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
overcame. In addition, it was customary for authors in the early 1500s to include chapters about Portuguese advances in ship construction. Of the hundreds of accounts that were written few incorporated accurate illustrations of the sailing vessels which brought the first Portuguese explorers to Brazil. Lisuarte de Abreu wrote Este Livro (This Book), which provides one of the first accounts of the discoverers travels, complete with actual drawings. Although little is known about Abreu, he did travel to India as part of the Armada of 1558 under Captain D. Constantino de Braganca who later became the V iceKing of the Portuguese state in India. Like many authors of the era, Abreu used accounts taken from the explorers making trips to India and about the Portuguese discoveries in the New World. In addition to Este Livro, Memoria das Armadas (Memories of the Armadas) incorporates drawings into the accounts of the early travelers and appears today in the Academy of Science in Lisbon. Although Este Livro contains much more historical information regarding the ruling class of India, Memel-la das Armadas is noted for the extensive illustrations, which include Vasco da Gama's fleet in 1498, when the first water route was discovered, and the fleet of Rui Gomes da Cunha in 1566. Such illustrated documentation of the Portuguese discovery and travels to the Orient are an important source of historical information. In addition to travel schedules and reports of their successes and failures in the New World, remarkable works of art can be found in the two books. With the recent discovery of the seven remaining chronicles of Pedro Alvares Cabral's voyage to Brazil in 1500, modern day authors and historians are diligently compiling books based on historical resources and the original documents to commemorate Brazil's 500 year anniversary. Among the various books to be published in recognition of Brazil's increasing interest in "re-discovery", journalist Eduardo Bueno has uncovered a younger generation of readers interested in his adventure novels about the discovery period in Brazil. In addition to Bueno's contemporary compilations, historian Susana Miranda has transcribed the explorers' original chronicles into books that focus on both Cabral and Tome de Sousa, who discovered the city of Salvador, Bahia. The first seven chronicles were originally edited by Fontoura da Costa in 1940. With the complete set of fourteen chronicles currently being edited, readers will be able to finally compare the voyages of Pedro Alvares Cabral and Tome de Sousa. Although journalist Eduardo Bueno did not consult the original documents, Bueno wanted to tell the history of Brazil as a great adventure yet maintain the accuracy of the historical content from various other sources. As part of a collection entitled Terra Brasilis about colonial Brazil he has written an adventure romance, A Viagem do Descobrimento (The Voyage
of Discovery). In ddition to A Viagem do Descobrimento, his book Naufragos, raficantes e Degredados is about the period from 1500 to 153 that was considered the three "lost" decades in Brazil's historyjbecause Portugal left few documents behind. Currently he is finishing 0 Rei, a Fe, ea Lei (The King, The Faith, The Law) bout the fleet of ships that first set sail for Brazil. Before th year 2000 Bueno also plans to publish A Franca Antartic (Antarctic France) about the initial French invasion of Rio de Janeiro, Os Piratas do Serteio (The Pirates of the Backlands about thieves and an account of Holland's invasion. Initially wher the collection was proposed to local schools he expected few esponses, however as students discover his work they realiz that history can be an interesting subject and reception has been shocking. Currently, Arinifragos, Traficantes e Degredados has already sold over 45,000 copies since October and 0 Rei, a Lei e a Fe is scheduled to be published in June. Bueno has concluded that his work will not cover Imperial Brazil or the Republic. In addition, he excluded the era of Inconfidencia Mineira—an ill-fated 18th-century independence movement—because author Kenneth Maxwell has already covered the subject in his books. Aside from the sales, many schools have adopted his work to complement their lesson plans. Due to the fragile state of the original fourteen documents from the first trip made to Brazil, only historians who are granted authorization are allowed to consult the documents that are kept in the archives of the Torre do Tombo in Lisbon. In preparation of the two books commemorating the 500-year anniversary various adaptations were made to lessen the difficulties in understanding the grammar, punctuation and word usage of that era. According to a spokesperson for the National Commission, the books will serve as fundamental resources for thOse interested in Pedro Alvares Cabral's voyage and the an-i al of Tome de Sousa, who founded the city of Salvador in the 3ahia. The chronic s about Cabral's voyage, believed to have been written betweer September and November 1499, described the construction of he ships. In addition, there were details of what the explorer br ught with him on the journey such as food, ammunition, clergymen. Cabral received instructions from the King on how to maneuver the fleet to maintain a constant course before and what needed to be done by the discoverer of Brazil to establish the new land as Portuguese territory. There were also instructions and plans for constructing a trading post in India on his return voyage. , Among the original documents there were letters Cabral received from the King proclaiming that he was the official commander of ftte armada and from Vasco da Gama for the trip to India. One cf the most important documents was a letter written in a mi re of Spanish and Portuguese by Master Joao
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Manoel who was the doctor on the ship. The letter was the first MUSIC, THEATRE AND CINEMA description ofthe constellation Cruzeiro do Sul (Southern Cross) made by a European, which referred to the combination of stars Before the Portuguese discovery ofBrazil, the nation already as "Las Guardas" (The Protectors). The constellation was fun- had a vast musical sound. With the arrival of the Portuguese, damental to Portuguese navigation south ofthe equator. Another Brazilian music was transformed by a twelve-note chromatic document was a letter from Pero Vaz de Caminha to the King. scale, which brought out a tonal harmonic system based on the This famous account described the first encounter with the native combination of notes. The majority of lyrical themes and texts Brazilians in detail and the land that the explorers discovered. also came from traditional Portuguese songs and rhythms, which The five texts considered to be fundamental in Sousa's later were influenced by African cultural. However the poetic voyage include a letter written in 1548 by Luis de Goas to King form and lyrics in addition to various Portuguese instruments John III. In the letter he recommends building a fort to protect are still predominant in Brazilian music. Brazil from the French. Due to the state of abandonment they Pieces such as Suite Brasil, composed by Francisco Mario had encountered there was great danger of losing the territory and Descobrimento do Brasil (Brazil's Discovery) by Heitor to the French. Tome de Sousa's administration foresaw the Villa-Lobos depict the importance of the discovery of Brazil in creation of a fortress and a village in the Bahia de both Brazil and Portugal, respectively. Divided in Todos os Santos, however they also had to manten movements, Mario has created a musical age the Judicial and Treasury functions. In rendition of Brazilian history. The first addition, one of Sousa's obligations was movement, "Paraiso Perdido" (Lost to build a ship to defend the coast and Paradise), remembers a Brazil before explore the rivers. Later, Sousa discovery and the piece continues wrote letters to the King confirming through various eras to modern day. French presence by the administraAcross the ocean, The Metropolition and describing the constructan Orchestra of Lisbon, under the tion of a ship to patrol the coast. direction of Roberto Minczuk and A literary representation of featuring Portuguese singer Elizathe discovery will also be availbeth Matos, will perform a piece able as part of the program outentitled Descobrimento do Brasil lined by the Commission. Two (Discovery ofBrazil), composed by volumes as part of the collection Heitor Villa-Lobos, in honor of InterpretesdoBrasil(Intelpreters of Cabral's discovery, during President Brazil) will be published this month. Fernando Henrique Cardoso's visit to Uniting integral texts of eleven principal Portugal in March. interpretations of Brazilian reality, includIncluded in this programming is a muing titles such as Raizes do Brasil (Roots of sical performance featuring Brazilian popular Brazil) by Sergio Buarque de Holanda, 0 Abomusic as well as 0 Guarani by Carlos Gomes, licionismo (Abolitionism) by Joaquim Nabuco, PopulacOes which will be presented live by the Sofia National Opera in Meridionais do Brasil (Southern Populations in Brazil) by the Pavilhao Multiusos and broadcast throughout Portugal. In Oliveira Vianna and Formacao do Brasil Contemporcineo addition, musical performances by Antonio NObrega will fea(Brazil's Contemporary Formation) by Caio Prado Junior. Each ture songs depicting the myths, facts and imaginary stories work will be preceded by a critique by a contemporary intel- popular throughout Brazil's history. The music chosen will lectual. In the area of Brazilian literature, the Commission is or- represent a wide variety of rhythms, musical styles and instruganizing a cyclical conference called Descobertas do Brasil ments. NObrega will also incorporate theatrical and circus dance (Brazilian Discoveries) comprised of twelve speeches by intel- in the show, Embolador, which will be performed in many lectuals about the constitution of Brazilian culture. The confer- Brazilian states and internationally in contributing countries. ences, beginning in Brasilia will continue to be presented in variA presentation of cinema, Festival dos 500 Anos (500 Year ous capital cities in Brazil and abroad. Other editorial projects Festival), occurring in Brasilia is comprised of national and ininclude a re-edited CD-ROM ofthe collection Brasiliana, com- ternational works in a retrospective show to define Brazilian cinprised of three CDs and a book explaining the various cultural ematography. In addition, an award, Premio Brasil 500 Anos, works for researchers and a 500 Year Library. The library unites will be given to films and documentaries that best explore themes seventy fundamental works produced in Brazil over the last five related to national identity. Actress Denise Stoklos has been centuries, including classics and presentations of interpreted designated to produce a theatrical performance featuring voices Brazilian culture. In addition, the celebration will include six throughout history based on texts by GregOrio de Matos, Padre editions of the Portuguese magazine.Oceanos with articles fo- Ant6nio Vieira and Castro Alves. Stolclos itinerary includes cusing on Brazil's history, various expositions and activities in capital cities in Brazil in addition to performances in the vanPortugal ous countries contributing to the commemorations.
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VOYAGE INTO THE PAST In a combined effort, Portugal and Brazil will reenact the voyage that took place 500 years ago in March. The ship that Pedro Alvares Cabral sailed, will be constructed in Porto de Aratu, Salvador, and will serve as a floating museum upon arrival in Brazil. Although modern day security requirements limit the construction of an exact replica, the new model does not compromise the character of the original ship. The ship is scheduled to sail from Porto de Aratu to Coroa Vermelha, in Brazil, one day before the official ceremony in Salvador. It will then join the fleet of two replicas of the "bacalhoeiro", a type of ship that was originally constructed in the 19th century, and two replkas of the original "caravela", originally constructed in the 15th century, that will sail from Lisbon Portugal on March 9,2000. All of the ships are scheduled to arrive in Salvador on April 15,2000 at which time the historical event will be broadcast to hundreds of countries around the world. Included in the reenactment will be a celebratory mass and the President of the Republic will receive a letter, written by the winner ofa national contest, with instructions for establishing a new nation. The project, budgeted at $3,000,000 has been approved by the Commission and developed by Brazilian naval officials with assistance from the Institute of Memorabilia in Rio de Janeiro. At the end of the celebration the ship will be exhibited in the
P Itk AetOk P VW/APP.
Cultural da Mari a, a marine museum in Rio de Janeiro, for six months at whi time the ship will travel up the coast of Brazil from port to port. pproximately 30,000 children in Aporvela, Portugal, have a eady visited the caravela Boa Esperanca, which will acco pany the ship that carried Cabral to Brazil. The arrival o a European in Brazil in 1500 was made possible through tec ological advances made by the Portuguese, the efforts of m y courageous explorers and majestic ships. What later devel ped was a country that has become a center for cultural plura ism and a Mecca of expression. To honor the upcoming 500- ar anniversary, Portugal and Brazil have devised an ambit us plan to create a celebration that will symbolize the historic laccomplishments ofthe country and remember the courageo s voyage. The commemorations will focus on efforts to redisco er Brazil and to provide an important message to the rest o the world. Special thanks to my "editors". Jamie Sundquist s a freelance Brazilian Portuguese translator living in the hicago area. As a former exchange student in Brazil, a Uni ersity of Wisconsin-Madison graduate with a degree in razilian Literature and a frequent traveler to Brazil, he background is extensive in the language and culture. For fur her information regarding this article, please email your inquiry to jinsund@excite.com.
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You are invited to participate in thisdialogue Write to. Letters to the Publisher P 0 Box 50536 Los Angeles, CA 90050-0536 or send E-mail to brazzil@brazzil.com
I also write prose—fiction and journalism—and have had a couple of spinoff articles from my recent trip. The one I'm working on right now centers on Filhos de Gandhy, but is more globally about the strange and wonderful ways I. the child of Indian immigrants in North America, encountered India in Brazil. I hung out with Filhos de Gandhy while I was in Salvador, went on a small caminhada with them, and spoke to a few members in the Pelourinho office. It so happened that a small contingent was traveling to India shortly after my departure from Brazil. Last week (it took me a while to get the interview) I spoke with Gilberto Gil, who traveled with this small group as the Filhos de Gandhy vice president. Needless to say, this was a huge thrill, and has sewn up the article quite nicely. I am writing the article for one of the Canadian national newspapers, the National Post. but perhaps Brazzil will consider running a reprint of it in an upcoming issue. Once I have a final version, we can talk further about whether it would suit your mandate. In the meantime, perhaps you can help me: I am trying to secure some good photos of Filhos de Gandhy and Gil to accompany the article. I have a few snapshots I took while in Brazil, but I am no photographer, and I'm not sure they are good enough to publish. Any leads you can offer me would be very much appreciated. Also, I'm interested in contacting one of your contributors: Pravina Shukla, who wrote about Camaval in Bahia. Would you have an e-mail address for this person, or would you mind passing on my e-address and asking her to get in touch with me? It's nothing earth-shattering, just a simple curiosity to speak with this person who has an Indian name and is, like me, into Brazil. Padma Viswana than Canada
monopoly of force. That this premise goes largely unchallenged is the most remarkable feature of our gun control debate. We are ending a century that has repeatedly witnessed the consequences of unchecked state monopolies of force." So I must say the other efforts to combat crime sound reasonable and hopeful but these schemes to disarm the average Brazilian sound ominous, not beneficial. Cici da Costa Via Internet
1:1,1,1
I'm trying to make an interactive library of all indigenous people from every continent. And I was planning to start with all the Indian/indigenous tribes from North- and South- Mesa America. So I kind of hoped that you guys could help me out. I can find some indigenous tribes names but if is far from complete. I read somewhere that there were or are around 230 tribes. Well, let's say that I got 10% of the names. Or if you know some good complete websites or books, just let me know. Daniel Vanden Brooch Via Internet immt Lu.uju.utLmm.. This is a letter to any reader of Brazzil. I met a young, beautiful Brazilian girl five years ago. Her name is Polyanna Camelo. She came on an exchange to a small town in Idaho, USA, where she attended my high school. We quickly became close and soon began dating. She was only here for six short months before her retum to Brazil. In that short time, she taught me more to living and being free than anyone else. We lost touch through time and moving around, though. I have tried searching, but nothing. If anyone can help me, email me at smoothh_l@hotmailcom. I would love to reach her and catch up on our lives. Clay Seamons Moscow, Idaho
I would like to say that the article on crime was most interesting. However I must disagree with what President Cardoso is doing with these gun-control schemes. How First let me say this. lam totally committed to keeping does he think that disarming the lawful citizens of Brazil will my subscription to Brazzil. Ever since my first trip to Rio de In a time of an unfortunate crisis Brazil is still very rich make people safer? This is insanity. The criminals get their Janeiro, I have needed something to keep me "connected" in many ways, I am a 26-year-old New Jersey resident, drugs and their guns. Renegade government officials also to the culture and good times of Rio. Brazzil has been that Native American. I have visited Brazil five times, three have their guns. connection. The new look of the magazine is awesome! I Does President Cardoso really want all the citizens enjoy reading other perspectives on my favorite place in alone in 99. There are many things that give Brazil a good name, but unfortunately many Americans don't even know helpless victims before either thugs or renegade govern- the world. Now I'm at the office feeling a little "homesick" where Brazil is. I am different. I love Brazil and would like ment people? Have we not seen in other countries what for Rio. No scratch that... I'm feeling a "big" homesick to tell the readers of Brazzil my views as an American about happens when the citizens are disarmed? for Rio. I've only been there twice this year and I intend to As Dr Robert J. Cottrol, the African-American profes- go back sometime after the first of the year. I never take the your wonderful country. Here in the United States we are so busy with many sor of law and history at George Washington University time to write to any of the other magazines I subscribe to. things. There is not enough time spent together with wrote in the Los Angeles Times, Sunday, November 7, And this is only the second time I've ever written to a families. When I stay in Brazil I feel so great because I stay 1999: magazine. Both times have been to Brazzil. Keep up the with friends. I can't believe the closeness of families and "The central premise of the gun control movement is good work. friends. Brazilians have a great sense of loyalty for family that society becomes more civilized when the citizen surRayne Man values and piers. The last family I stayed with was so renders the means of self-defense, leaving the state a Via Internet great, living in Braganga Paulista, state of sao Paulo. Every day at 12:30 the whole family gets together for lunch. Even though two of the children have recently married they still come home for -lunch. FOR MORE LETTERS AND ENTIRE The streets are always buzzing and there is a sense Can't you find Brazzil at your Brazilian LETTER SEE: of welcomeness in the air. I can't stay away from Brazil. consulate? http://tirww.brazzli.com Don't ask us why, ask the consulate. Every year I find myself on a plane again to Sao Paulo. I feel so welcome when I arrive. Here in the USA I never feel so good and comfortable with the people around me. Therefore I have found Brazilians who live here in New Jersey to be friends with. I will only date Brazilian women and for the last four years I studied Portuguese. As an American I feel that there is no culture here in the States. I want my children to grow up with strong family values. I will one day marry a Brazilian woman for these reasons; they are the most beautiful women in the world also. Where are we going? The American people are living in front of their computers not aware that their families and friends need attention. I love Brazil and all Brazilian people. Never before had I met a race of such caring and wonderful individuals. I live in New Jersey, close to Newark. My girlfriend is Brazilian (Paulista) I have adapted to the Brazilian culture and way of life. If anyone has any questions about my views or opinion's please e-mail me. Brian P Costigan Newark, New Jersey bcsaopauloOaol.com
I'm a Canadian writer, based in Montreal. In the spring, I had the privilege of spending nine weeks in Bahia. I was doing research for a play I'm in the process of writing. 18
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A special congressional committee looking irto tax reform released a draft report, which simplifies things down to a single, value-added type of tax. The Cardoso administration, however, seems to be against tax reform despite all its rhetoric to the contrary. ADHEMAR ALTIERI
Recent events offered more than just a glimpse at how shortterm concerns continue to get in the way of sustained, ccncrete progress in Brazil. The issue—a major, ongoing debate—was tax reform. The twist this time, is that Congress seemed to want to do the right thing, while the government offered resistance for the wrong reasons. At least since the start ofFernando Henrique Cardoso' s first term in 1994, anyone who follows Brazilian affairs ha3 been hearing about the importance of concluding major reforms— tax, social security, political, judiciary among others. The government, and especially Congress, have often been criticized for the irritatingly slow pace of progress, given the political and economic importance of reforms to the overall picture in Brazil. Tax reform has always been considered one of the most difficult to conclude, because of its complexity. While congressional inaction has been a problem, the executive branch has also 20
taken some heat for appearing less than interested in pushing ahead. More than that, the Executive was expected to take a leading role in the tax reform debate, but has gone nowhere near that level of involvement. As several critics have put it, there's little chance of a serious, sweeping tax reform being conducted almost strictly by the Legislative. Because such reforms affect an entire country, a leading role by the Executive is a must, in part to keep regional interests from taking over the discussion. In Brazil however, the Executive and the President himself—have been on the sidelines for the most part, always declaring themselves in favor of tax reform, but doing little, if anything, to contribute or speed along the process. Pressure, especially from business and industrial sectors suffocated by a myriad of taxes, fees, deductions and contributions, finally forced the hand of a special congressional comm ittee looking into tax reform. It released a draft report, which among other things eliminates much of the current tax tangle and simplifies things down to a single, value-added type of tax. Precisely what everyone wants tax reform to do: simplify. The government's reaction, however, exposed what's behind its "we're all for tax reform" speech of the past few years. Top officials, including finance minister Pedro Malan, did their best to discredit the draft report, describing it as "filled with structural and operational problems", enough to "seriously compromise the national taxation system". Suddenly, here was the government trying to shoot down a draft report that's still open to discussion and amendments before going to a final vote. That, to many observers, let the cat BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
out of the bag: it's not that the government is indifferent, or disinterested.., it seems to be, really, against tax reform. Like any draft report, this one surely has its flaws. But there were also a number of positive points in the document, and it was as if the government wasn't prepared to even consider them. The idea of working with committee members to make changes, and improve the report through amendments, appeared to not even be an option at first. A major sticking point for the government was a proposal to create a two-tier value added-type of tax, to be collected by the federal as well as state administrations. The government rejected this formula outright, saying the tax should be collected only at the federal level, with funds then redistributed to the states. This particular aspect of the reform seems to be the key. States are not prepared to give up collecting part of the tax themselves, but the government sees a single federal tax as a way to end what has been dubbed a "fiscal war" between Brazilian states: incentives, especially tax waivers, offered to attract new investments. Without controlling part of the tax collection, states will have nothing to waive, and the "war", which many feel has detrimental effects overall for Brazil, would end. Even this shouldn't be so difficult an obstacle to overcome. In its only attempt to put together a tax reform proposal, back in 1995, the government itself suggested a two-tier system for a new value-added tax. So it is now rejecting what it proposed years ago. Secondly, there's nothing really innovative here— this is what already happens in several countries, where a federal tax is collected, and state or provincial administrations collect their own sales tax. Why so much resistance then, to a point where several sectors have come out accusing the govenunent ofbeing, quite simply, against tax reform? Here's a solid clue from Abram Szajman, president of the powerful So Paulo State Federation of Commerce: "The Executive is not interested (in tax reform) because, in the past few months, they've broken all records for revenue collection". Opposition (PT, Partido dos Trabalhadores—Workers' Party) congressman Jose Genoino shares that view, and explains that because taxes were raised to allow Brazil to meet fiscal adjustment targets agreed to with the IMF earlier this year, revenue collection has shot up. "In the six and a half years that Cardoso has been in power, the tax bill in Brazil has been raised from 25 to 32 percent", he concluded. The government is now busy trying to look outraged at suggestions that a tax reform was never in the cards to begin with. If anything, the criticism worked to force the feds to get more involved with tax reform than ever before: a new work group has been formed to revise the draft report, and come up with solutions for the sticking points identified so far. The group includes representatives from Congress, the Executive, and state governments Whether this will change anything is an open question. Right now, the perception is that the government would really like to leave things the way they are, so as not to affect revenue collection, which is going quite well thanks to tax hikes introduced this year. In other words, instead of working to reform a totally inadequate, costly, cumbersome and unfair system—a campaign promise now almost six years old, the government appears to be working to pass that task along to the next occupants of the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia. BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
To!igh Change Reform projcts have been tabled several times, calling for di trict voting, optional voting (currently voting is m andatory), and strengthened party loyalty. Wit out these basic changes, negotiating Brazil resembles hand-to-hand anything combat, wh re vested interests come first. ADHEMAR ALTIERI
iticians have the enduring ability to act like Brazilian ostriches, avoi ing the most pressing, national matters, while pursuing min issues—usually, those that tend to their regional or indi dual interests. Too often, they ignore the obvious prioritie ofthe day, while preferential treatment is given to items eithe not relevant to, or at odds with the common good. As the ye draws to a close, the ostriches are definitely on the loose, d virtually unopposed. Their natural enemy would be the ederal government—the President is seen by most Brazilia s as having that role. But his lingering, recordlow populari means he can't lead the charge, and his excessively consid rate style indicates he wouldn't do it, even if he had the bac ing. In fact, when President Cardoso did have the support t push hard for reforms, he didn't. Trouble is the dangers posed by such irresponsible ways are growing ickly. An indicting example of what this attitude can ca e surfaced in recent weeks with amendments 21
to next year's federal budget submitted by members of Congress resulting, if approved, in R$22 billion (about US$13 billion) in new government expenses in 2000—a 36 percent increase over total amendments to last year's budget requesting additional spending. This represents a growing lack of recognition by lawmakers of Brazil's need to reign in, not expand cash outlays. And it's not difficult to explain why this is happening. This thirst for federal funds is a direct consequence of next year's nationwide municipal elections. In an election year, federal politicians want money spent on projects that will help "their" candidates succeed at the municipal level. So they pressure Brasilia to come up with the goods—regardless of where the money will come from (usually additional debt), or what getting it will do to the overall financial picture. Of course, there's nothing inherently wrong with politicians going to Congress to bat for important causes for the areas they represent. That's the way it's done most anywhere else. The problem is that Brazil has major, national obstacles to overcome, which require the attention— and votes—of politicians at the federal level. These are matters that affect everyone, which can only be resolved through constitutional amendments, Which in turn require three-fifths of votes in Chamber of Deputies (the Lower Ho and the Senate to go through. Constitutional amendments shoul not be part of any government's routine, but they are in Brazil, because the last attempt to revise the Constitution replaced one patchwork quilt that had been tampered with by the military regime, with another, filled with built-in time bombs. This happened in 1986, when a new Congress was elected with the specific duty of writing the new Constitution. The end result of that Constitutional Assembly's work came into force in October of 1988. Rather than a concise series of fundamental rights and responsibilities to be perfected over time, the final document is an extensive hodgepodge, heavy on rights and light on responsibilities, that includes everything from rules for adoption to anti-illiteracy measures, labor laws, rules governing citizenship, consumer rights, irrigation resources, guidelines for professional sports competitions, airport infrastructures, fishing and oil exploration, property rights, telecommunications.., in other words, just about everything that should be dealt with in a country's law books was jammed into that new Constitution. 22
Not surprisingly, this relatively young Magna Carta has already suffered 23 amendments, and will surely be amended many more times before it can be considered workable. Among its most damaging consequences is today's social insurance deficit, closing in on R$45 billion a year (about US$25 billion) largely because of numerous guarantees built into the Constitution, without concern for where the money would come fro to cover the costs. Social Insurance reform is just one o those true priorities that get consistently—and intentionally—ignored by legislators, while things like a name change for an airport in Macei6, capital of Alagoas state in northeastern Brazil, get approved without much difficulty. Two weeks ago, the federal legislature held a so-called "concentrated effort", when 22 items considered priorities were to be brought to a vote. Of those, only our wtre even considered—one of them s that rJtprt same change.,.. If legisWbrs eliieetto co ate on egional issues because ofmerlt, that , would hardly be a effoile itic ut it simply isn'tthe case. There are toral districts in Brazil, so regio cerns are totally informal--nothin laity binds a politician to a spec' except for interests the legislator ifies, through his or her own criteSome actu'good work, make a reaso rfto win rnent investme • improv specific areas wh e pre§tuna their votes came from. But in m es, so-called priorities pursued by gislators ahead of vital matters at hand, are nothing but pure political convenience, with little or no concern for what is in fact needed in the affected region. They want the money channeled to their area, but true need or administrative efficiency aren't the predominant reason for their choice of location or type of projects— rather, the figures involved and who will manage the funds tend to be more important details. The way to change all this, of course, is through political reform—another of those priorities that sits ignored by legislators. Reform projects have been tabled several times, calling for district voting, optional voting (currently voting is mandatory), and strengthened party loyalty. Without these basic changes, negotiating anything in Brazil means long, drawn-out processes resembling handto-hand combat, where vested interests will continue to come first. Brazil' stop weekly news magazine, Veja, recently created a reform sco-
reboard of sorts, in an attempt to expose this behavior. Each week, the scoreboard indicates whether the six most important reforms—tax, social insurance, political, judiciary, administrative, and fiscal responsibility—have moved forward, hung steady, or lost ground. Sad to say, it is a rare week when any of those vital adjustments Brazil needs to make, actually gain some ground. It is the way so many politicians persist with these methods that has Brazilians so disappointed in their politicians these days—exceptions are very rare indeed. The media has spared no effort to expose wrongdoers, as well as the way poor work by politicians in the past catches up with everyone at some point, usually with a steep price tag. The current social insurance crisis, a direct result of a demagoguery-filled constitutional effort by politicians wanting to "make their mark" on the document, is perhaps the best example. Without a major outcry and sustained pressure from society, there's little reason to believe Brazil's politicians will tac*le political or other reforms with ed and expediency required. And ublic opinion behind theses roving to be a very difficult ssible solution is hoping the • . rnment is right about its projecthat economic growth will reach ercent in 2000. That might restore nough ofpresident Cardoso s popularity, to allow him to finally pressure legislators into action. That is, if Cardoso has learned anything from not moving on all major reforms five years ago, when he had the type of approval rating presidents usually dream of. It may also be his last chance of improving what history books will say about his two terms in office.
Adhemar Altieri is a veteran with major news outlets in Brazil, Canada and the United States. He holds a Master's Degree in Journalism from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and spent ten years with CBS News reporting from Canada and Brazil. Altieri is a member of the Virtual Intelligence Community, formed by The Greenfield Consulting Group to identify future trends for Latin America. He is also the editor of InfoBrazil (http://www.infobrazil.com), an English-language weekly e-zine with analysis and opinions on Brazilian politics and economy. You can reach the author at editorsginfobrazil.com BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
Black Hole
It is often said that Brazilians live under a racial democracy, meaning that in Brazil miscegenation has created a cultural mélange in which all races are equally valued. Nothing is farther from the truth. KATHLEEN BOND
During the elections of 1997, Margarida Pereira da Silva was the leading candidate for mayor in Pombal in the interior ofthe state of Paraiba, Northeastern Brazil. Margarida, beloved for her community work with youth, decided to run for office to offer an alternative to the corrupt, special interest politics that dominate the Northeastern region. With little money, she ran the campaign from BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
her home. One week before Election Da two strangers offered her a R$100,00 (US$50,000) donation for her youth pro gram. There was just one condition Margarida had to drop out ofthe race. Sh politely but firmly refused, "I'm runnin for my people not for money." Within days of the refused bribe, a of her posters were painted over with th words "Negra Feia", Ugly Black Worn Unable to discredit her honesty or me its, her opponents orchestrated a sme that focused solely on race. Long-tim friends and even some relatives, mo likely paid off, suddenly were workin against her. Margarida lost by a landslid When Margarida's nephew caught h girlfriend tearing down Margarida posters, she responded, "I'm not going waste my vote on that ugly, black thing Margarida's story of racial discrim nation is not isolated to the rural areas the Northeast. Every day millions Afro-Brazilians experience racism. Fro the family living room, where dark skinned children are often discriminat against, to Church pews, barbershop classrooms, and the Halls of Congre racism gnaws at the fabric of Brazili society. The South American giant often considered by foreigners and Br zilians as a "racial democracy" becau of the high number of interracial m riages and seemingly easy banter b tween the races in every day life. Racal Democracy, coined by the Brazilian s ciologist Gilberto Freyre in early 20 century, is the theory that a history extended miscegenation has create cultural mélange in which all races equally valued. Nothing is farther fr the truth in contemporary Brazil. Race in Brazil is complex and distin Most Brazilians claim a mixed Afric European, and indigenous ancestry. practice, however, the weight of raci causes people to continually "white themselves. For example, many" 0renos" straighten their hair, people se h for lighter-skinned marriage partne s, and people identify themselves and e other with nicknames indicating a ligh er skin tone, such as moreninho (brown ), café (coffee), mutat°, bronzeado (t nned), and escurinho (darky) to nam a few. Rarely will someone assume an identity as negro (black). Even those call themselves black often have a h rd time convincing other Brazilians no to identify them as "moreno" 9r "mulat Calling someone black, for many, is s ill an insult. Skin color profoundly influences ife chances. According to a 1992 study by Carlos Hasenbalg and Nelson do V lle Silva, Brazilian nonwhites are three ti es
19 .
more likely than whites to be illiterate. The numbers deteriorate in the high echelons of academic study. Whites are FIVE times more likely than people of mixed ancestry and NINE times more likely than blacks to obtain university degrees. This pattern repeats itself in the work force where according to government statistics whites have access to the highest-paying jobs, earning up to 75% more than blacks and 50% more than people of mixed ancestry. Brazil's prisons and youth detention centers are bursting at the seams. The vast majority of detainees and victims of police brutality are non-white Brazilians. Not surprisingly, health statistics paint a similar picture. For example, non-white Brazilian infants are almost twice as likely to die as their white counterparts. Not all ofthe consequences of rac ism can be neatly packaged into statistics and charts. Effects on self-esteem are not easily measured. At a recent reflection group of Afro-Brazilian women in Jodo Pessoa, state of Paraiba, Cida painfully recounted the termination of her relationship. For several years, she dated Chico, a lighter-skinned black, and their color difference never created difficulties. When they got engaged, Chico's family exploded with his mother leading the attack, "This little blackie is going to pollute our blood. Go and find someone who will purify our blood." Chico caved in and broke the engagement within days. Two years later Cida painfully asked in the group, "How can you tell me not to feel inferior because of my color?" Brazil's black movement struggles to address this question by introducing a positive black identity and fighting racism at all levels of society. According to anthropologist John Burdick, the movement exploded in the 1970s, when a whole generation of non-white students was caught in the contradiction between the promise of upward mobility and the reality of labor and educational barriers. Blacks on the world scene, including revolutionaries in the former Portuguese colonies of Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and Angola and m ilitants in the North American black power movement offered encouraging symbols of power and self-confidence for the fledgling AfroBrazilian movement. Over the past 25 years, the black movement in Brazil has developed various facets. Some groups exclusively dedicate their energy to judicial and legislative arenas, such as the enforcement of the 1989 Cao law that makes racism a crime. Other organizations focus on cultural programs. The most famous example is the internationally acclaimed 23
percussion band, Olodum. Various research institutes, primarily in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, focus on black identity and tend to cater to the middle class. Segments of the Catholic Church, most notably the Agentes de Pastoral Negros (Black Pastoral Church Workers), offer educational courses for the economically disadvantaged. The black movement here in the state of Paraiba is one example ofthis diversity. Participating organizations include: Caiana dos Crioulos, a black community of descendants of runaway slaves; Banda Yle Odara and other musical, martial arts and dance groups; Afro-Brazilian religious groups, including Candomble and Umbanda centers; women's reflection groups; coalition and organizing entities including the Agentes de Pastoral Negros; and education groups that focus on literacy programs, training and school curriculum development. During the annual, statewide Black Movement Conference in September 1999, more than 100 activists from these groups gathered for three days in the capital city. With Brazil approaching in April, 2000 the anniversary ofthe Portuguese colonization, this year's theme was "500 Years of Black Resistance." In addition to gaining new insights on cultural, religious, and political resistance, coming together in solidarity is an important aspect of the annual conference. In the rural regions, blacks are often isolated. They suffer intense discrimination, especially in the school system. Paulo Cesar, a 26-year-old community activist in Sousa, shared a story that echoed the childhood experiences ofmany of the participants. In his junior high school there were only 3 or 4 black students in the class. When he was called "negao besta" (big, stupid black), his teacher refused to intervene. His mother, lacking formal education and self-confidence, also failed to react when he came home crying from school. "That experience left a profound mark," stated Cesar. "My involvement with the black movement reinforces in me that being a black is not horrible, it's being a human being like any other person." Cesar directs cultural groups, including capoeira (a combination of martial arts and dance that slaves practiced, training for escapes). He also gives workshops about racism in local schools. "I come to these gatherings to learn," commented Cesar, "but perhaps more importantly! carry back with me a renewed pride and self-confidence in being Afro-Brazilian." Other black activists also work to the interior regions in the state. Tanzanian Marylcnoll Sister Efu Nyaki and her Bra24
zilian colleagues travel extensivel throughout the drought-stricken, poo countryside to offer two-day formation courses focusing on identity, self-esteem, and empowerment. During the visits, Nyaki discovered an abysmally low educational level among most blacks in the interior. "We've been to all-black rural communities where only one or two people are literate, which has led us to seek funding to begin small literacy programs," conimented Nyaki. Lagoa Raga is one of those communities. Five years ago, when Nyaki' s team first visited the community 10 hours from state capital, there was no school within walking distance and only one of the 200 residents could read and write. With help from outside, that man, Chagas, was trained to offer adult literacy courses. Overtime, a school was built to serve the community. ,"There are Lagoa Races all over the Northeast," lamented Nyaki. "The government has simply abandoned these people." Educational work is also occurring in the urban areas. Activists are giving workshops on racism and Afro-Brazilian identity in schools. Very few school children admit being black when the question is posed at the beginning of the sessions. For most Briizilians, regardless of color, being black is not a positive thing. In the schools, the complete lack of educational material aboutAfro-Brazilian history and culture reinforces negative images. Nyaki's teant is working with black university professors to develop a primary school curriculum that includes the history and achievements of black Brazilians. Black Religious are coming together for reflectiori in various groups nationwide. GRENI(Group ofBlack and Indigenous Religious) in Paraiba is one such group. One of the goals of these small clusters of Catholic priests and sisters is to begin the process of reclaiming their identity as blacks and indigenous. Many participants find strength from the groups to face the intism in their own religious communities.] Catholics are not justtallcing with each other about race issues. Over the last decade some Catholics have attempted to dialogue with Afro-Brazilian religious members wlic have suffered intense discrimination, often condoned by the Catholic Church over the years. Until the 1950s, acts of destruction against Candomble houses of worship by either the police or conimon citizens were never punished by law. Even after practice of Afro-Brazilian religion was legalized in the early 70s, participants were required to request permission from local authori-
ties on the day of worship until the end of the decade. Persecution continues even today when Afro-Brazilian religious symbols such as drums and colorful vestments are considered by some as "coisas do diabo" (things of the devil). One of the first Catholics involved in this inter-religious effort was the late Combonian Fr. Hector Frissoti, who began his ministry by simply attending the terreiros (the sacred Afro- Brazilian place of worship). After educating himself, Frissoti began to write and publish his reflections. He carried these experiences first to his own Comboni community in Brazil and later to the larger Brazilian Catholic Church. The issue reached the agenda of the 9th Annual Inter-Ecclesial Base Community leaders meeting, a gathering of 8000 people, including 67 Bishops, in 1997 in Sao Luiz, Maranhao. Frissoti and others involved in the effort have met resistance on both sides. The inclusion ofAfro-Brazilian religions on the agenda caused conflict among the bishops, who feared that including the Afro-Brazilian religions would tarnish the image ofthe Catholic Church. Others argued that inter-religious dialogue and celebrations would be more inclusive of the many Catholics who participate in terreiros. There is resistance from the practitioners of Afro-Brazilian religions as well. After suffering a century of persecution from the Catholic Church, many AfroBrazilian religious leaders are cautious. Ana Rita Santiago, a Candomble priestess from Salvador, Bahia, expressed a common concern, "I am wary ofa process that is limited to taking some of our symbols and simply incorporating them into the Catholic mass." But Fr. Frissoti's spirit of reconciliation continues to touch many in Brazil, including some at high places. The National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB) announced recently that it plans to ask publicly for forgiveness from indigenous and black peoples for not speaking to injustices committed against them as Brazil approaches 500 years of European presence. For Sr. Nyaki, who has accompanied the emerging dialogue for the last ix years, this is only the beginning. "Pubic statements from Church leaders is a Istep but, we also ask that Brazilian Cathoics open their hearts and minds." Kathleen Bond is with the Maryknoll Mission Association of the Faithful. You can contact the author at SEJUP (Servico Brasileiro de Justica e Paz—Brazilian Service of Justice and Peace): sejupl@ ax.apc.org BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
A
nic group in this country, fear of the INS is the major problem individuals face on a daily basis. Therefore, it's quite risky to try to give an exact number of how many Brazilians are currently living in the U.S.. Brazilian consulates across the country are ill equipped to collect and subsequently divulge such information. There's rumor that there are around 100,000 Brazilians living in the New York metropolitan area. I would dare say that this is a very conservative number. Brazilian immigration is something new to our history as a people. However some statistics try to reach a number: we are Dekaseguis (children of Japanese immigrants who "return" to their parents or grandparents' native country ofJapan), Brasilpeus (Brazilians in Europe), Brasilguaips (Brazilians in Uruguay) and Brazucas (a term referring to Brazilians living in the U.S.). Counting them all, it's said that we are 5 million Brazilians living abroad today. Some say that we are about 600,000 to one million Brazilians living in the U.S. alone. Major American cities where there is a Brazilian agglomeration are Newark, New York, Miami, Boston, Framingham, Somerville, Los Angeles, Berkeley, and San Francisco.
Migration Patterns
There's no Brazilian community in New York, but there is a huge crowd from Brazil trying to make their own America. It's said that we are 5 million Brazilians living abroad today. Some say that we are about 600,000 to one million Brazilians living in the U.S. alone. WILSON LORIA
Invited by the Museum of the City of New York to participate in a panel discussion on the evolution of the Latino communities in the U.S. last October, I was quite delighted to be among a select group of intellectuals from the Latino community of New York. The panel was part of a multi-media project called Americanos: La Vida Latina en los E. U. Consisting of a photo exhibition, a CD with Latino music (there's not a single Brazilian cut on it) and a series of discussions with the Latino communities throughout the U.S., Americanos is a project of Olmos Productions, organized by the Smithsonian Institution, sponsored BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
by Time Warner Inc., and scheduled t end in the year 2,002 .The following is t e speech I delivered on the occasion: Brazilians are supposed to be a ne "community" in New York. In my opi ion, community wouldn't be a prop word to name this ethnic group. It is sa that the eighties was the decade—due a bad economic situation in Brazil as w as in all Latin America—when a hu number of Brazilians came to this cou try. However, when I worked for a Br zilian newspaper in the mid-80's, I had t opportunity to interview Mr. Jo D' Agostino who had come to New Yo in 1929 at the age of 19! I would like mention that I have also interviewed oth Brazilians who came to NY in the 60's. Although this roundtable is about Lati communities in NYC, I would say th there's no Brazilian community in t sense of what the word really means. do have a huge crowd of people fro Brazil trying to make their own Ameni a and that seems to be—once again, in opinion—what we really are. Demographics It's a very touchy and difficult iss e to tackle. Like any other immigrant et
A few weeks ago, I interviewed a Brazilian journalist, Mr. Bispo Filho, who's been living in Framingham, a town near Boston. Actually, this young man is teaching Science and Languages at a middle school that caters to Brazilians (residents and newcomers) in that town. Bispo said that when he lived in Newark, he had interviewed a Brazilian man who claimed that the Brazilian community in the state of Massachusetts started in the 60's. Now, according to this same man, the Brazilian community was first formed by Brazilians from Para, a state in the northern region of Brazil, bordering the Amazon. They were part of a soccer team who decided to stay and reside near Boston. Newark, for example, consists primarily of Portuguese people. However, in the 80's, Brazilians started to flock to Newark, probably due to the fact that Portuguese was and still is widely spoken in that area. Valadarenses—people born in Governador Valadares, a town in the State of Minas Gerais—are undoubtedly the major group established in Newark. How did they come? Probably one individual would call a relative to come, and this same relative would call someone else in the family and so on. Today, people say that Newark has the look and feeling of 25
a small Governador Valadares. There are even two weekly newspapers serving the Brazilians in the Newark area. Both papers cover events in the area as well as news from Brazil. Economy We do have a few restaurants and stores—mainly on 46" street, named Little Brazil—owned by a few Brazilian entrepreneurs and a few other businesses in Astoria, a neighborhood which is said to have become Brazilian due to the number of Brazilians living there. However, in that area, the Greek population outnumbers the newcomers from South America. Cultural Brazil is the theme of a cultural event only when a famous Brazilian star comes to town for a show. There is, of course, a Brazilian festival to commemorate Brazil's independence from Portugal on the first week of September every year, but that does not represent the country either, for it consists of a few stands from all over the world, not necessarily only Brazilian any longer. Of course, there are Brazilian writers, poets, dancers, and teachers living and working in the City; however, these individuals do have to struggle alone in their own fields. There is no support or help for these artists from, say, the local Brazilian entrepreneurs. We do have people from Brazil working for the major Brazilian newspapers and TV networks in the city; however, these reporters and journalists rarely write about Brazilians in NY. Their news is generally focused on American events and life style. Culturally speaking, Brazil does not offer and has
almost no influence on the arts in the City, as a whole. We are said to be a minority within a minority.., an invisible community. Thus, it's very hard to call this minority a community. Brazilians do not consider themselves immigrants, but—for lack of a better word—sojourners so to speak. Most Brazilians living in the U.S. claim they will return to Brazil whenever they can save up enough money to open their own business in their hometown. An "excuse" for not organizing ourselves given in the 80's and still today. There is no association, school or club run by Brazilians in NYC. There are two Brazilian newspapers published monthly in the City, but they clearly do not serve the Brazilian population specifically. Instead, they mainly cater to Brazilian tourists looking for information on where to buy such and such thing or sometimes articles related to (most of the time) Carnaval, shows and capoeira demonstrations. Having no clubs, institutions, schools or a really strong media on our side is definite proof that we do not exist as a community as other ethnic groups do. I have recently heard that the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University is creating an institute whose goal is to develop and exchange information about theater and that Brazil is a member of it. However, the Brazilian participants are not residents in the City, since they live in Brazil... One possible answer for our lack of organization as a community would probably be that we are not united within our own country of 160 million inhabitants today. But that would surely be a legitimate theme for a discussion at some other time, among us, Brazilians, of course. Wilson Loria, a writer who has resided in New York for more than a decade, can be reached at Wloria@aol.com
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laort Story Still frightened, but much relieved by the disappearance of the apparent danger, Andre decided to look at the site where he saw the two men leaving. The silvery light from the poles was of no use to brighten those remote spots of the woods. Without stopping, he kept looking, but the eyes of fear were blind to everything. WILLER DE OLIVEIRA
Eram sete e quinze da noite quando Andre saiu de casa todo satisfeito da vidapois iria fmalmente assistir ao tao esperado filme de Bertolucci recentemente liberado pela censura. Emborativesse bastante tempo resolveu descer por Botafogo como sempre fizera, independentemente de ja estar escuro e das ininneras estorias de assaltos que contavam sobre aquele trecho da ladeira. No intimo, Andre gostava de sentir perigo, e como era um jovem sensivel via corn diferentes olhos aquele matagal espesso que margeava a estrada e diziam abrigar profundos misterios. A ladeira fora construida no principio do seculo para ligar Botafogo a Copacabana muito antes da tecnologia tornar possivel Ainda hoje continua sendo trafegada mas nao a ligacao por tao intensamente como antes. 0 ladoque daparaBotafogo 6 de serto e inOspito. Se por um lado uma e stre ita calcada junto a um alto muro a margeia desde o Hospital Sao Zacarias ate ao ponto maxim° da estrada que termina numa ponte qual Arco do Triunfo, a outra margem Ê apenas delineada por urn meio fib de pavimentacao que BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
It was a quart r past seven when Andre very excited left his home to go to t e theater. Finally he was going to watch the highly acclaime Bertolucci film miraculously approved by the censors of them litary dictatorship. Andre lived on the top of Babilonia Hill, o e of the loveliest places between Botafogo and Copacabana, in he south side of Rio de Janeiro. Although he had plenty of f e, he decided to take the steep road toward Botafogo as he sually did, regardless of the darkness and of the many stories bout robbery, common to that side ofthe road. He was not reall a brave man, but at heart, he liked to feel the danger, and as a ensitive young man, he saw the dense bushes alongside the ro d with the eyes of a poet searching for deep mysteries. The curving oad was built at the beginning of this century to link Botafog to Copacabana much earlier than the technology making pos ible the connection of the two neighborhoods through a tunne . The road is still used by many cars, but not 27
separa a estrada da floresta que desce alta dos penhascos e vem morrer em formas de arbustos contorcidos a beira do caminho. Bern ao meio da ladeira, quando jå passara o Unico casarao daqueles lados, Andre viu cruzar a rua, mais embaixo numa curva, dois rapazes que saiam apressadamente do mato e olhando para tras como que assustados porrepentina visao. Andre dim inuiu os passos sem contudo parar. A estradaestavamuitobem iluminada luz de mercUrio e via-se corn bastante nitidez certos trechos do caminho. A principio pensou ser assaltantes, mas uma curiosa ideia fez-the ver que talvez os dois rapazes tambem o julgassem assaltante. Satisfeito corn a perspectiva de que os j ovens o temiam e, encorajado pela providencial aparicao de urn fusquinha que comecava a subir ruidosamente, Andre retomou o ritmo dos passos, enquanto que os dois rapazes, jå bem la embaixo, deram mais uma olhada para tras e desapareceram por uma escadaria que conduzia a grande avenida. Corn o coracao sobressaltado, mas de certa forma aliviado corn o desaparecimento do perigo, resolveu espiar para o lugar de onde vira sairos jovens. A luzprateadaque jorrava dos postes de nada servia para iluminar aqueles recessos sombrios da mata. Sem parar, continuou a olhar, mas os olhos do medo estavam cegosparaqualquer coisa. A esta altura, o fusca ja completara a sua penosa ascensao e a ladeiravoltava a ficar desertacomo antes. Apavorado corn as enormes sombras projetadas na calcada e, sobretudo ao ouvir uns gemidos quase humanos de uma gata no cio, Andre resolveu andar mais depressa e, so nao correu porque os sapatos novos e lustrosos apertavam-lhe os calcanhares. La embaixo, no meio da avenida iluminada ebarulhenta, sentiu-seconfortado erapidamenteesqueceu o incidente. Urn vento fresco soprava do fundo da baia e inundava a noite corn um cheiro de marisco e sal. Inebriado corn as doces recordacoes do mar que a brisa the trazia, aspirou demoradamente o are fez planos de correr na praia, na manha seguinte. Ao passar em frente da igreja de Santa Terezinha persignou-se e fez urn pedido aos ceus. Era sexta-feira e O altar extern° da igreja onde a santa ficava incrustada numa pedra, ardia ao fogo de dezenas de velas postas aui em oferendas tanto parao deus catolico quanto os deuses pagdos. Olhou o relogio, acendeu urn cigarro, e quando se deu conta ja estava em frente a Morada do Sol. Cruzou a Lauro Muller em direcao ao timel do Pasmado, pois o caminho era mais curto. Ainda em frente ao Colegio das
28
as a primary route. The Botafogo hillside is wild and largely uninhabited. There is only the narrow pavement alongside a wall that starts at Sao Zacarias Hospital, at the bottom of the hill, and ends exactly under a bridge like the Triumph Arch, high up on the hill. Across the pavement, there is only a curbstone, which divides the road from the woods on the mountainside. Right at the middle of the road, when Andre had already passed the only house in that area, he saw, on a downhill curve, two men leaving the woods in a very suspicious way. The road was well lit with mercury lamps, and certain parts of the hillside could be seen with perfect clarity. He first thought of burglars, but a curious idea crossed his mind. "Maybe they think I'm the robber," he said to himself, amused. Liking the idea that the two men also feared him, and with the providential appearance of a noisy Volkswagen that was painfully struggling to climb the road, Andre confidently walked steadily again, while the two men, almost at the bottom of the hill, looked back once more and disappeared down a flight of stairs toward Lauro Muller Avenue. Still frightened, but much relieved by the disappearance of the apparent danger, Andre decided to look at the site where he saw the two men leaving. The silvery light from the poles was ofno use to brighten those remote spots of the woods. Without stopping, he kept looking, but the eyes of fear were blind to everything. At this time, the Volkswagen had already finished its arduous ascent and the road had returned to its usual quietness. Scared by his own shadow projected on the wall, and especially after hearing the moans, almost human, of a cat in heat, Andre hurried down the hill. Once on the noisy and bright avenue, he felt comfortable and secure again, and the incident was immediately forgotten. A fresh wind blew from the bay and flooded the night with a smell of shellfish and salt. Inebriated with the sweet remembrances that the sea always brought to him, Andre inhaled the air slowly and made plans to run along the beach the following morning. As he passed in front of the church of Santa Terezinha he crossed himself and made a wish to the saint. It was Friday and the outside altar of the church, where the saint was encrusted in the rock, burned with the fire of numerous candles placed there in oblations as much to pagan deities as to the Catholic God. He looked at his watch, lit a cigarette, and before he real-
BRAZZII - NOVEMBE ,,, 1999
Irmas, uma curiosa tabuleta chamou sua atencao, pois anunciava em caracteres gOticos urn recital renascentista corn o grupo Arts Antigua. Corn desclem e muito desprezo olhou de relance os motoqueiros amontoados no porta° do colegio e lastimou a falta generalizada de cultura entre os jovens que nao apreciavam urn evento daquela monta. Se fosse na Franca, pensou corn enlevo, e sua irnaginacao corria antecipando cenas do Tango numa Paris que s6 conhecia de livros e de cartao postal, seriadiferente. Poruns segtinclos os seus devaneios foram interrompidos pela chegada repentina de urn Porshe que saia ruidosamente do tanel e entrava na Afonso Gusmao quase o atropelando, ern direcao a sinagoga. Olhou cuidadosamente para os dois lados da rua e a atravessou corn seguranca. Mais uns cinqiienta passos estaria na pracinha que antecedia o time. Para sua surpresa nao viu os casais de namorados que costumavam se esconder pelos labirinticos canteiros da pracapara fazer amor por detras das palmeiras. Nao achou nada que the excitasse a libido. SO viu um asqueroso mencligo deitado num banco corn a boca aberta e a lingua esquecida, pendida para o lado, o que muito the impressionou. Sem ter mais ninguem a vista, e desde que o mendigo fizera mencao de se levantar, Andre ainda impressionado apressou os passos e entrou no dine. Uma infusao de luz e som invadiu-lhe os sentidos. A intensa reverberacao sonora que ecoava pelas abObadas enegrecidas de carbono e p6 impedia-lhe de ouvir os prOprios passos, o que lhe aumentava ainda mais a ansiedade, pois sentia a angustiante sensacao de estar sendo seguido pelo mendigo. SO p8de finalmente recuperar a calma quando alcancou a outra extremidade do ttnel e ja via, a pequena distklcia, urn grande movimento de jovens no guiche de bilheteria do Clube Nautico. sao e salvo da perigosa jornada, como assim resolveu nomear aquela pequena aventura, alias a segunda danoite, de born humor, e agora mais seguro no meio dos jovens que compravam ingressos para a discoteca, contornou toda a ala leste do clube, desceu pela passagem subterranea da freeway e, minutos depois assomava em frente ao Cine Opera, onde haviaumapequenamulticlao apinhada em grande desordem a entrada do edificio. Um carro ciapolicia faziaguarda sabre a calcada. Como jahavia comprado o ingresso, conseguiu entrar sem muita dificuldade. Apesar do desconforto do cinema completamente lotado, a sessao transcorreu normalmente sem nenhum incidente. A saida, para sua surpresa, encontrou-se corn o Chaim Mamed, seu amigo e vizinho de longa data. —Nao sabia que voce gostava deste tipo de filme— disse Andre. Podiamos ter combinado e viriamos juntos. —Nem eu tampouco sabia que vinha. S6 resolvi hoje a tarde no escritOrio, depois de ouvir os comentarios da secretaria do chefe sobre a cena da manteiga—respondeu Chaim rindo maliciosamente. —Nao deixa de ser original, apesar de n6s outros usarmos a vaselina ao inves-- acrescentou Andre corn cumplicidade. —Poise, e o filme em si—continuou Chaim—deixou muito a desejar. Pensava ver a coisa mais trabalhada... mais insinuante... mais explicita, voce sabe como. —E Chaim, mas este nao ë um filme pornografico. A tematicadoutra. 0 erotismo faz parte, masnao e o essencial. Falavam enquanto caminhavam em fila indiana pelo estreito corredor, espremidos como gado num matadouro. BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
ized it, he was already in ont of Morada do Sol. As a shortcut, he crossed auro Mailer Avenue and headed toward the Pasm • o Tunnel. As he walked by the Nuns' College, a cu ious signboard caught his attention, because it ann unced in gothic characters a Renaissance musical r cital with the Ars Antigua. With disdain he glanced the young people with their motorcycles gathered at he gate of the college, and he lamented the generali ed lack of culture among the young, who did not app eciate such an event. "If it were in France,"—he th ught with rapture, and his imagination ran foreseei g scenes of The Last Tango in a Paris that he only kn from books and from post cards—"it would be dif •rent." His daydreams were interrupted for a few sec nds when he was almost run over by a Porsche ent ring noisily into Afonso Gusmao Street toward he synagogue. He looked carefully now at both si es of the street and crossed it safely. In a few mores eps he would be at the small public square just before the tunnel. To his dismay he didn't see any couple en aged in lovemaking behind the palm trees. He didn t see anything to excite his libido. He only saw are ellent beggar with an open mouth lying on a bench With nobody else in sight, Andre hurried and ente ed into the tunnel. An infusion of light d sound invaded his senses. The intense echoes insi e the tunnel prevented him from hearing his own fo • eps, which made him more apprehensive because h deeply feared he was being followed by the beggar. He only recovered when he finally reached the oth end of the tunnel, and was at the vicinity of the Na tical Disc Club, which was already full of young peIle at the ticket window. Safe and sound from his d erous journey, as he called that little adventure, as matter of fact, his second of the evening, he walked ong the east wing ofthe club, went down through th underground passage, and minutes later emerged n front of the Opera Movie Theater. There was as all crowd in great disorder at the entrance of the buil ing. A police vehicle was on guard on the sidewalk. Since Andre had a ready bought his ticket, he managed to enter witho t difficulty. Despite the discomfort of the theater ii its full capacity, the session ran without incident. At e exit, to his suirprise, he met Chain Mamed, his close friend and neighbor fora long time. "I didn't know you liked this kind of film," said Andre: "We could hay, arranged to come together." "I didn't know I wa coming either.! only decided 4 this afternoon at the o fice, when I heard the comments of my boss' secr tary about the butter scene," answered Chain smil' g with malice. "It doesn't fail to •- original, despite our use of Vaseline instead," ad d Andre with complicity. "That's true, but th movie by itself was a disappointment to me. I wo ld like to see that scene more developed.., more ins uating... more explicit, you know." "Yeah, but this isn't a pornographic movie. The theme is not sex. Era ism has its role, but it is not 29
0 calor e o burburinho de vozes eram to grandes que Andre fingia ouvir o que Chaim diziae respond ia corn urn sim sem muita conviccao. Finalmente alcancaram a ma. 0 ar fresco e saudavel da noite reanimou os animos e Andre, satisfeito por ter encontrado o amigo o convidou para tomar uma cerveja, ao ar livre, no bar junto ao cinema. Beberam demoradamente e ja ha muito no falavam do filme. A conversa girava agora sobre o jogo de futebol de praia que teriam no domingo. Andre, cansado de ouvir o amigo que falava descontroladamente, achou por bem pedir a ultima cerveja e coffer para o ponto do onibus. Passava de umahora eosonibuscomecavam a rarear. Mas Chaim no parecia disposto a sair, pois tdo logo engoliu a tu lipa ordenououtra ignorando por completoos protestos de Andre. Chaim so se convenceu quetinha que ir embora quando os garcons comecaram a empilhar as cadeiras e recolher as tiltimas garrafas dispersar pelas mesas. NA° conseguiram onibus e Inuit° menos taxi, pois os motoristas se recusavam a subir a Ladeira do Leme ague la hora da noite. Nao havia outro jeito se lido retornar a pd. Urn vento quente filtrava-se por sobre as palmeiras da orla maritima e fazia tremer as velas dos barcos ancorados no iate clube. 0 movimento de carros e pedestres ia diminuindo e parecia que a cidade tambem se recolhia naquela imensa noite calida e de nenhuma estrela. Os dois jovens entraram pela Rua da Passagem, pois queriam evitar o tdnel. Urn carro da polic ia se aproximou, deu meia parada, mas logo tocou a diante. Nao queriam problemas corn bebados, os estdpidos, pensou Andre. Finalmente chegaram a ladeira. A passos lentos comecaram a subir o longo e suave trecho que conduzia ate ao Hospital Sab Zacarias. Embora daquele ponto sO pudessem ter uma visa() parcial da ladeira, podia-se compreender entdo, o porque das escabrosas estOrias que contavam acerca do lugar. Vista de baixo, apesar da ofuscante luminosidade da estrada, via-se, por cima das folhagens que tremulavam no alto, junto aos rochedos, umapalidaluz se difundir pelas sombrias copas dafloresta, o que causava urn certo estremecimento em tao forte contraste. A medida que subiam uma discreta inquietacao tomava conta dos rapazes cuja fingida naturalidade era traidapelainusitada disputa de um querer preceder o outro. Desde quepassaram o Hospital, Andre vinha percebendo sem dar a devida conta, urn movimento cadenciado que vergava as coPas das figueiras de forma extraordinaria. A principiopensou sero vento, mas agora percebia melhor que so determinados galhos vergavam enquanto os outros permaneciam imoveis, pesados na solidao. Ao se aproximarem da grandecurva, quase por baixo da enorme arnendoeira, Chaim quebrouosilencio e, sem folego gritou apontando o matagal. —Olhe, Andre, macacos! Eu nunca os tinha visto de tab perto. Esfao ali em cima, nas figueiras. Deram umameia parada eperscrutaram as folhagens. Havia muitos a julgar pelo movimentos dos galhos, mas a ramagem estava fao entrecruzada de cip6s que era impossivel reconhece-los nab fora os iniameros pares de olhinhos brilhantes no fundo escuro. Ndo sei se se assustaram corn a sdbita parada dos mocos, mas logo em seguida moveram-se para os ramos mais distantes da estrada e desandaram em infernal gritaria.Aoretornarem 30
essential." They talked while walking in line in the narrow alley toward the exit of the theater. Finally they reached the street. The fresh air of the night had the effect of a balsam on both young men. They immediately agreed to drink a beer at the nearby bar. They drank slowly and the movie was quickly forgotten. The conversation was now about their soccer game at the beach, on Saturday evening. It was getting late and Chain, already tired of hearing Andre talk restlessly, asked for their last beer. Andre, however, didn't seem willing to leave the bar, because as soon as he swallowed his beer, he ordered another one for both, ignoring totally the protests of his friend. He was only convinced it was time to go when the waiters started to pile up the chairs on the tops of the tables and collect the last empty bottles scattered all over the place. They didn't find a bus or a cab because all the taxi drivers refused to climb the steep road of Leme at that hour of the night. There was no other way, but to walk. A warm wind balanced the palm trees in the marine edge and the boats anchored, far away in the Yacht Club. There were few cars and pedestrians now and it seemed that the whole town was also about to sleep in that immense and hot night of no stars. To avoid the tunnel, the two young men took the Passagem Street. A police car approached them, stopped short, and went away. "The fools," thought Andre. "They don't want to talk to drunks." Finally they reached the ramp. With slow steps they began to climb the first stretch up to the S'ao Zacarias Hospital. Although from that point, the road was barely seen, it was understandable why there were so many scary stories about the place. Seen from underneath, one could shiver just from looking at the pale luminosity diffusing above the foliage and scattering along the high cliffs. As they climbed, both men were discreetly aware of their fears. Neither one wanted to stay behind the other, and they laughed about it. Since the Hospital, Andre had noticed without giving any consideration, a rhythmic movement on the crown of the fig trees. At first he thought it was the wind, but now looking more carefully, he realized that only certain branches bent, while other remained still. As they approached the curve next to a big almond tree, Chain broke the silence, and breathlessly cried and pointed to the woods. "Look Andre, monkeys! I have never seen them so close. There, there, in the fig trees." They stopped for a brief moment and searched the trees. There were many monkeys as the movements of the branches would tell. They were, nevertheless, behind the foliage and it was almost impossible to recognize them if it were not for the numerous pairs of little eyes glittering in the dark. The sudden stop ofthe young men probably scared the monkeys, because they moved to more distant branches from the road, and they broke into an infernal hullabaloo. As they resumed walking, Chain said: "Weird, isn't? It is after two o'clock and these animals still wondering around!" BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
a caminhada, Chaim disse, como se falasse consigo mesmo: —Estranho, tido lhe parece Andre? Jãpassam das duas horas e esta bicharada ainda irrequieta. —E a epoca do cio, no se esqueca. Tambem na hora que desci havia grande agitacao neste mato e foi bem aui em baixo desta mesma figueira que ouvi urn gemido de gata sendo abordada por algtun gato tarido. —Mos é assim, todos os bichos no mesmo tempo?— perguntou Chaim corn ar de incredulidade. —Acho que sim—respondeu Andre sem muita conviccao, e concluiu: —Os animais nAo sao sabios nestas coisas. Sem perceberem já haviam vencido mais da metade do cam inho. Mais alguns minutos alcancariam a Ponte dos Arcos e entao estariam a salvo dos perigos da noite, sob a protecao da guarda do Exercito. Era raro encontrar soldado acordado naquele posto dquela hora, mas so a presenca da guarita e a confortante visao da bandeira tremulante na casa militar, era o suficiente para recobrarem as forcas e desanuviarem os espiritos. Passada a inquietacao, os animos se acalmaram e Chaim voltou a falar corn redobrada energia. Sob uma luz forte de um poste de iluminacao datranqaila rua acertararn mais uma vez o esquema do futebol de praia e, antes que Chaim enveredasse por outro assunto, Andre,' desvencilhou-se do amigo e voouparao portao de casa. Caiunacamae dorm iu como um naufrago, arrastando consigo os ultimos misterios da noite. No terceiro dia apOs o incidente dos macacos, Andre ao retornar da Faculdade, via corn grande espanto e horror, medicos da Santa Casa em espetacular acao com o Corpo de Bombeiros retirarem de uma corda sob as figueiras, as mesmas da sexta-feira anterior, o corpo de uma mulher enforcada, já em adiantado estado de putrefacao.
"I guess it is heat time. When I passed here earlier, there was also some excit ment in the air, and it was exactly under these same ig trees that I heard a moan of female cat being raped y some perverted cat," said Andre jocosely. "But is that the way? C ts and monkeys at the same time?" asked Chain with air of incredulity. "I think so," answere Andre without conviction, and concluded: "The ani als are not wise in this matter." They had already co ered more than half of the slope. A few minutes mor they would be approaching the "Triumph Arch", they ould be free of the dangers of the night, since they w uld be under the protection of the small Military Guar that served the community of Babilonia Hill. As exp cted, there were no soldiers in sight. They crossed t e bridge, entered Cardoso Aguiar Street, and as they were almost at their homes, Andre began to talk with redoubled energy. Under a strong light of a pole in th quiet street, the young men discussed once more thei tactics for the game later in the day, and before And could start another topic, Chain freed himself from h s friend and ran home. Andre also went home and since here was no one else awake to talk to besides his dog, e fell into his bed. He slept like a shipwrecked man, dragging with him the last mysteries of the night. Three days after the i cident with the monkeys, as Andre was returning fro his university, he saw with great alarm and horror, d ctors from the sao Zacarias Hospital and the rescue quad workers withdrawing from a rope under the fig ees, the same fig trees of the monkeys of the last Fri ay, the corpse of a woman strangled and in a late St ge of decay.
The original title of this short story is "Recordacties da Lad ira do Leme" Willer de Oliveira (b. 1954) was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the son of an Army ieutenant. He studied chemistry at Rio de Janeiro Federal University and worked for several years in Rio and rena, SP. In 1985 he went to Virginia Tech, Virginia, on a scholarship, where he graduated with a MS degree in orest Products and a PhD in Materials Science. In 1990 he attended a Writer Workshop in Blacksburg, VA and ince then wrote his first book of short stories, The Dress and Other Stories, the collection from which the above st ry is taken. He is looking for a publisher. He works as a Chemical Engineer and lives in Mt. Pleasant, South Caroli a. He can be reached at home willerl@home.com, or at work wxdeoli@westvaco.com BRAZZIL =NOVEMBER 1999
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Mato Grosso has the best fishing rivers in the world, and is the residence for many of the remaining Brazilian Indians. It's a land with richer fauna diversity than the Amazon and a place where human lives sometimes are worth very, very little.
Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul are separate states, although until the late '70s this region was all Mato Grosso state. The vast wetlands of the Pantanal extend across pars of both states. MATO GROSSO There's a well-known story about a naturalist in the Mato •Grosso. Disoriented by the sameness of the forest, the naturalist asked his Indian guide—who had killed a bird, put it in a tree and, incredibly, knew where to return for it at the end of the day—how he knew where the tree was. 'It was H the same place' the Indian replied. To begin to appreciate the Mato Grosso's inaccessibility and vastness, read the classic Brazilian Adventure, by Peter Fleming. It also happens to be one of the funniest travel books ever written. Flemingtells the story of hi s quest to find the famous British explorer Colonel Fawcett, who disappeared in the Mato Grosso in 1925 while searching for the hidden city of gold. For a more scientific report on the , region, see Mato Grosso: Last Virgin Land, by Anthony Smith. Mato Grosso means bundu, bush, savannah, outback; an undeveloped thick scrub. Part of the highland plain that runs through Brazil's interior, the Mato Grosso is a dusty land of rolling hills and some of the best fishing rivers in the world, such as the Araguaia. This is also the land where many of Brazil's remaining Indians live. They are being threatened by rapid agricultura development (which is bringing in poor peasants from the south and Northeast who are desperate for land) and by a _government, which is less than fully committed tc guaranteeing them their rights. In 1967, an entire government agency, the Indian Protective Service, was dissolved. No less than 134 of its 700 employees were charged with crimes and 200 were fired. In two years, the director had nunitted 42 separate crimes against Indians, including **AK 32
collusion in murder, torture and the'itlegal sale of land. There's a saying in Brazil that 'progiess is roads'. Key routes such as the Belem to Brasilia and the Cuiaba to Santarem roads have catalyzed the opening of vast stretches of the Mato GrO3S0 to cattle, rice, cotton, soybean, corn and manioc, as well as to mining. Goias, where wealthy ranchers fly from one end of their tinge tracts of land to the other in private planet, is one of the fastest- gnawing agricultural belts in the ccuntry. Cuiaba is i frontier boomtown. New roads have opened the lands ofthe Mato Grosso and southern Amazon. bringing to the area pea ;ants desperate for land, and increasing exports of agricultural procucts. Since the 1950s, Cuiaba's population has been growing at 14% anaually, a national record. It is the boomtown in the country of boomtowns. In 1969 Cuiaba gct its first TV channel, the litmus test of progress in Brazil. It was named the boca do sertdo (mouth of the backlands). This is Brazil's frontier, the Wild West, where an often-desperate struggle forland between peasants, Indians, miners, rich landowners and hired guns leads to frequent killings and if eLal land expropriation. - !MARA, Founded in 1'19 by gold and sla‘ e-seeking.bandeirantes, Cuiaba has 1i- fie historic or cultural heritaiae to interest travelers. However, it's a lively place and a good base for excursions into the Pantanal and Chapada dos .iiiiimardes, as well as a rest stnp on the way to the Amazon and expeditions to Parque Nac- onal das Emas and the Rio Araguaia. The city is ictually two sister cities separa-ed by the Rio Cuiaba: old Cu ia ad and Varzea Grande (where the airport is located, by the Rio Cuiaba). We found the people here incredibly friencfiy and gracious. History A Paidisza,Pascoal Moreira Cabral, was hinting Indians 4., 410
BRAZZIL -NOVEMBER 1999
/along the Rio Cuiaba when he found gold in 1719. A gold rush followed, but many gold-seekers never reached Cuiaba. Traveling over 3000 km from sao Paulo by river took five months; along the way there was little food, many mosquitoes, rapids, portages, disease and incredible heat. There was usually one flotilla of canoes each year, bringing supplies, slaves and miners and returning with gold. Although there were several hundred people in a flotilla, including many soldiers to protect the canoes against Indian attacks, the expeditions often failed. With the end of the gold boom and the decay of the mines, Cuiaba would have disappeared, except that the gold was never completely exhausted (garimpeiros still seek their fortunes today); also, the soil along the Rio Cuiaba allowed subsistence agriculture, while the river itself provided fish. •., As in many mining towns, there wastension here between Paulistas and recent Portuguese immigrants. In 1834, the small town was torn apart by the Rusga (Brawl), in which a nativist movement of Paulistas, inspired by wild rumors following Brazilian independence, slaughtered many Portuguese on the pretext that the victims wanted to return Brazil to Portuguese rule.
Santo Antonio de Leverger Santo Ant6nio de Leverger, Mato Grosso's cidade morena, is where Cuiabanos go for river-beaching from June to October. It's on the Rio Cuiaba. 28 km south of Cuiaba in the direction of Barao de Melgaco. Organized Tours Travel agencies in town arrange reservations, guides and transport for photo-safaris into the Pantanal or weekend trips to Chapada dos Guimardes, and can help with the logistics of more ambitious trips to the Parque Nacional das Emas. Ametur (6241000), Rua Joaquim Murtinho 242, close to Turimat, has been recommended. The tours are expensive (around $75 a day), but well organized. An alternative and relatively cheap excursion is with Joel Souza, a very enthusiastic guide who speaks fluent lgreja Nona
ra do Rosario
Information VTourist Office Funcetur (322-5363), the Mato Grosso tourist authority, is in the city center, in Praca da Reptiblica. The staff are helpful, speak English. and have information on hotels and pousadas in the Pantanal, The office is open Monday to Friday from 8 am to 6 pm. Money Bemat, the state bank, has an exchange on the corner of Rua Joaquim Murttnho and Avenida Getulio Vargas, which changes cash and travelers' checks; it's open from 10 am to 3 pm Monday to Friday. The Banco do Brasil, a bit further up Avenida Getnlio Vargas, also exchanges money.
English, German and Italian. His office (624-1386) is at Avenida Getnlio Vargas 155A, but he often meets incoming flights. Joel's two-day trips into the Pantanal cost around $120, including food, accommodation, transport and the boat ride—you won't find anything cheaper than this in Cuiaba or Pocone.
Post & Telephone The post office is in Praca da Republica, next to Turimat. The post° telefonico is on Rua Ballo de Melgaco, near the corner with Avenida Isaac Povoas.
Festival The Festa de Sao Benedito takes place during the first week ofJuly, at the Igrej a Nossa Senhora do Rosario and the Capela de Sao Benedito. The holiday has a more Umbanda than Catholic flavor; it's celebrated with traditional foods such as bola de (mei_ io and bola de arroz, and regional dances such as 0 Cururu, 0 Siriri, Dancas do Congo and dos Mascarados.
Health Remember to start taking your antimalarial tablets prior to visiting the Pantanal. Cuiaba's municipal hospital (321-7418) is on Avenida General Valle. Hospital Modelo (322-5599), a private clinic at Rua Comandante Costa 1262, is within walking distance ofthe Hotel Mato Grosso. Hospital Universidade (Jaime Muller), on Avenida CPA, is open only during business hours.
Museu do Indio Cuiaba's tourist brochures make much noise about satellite-tracking antennas, but the antennas are no big deal. The Museu do Indio (Rondon) is, however, played down. The museum has exhibits of the Xavantes, Bororos and Kara* tribes and is worth a visit. It is at the university, on Avenida Fernando Correia da Costa, and is open Monday to Friday from 8 to 11.30 am and 1.30 to 5.30 pm. The university also contains a small zoo. To get there, catch a No 133 bus, or any other 'Universidade' bus. on Avenida Tenente Coronel Duarte.
Market The market by the bridge that crosses the Rio Cuiaba is a good one, at least before and after the heat of the day. It's interesting not so much for buying as for looking at the people and their products. Try the waterfront bars for 4 drink afterwards.
BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
For Places to Stay see the book
Places to Eat Cuiaba offers some great fish dishes, including pacu assado corn farofa de couve, piraputanga assado and pirilo de Bagre try one at the floating restaurant Flutziante, next to Ponte Nova bridge. Six km from the center, it's complicated to reach by public bus. From the waterfront market, though, it's a 20-minute walk. The restaurant is open daily from 11 am to 11 pm. On Rua 13 Se Junho, next to the Casa do Artesao, 0 Re gionalissimo serves excellent regional food. The cost is $4 for buffet-style meals—lots of fish and the sweetest of sweets. It's open daily for lunch and dinner (closed on Mondays). In the center, a cheap, wholesome lunch spot with comida por kilo is Casa Branca, at Rua Comandante Costa 565. Vegetarians can lunch at Natztrama, on Rua Comandante Costa, near the Hotel Mato Grosso. In the evening, Choppdo, on Praca 8 de Abril, is always packed with locals, who come to drink the excellent chopp and to dine from the varied menu. Likewise, Tucanos Restaurante e Chopperia„Avenida CPA 674, has a good pizza and gets pretty lively, even during
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the week. Entertainment When the sun sets and temperatures drop a bit, the city comes to life. A great place to go, especially if you spend only one night in Cuiaba, is Ninho's Bar, at Rua Laranjeiras 701. It has a spectacular view of the city, good chopp, and live music almost every night. There's a popular disco, Opera! ight, a stone's throw away, if you want a change of pace. MThings to Buy The Casa do Artesao, on Rua 13 de Junho, has lots of local handicrafts, including ceramics, woodcarvings, straw baskets, paintings and hammocks. The FUNAI Artindia store, at Rua Barao de Melgaco 3944, is open from 8 to 11.30 am and 1.30 to 6 pm on weekdays. It has Indian baskets, bows and arrows, jewelry and headdresses for sale. Guarana. Mattes, at Avenida Isaac Povoas 611, has lots of guarana products. ZFor Getting There & Away Read the Book CHAPADA DOS GUIMARAES After the Pantanal, Chapada dos Guimarks is the region's leading attraction. This rocky plateau is 800 meters higher than and 64 km northeast of Cuiaba, in a beautiful region reminiscent ofthe American southwest. Surprisingly different from the typical Mato Grosso terrain, this place is not to be missed. We spent two days here but would have loved to spend a week. Veti de Noiva & the Mirante Lookout The two exceptional sights in the Chapadas are the 60-meter Veu de Noiva (Bridal Veil) falls, and the Mirante lookout, the geographic center of South America. Both are quite easy to find. Six km beyond Salgadeira, you'll see the turn-off for Veu de Noiva, on your right. It's well signposted. Alta Mira is eight km from the town ofChapada. Take the last road in Chapada on yourright and go eight km; you'll see a dirt road with a sign saying 'Centro Geodesico'. Turn right and drive the couple of hundred meters to the rim of the canyon. The view is stupendous; offto your right you can see the Cuiaba skyline. Start walking downhill over the bluff, slightly to your right. A small trail leadsto a magical lookout, perched on top of rocks with the canyon below. This is Chapada's most dazzling place. ' On your way back to town, stop offat Alambique Jamaca, a small distillery which produces some fine local cachaca. There's a sign, so you can't miss it. They produce one with a special root that is renowned as an aphrodisiac. Jose, who makes it, is living proof of its efficacy—he and his wife have seven kids. ZOther Attractions Driving to Chapada, you pass Rio dos Peixes, Rio Mutaca and Rio Claro, which are all popular weekend bathing spots for Cuiabanos. The sheer, 80-meter drop called Porta° do Inferno (Hell's Gate) is also unforgettable. Take a waterfall shower at Cachoeirinha and peek into the chapel of Nossa Senhora de Santana, a strange mixture of Portuguese and French baroque. A hike to the top of Chapada's highest point, Morro de Sao Jeronimo, is well worthwhile. A bit further out of town is the 1100-meter-long Aroe Jani cavern and, in another cave, the Lagoa Azul (Blue Lake). Organized Tours If you don't have a car, your best bet is to take
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excursion with Jorge Mattos, who runs Ecoturismo (791-1393), on Praca Dom Wunibaldo in the town ofChapada. Jorge, an excellent, Englisb-speakmg guide who really knows his way around Chapada, meets the 8 am bus from Cuiaba every day, when it arrives at Q.30 am. He runs three excursions: to the national park (whic:a contains the most spectacular waterfalls), to the Blue Lake and the Aroe Jani cavern, and to ; the stone city. To the park and the stone city, it costs around $15; to :he lake and caveni it's $30—much cheaper than if you organized something s milar in Cuiaba). Unfortunately, if Jorge doesn't find at least five people, the price goes up. All tours :ake between four and six hours, depending on the enthusiasm of the group. If you want to spend jest a day there, he can have you on the last bus back to Cuiaba (at 6 pm). An alternative is to hire a car and explore the area on your own, stopping at different rock -brmations, waterfalls and bathing pc ols at your leistre. If you do have the use of a car, drop by the Secretaria de Tarismo (on the left-hand side as . you drive into town, just before the square), open from 8 to 11 am ar d Ito 4 pm on weekdays. A useful map is available— e you'll need it! Places to Stay 'There is good camping at Salgadeira, just before the climb into Chapada, but i you Want to rough it, you can ; basically camp anywhere. Lodgirg in the area rznges from the very basic but friendly Hotel Sdo Jose (79 - 1152), at Rua Vereador Jose de Souza 50, which charges $3 Der person, to the Hotel Pousacla do Chapadu (791-1171), a eoupl e of km from town on the ' road to Cuiaba, charging S50 a double (book at Selva Turismo in Cuiaba). In between are a couple of good alternatives. The very popular Thrismo Hotel (791-1176; fax 791-1383) is at Rua Fernando Correa Costa 1065, and is run by a German family. Single 'double apartamentoy here cost $18/25. The Hotel Qumco (791-1404). at Praca Dom Wunibaldo 464 (next to.: Ecoturismo), has singles/do Jbles for $9.50/19. All of these places, with the exception of the Pousada da Chapada, are close to the rodoviaria.
_ Places to Eat On the main praca, the Nivios has excellent regional food—all you can eat for $8. Also popular is 0 Mestrinho, at Rua Quince Ca ldas 119. The Turistno Hotel has a restaurant. "ZGetting There & Away Buses leave Cuiaba's ipdowdria for Chapada dos Guimardes every l'4 hours from 8 am to 6 pm. In the other direction, the first bus leaves Chapada dos Guirnaraes at 6 am and the last at 6 pm. The cosi is $3.50. CACERES ' The city of Caceres, founded in 1778 on the left bank Of.
BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
Cpriedeiras -Chasida dos Gamines the Rio Paraguai, is an access point for a number of Pantanal lodges and for San Mathias (in Bolivia). Caceres is 215 km from Cuiaba on BR-070, close to the Ilha de Taiama ecological reserve. Lots of travelers arrive with the misunderstanding that they'll be able to get a cement barge to Corumba. You'd have to be very lucky, and unless you have unlimited time to hang around, forget it. Even the port captain has no idea when the boats are likely to arrive. If you're going to Bolivia, get a Brazilian exit stamp from the Policia Federal office at Rua Antonio Joao 160. Places to Stay Caceres has a number of modest hotels and restaurants for visitors. The best cheapie near the bus station is the Capri Hotel (223-1771), at Rua Antonio Vargas 99. It has spacious, clean, air-conditioned rooms and friendly staff. Singles/ doubles cost $11/16. The Hotel Avenida (221-1553) is just around the corner, in Avenida 7 de Setembro. It charges $5 a head for basic quartos. Closer to the river, the Rio Hotel (221-1387), on Pra -a Major Joao Carlos, is a good option. Its apartamentos with fans cost $12/18 a single/double. You could also try the Hotel C'omodoro (221-1525), on Praca Duque de Caxias, with apartatnentos for $16725 a single/ double. The Hotel Barrandianho (221-2641, ext 3, or (011) 285-3022 in Sao Paulo), at the confluence of the Jauru and Paraguai rivers and 18 km from the Pirapitanga waterfalls, is 72 km and 2i/2 hours from Caceres by boat. Frontier Fishing Safari (011-227-0920 in Sao Paulo) is 115 km by boat from Caceres. Places to Eat A good fish restaurant, the Corimba is near the river, at the corner of Rua 6 de Outubro and Rua 15 de Nov embro. The in Praca Barao do Rio Branco, is a decent ehurrascaria. Getting There & Away Regular buses make the journey between Cuiaba and Caceres ($11 , three hours). To San Matias (in Bolivia), there is a daily bus, at 4 pm ($10, 4V2 hours). BARAD DE MELGACO Along with Caceres and Pocone, Barao de-Melgaco, 35 km southeast of Cuiaba, is a northern entrance into the Pantanal. Nearby, there are ruined fortresses from the Paraguayan wars, and Sia Mariana and Chacorore, two huge bays full of fish. Places to Stay The Nossa Senhora do Carmo Hotel (713-1141), at Avenida A Leverger 33, is 600 meters from the bus station. Double apartamentos are $20. The top-end place is the Baru° Tur Hotel (713-1166, or 322- 1568 in Cuiaba), which charges $70 a double. Getting There & Away There are two buses a day that make the three-hour. $11 trip from Cuiaba, leaving at 7.30 am and 3 pm.
BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
POCONE The northern entry point to the Pantanal from Cuiaba, Pocone marks the beginning of the Transpantaneira 'highway'. In May, the pink city of Pocone celebrates the week-long Semana do Fazendeiro e do Cavalo Panteiro with a cattle fair and rodeos. Most of the locals are descendants of Indians and blacks. Many have hunted the ono (jaguar) and have amazing stories to tell. They also wear some excellent straw hats! Orientation When you arrive at the rodovdiria, you are two km from the start ofthe dirt road. which becomes the Transpantaneira; the center of town is about halfway. To get there, turn left as you leave the bus station, walk the couple of blocks down to Rua Ant6nio Joao, then turn right and walk up six blocks--you'll be in the town square (more like a rectangle). The Hotel Skala is 100 meters to your right. On your left, behind the church, is the road that leads to the beginning of the Transpantaneira. There are a few pousadas here. " Places to Stay & Eat The Dormitorio Pocone. on Avenida Anibal de Toledo, near the rodoviciria, has basic, rundown rooms with fan for $6. The nearby Bare Restaurante 4 Rodas is better; good, cheap rooms with fan cost $8, including breakfast. They also serve over a dozen cheap, hearty dishes—all you can eat. In the middle of town is the Skala (7211407), Rua Mal Rondon 64. Rooms with fan start at $15/22. There are some rooms with bath, for the same prices. The best places to stay, especially if you intend to hitch on the Transpantaneira, are out of town, near the beginning of that road. The first one you'll pass is the Pousada Centro-Oeste (721-1220), on the right-hand side, which charges $15 a double (though they will bargain). The rooms with fan are a bit on the dingy side, but it's a friendly place, and serves a decentpratojeito. Just up the road, on the same side, is the Hotel Santa Cruz (721-1439), where, apartamentos cost $25 a double. A further 400 meters up', on the left-hand side, the Hotel Restaterante Aurora do Pantanal (721-1339) has spacious apartamentos with fan for $ 15125 a single/double. They also serve prato feito. Getting There & Away There are six buses a day from Cuiaba to Pocone, from 6 am to 7 pm, and six in the opposite direction, from 6 am to 7.30 pm. The 100-km, two-hour ride costs $5. The bus is often packed, so get a seat early ifyou want to appreciate the vegetation typical of the Pantanal 's outskirts:pequis, pitivas, babaczis, ipes and buritis. The bus passes the airport at Varzea Grande. THE PANTANAL The Amazon may have all the fame and glory, but the Pantanal is a far better place to see wildlife. In the Amazon, the animals hide in the dense foliage, but in the open spaces of the Pantanal, wildlife is visible to the most casual observer. It's not easy to get to, and almost impossible to do on the cheap, but if you like to see animals in their natural state, the Pantanal—with the greatest concentration of fauna in the New World—should not be missed. A vast wetlands in the center of South America, the Pantanal is about half the size of France—some 230,000 sq km. Something less than 100,000 sq km of this is in Bolivia and Paraguay; the rest is in Brazil, split between the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. The Pantanal (Terra de Ninguem, or Nobody's Land has few people and no towns. Distances are so great and ground transport so poor that people get around in small 35
airplanes or motorboats; 4WD travel is restricted by the around for water, sweating it out until the rains return. seasons. The only road that plunges deep into the ZWhen to Co the Transpantaneira. This raised dirt road sectione If possible, go during the dry season (from April to small, wooden bridges ends 145 km from Pocorie, at Porto' September/October). The best time to go birding is during Jofre. Only a third of the intended route from Pocone to the latter part ofthe dry season (July to September), when the Corumba has been completed, because of lack of fund; and birds are at their rookeries in great numbers, the waters have , se; ecological concerns. receded and the bright-green grasses pop up from the muck. The road and a strip of land on either side of 11 compris Temperatures are comfortable in the dry season—hot by day the Transpantanal national park. Although IBAMA is trying and cool by night—with plenty of rain. to expand its jurisdiction to protect the entire Pan-anal Flooding, incessant rains and heat make travel difficult region, it administers only one other park in the M ato Grosso during the rainy season (November to March), though not portion of the Pantanal: the Parque Nacional do Panran al without some special rewards: this is when the cattle and Matogrossense, which encompasses the old Card-.Card exotic wildlife of the Pantanal clump together on the small biological reserve. The rest of the Pantanal (around 90%) is islands. The heat peaks in November and December, when privately owned. temperatures over 40°C are common, roads turn to breakfast cereal, and the mosquitoes are fierce and out in force. Many hotels close at this time. The heaviest rains fall in February and March. Every decade or so, the flooding is disastrous, destroying both humans and animals. In 1988, the southern Pantanal was devastated :fazendas were destroyed, cattle and wild animals drowned and starved, and the city ofCorumba was submerged for weeks. Fishing is best during the first part of the dry season (April-May), when the flooded rivers settle back into their channels, but locals have been known to lasso 80-kg fish throughout the dry season and well into December. This is 4 some of the best fishing in the world. There are about 20 species of piranha, many vegetarian and all good eating, as well as the tasty dourado, a feisty 10 to 20-pounder. Other excellent catches include pacu, surubim, bagre, giripoca, Geography & Climate piraputanga, piapara, cachara, pirancajuva and pintado, to Although pantano means 'swamp' in both Spanish and name but a few. Portuguese, the Pantanal is not a swamp but, rather, a vast Although hunting is not allowed, fishing—with the alluvial plain. In geological terms, it is a sedimentary basin required permits—is encouraged. Fishing permits are of quaternary origin, the drying remains of an ancient inland available from the IBAMA offices in Cuiaba (644-1511) and sea called the Xaraes, which began to dry out, along with the Campo Grande (382-1802). Enthusiasts can study their quarry Amazon Sea, 65 million years ago. at Cuiaba- s fish market, located in the market near the bridge. First sea, then immense lake and now a periodically flooded plain, the Pantanal-2000 km from the Atlantic ZWhat to Bring Ocean yet just 100 to 200 meters above sea level i s bounided' You can't buy anything in the Pantanal, so come prepared. by higher lands: the mountains of the Serra de Maracaju to • vThe dry season is also the cooler season. Bring attire suitable the east, the Serra da B odoquena to the south, the Paraguayan 3 for hot (but not brutal) days, cool nights, rain and mosquitoes. and Bolivian Chaco to the west and the Serra dos Parecis and need sunscreen, sunglasses a hat and cool clothes, Serra do Roncador to the north. From these highlands, the sneakers or boots, light raingear, and something for the cool rains flow into the Pantanal, forming the Rio Paraguai and its evenings. Mosquito relief means long pants and long-sleeved tributaries (which flow south and then east, draining into the .1 • shirts, vitamin B12 and insect repellent. Autan is the Brazilian Atlantic Ocean between Argentina and Uruguay. brand recommended by eight out of 10 Pantaneiros, but During the rainy season (October to March), the n vers some travelers claim that the mosquitoes have become so flood their banks, inundating much ofthe low-lying P used to it that they've even started to like it! and creating cordilheiras (patches of dry land wIi Binoculars are your best friend in the Pantanal. Bring an animals cluster together). The waters reach their high alarm clock (to get up before sunrise) and a strong flashlight up to three meters—in January or February, then st (to go hunting for owls and anacondas after dark). Don't recede in March. This seasonal flooding has made system t forget plenty of film, a camera, a tripod and a long lens (300 farming impossible and has severely limited human incursions pirn is about right for wildlife). into the area. However, it does provide an enormously rich feeding ground for wildlife. Guities The floodwaters replenish the soil's nutrients, which If you want to enhance your Pantanal experience and would otherwise be very poor, due to the excessive drainage. money isn't a problem, a good guide can identify animal and The waters teem with fish, and the Donds provide excellent bird species, explain the diverse Pantanal ecology, and take ecological niches for many animals and plants. Enormous care of any hassles along the way. But you don't need a flocks of wading birds gather in rookeries several sq kat in guide—there's only one road to follow and the wildlife is area. hard to miss. Later in the dry season, the water recedes, the lgtoüs Iflanguage or time is a problem and money isn't, write to and marshes dry out, and fresh grasse ; emerge on the savarinalt Douglas Trent of Focus Tours (612) 892-7830), 14821 (the Pantanal's vegetation includes savannah, forest atid Hillside Lane, Burnsville, MN 55306, USA; in Brazil, contact meadows, which blend together, often with no cleardivisions). Focus (031) 373-3734), Belo Horizonte, MG. Focus The hawks and jacares compete for fish in the remaining specializes in nature tours and Doug is active in trying to ponds. As the ponds shrink and dry up, the jacares crawl preserve the Pantanal. He has all the birdcalls on tape, and
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BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
plays them over,a loudspeaker to attract the real thing. Places to Stay Pantanal accommodation is divided into four general categories: fazendas, pousadus, pesqueiros and hotels. Fazendas are ranch-style hotels which usually have horses and often boats for hire. Pousadas range from simple accommodation to top-end standard. Pesqueiros are hangouts for fisherfolk, and boats and fishing gear can usually be rented from them. A botel (a contraction of boat and hotel) is a floating lodge. Reservations are needed fOr ATI 'accommodation. especially in July, when lots of Brazilian tourists holiday here. Unfortunately, nearly all accommodation is expensive. Rates usually include transport by plane, boat or 4WD from Corumba or Cuiaba, good food and modest lodging. More often than not, reservations are handled by a travel agent and must be paid for in advance. It's also a good idea to call ahead for weather conditions—the rainy and dry seasons are never exact, and proper conditions can make or break a trip. For much more on Places to Stay read the book For Getting There & Away, Getting Around, and Rental also see the book Excerpts from Brazil - A Travel Survival Kit 3rd edition, by Andrew Draffen, Chris McAsey, Leonardo Pinheiro, and Robyn Jones. For more information call Lonely Planet: (800) 275-8555. Copyright 1996 Lonely Planet Publications. Used by permission.
The Indians of Mato Grosso To reach Cuiaba, the Portuguese had to cross the lands of several groups of Indians, many of whom were formidable warriors. They included the Caiaper (who even attacked the settlement at Goid ), the Bororo of the Pantanal, the Parecis (who were enslav d to mine the gold), the Paiagua (who defeated several large Portuguese flotillas and caused periodic panic in Cuiabd itself) and the Guaicuru (skilled riders and warriors with m ny years' experience in fighting the Europeans). As a result of eing nomadic people in a region without abundant food, th Guaicuru women performed self-abortions, refusing t have children until they were near menopause. On 1 nger journeys, when the women stayed behind, the Guaicuru men took male transvestites with them as sexual partners. Both women and men could divorce easily, and often did, several times a year. Despite impo ant victories, many Indians had been killed or enslaved. y the time the gold boom began to fade, in the mid-1700s. Today, however, several tribes remain in northern Mato Gr sso, living as they have for centuries. The Erikbatsa, noted for their fine featherwork, live near Fontanilles and J ima, the Nhambikuraa are near Padroal and the Cayabi live near Juara. There are also the Indians of Aripuana park and, of course, the tribes under the care of FUNAI at Xingu park The only tribe left in the Pantanal to still subsist by hunting and fishing is the Bororo. You probably won't be able to overcome FUNAI's obstacles to visiting the Indians, but if you want to visit FUNAI, the office (321-2325) is at Rua SA° Joaquim 1047. The condition of the building speaks volumes about the government's lack of concern about Indian affairs.
Driving down the Transpantaneira It is, of course, impossible to know everything about travel in the Pantanal, but bas d on several trips and conversations with literally dozens of Pantanal experts, we think the best way to visit the Pantanal if you're in it for the wildlife and your budget is limited, is driving down the Transpantaneira, preferably all the way to Porto Jofre Why the Transpantaneira? First, it's the best place to see wildlife—especially in the meadows near the end of the road, at Porto Jofre. Second, renting a car in Cuiabd and driving down the Transpantaneira is less expensive than most Pantanal excursions, which require flying, boating, or hiring a guide with a 4WD. And third, if you're on a very tight budget, you can take a bus to Pocone and hitch from there (it's pretty easy), if necessary returning to Pocone for cheap accommodation. The Transpantaneira is the best place we've seen in South America for observin wildlife which is drawn to the roadway at all times of the year. During the wet season, this roadway is an island and during t e dry season the ditches on either side of the road serve as artificial ponds, drawing birds and game towards the tourist. Thousands of birds appear to rush out from all sides, ocelots and capybara seem fri zen by the headlights, and roadside pools are filled with hundreds of dark silhouettes and gleaming, redjacare eyes. It's very e y to approach the wildlife: you can walk within spitting range of thejacare, and if you're crazy enough to go cheek to cheek ith one, you can spot the fleas which live off the lachrymal fluid of their eyeballs. If you are driving from Cuiabd, get going early. Leave at 4 am to reach the Transpan aneira by sunrise, when the animals come to life, and have a full day's light in which to drive to Porto Jofre. The approach road to the Transpantaneira begins in Pocone (two hours from Cuia ), by the Texaco station. Follow the road 17 km south of Pocone. There's a sign in the direction of the Hotel Aurora. The official Transpantaneira Highway Park st and a guard station (where you pay a small entry fee) at the entrance, but we've seen erds of ema, many birds endjacare well before the park entrance. Thirty km down the road, stop off at Bar Figueira and mee Zico, the 'pet' jacare. Stopping to see wildlife and slowing down,for 118 rickety little wooden bridges, 's easy to pass the whole day driving the Transpantaneira—arriving at the expensive Hotel Santa Rosa in time for dinner, soon after sunset. Weekdays are best if you're driving, as there's less traffic kicking up dust. Hitching down the Transpantaneira is easy enough—it's hitching back that's dif wait. There aren't a lot of cars or trucks, but many stop to give rides. The best time to hitch is on weekends, when the locals d 'ye down the Transpantaneira for a day's fishing. Make sure you get on the road early. We've done the entire route from Porto J fre to Pocone several times with all sorts of folk: a rancher and his family, two American birders, an IBAMA park ranger, a ph to-safari guide, some Italian tourists, an ex-poacher and a photojournalist doing an article onjacare poaching. Wildlife is abundant along the length of the Transpantaneira, but reaches a climax in the meadows about 10 to 20 km before Porto Jofre. The flora here is less arid, less scrubby. The birdsjacare and families o capybara scurry into the ponds along the road. On our last trip, we saw several toucans, flocks of luminescent-green parrots an six blue hyacinth macaws in the big trees that divide the great meadows. There are enormous flocks of birds and individual re resentatives of seemingly every species.
BFtAZZIL -NOVEMBER 1999
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Music I I
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rig After years on the fringe, one Los Angeles band is seizing upon its exotic possibilities. BRUCE GILMAN Los Angeles is a city with more than a thousand liveentertainment options every night and several thousand armed incentives that make staying home an appealing alternative. Anyone striving for self-expression in L.A. can call themselves an artist by performing on a sidewalk, in a bookstore, or paying a club owner for the opportunity. If there is anything good about the music scene here, it's that weak bands die off quickly. Any act that lasts five years has to be relatively strong by virtue of its very existence. Singer and lyricist Katia Moraes has been active on this scene since the early nineties. Calling friends to come out to gigs and mailing flyers, she has worked hard for commercial success. Year after year, night after night, the various incarnations of Katia's band played the same circuit to the same crowd of faces without any sign that all this dues-playing would bring anything more than a typecasting ofher group as a small venue act. She could fill clubs, but not concert halls or arenas. In the last year, however, Moraes's new group has burst onto the broader music scene with their debut CD, Ginga. Sambaguru is a consummate ensemble of musicians from. Brazil, India, Sri Lanka, and the United States that plays an open minded and wide-ranging blend of original music. Their rich and extensive repertoire arises from the huge diversity in approaches and techniques that distinguish the personal and regional backgrounds of each band member. It is a vibrant band that has its own lively identity as well as a rapport that borders on the telepathic. Listeners can easily detect how stylistic inner tensions among these players from widely separated areas of the globe unite to express a remarkable depth and quality. Gigging together for the last
BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 19. 9
two years with almost no lapses, these players have opened their ears and sharpened their reflexes. In live performance they demonstrate a spontaneous quick ear equilibrium that both amazes and intoxicates listeners' eyes and ears with the color and sound of a cinematic landscape. The repertoire, pulsing and driving with its jumping skein of rhythmic counterpoint, integrates a variety of sources and offers listeners dozens of opportunities to experience a group with prodigious chops that plays w 'th a collective feel. The metamorp osis of Sambaguru as an ensemble began in the late eighties w en Tony Shogren, who was playing with Sonia Santos and the Obathala Band, called Bill Brendle inviting him to fill e recently vacated keyboard chair. Brendle was at that time wo king with a number ofjazz groups and was thoroughly frustra d with playing what had come to be called "wave jazz." 'He ensed that Brazilian music was the bright star that would sho him the way out ofthe L.A. jazz scene, but allow him to remain living in Los Angeles. Brendle says, "I took the job to ma tam my sanity." Through his w rk with Santos, Brendle met percussionist Me ia Noite (anoth r Sergio Mendes alumnus) who was putting together a new bailid called Midnight Drums in which Katia Moraes was singing. Brendle joined Midnight Drums and had been working clo ely with the singer for over a year when Moraes's own gr up, The Rio Thing, started breaking up. Tony Shogren (w o was then playing drums for Moraes) called Brendle and inked him to join a new project Moraes was starting. The three of them lured Hussain Jiffry to fill the bass chair, and Brasil Nuts was born. The Brasil Nuts band gigged constantly, playing small clubs three or four nights a week, performing cover tunes from the repertories of Ipjavan and Elis Regina as well as leftover arrangements froth The Rio Thing. The material was good, but after a couple of years it became a little tiring for both the players and their fllowers. Brendle wanted to see the band grow. He was at th point where either the band was going to mature musically r he wasn't going to continue with it. Says Brendle, "Every° e agreed because they were also tired of i ." At this juncture,
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he and Moraes collaborated on a tune they titled "Tonto" for one person to cover all these bases. Besides, artists who (Dizzy). Audience response to the tune brought them the represent themselves in L.A. aren't always taken seriously by validation and encouragement they needed to continue. They club managers and festival promoters, especially if that artist found that by tacking Brazilian dance grooves onto their own is a singer, female, and Brazilian. Sambaguru's debut CD on Sugarcane Records, Ginga, is a material, they could get paid to play original compositions in the same clubs and for the same audiences that had previously vigorous mixture of bold rhythms, gutsy writing, and innovarequested tunes. Taking advantage of this surprising situation, tive arranging that conveys an atmosphere of effervescent excitement. Parallels between Ten Feet and the Sun and the they wrote even more. The band's only CD, Ten Feet and the Sun, was recorded new CD can hardly be drawn. Ginga is a furious crossin studio with almost all parts tracked as if the band were pollination of distinct styles and musical innovation with playing a live show. Some keyboard parts were overdubbed, infinitely more musical value and insight. It distinguishes itself but there was no layering, or stacking, of strings, piano parts, by the consistent care given to every phase of production, from the amount of time devoted to recording—one part at a time in or solos. The CD reminds the listener more of a live concert than a studio session. The tunes are early Brendle/Moraes compositions that lack the sophisFofocada tication of their later work, but their intention was BrendlelMoraes simply to produce a demo, a calling card to give to club owners to get more gigs. After almost 80 Beto chegou aqui se pre vadiar Beto came here just to loaf around percent of the demo was recorded, the band realized Ferias papal deu grana pro passe On vacation with daddy s money that a few hundred dollars more—for packaging Mandou ver comprando de cartao He went to town with his credit card\ and liner notes—would allow them to produce a SO pensa em transar Thinking only of getting laid CD, if for nothing else, to sell at gigs. Thus, the demo became a CD, and although Ten Feet and the Lia chegou e veio aqui pro estudar Lia came here to study Sun received good reviews when it was released in Mas foi no samba se pra comemorar But went to the samba to celebrate 1996, it remains an incomplete work in progress, Era tanta fofocada, inna „ And, sister, there was so much gossip flawed by embryonic writing and a lack ofresources Nao deu pro aguentar She couldn't stand it to take production to a higher level. Over the next two years, the Brendle and Moraes Belo tá trarisando corn a... Beto is doing it with who? writing collaboration continued to change and delh, mas ela é minha amigo... Hey, wait. She's my girlfriend! velop, as did the evolution of the group. The other Ai que gente pobre de espirito Those mean spirited ones players were encouraged to bring in new instruFala hoje, nao fala amanha Talk to you today, won't tomorrow ments, to contribute their own compositions, and to E o que e pior, morre de inveja, And what's worse, they're dying of envy, become visually and vocally more active in live Sable? You know? performance. Moraes was interested and altogether Que droga! What a drag! accepting of everyone's talents and wanted each A Disneylandia daqui 6 tao fraca member of the group to shine in his own way. A Disneyland is so boring Esse povo é muito trio dancer/background vocalist left the band, but a People are so cold Esse negocio de lever rnulta And this business of getting a ticke percussionist and a guitar player were recruited. Porque bebe cerveja na praia For drinking beer on the beach These changes triggered the next step in the budE atravessa fora do faixa 6 tao idicta, And for jaywalking is idiotic ding group's identity—figuring out exactly what to Nao 6? Isn't it? call themselves. Que droga! What a drag! Clarifying the name Sambaguru, percussionist Kevin Ricard explains, "The music that we play is Fofoca Gossip danceable. It obviously makes you want to move, E da-lhe critica, dá-lhe preconr,eito More criticism ahd prejudice because it's rooted not only in folkloric music, Jeitinho brasileiro de nao ter respeito The Brazilian temperament shows no respect which is tied to dance anyway, but also in your soul, in the spirit. We're playing our music to lighten your A Lia ta transando corn... Lia is doing it with whom? spirit. There is a cerebral element—chord structure, - lh, ja falei que ela 6 minha amiga... 7, Hey, I already said that she is my girlfriend! arrangements—you know? But the bottom line is, Ai que gente pobre de espirito, meu Deus... My God, what nasty people you've got to make your butt shake. It's all about E quem vai negar? And who can deny making people happy." Que ao fofocar Those who gossip Sambaguru, a six-as-one collective that is greater 0 yovo tern so iriveja? Are full of envy than the sum of its parts, is Katia Moraes, vocals; Sanjay Divecha, guitars; Hussain Jiffry, bass; Tony Shogren, drums and percussion; Kevin Ricard, percussion; and Bill Brendle, keyboards, accordion, and the studio with melody changes up to the final cut of the cavaquinho. Although these musicians record and tour exten- vocal—to the recording engineer's techniques and the quality sively with today's top artists (see biographical sketches be- of his recording equipment. "In general, the recording is a low), the idea of a group identity appealed to them, as it gave constant letting go of the ego," says Moraes. "This is about the the players creative control of the music and the chance to songs, about a cohesive sound, and not about someone taking express their individual voices. Says Brendle, "When you're a lot of glorious solos." On Ginga, the six sources of Sambaguru working for someone else, you're a hired gun and have to amalgamate in a fusion that clearly demonstrates how well shape the sound and interpret tunes the way the boss hears musicians from different corners of the world can work tothem. He's paying you to deliver what he wants. With gether, especially when they have Brazilian music as the center Sambaguru those kinds of limitations have vanished. All new of their magnetic field. Ginga contains 13 original songs stylistically ranging from ideas can be and are brought to the table. We shape the sound and choose whatever directions or opportunities gratify us. the serenity and subtle intensity of an afa re titled "Sarando" (Healing) to a catchy choro called "Pra Tocar Pandeiro" (To This band is our baby." In addition to their musical roles, each member ofthe group Play Pandeiro) to the humorous samba-reggae "Fofocada" has also assumed specific adjunct responsibilities in relation to (Gossip) with its strains of California surf music. Ginga's the band's business affairs: accounting, contracting, schedul- strongest offering, and the last song the band decided to ing, bookings, public relations, and media contacts. Moraes include on the CD, is "Convite Pra Bituca" (Invitation for had been handling all these arrangements, but it was difficult Bituca). The piece is dedicated to Milton Nascimento and 40
BRAZZIL -NOVEMBER 1999
Eu nunca achei Ube fosse fad De tocar essebarato,aqui Meu Deus do ceu Me deu uma forcinha pra eu ver e a Que se eu insistir tentando eu voti •E tambem me deu uns amigos, paciencia e murk) tino Eu you melhorar Parque na minha vida etásetque -thelhor que veneer
thought it would be easy this little thing But it in heaven _ Oave e the courage to see and learn That I rkeep trying, I Will play And e also gave Me Some friends Patience and discretion - win improve Buse in my life; I already know -_ that se tore important than sticceedirig
,.
Pensando-bem fa! ja fenteT Tocar piano, viola°, tudo pre me MoStrar
Thinking it over, Netted To play plot% guitar; all to show off •Mas agora 6 diferente • But this time it different ue eu s6 toco esse patideiropra me alegrar I play the pendeiro only to make myself Brevemente eu you ao Rio Soon ill go back to Rio Vou tocar pro meu padrinho And play for my godfather !, „Val que ele acha que 6 melhor eu me casar He might thlnictatlshoUIdjustgetman Nilo faz mal, aprendi It doesn't mattoratowAhat I've learned Eu toco pre set feliz I play 'ust toimake Myself happy
ConvIte pra Bituca Brendle/Moraes (Para Milton Nascimento) Abro os bragos prat receberyode Canto e danco que a vida epra viver Abro os brews pra receber woe Canto a danco que a vida pra viver- 7 Ed you camirthando è beira-mar You là thofeliz pra The buscar Cf.sar o sett corpo e o coracao, Deese dot que atormenta sua alma -- Canto e danco que a vide e pre viver
Invitation for Bit (For Milton Nlascitht open my arms to receive you I sing and dance because life is to be lived I open my arms to receive you sing and dance becaude life is to be lived
.:1 Walk by the sea I go there happily to find you To heal your body and your heart, , Of this pain that torments your soutj, .1 sing and 40#0e because lit6IS tob
- A WOZ que canta abate The voice thattings and ploY8 IlIcendeia os batuqueiros do rneu peito, :Bets fire to my beating heart E ;erre estrelas pets minha boce afora lAnd starg'stream from my mouth Oca era minha vida antes de urn batuque '."Empty was my life dance Antes de urn l3ituca Before Bituca...,. .• ••
Sarando DiyechatMoraes
Quando
erssequaepoesuspou de lnim asset, .
!eve Possessed me my pain e Wheeling On love comes to shine on you , It ayes nothing hidden E rything exposed
i) al a: Sotnea; 1": 14: rb°niotd: e'letP—debt (1slvria aevnrdedinl oPe'lrhm aizem illiunl 'roiriddar er''quintal A butterfly poses on a fence ,4 )/olicae. oulha e chore VVi see and cry without understanding All the world is close eernnsa und° éebectrn ue' Waves break and clouds , r P°r TRassamuebram e nstw eb'e canto des7„ Pass - alder Allihings smile °4:00
BRAZZIL - N OVEMBER 1999
Idea lxita a do coractio Sara eperdoa settlers Odio .0) sugar escraviao kalma é arnica datalma
A gentl breeze is blowing from your heart Healing and forgiving Hate is wrenching slavery Tranquility and your soul are friends
o azul a o verde, 'ague do mar 'Ea) seu abraco arne abencoar
Blue and green, water of the sea And your hug blessing me •
propelled by a drum groove Shogren brought back from Minas Gerais. Playing a surdo-type drum called caixa de folio, percussionist Kevin Ricard seamlessly weaves the rhythm into the tune's larger fabric and renders a sort of rhythmic Rorschach test. "Convite Pra Bituca" features three briliait guitar parts played by Heitor TP whose aggregate rhydutiic complexities are better listened to than described. Also, joining Sambaguru on Ginga are Steve Tavaglione on fltes and synthesizers, Justo Almario on flute and clarinet, anc Cassio Duarte on pandeiro. What is unusual about Ginga is that it is almost impossible to classify. One cannot simply categorize it as pop, world beat, Brazilian pop, world beat pop, or any other one denomination. Says drummer Tony Shogren, "Sambaguru is much more world influenced than Katie's last band. We're incorporating many more instruments and getting out from behind our instruments, our safe zones." Brendle feels this is one of the reasons the band has had a hard time acquiring good management and a good record deal. "No one knows exactly what to do with us.' Ginga confirms that the future of eclectic, vibrant music lies with the independent labels who have always been the first to recognize and record real talent. Ricard points outs "There is a growing backlash to the way the industry has been concentrated in four or five goliath companies. People are fed up with how corporatized and formulized the industry has become. It has created a real creativity crisis. But with the `indies' (independent record companies) and downlpadable music, the situation is changing daily." Sambaguru has plans to include more traditional Brazilian percussion instruments and exploit their acoustic perfOrmance possibilities to create as warm a sound as possible. They also intend to move in unexplored compositional directions and toward new sounds, possibly incorporating more African and Indian elements. "But we have to do this in the right way," says Sanjay Divecha. "I have too much respect for classical Indian music to fake it. What is most important to me is getting the music out there for people to hear. The studio is fun, but when we're playing live, there is a chemistry that constantly change our music, and we begin to hear things we haven't actually played yet. These songs, even though they've already been recorded, are still changing. They sound different live than they do on the recording. Things change for the better." As these words are written, the most successful year of Katia Moraes's career in terms of artistic achievement and popular recognition is drawing to a close. It hardly seems possible that a full decade has elapsed since her arrival from Rio. Sambaguru has responded to the challenges of its singer with a creativity and skill that is only possible with the highest caliber working bands. With Ginga, Sambaguru has produced a meaningful musical landscape and situated themselves at an arresting vantage point. It is a recording with depth, richness, and color, delivered from a unique perspective. And with Sambaguru, Katia Moraes has arrived at her optimum musical setting, an inspiring setting that has taken her to the threshold of a difficult art—and art it is, albeit at the level of alchemy. • Web sites of interest: Katia Moraes http://artmedia.net/katiarnoraes.html Tony Shogren http://home.earthlink.net/--shogy/index.html 'Wave jazz is a derogatory term that developed in reaction to the gutless Kenny G style of soft jazz fusion iq which formats, grooves, and order of solos are all dreadfully predictable and that a particular Southern California radio station airs continuously. Bruce Gilman, music editor for Brazzil, received his Masters degree in music from California Institute of the Arts. He leads the Brazilian jazz ensemble Axe and plays cuica for escola de samba MILA. You can reach him through his e-mail: cuica@interworld.net 42
Katie Moraes began her career in kip de-Janeiro where she per formed in musical revues and recorded background vocals for top Brazil-.. ian acts like Rita Lee and Banda Cheiro de Amor. After moving to Los Angeles in 1990, Moraes started lending her voice to films and television for dubbing and 'voice-overs." About M oraes.the Los Angeles Times says,: "She comes on stage like an explosion, herboØy in constant motion, her voice excited and dynamic." Kevin Ricard, an intensely talented percussfortist whose family's, roots lie in the Louisiana bayou country, has- kiared and appeared on!.j recordings with scores of musical luminaries—Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Kenny Loggins, Stevie Wonder, Bette Midler, Paula Abdul, Sergio Mendes, The Temptations, Roberta Flack, Lionel Richie, anderosby, Stills & Nastfl among others. Ricard's ability to fragment the beat and increase rhythmic pressure is especially gripping, potent. Interacting with th e other Sambaguru musicians, he infuses each performance with a special vibrancy, conjuring up the effect of power wedded to relaxation. Guitar player Sanjay Divecha, a native , credits his family for his early appreciation of music and fondly recalls:Childhood memories of his grandfather playing Indian folks songs on the harmonium. When Divecha was 8 years old, he began formal musical training on the tabla, gravitating eventually to the sitar. After his exposure to North American rhythm and blues and English rock 'rf roll, Divecha tot* up guitar. At the age of 17 he was touring India with his own band, and by the time he had, finished college, Divecha was earning his living composing jingles for radioil and television commercials. In 1987 he moved to Californialthentis4 eclectic approach and forcefully mature playing enabled him to obtain work as a recording session musician. Divecha has recorded with world:: renowned West African vocalist Angeligue Kidjo. Sri Lankan bassist Hussain Jiffry began histrusical path by singing in his school choir and by age 10 had taken up the piano, switching to the, accordion at 12. When he was 17, he realized his real passion and talent lie in the electric bass. In 1982, Jiffry was invited to tour Europe with a rhythm and blues band, eventually spending six years on the European club circuit. He moved to Los Angeles in 1988 where his reputation as one of the most authoritative and absorbingly original base players keeps him busy freelancing Jiffry's career, which continues to develop, includes countless performances with some of the scene's most respected musicians, including Tom Scott, Kenny Kirkland, Chakalthart, and Whitney Houston. Jiffry is currently touring with Sergio Mendes. Drummer and percussionist Tony Shogren is the springboard both rhythmically and emotionally for Sambaguru. He plays with the same distinctive power and originality as his teachers—Alex Acuria, David Garibaldi, and Virtnie Colaiuta. Shogren began studying drums when he, was five years old and played his first professional gig at 12. When he wasp; 15, he moved from Fresno, California, to SoutitAmerica where he began'-' compiling rhythms distinctive to the various regions, an avocation that he continues to pursue and which has led him to other parts of the globe as well, Over the course of his career, Shogren has toured and performed at numerous jazz and world music festivals throughout the United States. In addition to playing drums and percussion with Sambaguru, he is the band's recording engineer. The band's resident scholar and co-founder, BiliBrendi musical training on the piano at age 3 under the guidance Of his. professor of music at the University of California at Santa sr Brendle's work has appeared on more than forty clyswith Brazilian artists as Simone, Gilberto Gil, Maria Bethania, Caetano and Hermeto Pascoal. He has composed and performed more than eighty television and radio commercials and counts Suzuki,- Nike, Honda, and ABC News among his clients. In spite of his busy performing and recording,: career, Brendle has found time to arrange and orchestrate more than thirty,:' pieces for Joao Gilberto and the London Symphony, a project slated to be recorded in the year 2000. Brendle has been the musical di rector for Sergio', Mendes since 1994. BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
Learning the Ropes Postcards from Rio de Janeiro In Rio, ninety percent of all transactions are conducted with a check. This spooked me a bit initially, but now that I know how this works it is no problem. A check here is as good as gold, actually better. •
JOHN MILLER The Manager from "Hell" Marta and I are very happy with our new apartment. It is very large, has excellent views, and is just wonderful for wine ta.stings and promotions. It is quite an old apartment as is most of Copacabana, but in very good condition overall, albeit the windows and outer awnings need a coat of paint, and a bit of maintenance. We have balconies on two sides, part of them covered, part of them open to the sun. The lounge room has part of the balcony extending from it. This is one part of the building that needs a little attention, not much, but some, as it leaks a little. As the apartment is also on the top level, this part of the building is in actual fact part of the building construction, but this is in dispute with the Corporate Body that claims it is the owner of the apartment's problem. The owner of the apartment is a dear old lady of about 85, but sharp as a tack, and really kind after some bad experiences with a previous tenant (drug dealer). Marta and she get on like a house on fire. So this dispute for repairs on the balcony is in deadlock. In addition to this, we have garage space. Garage spaces in Copacabana are like gold. We have no car, so we are happy for someoneelse to use this for a nominal monthly fee (say $100 per month). When we moved into the apartment, Marta noticed that someone was using the
garage space. We tracked this owner of Apartment 701, head of the Corporate Body. Marta let it be
BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
down to the who is also
)
known through porter that we would like to discuss this issue a bit further lh the owner of Apartment 701. He did not reply and just i ored us, and continued to use the garage space. So eventually arta thinks I should send a letter, polite like, and I slip is under the door. As I get back in the apartment, the ph e rings and a woman says, "We know what you want, come d wn straight away!". So, I rock on own and I am greeted by the empregada (maid), and show into the lounge, offered coffee, and wait about five minute Eventually a lady comes to see me, and we start to chat; how' life? What do you do? What do you like? How long have yo been here? How long are you planning to stay in Brazil? o you use AMWAY products? (curious question), etc. She is the wife f the Corporate Body Manager. One of the first things she sa s to me is, "You know of course that our apartment is bigg than yours!" Like as if! care a shit. They own four cars, an two are garaged in the apartment complex, one of them in our ar space. The other two cars are garaged in another apartmen complex which he pays rent for. So anyway, t cut to the cold cow, we chat and she understands the si ation, and I say, talk to Marta as I know nothing (good cop bad cop type thing). I suggest $125 is a nice place to open the b tting, but you need to talk more with Marta as she wears the p ts on these things. So we wind things up nice and sweet w the husband enters the house. You can ahno t feel the gloom and doom enter the room
with him. Oh boy. He wrestles my hand into some form of a handshake vvitho breaking too many of my knuckles. His wife sort of takes out three backward steps to introduce me, and is already half pologizing to hubby for even letting me in the apartment ( I now sort of feeling sorry for her as I can imagine the misery this guy exerts over everyone he contacts). He starts aski a heap of personal questions, what I do, where I am from, hat! plan to do. I say I am Santa Claus and I am here to sweep his chimney. Anyway, the guy just starts to lay down the law he sees it. "You are responsible for the balcony mainten ce, it is your problem, not the corporate body, and as for e garage, the corporate body laws prohibit the subletting ofthe garage". fa Volte,
43
Herr Cornmandante, So I say, "Look, I Am sure we can. work something out, but you know it seems like you should at least ask first before you use someone else's property". At this stage you can see the smoke coming from his ears and nostrils, and me thinks it is time to ease on out. "Tchau Senhor, nice talking to you, don't suppose this is a good time to ask if you want to buy some Australian wine?" A couple of days go by, and lam starting to meet a couple of the other tenants in the building. We have a chat in the elevator and word is out and about. One dear old lady says, "Be careful, he is /ouco". Another says, "You are dealing with fire" and starts to laugh and point to his apartment with one hand and a finger twirling by the head, so you know, I am prepared. Just as an aside, his two cars parked in the garage have these stickers on the rear window that reveal quite about him. One of the stickers reads, "Why am I the only driver on the planet who knows how to drive?" and the other, "I drive this car just the way you do". I think this guy must have had a bad childhood.
The streets of Francisco SA You know how I mentioned the streets of Ipanema were a mess when I arrived (laying fiber optic cables). Well now it is all hunky dory that part of town in Ipanema. It looks sensational. The streets have all been repaved (albeit partly in a very inappropriate red brick and not the Portuguese stone), it is very clean and tidy. Guess where they have started now. Right outside our apartment. It reminds me ofthat scene in Francis Ford Coppola' s Apocalypse Now: "I love the sound of jackhammers in the morning". Actually they are getting a lot better at this now, a bit more organized. They should finish my street in about 3-4 weeks. Just wish these jackhammer operators would wear earmuffs for their own health. Boy, they sure love loud samba music these guys after work. How much does a jackhammer operatbr make in Brazil? Not enough, that's for sure. I think these guys were also responsible for knocking out the phones one day as well. A city this old does not have the best maps of where all the things are underground. So it is natural that when they get a bit enthusiastic with the jackhammer, they sometimes hit main electric cables, phone lines, sewerage lines, fresh water, all sort of utility things underground. One day I saw a sewer line split open under pressure with someone working nearby, I had to laugh, but shit (literally), it gives new meaning to the phrase "Up to your arm-
44
...". Dante's Inferno or what.
Vending Machines There seem to be very few vending machines in Brazil. You want to buy a soft drink, candy, cigarettes, Coca Cola, beer, ice cream, crisps, chocolate, Chokitos, etc. go to a human being to buy these things, not a machine. Soaks up a lot of labor that's for sure. It is a stark contrast from Japan where you can buy almost a Boeing 747 from a vending machine. Overall,! would say prices are cheaper from a human being than from a vending machine, better service, more reliable, and that's what life is about, transacting between humans, not machines. Where money is concerned, give me a human to buy/sell from any day. You never ever have a human take your money for a can of Coca-Cola, and then no Coca-Cola can pops out. Or not give you change. Vending machines, who needs them? Vending machine salesmen maybe. Actually, the reason I am told they do not work in Brazil is the coins are not very suitable (some are pretty similar in size) and there are too many machines broken into and the contents taken. Figures, all those people selling in the streets are feeling threatened, you could not blame them if they broke the machines. I would do the same.
The Czech republic Brazil has been a democratic republic since 1985 I think. But it has been a cheque (check) republic for a lot longer. Ninety percent of all transactions are conducted with a check. Now this spooked me a bit initially, but now that I know how this works it is no problem. A check here is as good as gold, actually better, let me explain. Historically, Brazil lived with very high inflation for a long, longtime. Triple digit stuff. This required extra ordinary amounts of financial management skills to understand how to keep a fist on your dollars. Combined with the fact that it is never wise to carry a lot of cash in your pocket (i.e. money in pocket erodes rapidly), and indexed bank accounts to inflation, the result, everyone useS checks. So let's say you pass a dud check, accident or otherwise. As soon as your bank determines your check is not covered, you get a phone call saying rectify this immediately. You do this again and things start to get a little difficult in your life. Your bank account is frozen, your credit cards are locked up and will not work, your name is plastered over every financial institution network as a bad boy, and you are frozen out of the
BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
financial network, and the check is passed back to the person make conversation, but I have a sense of forebodingibout him:, who presented it. Things start to get pretty grim. And it is your Sol have to go to considerable lengths not to make eye contact responsibility to fix this. You get two chances on this, but you It is a game, and as long as you play the game, and do not have to recover the dud check, this is your responsibility. respond, nothing happens. Nothing really, but adds to the Now supposing, you are the recipient of a dud check, you adventure in a ma abre sort of way. are pissed off initially, but you know the guy who passed it to you is also in deep shit. He comes to collect the dud check as Watching someone die he needs to unlock his credit, and you say, "Sorry pal, that is We have a cou le of botecos just near our apartment;.These going to cost you for all the inconvenience you have caused are very popular ith the locals especially on a Friday night me." So a dud check can actually make you more money than Now Friday night Rio is like Friday night in Australia every a good check if you are that way inclined. one heads for a bar to have a drink, mix with friends, talk about People use checks here for insanely low amounts. With the work, politics, sp rt, women, men, love, life, friends, etc. new toll on the highway between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Consumption of a cohol is pretty ferocious, and many people people have been paying by check for amounts as low as 93 overindulge. cents. One Friday ni tin early October, I was coming home and noticed one guy w s really hitting the booze very hard. It was Blending in. 8:30 PM, he was already beyond the make sense stage, and just Have not touched this topic for a while, but we have had a barely standing up. At 10:30 PM, I wander downstairs to get few visitors from overseas lately, and it has reminded me of a some milk, and he was still there, but now he had a bottle of few things. As much as I have changed my appearance, dress cachacct in his hand, he was on the ground propped up against code, suntan, etc., I do„not look "classically" Brazilian. A the wall of the Newsagent. He is just paralytic, and it is very Brazilian can look at me and say with a high degree of sad. confidence and observe that I am a foreigner, not of Brazilian The next day I ame downstairs at about 6:00 AM to ride birth. As soon as I speak Portuguese, then it is give away. my bike, he was at out on the sidewalk not moving, but Usually I am mistaken for a North American. This is very breathing, so! fig e sleep it off. Twelve hours later at 6:00 PM evident on the buses, and even more so on the Metro (under- he has moved abo t 10 meters to a pile of sand being used to ground train service, just brilliant, clean, fast, cheap). repair the sidewal i. He is sleeping still, but just hopeless, and One thing I have yet to master is the Carioca Male walk. still a 'A bottle of c chava in his hand. They have a walking style that is so languid. It is all from the At 7:00 PM in ii e apartment, I hear a thud, then a screech hips. They walk slightly splayed feet, almost bow legged. The of brakes.! • ok out over the balcony and a crowd is feet point outwards when they walk. The walk is all from hip, beginning to form around the man lying on the road, and the action is just so cruising. he has g • up and walked in front of a car. The driver The other thing to note is eye contact. When you visit is just looking and explaining in animated Brazil for the first time, you will encounter an fashion to the crowd that the guy just enormous amount of eye contact. Both sexes make walked out in front of his car. An ambueye contact, but it obviously more prevalent bece arrives after ten minutes. The man is tween members of the opposite sex (except at the n a trolley, a sheet thrown over his body, kiosk in front of the Copacabana Palace where you will inside the ambulance. No police attend. encounter a lot more male to male eye contact for those ulance drives off. The driver gets in his car interested). Many men interpret this eye contact as an invitas. So ends this section. tion, and sometimes it is, but mostly it is just a Brazilian thing, look, see, observe, converse with the eyes. , man, one cannot live without pity" It can be a-little intimidating sometimes this eye contact, sky, Crime & Punishment. especially if the eye contact is from someone you do not want to make contact with. For example, there is a "Rato de Praia" hn Miller is an Australian, living in Rio de who always wears a Michael Jordan T-shirt who works the o, selling Australian wine. 'Postcards from beach in Ipanema. I do not even like to say bad things about a journal of his journey in the land of the him, because he has to make a living somehow, and most of the Cariocas. time he just tries to help on the beach selling beer, For contact: John and Marta Miller chairs, etc. But! have also seen him steal Rua Joaquim Nabuco, 106 / Apt 1001 from a tourist who went in the Copacabana CEP 22080-030 Rio de Janeiro - Brazil Tel: +55 (021) 521 8568 E-mail: millerjArio.nutecnet.com.br
water for a swim. He is very intelligent, speaks English very well, and listens to everyone talking on the beach. He has watched me intensely from the moment I have arrived. He keeps thinking, "When is this gringo going home?! thought he was a tourist? But now he has been here too long, what does he do? How much money does he have?". He tries frequently to start the eye contact game, even deliberately standing in front of me when I am on the beach, he has tried to BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
45
His independence of thought irritated both fascists and leftists. His private life was also a continuous provocation. Artist Flavio de Carvalho remained a bachelor, but carried a series of love affairs, and openly maintained a marital relationship with his 18-year-old daughter. CECILIA PRADA
One of the outstanding personalities ofthis century in Brazilian arts was Flavio de Resende Carvalho (1899-1973), whose centennial we have just celebrated. Painter, sculptor, scenographer, dress designer, journalist, writer and playwright, he used his multidimensional talents to leave upon his time the mark of his eccentric, unconformist personality, always ready to shock the bourgeois. Historian Paulo Mendes de Almeida said of him that "he lived always under the sign of trouble". And well-known French architect Le Corbusier defined him as "a romantic revolutionary ". 46
Thirty years before happenings became famous in the States, Flavio had already staged some of his own, in Sao Paulo. In 1931 he defied Catholics walking through a Corpus Christi procession in the inverse sense, flirting with devotees of the Virgin Mary and keeping his hat on—a sign of lack of respect. He was almost lynched and had to take refuge in a café, where the police came to arrest him. His most famous experiencia (experiment) as he called it, was to walk in the streets of Sao Paulo, in 1956, with his eccentric "tropical summer outfit for men", which consisted of a yellow and green stripped blouse and a green short skirt, worn over ballerina stockings. It displayed a kind of tube of ventilation under the blouse. Born in a very traditional family, great-grandson of the Baron of Cajuru, Flavio was educated in France and in England, where he got a degree in architecture. When he returned to Brazil, in 1924, he had absorbed the ideas of the famous Bauhaus—a group of German architects who fought for functionality in design. As an architect and a plastic artist, Flavio was one of the modernists who contributed to change the provincial values which prevailed at his time. Although he is now considered as the true innovator of Brazilian architecture, he was considered a"born loser"— he never won a first prize in a great number of contests he entered. At the most he won a second prize or a "men-
tion of honor". So, his revolutionary ideas, praised afterwards, remained only as projects. In his lifetime he was able to realize only two of them: the big house of the family farm in which he lived, in Valinhos (in the state of Sao Paulo) and a block of residences for renting, in the city of Sdo Paulo. As a painter, he was acclaimed not only in Brazil but in West Europe, as well as in the USSR and in the States. His renowned futurist portraits of personalities are now in many museums, like those of New York, Paris, Roma, Moscow, sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. All through his life, however, every time an exhibition of his works opened it caused shock and many troubles. In 1933, Flavio founded in sao Paulo an experimental theater which was to be very short-lived. He wrote the play 0 Bailado do Deus Morto (Ballet of a Dead God), created the sets and costumes and directed it with Oswaldo Sampaio. The police considered that even its title was a provocation and invaded the theater taking everybody to the precinct—where, curiously enough, the show was to be continued for an audience of police officers. But all efforts made by Flavio to lift the ban imposed on his play were in vain. The theater was closed forever and even the Clube dos Artistas Modernos, founded by him in 1932, had to remain closed for several months. The artist's first exhibition was also staged as a happening. He invited a great number of people from the best families of Sao Paulo, who were introduced in an entirely dark room and kept waiting. When finally the lights were on, they were confronted with some-
BRAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
thing unusual: about 100 magnificent paintings and drawings ofnaked women and children who laughed and made acrobatics in the bellies of their mothers.... The collection was at once labeled "pornographic". The police was called and closed the exhibition, taking away some of the paintings. But the painter fought back. With a friend, the critic of art Quirino da Silva, he staged another protest: next morning all of sao Paulo statues awakened wearing white nightgowns... And Flavio this time won the battle—his exhibition was reopened by legal order. The crowd that came to see it, and buy the paintings, caused a big traffic jam. Flavio's independency of thought concerning fads and the political ideologies of his time, irritated both fascists and leftists. His motto was: "The true artist is a leader who makes his opinion prevail". His private life was also a continuous provocation—he remained a bachelor but carried a series of love affairs with outstanding women, like actress Cacilda Becker, singer Maria Kareska, and countess Inge de Beausacq, among many others. He had two daughters out of wedlock and, according to his biographers, since 1962—when he was already 63—openly maintained a marital relationship with his 18year-old daughter, Sonia Maria. But one of Flavio's worst provocations was to come in 1947, when he made a series of nine drawings of his own mother's agony—the Serie Tragica, which provoked repulsion and labeled him forever as "pintor maldito" (accursed painter). Years later, however, when asked why he had acted so, he answered: "I didn't want to forget the great suffering she went through". In 1957, when the Fourth Biennial of Sao Paulo refused his paintings, Flavio defied it by organizing an independent show of his own and other artists' works. Curiously enough, in the same year three of his paintings were bought by MoMA, the New York Museum of Modern Art. Ten years later, however, he was respected even in Brazil. The Ninth Biennial of 1967 granted him a privilege never to be given to any other artist an award in the rank of international artists. And he was to be honored, in 1963 and 1971, with special showings held in the premises of the Biennial. Flavio de Carvalho died suddenly
in 1973, leaving behind him an enormous amount of oil paintings, sculptures, drawings, books on philosophy of art, and architectonic projects. His best biographer, J. Toledo (0 Comedor de Emocoes, Brasiliense/Unicamp, 1994), said, of the love the great artist always showed for his "Pauliceia" (a poetical nickname for the city of Sao Paulo, created by Mario de Andrade in the 20's) : "The old cosmopolitan faun seemed to have established with the city an intimate relationship, as if the city and himself were maintaining a sinful love affair."
wright. Her book 0 Caos na Sala de Jantar, (Chaos in the Dining-room), published in 1978, has been awarded three literary prizes. She is considered a stylist and several of her short stories have been published also in Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden, in anthologies. Her career as a playwright began in the 60's, in New York City, where she worked with Joe Chaikin's The Open Theater. In 1964, her play Central Park Bench Number 33, Flight
207 was staged at the Judson Poets' Theater in New York. She is also a former diplomat. She is divorced, has two married sons and three grandchildren and lives now in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Her e-mail is atalantalmg zaz.com.br
Cecilia Prada is a well-known Brazilian journalist, fiction-writer and play-
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Winits. Common people in unusual cir cumstances, like a man falling in love wit the voice of a telesex girl. Teatro Café Pequeno. A Falecida (The Dead Woman)—Drama By Nelson Rodrigues, directed by Robert McCrea with the Sao Paulo Cia. de Teatro Fdbrica. Zulmira wants to be buried like a chief of state and raises hell for that. Teatro Sesc Tijuca.
SA-11 PAULO ' Pequena Hist6ria do Brasil — 500 Ano em 50 Minutos (Short Story of Brazil 500 Years in 50 Minutes)—Comedy. Tex and direction by Tuna Serzedello, wit Maria Lima and Soledad Yunge. As th title says, a brief story of the country starting with the discovery and going up t the current Fernando Henrique Cardos administration. Espaco Cultural Inglesa. Memorias de um Sargento de Milicia (Memoirs of a Militia Sergeant)—Com edy. Classic text by Manuel Antonio de Almeida•adapted and directed by Jose Paulo Rosa, with Regina Pessoa, Rafael Burgath, and Zhe Gomes. A portrait of the common folks during colonial Brazil. Teatro Lucas Pardo Filho. Um Certo Faroeste Caboclo (A Certain Hillbilly Western)—Musical. Directed by Paulo Faria, with Beto Magnani and Daniel Alvim. A landless peasant goes to talk to the president and become a dangerous bandit. Inspired by a Renato Russo song. Centro Cultural Elenko
Just-released American movies:<>Deep blue sea (Do Fundo Do Mar), The 13° warrior (0 13° Guerreiro), Bowfinger (Os Picaretas), Random hearts (Destinos Cruzados), In Dreams (A Premonicelo), Crazy in Alabama (Loucos do Alabama), Cookie's Fortune (A Fortuna de Cookie)
RIO Gala (Gluttony)—Part of a project to stage the seven deadly sins. Researched and written by Leonardo Sa., directed by Ana Kfeuri. Espaco Cultural Sergioyorto. Text by close to 30 authors, including Clarice Lispector, Luis Fernando Verissimo, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Beckett, Freud, and Gtinter Grass. Among the six characters there is the `bad slim", the guy who overeats, but does not gain weight. A Mais Forte (The Strongest Woman)— Drama. Directed by August Strindberg, with Cesar Tavares and Renata Collaco. Two women talking on Christmas live show how deceptive has been their lives. Casa de Cultura Margarida Rey. Relax. ..It's Sex—Music comedy. Written, directed and composed by Wolf Maya, with Adriana Garambone and Danielle BFtAZZIL - NOVEMBER 1999
No Coragito dos Deuses (In the Heart of Gods)—Brazil/1999—Action. Directed by Geraldo Moraes, with Antonio Fagundes, Roberto Bomfim, Cosme dos Santos, Regina Dourado, Tonico Pereira, Iara Jamra, Bruno Torres. A group of adventures travel back in time while trying to reenact the gold-seeking expedition of bandeirante Anhangtiera in the 17th Century. 0 Primeiro Dia (The First Day)—Brazil/ 1999—Drama. Directed by Walter Salles Junior, with Fernanda Torres. It's December 31, 1999. Two youngsters from opposite worlds get together on the roof of a building in Rio. Maud-0 Imperador e o Rei (Maud—The Emperor and the King)—Brazil/1998— Directed by Sergio Rezende, with Paulo Betti, Othon Bastos, and Malu Mader. Irineu Evangelista de Souza, the Maud Baron and Viscount is only 30 and considered the richest man on earth. Emperor Dom Pedro II gets jealous.
Books Nest sellers FICTION 1 0 testamento, John Grisham. Rocco, R$ 29.50 2 A casa dos budas ditosos, Luxtiria, Joao Ubaldo Ribeiro. Objetiva, R$ 19 3 Hist6rias brasileiras de verdo, Luis Fernando Verissimo. Objetiva, R$ 27 4 Hannibal, Thomas Harris. Record, R$ 30 5 Eterna privacdo do zagueiro absoluto, Luis Fernando Verissimo. Objetiva, R$ 19.50 6 Musashi vol. 2, Eiji Yoshikawa. Estacao Liberdade, R$ 48 7 Ramses vol. 4, a dama de Abu-Simbel, Christian Jacq. Bertrand, R$ 30 8 Canoas e marolas, Joao Gilberto Noll. Objetiva, R$ 15 9 Terapia, Arid l Dorfman. Objetiva, R$ 19 10 0 Clube dos anjos, Gula, Luis Fernando Verissimo. Objetiva, R$ 16.80
NONFICTION I As melh ores piadas do Planeta e da Casseta lambent, vol. 3, Casseta e Planeta. Objetiva, R$ 14 2 Ela é carioca, Ruy Castro. Companhia das Letras, R$ 33.50 3 Esti:0o Carandiru, Drauzio Varella. Companhia das Letras, R$ 26 4 Capitdes do Brasil, Eduardo Bueno. Objetiva, R$ 24.50 5 Eu, cabo Anselmo, Percival Alves de Souza. Globo, R$ 27 6 A viagem do descobrimento, Eduardo Bueno. Objetiva, R$ 18 7203 maneiras de enlouquecer um homem na cama. Olivia Saint-Claire. Ediouro, R$ 10.90 8208 maneiras de deixar um homem louco de desejo, Margot Saint-Loup Ediouro, R$ 9.90 9 Chico Buarque, Regina Zappa. Relume Dumard, R$ R$ 15 10 Ndufragos, traficantes e degredados, Eduardo Bueno. Objetiva, R$ 19.50
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Alex, the main character in this story, is real. Only his name is made up. Since March 1995, Alex has been living with 14 other boys in the Sao Martinho homeless shelter in Rio de Janeiro. He has a day job in an office as their youngest clerk and goes to night school. INEKE HOLTWIJK
The Park Would he be able to handle a night here? Alex looked at the concrete bench in the empty spot in the park. II was narrow. And hard. Maybe it was better to lie down in the grass under the tree. But what if there were animals? Stinging ants, maybe. Or spiders. Or a dog that started sniffing at him The idea filled him with dread. No, better the hard bench. The bench was very long and shaped like a horseshoe. Farther down a bum lay snoring. A little human heap in a flour sack, that was what he looked like. He probably walked around barefoot all the time. Shapeless black calloused hunks
54
stuck out of the tattered pant legs. Alex shuddered. Would he look like that too in a couple of weeks? Ifhe were still alive. He looked down. There was nothing wrong with his plastic sandal ;--everybody had those. Boys who lived in houses, too 13J: L- hey didn't have sand between their toes the way he did, bm.r ise when they got home from the beach they took showeTs. The ocean had left salt stains on his black legs. Lucidly he cc ul I get them off if he rubbed hard. Nobody would see ie oe in his nylon shorts if he rolled them up. His T-shirt wasklean—he had washed it yesterday in the river. No, Alex thought he actually looked pretty good. Nobody could tell that he had been thrown out of his house and was living on the street. The bum didn't move. Maybe he was dead. The thought terr.fied Alex. 'Ghhruk," said the corpse and the burlap bag rolled over. 'Thank God," mumbled Alex. Another dead person, that would be the last straw. From the bench he could see the beach through the trees and even the little lights on the other side of the bay. The hills were dark, pl an- p shadows. Like a herd of sleeping cows. It must be at ,east eleven o'clock, Alex figured, but people were stilt walking up and down the asphalt path along the beach. Bright floodlights lit up the white sand almost all the way to the bay. The volleyball players gave the ball dull slaps. On the low
BRAZZIL- NOVEMBER 1999
stone wall dividing the path from the park sat drummers in their swimsuits. One of them was drumming along with a stick on a can. They were singing a samba: Coconut tree where the coconuts grow, where I hang my hammock on clear moonlit nights ah, Brazil for me, for me, it's Brazil. Now and then the tinkling of a bicycle bell or shouts would Ring out. Alex spread out the newspaper he'd found near the trash can. He folded over the top of his plastic bag of clothes so that he could use it as a pillow, and he lay down. His feet hurt from walking. If it were possible, he'd unscrew them. He closed his eyes, but he didn't like the feeling at all. His heart seemed to be pounding even harder. That was strange. There was a rustling noise behind him. What was that? He pricked up his ears. It rustled again. Could it be somebody walking? He turned his head carefully and looked. The stretch of grass under the trees was empty, but the tree trunks were so big that somebody could easily be standing behind them. Some twigs snapped. Alex was breathing heavily and his mouth was dry. What should he do? Run away? He opened his eyes wide, but nothing happened. He got hold of himself. It must have been a rat. Nothing happened for so long that his eyes slowly closed again. That wasn't good. He had to stay awake. At least one eye open, so that he could see danger approaching. He rolled onto his back and stared at the sky. He saw no stars or clouds. He saw only images. Like a video clip, the day ran through his head. He saw himself walking down the dirt path by the dump on the way home. There were his former school friends. "Hey, Alex. How you doing? Too bad about your mom." "What? What about my mom?"She' s dead. Didn't you know?" He ran home. There was the Volkswagen van that was used for funerals. He felt hot and then ice cold. It couldn't be true. She was still so young. The little board over the ditch thumped as he ran inside. The room was crowded. He saw neighbors, his older brother Pito and his wife, and "the guy," which was what he called his stepfather, and the guy's daughters. A neighbor lady was sobbing in great bursts. "No, no. My God, no. She can't die!" He pushed his way between the bodies. On the spot where the couch normally stood, his mother lay in a casket on trestles. She had her eyes closed as if she were sleeping. Her face was as white as the dishes in the kitchen. Her hair was longer than when he had last seen her, three months earlier, before she went to the hospital. It seemed as if she might wake up any minute, but he knew she wouldn't. He was looking at an empty body. The only person he had in the whole world had flown away. She would never again hug him to her. She would never again run her fingers through his hair. The move, the course he was going to take... All the plans, shattered. She had handed him over to that guy. "She didn't want to put up with it anymore. She pulled the tubes out," his brother's wife whispered to a neighbor lady. "What do you expect ... Three months on an IV and no future." He whirled around. ."Where you going?" his brother called out.
BRi-sZZIL- NOVEMBER 19,,9
He didn't ans er but ran to the little soccer field at the end of the path. That was wh e he'd sat down. He'd seen how the funeral party had filed t • ward the cemetery. After about an hour he had gone back. nly Bruno, his younger brother, was home. Bruno had cried hen he saw Alex collecting his clothes. He had given Bruno is baseball cap and soccer ball. "Don't cry, Bruno. Someday '11 be back. Then I'll be rich and I'll come take you out of is place," he had said. Then they'd ard the thump of the board. He estimated his chances. Wou d he be able to get away through the hole in the wall and acro the yard without being noticed? Too late. There stood his st pfather, big and booming. "How dare you show your face he e, you good-for-nothing punk! You, nothing but lies all the ime. You didn't get the message, did you? You're not welco e here anymore!" Alex felt his ead grow hot and light. Before he could think, he blurted o t, "Now you got what you want. You can smoke in the bedr • om. Drink beer. Don't need to take your whores in the bus es anymore. You can have all forty other members of your ily over. You can—" He couldn't fi ish his sentence. He hit the wall with his stepfather's arm re ting heavily on his chest. The pockmarked face hung right ab • ye him and yelled, "I'll kill you like a dog if you ever dare set oot in this house. A bullet is what you got coming. Now beat 't, freeloader!" A spray of spi le settled on his face, but Alex couldn't wipe it off because e was pinned. He felt sick to his stomach from the sour beer mell that wouldn't go away. When his stepf. er finally let him go, he had grabbed the plastic bags and le without a word. He wouldn't have been able to say anvthin even if he had wanted to. His throat was swollen and dry as if it were full of foam rubber. He had left his clothes and his sneakers with his buddy Sergio. "If you haven't heard from me in a couple of months, it means I'm dead. Then you can have them," he had said. Sergio had said nothing. Alex had taken along only an extra pair of shorts and tw • T-shirts in a plastic bag. Sergio's mother had given him a pac •age of coconut cookies for the road. Then he'd taken the train t • the city—the train known as the "stock car" because it's so rowded and stinks of sweat and urine. Feeling numb, h had walked around the streets lined with skyscrapers. He did 't really know what to do. Where could he go? Then he reme ii bered the park. His mother used to have a cleaning job some here around there. He had gone along a couple of times and membered having seen street kids with blankets in the park. He found it easily It was located close to downtown in the curve of the bay. Firs there was the beach, and around it, like a giant comma, lay t e park. He had walked on asphalt paths and little bridges. He ad climbed up hills and looked around the soccer fields. No here had he seen street kids. Not on the beach, either. He had 't wanted to ask anybody. What if they thought he was a stre t kid? The thought startl d Alex. Maybe he was a street kid. He had slept on the str t before sometimes, but now it was different. He didn't h: ve a house anymore. Or a mother. He had nothing anymore Wham! There was the casket with the white face popping into his head again. I- didn't want to think about it, but the videotape kept runni g on its own. Where was her spirit wandering now? Was she in heaven? Was it nighttime there too? Maybe spirits nev r slept. Alex stared at the sky. Big gray clouds floated by. He ecided that his mother was awake and was looking down at im from the sky. The idea reassured
•
55
Robson leaned over and pushed a brass box on the wall. The waterfall sounded like music to Alex's ears. "Cool," he said in amazement. "Rich people even make something nice out of taking a dump." 'Lessons After lunch they Walked slowly back to the beach and lay bloated in the sand. "How did you get to know her, anyway?" Alex asked. "I told, you already," said Robson. "At the beach." "But how?" "Just, you know. I asked her for money. So then she bought me a roll. She asked me all kinds of things too. Where I came from and stuff. After that she waved every time she was at the beach and saw me. Sometimes I'd go sit with her." Alex kept silent. He hoped he would meet a lady like that on the beach too. "She wants to adopt me," said Robson. "But there are still some things she has to fix up first." "Mm-hmm," said Alex skeptically. "So are you going?" "Of course I am. What would you do, man? A house. Food three times a day. A bed with sheets on it. Clean clothes. School. And ..." He paused. "And a toilet with a supersonic flush." Alex said nothing. "Then you'll be stuck with that kid," he blurted out. "She's all right, just like her mother. It's just because she doesn't know you," Robson said defensively. "Then you'll have to be home on time," Alex started in again. "Sure, because I have to get up at six-thirty in the morning to go to school. I bet I'll take the bus,- said Robson. It sounded as if this appealed to him. "Guess what, she has a car too." "And you thought the street was so fine. Come and go where you please," Alex taunted. Robson looked at him. "You're jealous, man."Am not." Alex flopped over onto his other side. Robson dreamed on. "If I were rich, I'd marry her." "Who?" "The girl—who else. Her mother?" Alex opened his eyes wide and looked at the blue sky. Robson was wrong, he decided. He wasn't jealous. He wanted his mother back; yes, that was what he wanted. They sat on the beach all afternoon. At seven o'clock it grew dark and the floodlights switched on. They looked at the volleyball players setting up their nets. The beach looked like a sports field. On the path families strolled back and forth arm in arm. Among them zigzagged cyclists and joggers. "Robson, what are those guys doing?" Alex pointed at the benches under the trees. It was dark there, but by the light of the moon you could see a boy sitting on every bench. Sometimes they got up, walked a few feet, then sat down again. There were also boys lying on the benches. "Do they sleep in the park too?" Robson had to laugh. "No, they drop their pants and then they get money. Haven't you ever done that?" "No," said Alex. He felt stupid. "I have," said Robson. "But who pays for that?" "Men." "Men?" "Yeah, dirty old men with those bbbbrrrrr tongues." Robson stuck his tongue way out and let it flubber. He was exaggerating, thought Alex.
58
Robson slapped him on the shoulder. "But you don't have to worry. Beanpoles like you have to pay." Close to midnight they went to the brightly lit concrete band shell in the middle of the park. Robson insisted on sleeping there. "But with all that light everybody can see you lying there," Alex protested. "So what, stupid? Sleeping in the dark like you did, now that's dangerous. The more light, the better. Then they don't dare to come. Everybody can see you from the road, but they can see them too." "Who's them?" asked Alex. Robson was a veteran; that much was clear. "People who steal, kill, people who want to mess you up or rape you." "Mess you up how?" Robson took a deep breath. "You got people who get a kick out of roasting you alive. When you're asleep, they sneak up on you. They throw gasoline all over your blanket and then put amatch to it. That burns like hell, man. Sadists is what they are. I slept at the Central Station for a week. It happens a lot there. You never saw that, kids with burns on their legs?" "Well, it's a good thing we don't have a blanket," said Alex. -Doesn't make any difference. They do it with plastic bags too. Set them on fire and then the plastic starts to drip. They hold that over you. Man, that hurts, if that stuff gets on your skin." Alex kept silent. He chewed on his fingernails. He knew that the street was dangerous. But setting people on fire? How many nights would he have to keep going like this? He thought of what his stepfather had said. If you live on the street by yourself you'll die. Robson and himself, that was almost the same as being alone. Robson spread out the newspaper he had brought along and sat down on it. "I got a surprise," he said. Alex didn'f react. He sat motionless on the steps with his plastic bag in his lap. "Look." Robson pulled three marbles out of his pocket, one big one and two small ones. He wiped them clean on his T-shirt and gave two of them to Alex. "Here, you go first." They played marbles until it got boring. Then they stretched out to sleep. Alex lay on his side and looked at the lights ofthe apartments of the Flamengo district. The road was nearby. Now and then he would see the lights of a passing car. Buzzing mosquitoes danced in front of the dome lights. Robson coughed and rolled over. "You asleep already?" Alex attempted carefully. "Yeahhhh ..." came from the other side. "You're all right." "As long as you don't start kissing me," grumbled Robson. Alex snickered. "But I just have a thing for you." "Gettawaaayyy," cried Robson. And they both laughed really hard. Alex looked at the cloudless sky. He almost knew for sure—his mother had arranged Robson for him. "Thank you," he said softly to the sky. Excerpted from Asphaft Angels by Ineke Holtwijk, translated by Wanda Boeke, Front Street & Lemmiscaat, 1999, 184 pp.
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