Brazzil - Year 12 - Number 173 - May-June 2000

Year 12 - No.173 - May/June 2000

MEMORY: MOREIRA ILA SILVA'S LAST TUNE

POLITICS: THE SEASON Of EGGS

SHORT STORY: "MANORRAS" BY LUCIA LEA0

TRAVEL: AND NOW...THE CARIOCAS

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When the subject is Brazilian poverty and economic inequality in Brazil, the numbers are bad one after the other. In the most recent Gini index, which measures income distribution, for example, Brazil shows up on 1486 place in a list of 150. A report on health conditions in the world released recently by the World Health Organization presents Brazil in 125th place among 191 countries.

The World Bank has even created a four-tiered classification for social groups in Brazil. According to this classification one third of the Brazilian population is middle-class (50 million people) and the rest is almost poor (60 million), poor (30 million), or indigent (24 million). In the middle of such poverty there is a reduced contingent of two million, who control 53% of the country's wealth.

Inequality in Brazil has been passed from generation to generation since the start of the country in 1500.

President Fernando Henrique Cardoso recognized that when saying recently, "It's futile to say that the income is concentrated. Unfortunately that's the case for 500 years." Unfortunately also, the sociologist-president is not seen as doing enough to correct such disparities.

What to do? Many experts believe there's no solution short of taxing heavily the rich and transferring their money to the poor.

RM To catch up on our lateness, Brazzil will be covering two months this and the next issue. This is the May/June issue. Advertisers and readers can rest assured that they will get all the issues they paid for. Thanks for your understanding.

Send mail to: P.O. Box 50536 - Los Angeles, CA 90050-0536 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 Publisher and Editor: Rodney Mello Assistant Editor: Leda Bittencourt Art&Design Director: Marina Yoshie

(marinayoshie@hotmail.com) Entertainment Editors: Sam & Harriet Robbins Book Review: Bondo Wyszpolski Music Editor: Bruce Gilman Brazil Bureau Chief: Marta Alvim E-mail: mItdalvim@yahoo.corn 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.

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WWW. BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

Cover The land of inequality

11

Cover by Hello Shimada

Contents 17

Media The President's illegitimate son

01

Internet Writing a book under one million eyes

11

Memory Moreira da Silva and Joao Nogueira

17

Politics Sizzling season of eggs and impeachment

21

Proposal How to help Brazil

23

Impressions What the world knows about Brazil: nothing

25

Essay Archaeology and Brazilian society

21

Short Story "Manobras" by LOcia Lea°

34

Travel

Cariocas, they know how to live

37

Tourism Nova Jerusalem, a year-around attraction

39

Impressions Musing about slavery and suffering

42

Music Carlos Malta, a master of colors

54

Culture An inside view of capoeira

llepartaments 06 Rapidinhas 16 letters 49 Cultural Pulse 51 Classifieds 52 That's Brazilian

.COM 5

Lesson of Anatomy Tired of losing precious points on the lbope (the Brazilian Nielsen), Globo TV decided to use what seems to always work in these circumstances: naked bodies and bare female breasts. The latest use ofnakedness, however, has provoked a swarm of complaints from parents to the Juvenile Courts in several states since the nudity is being shown on Uga Uga, a novela (soap opera)that airs at 7 p.m., a time in which children back from school and not ready for bed are still very much tured to the tube.

Written by Carlos Lombardi, Uga Uga—the name is an onomatopoeic imitation ofIndian talk—which premiered in May, tells in one of its plots about the culture shock of a blond Indian, Tatuapu (actor Claudio Heinrich), who is taken from the jungle to live in Rio. As expected, Heinrich parades all the time with nothing on except for a string with a sex cache and bracelets.

But the scene that provoked the ire of parents was the one in IA hich Tatiana, a dumb blonde interpreted by Danielle Winits, removes her bra vvhile sunbathing by the swimming pool. The display of Winits's breasts, which were improved with silicone recently, was important enough to deserve an article in Veja (1.3 million copies), Brazil's most respected weekly news magazine.

Even in a land where the product is the national preference buttocks are being overexposed. In Uga Uga alone there are three actors who strut their bums all the time. Besides Heinrich, there are Humberto Martins and Marcelo Novaes. "This a women s conquest," says Heinrich. "Before, only men were able to appreciate the female anatomy. As for me, I don't see myselfas a sexual object because what! wear has to do with my character."

Outside TV, Crioida, a play about the life of singer Liza Soares, which is being staged in Rio, also is drawing a large contingent of women who come to see the bare buttocks Tuca Andrade is Garrinchn of Tuca Andrade, who plays late soccer legend Garrincha "Our time has come," says Andrada, jokingly. "Before, all we had were women's butts." Actor Norton Nascirnento boasts that le had to appear naked in all novelas and miniseries in which he appeared until now. ' All thel, want k my body," he laughs. Nascimento confesses that he decided to Lppcar naked in Shakespeare's Othello in order to draw a larger audience and explained in an interview to Rio's daily 0 Dia: "In a country where butts sing and interpret, it's great if the public comes to my play , to see me naked."

Jorge Fernando, an actor and director he is showing his buns right now in the play Boom says that he was the one who started this buttock-showing stuff back in the early 80's. "I am the pioneer in showing derrieres. I invented this habit when I became director at Giobo TV. Ever., time I reprehend my crew, I show them my butt to release tensions" In the same team of buttocks that sell is a new female band called As Meninas (The Girls). They are three brunettes from Bahia who have already been invited to show a little bit more ofthemselves in Playboy. Carla Cristina, Cybele and Angelica. are the new musical sensation that appeals to kids and their fathers. Their tune "Xiborn Bombotn - has sold more than 200,000 copies and is on the top of the hit parades. In their shows the girls are often cheered with enthusiastic yells ofpoposudas (big butt women).

APIDINHAS

Angelica, Carla, Cybele

BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

In its April, 2000 edition, monthly magazine Caros Amigos, a small publication headquartered in Sao Paulo, ran a story widely known yet largely ignored by Brazil's mainstream media for nearly a decade.

"President, take responsibility!" was the title of the cover story and alluded to 8-year-old Tomas Dutra, the supposedly illegitimate son of president Fernando Henrique Cardoso (FHC) and TV Globo journalist Miriam Dutra. The affair between the journalist and then senator Cardoso took place between 1988 and 1990, during which time the couple were often spotted in Brasilia's nightlife scene.

Media reports on extra-marital escapades by local celebrities are not strange to Brazilians. The long list of philanderers include late presidents Juscelino Kubitchek, Joao Goulart and Tancredo Neves; impeached president Fernando Collor de Mello; singer Roberto Carlos, and former soccer player Field, to name a few. However, Brazilians' reaction to such news is usually blasé. And for the most part, those exposed for adulterous behavior will get out of the jam with their prestige intact. So, why do Brazil's mainstream media insist on ignoring the president's faux pas?

According to several media honchos interviewed by Caros Amigos, the subject is just not relevant enough to be publicized. Others have implied that the editorial line of their publications doesn't approve of gossip and the reporting of such private matters. However, as many readers have pointed out, the same criteria don't apply to other public figures, much less to Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, the left-wing candidate who was Fernando Collor de Mello's main opponent in the 1989 presidential election. While news about Collor's illegitimate son didn't surface until after he had won the race, the media carefully scrutinized Lula' s private life during the entire campaign. Carioca daily 0 Globo went so far as to run an editorial with prudish overtones, in which it cautioned voters against the wisdom of electing a candidate (Lula) with a history of supposedly extra-marital indiscretions.

Lula has since acknowledged his out-of-the-wedlock daughter.

The silence surrounding the Cardoso-Dutra controversy is even more disturbing since there is ample evidence to support the theory. In fact, journalists Gilberto Dimenstein and Josias de Souza had already given an account of the imbroglio in A Historia Real (The Real Story), a book where the authors describe the behind-the-scenes maneuvers of the 1994 presidential election. Then and now the media have been silent. Even when the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal came to light, the Brazilian media gave extensive coverage to the matter, but again failed to mention the national "state of affairs".

Tomas Dutra was born in 1991, when FHC's name started to rise in the political arena as a potential presidential candidate.

Sources close to the case have described in detail the exchange between Cardoso and Dutra as she went into his office to inform him of the pregnancy. According to those witnesses, an enraged Cardoso not only kicked a floor fan but also threw the journalist out of his office after cursing at her. Others have revealed how two of FHC's closest friends—former Minister of Communications, the late Sergio Motta and current Minister of Health Jose Serra—successfully pressed TV Globo into transferring the journalist to Lisbon, Portugal, after Tomas was born. Miriam Dutra still lives abroad and is now a TV Globo correspondent in Barcelona, Spain.

Instead of patronizing Cardoso' s behavior and theorizing about the moral significance of his actions, Caros Amigos's article was more an analysis of the often-ambiguous relationship between the media and power—economic, political or otherwise. For doing so, the magazine has been vilified by many of the local media luminaries who have labeled its article sensationalistic, and the magazine itself "brown press." Still, the lingering question remains: are the Brazilian media so ethical and respectful that they won't publicize the president's personal ffairs, or could it just be that the emperor has no clothes after all? M.A.

Presidential Affairs

Mar Sem Fim (Endless Sea), the diary of Amyr Klink, a Brazilian solitary sea wolf, has become the number one bestseller in Brazil. It's not the first time Klink has found success with a book. His two previous works— Cem Dias Entre Ceu e Mar (One Hundred Years Between the Sky and the Sea) and Paratu—Entre Dois Polos (Paratii— Between Two Poles) also appeared on the best-seller list. Together his previous works sold close to half a million copies, guaranteeing Klink a place in the all-too-restricted Olympus of Brazilian writers selling in the six digits. This has been a place reserved for people like TV personality and humorist JO Soares, neurolinguist LairRibeiro and self-help guru Paulo Coelho, who is the only one to sell in the millions.

Klink might not have great stories to tell, but he has a special way of narrating them. He can make palatable subjects like the technical details of his boat and the ways for mastering navigational skills. He is also able to enliven the biographies of past explorers. In Mar Sem Fim once again the author talks about his adventures on the high seas, but there is also a lot of musing about ocean creatures like whales and albatrosses.

"I am not a professional writer," Klink told recently weekly newsmagazine Veja. "I am amazed at the response to my work from people. I meet people from all ages when I hold autograph nights."

Klink is one of this rare breed that can practice his hobby full-time and make a living from it. He started this adventure venture in 1984, the year he crossed the Atlantic in a rowboat. Today he has become a much sought-after lecturer and he is earning $500,000 a year just from the lecture circuit. Sponsorship, endorsements, and licensing bring in the bulk of the money.

Much of the profits, however, is being invested in the boat Parati 2, a sailboat with which Amyr plans to circumnavigate the globe. He is sparing no expense. More than $1.5 million has already been spent and barely half of the new boat has been built.

BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

7

Since May 23, Brazilian best-selling writer Mario Prata has opened the door of his apartment in sao Paulo so anyone who wants can peek over his shoulder and see how his latest book is corning along. Prata, in a pioneering experience, is writing Os Anjos do Badara while a web cam in his room shows him at work and a special setup allows any Internet user in the world to follow word by word the creation of the novel. The site address is http:/ /marroprata.terra.com.br and was created in partnership with the Terra portal and TV I .

On June 11, 13 chapters had already been written.

"The inspiration for this new book came from reading newspaper classifieds from call girls," revealed the author. "I have never called any of them myself, but I like to imagine how each one of the girls is." After reading ads from eight different regions of Brazil, Prata came to the conclusion that the call girls offer very little information about themselves in So Paulo, reveal a little bit more in Rio, and tell the story of their lives in the Northeast.

Mario Alberto Campos de Morais Prata, 54, who was born in Uberaba, state of Minas Gerais, but grew up in Lins, a small town in the interior of sao Paulo, has extensive experience as a writer. He has been successful writing plays, movie scripts, TV shows, newspaper columns and fiction books, naturally. Last year he released Minhas Mutheres e Meus Homens (My Women and My Men), his 24th book. In Minhas Mulheres Prata had dedicated some paragraphs to dentist Badara, his friend, a man who after being cheated on by his wife, abandoned dentistry to create an agency for call girls.

Badara became rich, but later killed himself. The plot of the new book starts when veteran police reporter Alcides Capella receives some diskettes with the names and details of 431 call girls. Capella suspects that Baclar6 was murdered and hopes the new information will help him know the truth.

Prata's deadline to deliver the book is November 25. Curiously enough, Os Anjos do Badare is not going to become an electronic book to be sold on the Internet. The day after the conclusion all the chapters written will be erased from the author's site and will be printed in a traditional format. As the author explained: "lam writing a book formy publishing company, Objetiva, with their consent and it's not for the Internet. I am just fooling around, experimenting. For me a book has to have flaps."

The Mario Prata site has a place for suggestions and the author says that he is reading all of them even though he pretty much already knows what is going to happen: "I have the whole book inside my head. People send me many letters asking about the process of my work. This project is like giving birth, people will be able to see the book being born."

And he continues: "I believe this is an electronic feuilleton, but I don't know if people will follow the chapters as they do in a novela (soap opera). It is sheer madness to write in your house and to be seen in other peoples' houses."

Others The Prata experiment comes in the wake ofthe huge success of American best-selling author Stephen King's e-book Riding the Bullet, which premiered on the Internet and drew 400,000 people on the day it was released. Another wellknown Brazilian best-selling writer, Joao Ubaldo Ribeiro, is offering his latest book only through the Internet. Miseria e Grandeza do Amor de I3enedita (Misery and Grandeur of Benedita's Love) is online thanks to a joint effort by Nova Fronteira, Ubaldo's publishing house and virtual bookstore Submarino.

The books costs a little less than $3 and is being offered in pdf format from Adobe, which allows people to get not only the text, but also an idea of how the printed book would look. For Nova F'ronteira's editor Carlos Augusto Lacerda, the new book format is still "an exploratory work, a trial balloon." Lacerda believes that 100,000 people will download the book in the next twelve months and be hints that at that time a printed version of the work may be released.

Ubaldo, whose novel would be a short book of 80 pages if printed, does not seem particularly impressed with the new medium: "It was the same thing as writing for the paper, I didn't see that much difference. I have used a computer since 1996 and I am very interested in the matter, but I take care not to get too involved because I don't want to become a geek."

Miseriae grandeza do amor de Benedita is very similar to other books written in the past by Joao Ubaldo OsorioPimentel Ribeiro who lives in Rio, but was born in Itaparica, state of Bahia, on January 23, 1941. Benedita, the main character is married to Deoquinha, a incorrigible Don Juan who dies making love to his lover in the first page of the story.

Another virtual publishing house, the www.rnercatus.com.br, has already announced that it has joined the e-book bandwagon and will soon release a collection of essays about female behavior by Marina Colasanti. Luiz Elisio de Melo, Submarino's commercial director, has already warned that he will be looking very closely at the interest generated by Ubaldo' s book. "We are talking with several publishing houses about virtual books, but we will sign new contracts only if IJbaldo's book passes the test and becomes a success."

Os Anjos do Badaro beginning paragraphs: O suicida e o jomalista Bogart se sentiria em casa. A sala do Dragao exatamente como voce irnaginaria o local de trabalho do chefe geral de urn jornal policial meio capenga. Nao o chefe, o jornal. 0 Dragao me olhava nos olhos. Tinha me pedido uma materia.

---Nao, no posso. Voce tern que compreende

The suicide and the journalist Bogart would feel at home. The Dragon's room is exactly like you would imagine the work place of the editor-in-chief of a third-rate police newspaper to be. The Dragon looked me in the eyes. He had asked me for an article. —No, I can't. You have to understand.

The Dragon, as we used to call the editor-in-chief, is look}

8

BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

kg at me. Behind him a clock as old as the old press room-... dátór-thefe o quanto a velhti The winding type. I was sure he would understand me. Ile h)tt--ce,rteza que e sltava em had to know that I was in no condition 20 write about the er que eu nao e me death of Badaro.

It is a frie ctship of more than fi morte do Bad ais de-0inctilentaar anos Ot; ill perhaps be worthy ment . . . a aprnneirapagma. front page. A all, it is not thifinsttime your vez que este seu amigo 6 noticia been news. ent to thevvindow. lie stoodup y why, loves to go to a janela. Redator-chefe, nao sei I don't know e anela quando conversa corn a Ile talks to you —But was really suicide?

Sure it was doubt about that. He le —T -Debtoucarta, in the mouthugly wreck.

He lit a c ett, e. I was never able 0 dan ' a Continental. at f unca consegui saber onde 6 que got that —That's 0 Nestor will write his ental sem filtro.

6 perfil dele Que horas que funeral?

- When I w leaving, already on my way to the el me dirig ind° Para o gatao--with di customary kindness---heldmehy adeza de sempre - me Combing his disheveled beard: —Tell me. jWhat about the overnacla baba: —I am out But it w s the Dragon that Order it.

—The Dragon who ordered it! Who! It's not that! It's.

Dragao que mandou.

Ve seQuern! aprende.NAG Depots agente quemuem! mandou!

6- que E who" Who, who, who! See if you learn it. We'll talk later.1,, )t I'm going to Badar6's funeral. Leave me alone.

Gatao insisted: *o do Badar6. Me larga. ara o —That business of angels, of bidding club. Is o insistia do consorcio. E iiiesmo ally true? It was only for women or... le negOcio The elevator arrived. Relkf. I scrammed. s6 para m to MemandeL ador chegou.

Behavior

Given two youngsters inlovewho ould you think Would be the more Cooled Down pulsive, ready to jump head first o a love relationship oblivious to the consequences: the Brazilian or the Swiss? If you answered Brazilian as most ' of le with some familiarity a both countries would probably do, you are dead wrong. That is if the conclusions done among The study was survey. conducted the and psychologists Swiss professors dy &engin. Brazilian and e's and upper-middle class college students in Switzerland and Brazil. The researchers—University of Lau landepeschamps;Universidade Federal& Paraiba's LeOricio Camino and UniversidadeEstadualPaulista' s Celso y the results were a big surprise for them. bat 400 students were surveyed. This included one hundred and forty two in Switzerland, and 240 in Brazil. razihansaremoreinterestedmarelationslupas a step to marriage and social climbing Swiss students are searching e relationships that have little or nothing to do with professional success. Why thepragmatism of the Brazilian p e youth?

The researchers believe that this caution adopted in Brazil and the desire to start a family early in. life has to do with - anomie instability Brazilians have been enduring for generations. The search for lasting and solid relationships es as a counterbalance to the economic insecurity.

In aninterview vvithRio' s daily 0 G/obo, Celso Zonta raised the hypothesi s that the Brazilian behavior can be explained ole families play in intimate relationships in Brazil: "Here, the social relationships are valued above individual by feelings" For psychologist Suzanne Schreiber from Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro who was also heard by 0 Glabc;., "In Switzerland the youngsters have a more isolated life and this can contribute to the immediacy m a relationship and possessive love, In Brazil we have the opposite. Social conditions favor the encounter of generations and contacts are easier to Make. There are more opportunities for choice."

The Catholic Church and its omnipresent influence might be another important factor in this mix. In Switzerland, Protestantism is the main religious force. And as some experts point out, Brazilians for the most part like to stress the notion Of romantic love, which ideally is also eternal.

BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

9

The samba de b,•eque—samba in which the singer stois and improvises some rap-like music—is orphan. Its creator, Antonio Moreira da Silva, also known as Kid Morengueira, died at age 98, on June 6, at Rio's Hospital dos Servidores do Estado (State Public Servants Hospital). He had endured a long disease and had been taken to the hospital May 15. Moreira da Silva, who was from Tijuca, in Rio, died in the city he loved where le spent . .all. his life and where he earned the fame of being a legitimate malandro (street-smart

The last Sly Guy

To those who called him malandro he used to say: "I'd rather have people thinking! am stupid. Those who want to be too smart get all tangled up." But he himself cultivated the malandro character during all his life wearing a special outfit that included a white linen suit with a kerchief or a flower on the lapel, an orange silk shirt, white shoes with toe caps and a Panama hat. Atypical for a bohemian and malandro, he hardly ever drank and went to bed early. Moreira da Silva used to boast about his habit of drinking eggnog in the morning and milk before going to sleep. He was, however, an assumed womanizer.

In 1985, this son of a trombone player from the Military Police band told an interviewer about his interest in young girls. He was already 83, but continued to go out with young and pretty women who also seemed to like him. "I don't take my eyes from women," he declared.

And talked about a 19-year-old girl he was dating: "I am drinking catuaba liquor (an alleged aphrodisiac) to be able to deal with this brunette withjuriti' s (a bird) breast."

He recorded more than 100 albums. Morengueira started his musical career with "Arrasta Sandal ia" (Drag Your Sandal) in 1931.

But it was "Jogo Proibido," recorded five year later, that would make him noticed. Despite his popularity and success achieved mainly through radio, the musician made only enough money to survive. He lived most of his life in a modest house in the poor neighborhood of Estacio and only recently had moved to a small apartment in Catumbi. "I moved there," he joked, "so I can walk by myself to the cemetery when I die."

What he left was a $30,000 debt in the Panamericano hospital, a debt friends like musicians Beth Carvalho, Elza Soares, and Paulinho da Viola decided to pay by organizing a show at Canecdo, a prestigious location for music in Rio. It was Moreira da Silva himself who asked for the show saying he wouldn't like to leave this bill to his relatives to pay.

Some people thought he was putting them on when he told about his date of birth: April Fool's Day. In fact, he was born on April 1st, 1902. Among several odd jobs he had, Morengueira worked for a sock faztory and also as a taxi and ambulance driver. Among Morengueira's most popular songs are "Acertei no Milhar," "Morengueira Contra 007," and "0 Rei do Gatilho," all good-humored smiles, the latest two making fun of Hollywood and the Wild West. In 1995, he released the CD "Os Tres Malandros," a parody to the Three Tenors—Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti —in partnership with Bezerra da Silva and Dicra One day before Marengueira's passing, Brazil had lost an sambista, and malandro symbol. It was Joao Nogueira, who died at age 58 from s heart attack, on June 5. He was the author of such musical pearls as "Urn Ser de Luz," "Siiplica" and "Minha Missdo " 1%Iogueira, a married man with two children, wouldn't heed his doctors who had advised him to stay away from alcohol. He never stopped his all-night parties always accompanied by his beer mug. He was getting ready to record a new CD with seven new songs among the 14 tunes selected for the album. It would have been his 19th disc.

Na Subida no Morro

Going Up the Hil

_Moreira da Silva Voce mesmo sabe que eu já fui urn malandro malvado somente estou regenerado.

C-heio de malicia trabalho a policia - pm cachorro (...)

Mas nunca abuse i de uma mulher que f3sse de um amigo.

Agora me zanguei consigo Hoje venho animado a lhe debar todo cortado.

Vou dar-lhe um castigo meto-lhe o aco no abdomen e tiro fora o seu umbigo

10

You know very well, that I've been a mean stree Even though I changed.

Full of malice I gave a very hard time to the police (...)

But I never abused a woman who belonged to a friend.

Now I'm mad at you Today I'm ready to cut you all up.

I will punish you I'll stick the steel in the abdomen and I'll pull out your bellybutton

BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

Too Rich, Too Poor In a list of 150 countries classified by the he Gini index—an indicator used internationally to measure income distribution—Brazil appears as number 148 in a list of 150 countries. And the country is losing its battle to reduce this blatant inequality.

RODOLFO ESPINOZA

BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

A personal je costs a minimum of $9 million. You need to be more than just a little rich to join the club of those who own one. While then mber one fleet of these jets is in the United States and the n ber two is in Mexico, Brazil in a close third place. A Brazili worker who makes minimum wage ($84 a month) would n ed to work 8,928 years saving every penny before being abl to get his own private plane. And if things continue getting orse, as in recent years, such a worker will have to work a 1w centuries more and not less to get his impossible jet.

The latest umbers by IPEA (Instituto de Pesquisa Econ6mica Apl cada—Institute of Applied Economic Research), an orga of the Planning Ministry, show that contrary to what the offic al discourse says the situation of the Brazilian poor has becom grimmer since the introduction of the Plano Real—a federal irogram introduced on July 1, 1994—designed to strengthen Br: ilian currency and eliminate a decades-old endemic inflati n.

Times were etter during the mid-nineties and until October 1997 when razil was affected by the economic crises in Russia and Asia. e President had an approval rate of60 percent and per capita h me income was growing 5.4 percent a year.

In 1997 the perc ntage of Brazilians below the poverty line had fallen from 33.4 ercent to 25.5 percent. But then the world crisis came and on Jan ary 13, 1999, the real, the Brazilian currency, was devalued a d unemployment started to increase.

A just-relea ed IPEA study called "Inequality and Poverty in Brazil: Portr it of an Unacceptable Stability" reveals that present degree f inequality in the contry, based on data from 1998, can only b compared to the worst years—those at the end of the 70s. Ac ording to the IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Est tistica—Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), the t p 1 percent of Brazilians, with 14 percent of the nation's we th, has more money than the poorer 50 percent.

Nothing ne in such disparity as the study notes, "It's unbelievable th stability ofthe intense inequality of income that accompanies t e Brazilian through so many decades." Says Ricardo Henriq es, one of the study's authors, "Of course it is important to gr w, but even if things get better, the inequality will continue a soon as the impact of the growth stops."

The IPEA r searchers criticize those who defend the idea that you canno have social justice without economic growth, and believe tha only a program to redistribute income would work in face of e immense gap between the rich and the poor.

According to th ir estimate, the government would need to apply $16.5 billion a ear to help 50 million poor Brazilians—almost one third of its 160 million people population.

The Gini in ex in Brazil, which uses IBGE information, is 0.60. Such indi ator is used internationally to measure income distribution. e index goes from 0 to 1 and the closest to 1 a country is, the worse is the income distribution there. Brazil appears as nu ber 148 in a list of 150 countries, losing only to Swaziland (0.6') and Sierra Leone (0.63). And still more downbeat statistics: c 0.5 percent of Brazilians aged 15 or older are functionally il iterate who went four years or less to school.

Another tr gic side effect of the poverty and lack of educational opport ities is that more than 50 percent of the girls without schoo ing between the ages of 15 and 19 are already mothers. Inde es from the Health Ministry show that this phenomenon is mire acute in the North and the Northeast regions.

11

According to experts, it's not lack of information but lack of For the technical director of DIEESE (Departamento perspective what makes young girls become mothers so early Intersindical de Estatisticas e Estudos Socio-Economicos— in life. Most of these pregnancies are desired since these young Interunion Department for Statistics and Socio-Economic Studmothers believe that's the only way for them to improve their ies), Sergio Mendonca, the positive impact of the real was very life status. isszt,umam short-lived: "At the start of the plan, with the fall of inflation "The Brazilian government does not have a specific policy and bigger acquisitive power by the population, there was a for youngsters," said Lucimar Coser from the Health Ministry's relative economic growth. Starting in 1997, however, there was youth program. "All we have now are fragmented programs." a recession, and at the same time an increase in the number of There are plans to start such a program, which would involve poor." several sectors including health, culture, and education. PrecoMendonca poii4s as well that inequality in society is brought cious motherhood is a growing problem in Brazil." not only by the contentration of income on the top, but also by IBGE data also show that the biggest concentration of a very competitive job market, which excludes those less qualiunemployed is among the very young. Almost 50 percent of fied and requires constant training by employees. those unemployed are youngsters who are 24 years old or Ana Saboia, IBGE's chief of the Division of Social Indicayounger. tors, concurs with Mendonca. In an interview with Jornal do Brasil she said, "Social inequality continues to harm Brazilians Too Much and Too Little even though we can notice a better life standard, according to our social indicators."

According to the World Bank, income concentration in Not everything got worse though. Child mortality, for exBrazil has created five types of social groups in the country: the ample, fell to 35 children for every 1000 born alive in 1999. Six indigent (24 million people); the poor (30 million); the almost years ago there were 41 deaths for the same group of 1000 kids. poor (60 million); the middle class (50 million); and the rich (2 Basic sanitation, however, continues to be a problem for 30 million). Brazil possesses a private wealth of $1.1 trillion, 53 percent of poor Brazilians who don't have access to public percent of which is controlled by the rich. In reality, the aver- sewer. age income of the richer is 150 times bigger than the average A report about health conditions in the world released on income of the poorest Brazilians.

June 20 by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows Commenting this situation Reinaldo Brazil in 125' place among 191 countries. The situation in Goncalves, economist of Universidade Brazil is compatable to that in Vietnam, Nepal and CamFederal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) told Rio bodia. The study, in which France came in first place, the daily Jornal do Brasil: "There's no eviUnited States inI376 and Sierra Leon in last, does not only dence that the same occurs in other counmeasure the amiunt of medical facilities that a country has tries. In the United States, the Bill Gates but also the way patients are treated. control 26 percent of the wealth, half of According to Julio Frenk, WHO's executive-director, , what the richest Brazilians control."

Brazil lost many points due to the way poor people are 4 Another sign ofthe growing poverty in treated by the health services and to the unfair manner the ', 'Brazil is the increase in the informal job health systems Ore financed. The report concluded that market. This growth of informal workBrazilians have thpay too much for health care. This means, ers—and this includes from the street vensays the study, that a great number of fam ilies in Brazil spend dor to workers in small companies—bemore than they can on medical assistance. came more pronounced starting in the The Health Ministry responded promptly and indigearly 90s. According to a recent IBGE study on employment, nantly to the report stating that WHO used incomplete and in the period going from May 1999 to May 2000, there was an outdated data for their study. The government noted for example increase of 11.5 percent in the number of workers holding a job thatthe information about child mortality is from an IBGE study without a contract. The study was conducted in six big cities: from 1996 that used avery small sample. The Ministry also critiRio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Sal- cized WHO for consulting only 33 experts, including governvador and Recife. ment officials and ptivate researchers. .40,401,--4414•0toiiii .

While the formal market was able to create 62,000 new job "The data about fairness in financing health treatment," said positions in that period, the informal one gave work to 491,000 a note from the Health Ministry, "are clearly exaggerated and people. These latest numbers show that the informal market for distorted, so much satthat Djibouti appears in third place while jobs has grown by an annual average of 5.19 percent in the last Cuba, one of the mosiegalitarian countries in the world appears three years. in 256 place. Due to that, Brazil, which stands in 78th place for Economist Marcio Pochmann from Unicamp (Universidade performance in health, drops to 125th place in the final ranking de Campinas) predicts that in eight years the number ofjobs in behind such nations as Senegal, Nicaragua, Bosnia, Iraq, and Brazil will be split in half between those working with a con- Pakistan." tract with all social benefits and those in an informal job. Today, Health Minister, Jose Serra, was less critical of the report • 27.8 percent of workers have informal jobs. The service and and used the release of the study to exonerate his cabinet from commerce sectors are the main ones hiring without a contract. the shortcomings ofthe government's health policy. Serra noted that Brazil's unfavorOle position was not surprising and pointed Some Reason to Cheer that the causes for th4t were mainly income disparity. He also complained about thelmoney reserved on the federal budget for

kt

BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

his ministry and about budget cuts in the area of basic sanitation.

According to WHO, the poor are the ones who suffer the most under the Brazilian federal health system. There are 120 million Brazilians without private health insurance and 35 million of them are below the poverty line. The majority of Brazilians are under the care of the federal program SUS (Sistema Onico de Saiide—Unified Health System), which consumes $11.3 billion a year and is administered jointly by the Union, states and municipalities. The remaining 40 million Brazilians are in the better hands of a private system that expends $9.5 billion a year.

Inequality for All "Health was never a priority in this country," says former Health minister, doctor Jamil Haddad. Haddad should know.

He left his cabinet after a dramatic pleading to get more resource without success. To what Jose Aristodemo Pinotti, a professor at Faculdade de Medic ma da Universidade de Sao Paulo (Sao Paulo University Medical College) added in a interview to Jornal do Brasil: "There's so much incompetence in managing the Brazilian public health. Countries that spend the same as Brazil like Mexico and Chile have half the mortality for pregnant women."

In Brazil expenditures on health represent 3.17 percent of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product), according to data from 1996—from the latest numbers that are available. Compare this with the US, which spends 13.7 percent of its GDP and is the leader in expenditure in the health sector even though 40 million Americans are not covered by any private or public health plan.

After the release by IBGE, in April, of another study about social differences, the president of that institution, Sergio Besserman V ianna declared: "Inequality is the most distinctive trace ofthe Brazilian society under whatever angle you analyze it: income, region, race or sex." In that study, called Synthesis of Social Indicators and based in 1998 data, it was revealed that 19.6 percent ofthe 45.2 million Brazilian families are poor, since they have a per capita income of less than half minimum wage ($42).

That report also revealed that the head of the household in 16.7 percent of the Brazilian families is a single woman with children. Another revelation was that 40 percent of the population at the bottom of the economic ladder earn a monthly average wage of $69.50 while the top 10 percent have an average monthly income of $1,376.

When the country is divided by regions, the Northeast is the area in which the poverty situation is the worst with 38.2 percent of workers earning less than half a minimum wage. In the Southeast this percentage falls to 10.8 percent. In the North there are 26 percent in this situation. In the Midwest 15.9 percent, while 13 percent fall under this category in the South.

Nationally, only 9.9 percent of the 45 million Brazilian families make more than five minimum wages ($84 x 5 =$420) a month. When these numbers apply to regions, once again the BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

Northeast is in clear disadvantage in comparison with the richer Southeast. While 13.3 percent of those families in the Southeast make more than five minimum wages a month, this number falls to 4.1 percent in the Northeast.

Call for Action There have een some efforts to correct the problem or at least improve onditions for those below the poverty line.

Recently the Br zilian senate approved an amendment to the constitution tha would create the so-called Fund to Combat Poverty. The fu d would invest annually for a period of 10 years $2.2 billion in rograms for the poor that would deal with nutrition, educ ion, housing, and health.

President F rnando Henrique Cardoso himself recognizes that inequality ontinues to be a serious problem in Brazil. In response to a U document criticizing the gap between rich and poor in Brazil, ardoso, declared: "It's futile to say that the income is conc ntrated. Unfortunately that's the case for 500 years."

Sao Paulo, he richest state of the federation, has 8.4 million people be lo the poverty line, according to a report by IPEA (Instituto de Pe quisa Econ6mica Aplicada—Institute of Applied Economi Research) and the JETS (Instituto de Estudos do Trabalho e ociedade—Institute for the Study of Work and Society). This means that four in every ten Paulistas are poor (making less than $83 a month) and that one in every ten can be considered an indigent (making less than $40.5 a month), according to the indexes utilized by WHO to quantify misery. This fact becomes even grimmer when you know that Sdo Paulo has proportionally less poor people than any other state.

The study based on IBGE data from 1996 and 1997 shows that people from the state of Rio de Janeiro are in worse shape yet since1 35 percent of the 13.5 million Flumthenses live below the poverty line. And in Minas Gerais more than half (51 percent) ofthe population of 16.8 million is also below that line.

The state of Sao Paulo made its calculations and concluded that in order to eradicate poverty it needed to spend $285 million every month, or 17 percent of the state's budget, in social programs. This would represent, in average, $33.5 to each of the 8.4 million poor Paulistas.

"We cannot calculate for how long the state would have to make these money transfers," said IPEA' s economist Marcelo Neri, one of the coordinators of the study on poverty in Sao Paulo, and continued, "That would depend on public investments in the a eas of health, education and sanitation."

Despite th blight offavelas (shantytowns) in the large urban centers like S o Paulo and Rio, urbanization has been important to reduce soverty. In Sao Paulo city there are 20 percent of the poor pe'pie of the state, while 26 percent of them live in the rural area, region with only 15 percent of the population.

In respons to critics who have accused sociologist President Fernand Henrique Cardoso of reneging on his past of political acti ity in favor of the poor, the government has launched on J ne 28 a program to assist the poorest of Brazil13

ians. Called IDH-12 since it is inspired by the IBGE's IDH (indice de Desenvolvimento Humano—Human Development Index), the program intends to reach communities whose IDH is 0.75 or less. The internationally-used index, which takes in consideration education, longevity, and income, has a scale that goes from 0 to 1.

The plan anticipates an annual budget of $2.8 billion, but it is flexible allowing for alterations once new priorities are determined. It would create basic programs ofeducation, health and sanitation, that in turn generate jobs, which would make the program self-sustainable. More than just distributing money, the plan intends to create anew mentality in public service, trying to establish a uniform national program and to coordinate organs from different departments that normally work separately.

The plan also calls for a watch-over system that would guarantee the money is used where it was intended to.

The plan seems too precise and too good to be true. According to the government data, the program will assist 50.818.767 people from the 2091 poorest municipalities of the country. The money would go to these selected states: Acre, Alagoas, Bahia, Ceara, Espirito Santo, Maranhao, Minas Gerais, BRAZIL CARGO SPECIALIST Para, Paraiba, Pernambuco, Piaui, "Ship to Brazil with the company that really knows how."

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WITHOUT TRANSLOADING IN MIAMI It's not for lack of plans that, generation after generation, Brazil is unable to reduce the inequality between the rich and the poor. Nothing short of a serious intervention of the state can solve the problem, according to some experts and a study by the IPEA, an organ of the Planning ministry. For economist Reinaldo Goncalves from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro 00 FALAMOS PORTUGUES it's necessary to attack the source of the problem, impose a radical agrarian reform, and extend easy financing to the poor. Says he, "There is no 12833 SIMMS AVE. - HAWTHORNE, CA 90250 other way out but to tax heavily the wealthy, transferring their wealth to the poor. Brazil is a rich country. It FAX: (310) 973-7113 has plenty ofwealth, capital and land that can change hands."

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MN Stilk VIIJDN APRENDA COMO PROSPERAR EM TODOS OS SENTIDOS DE SUA VIDA PARTICIPE DAS„REUNIOES DA SEICHO-NO-IE EM PORTUGUES REALIZADAS MENSALMENTE EM LONG BEACH, CA. Informe-se pelo Tel:

(562)498-9390 Sra. Euzebia Noleto Seicho-No-le U.S. Missionary Headquarters 14527 S. Vermont Ave.- Gardena, CA 90247

Brazil undoubtedly has problems with a crumbling social structure, rampant poverty and a tottering government, but then again how many countries are perfect? I suggest that people take any ideas they find within the cover of this and other magazines with a pinch of salt, and hit the road at the first opportunity to see first hand how friendly Brazilians really are!

Philip Blazdell Ceari, Brazil (Philip Blazdell writes for Brazzil.)

I am a Brazilian undergraduate student at Ursinus College, in Pennsylvania. I have lived in Brazil for most of my life but attend school here. For the summer I am working on an independent research about exploitation systems and its perpetuation in underdeveloped/developing nations (such as Brazil) through national factors. I am concentrating the study on the unspoken monopoly of Globo on mass media, and therefore on the control it has over the future of national politics and economy.

I subscribe to Brazzil and did receive the January 2000 issue in which Alessandra Dalevi did a great job at exposing the entire "problem". This research is the basis for my distinguished honors work and I will be willing to have it published at politics/international relations journals. debsarmento@yahoo.com Debora Sarmento Collegeville, Pennsylvania

iii u i iii ii his 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

Eimmialujjawailimmi Re Adhemar Altieri's article "Old Ways": It is astonishing to hear what goes on with the politicians and economics of Brazil. This article was very poignant, in that it was to the point on the subject of Brazilians citizens being shut out of the processes in their country.

The debate of self-service versus full-service gas stations is a prime example. The introduction of selfservice gas stations would have brought many jobs to Brazil with the construction, maintenance and shipping of the convenience stores, but it would also eliminate the position of the frentistas (people who pump gas as a living).

The jobs brought by the convenience store would replace them. Brazilian citizens don't know this because they are misinformed and the government does not help to let them know their options. So the government has prohibited selfservice gas stations.

I believe that the citizens of Brazil need to be more informed and they need to fight for their rights. They should not put up with the ridiculous antics of their government anymore and need to take control and be in charge themselves. They need to stop letting unqualified government officials make decisions for them. In order to do this, the Brazilian people need to become part of their government and stop being spectators.

Hannah Wolberg Socorro, New Mexico .1111.1111111.1 I feel that after reading Mr. Espinoza's article on foreigners in Brazil I must respond with a few comments of my own. Once again, these are my own opinions and reflect only the experiences I have had over the last seven months in Brazil.

I feel the phrase "For most foreigners it's very hard to make Brazilian friends and many first contacts go nowhere fast" is terribly misleading and I would beg to differ with this opinion. Since my arrival here I have been overwhelmed with friendship, which far exceeds the lengths one would normally extend, as a matter of common courtesy, to a visiting foreigner. In fact, from the many e-mails I receive each month I doubt that this view would be accepted as true by any of the many readers of Brazzil who e-mail me.

For all their faults, the Brazilians are simply a warm loving people, who are invariably open and interested in foreigners. Of course, I have met the odd grumpy official, but on the whole I have been overwhelmed with kindness, invitations and friendship. I suggest that perhaps the author of this thought-provoking piece, which I believe has been culled from the invariable excellent Veja, should compare Brazilian culture with that found in the more civilized world such as Europe of Asia.

16

Please, be less narrow in culture. Don't have an opinion on Brazil until you really know it. Until them you can zip what you call mouth. And if you really think I am being rude try to put yourself in a position of a person who is seeing his favorite dog being kicked by a brat kid. Oh! I am sorry, probably you would kick it too.

Elaine V. F. Via Internet

i iii I ti Please renew my subscription. I am a Brazilian citizen stuck in Cleveland, Ohio, because my family immigrated here. Your magazine is enjoyable reading even if the advertising favors the West Coast. I have no problem with sexuality in Brazzil. In fact, you are becoming a little tame!

Once I feel you have become Americanized then I will end the subscription, Meanwhile keep up the good work.

Emilio Muryn Parma, Ohio You have a wonderful magazine, I found your Internet site and I am really glad I sent for a sample. Sheine is a Brasileira from Recife, state of Pernambuco, and is going to college at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. We were her host parents when she came for her senior year in High School. Other than the Internet, it is almost impossible to find information and news from Brazil here. We have come to love Brazilian things and plan to be long-term subscribers to your magazine, which will not to the recycling can after being read. They will be "keepers". Keep up —

the good work.

James Tellock Horfonville, Wisconsin

nommthEagiulla In reference to Camaval-2001 I'd like to know how is the crime in Rio and Brazil in general? I've heard about many human rights abuses in Brazil. I've also heard of the appalling treatment of women in some parts of Brazil, lam a female and women's rights concern me when I travel abroad. I don't want to be at a high risk for rape or murder.

Via Internet

II Iit:!Iil:lII I deeply enjoyed the piece in the April 2000 issue of Brazzil about Mauricio Carrilho and Acari Records.

Danielle's writing is like a seal of guarantee and I hasten to read everything with her name attached. I was often in Brazil in the early 80s and remember scooting around Rio and Sao Paulo trying to track down the source of private labels for importation to Canada. At that time (has it improved) it was almost an illicit activity paying and getting delivery and I had to contrive jeitinhos for every situation just to get the precious cargo back to Canada. Always, anything that had the choro artists that Acari now employs was purchased—often without listening—as I knew it would be good.

Kuarup Discos was always a safe bet also when it came to choros and nordestino. As well, in Sao Paulo I tried on each Saturday to end up at Ronoel Simiies' place in Bixiga for conversation and listening—surrounded by his vast guitar record collection and sheet music. Please, tell me he is still there. Do keep the good works coming.

David Anderson Bethune-Thompson House Ontario, Canada

.1111MilifijillIIIIIM11:11q;111111= What can I say? Estou morrendo do saudades do Brasil. I live in South Africa, I spent seven months in Brazil and I intend to live and work there in the near future. I work for Ogilvy & Mather, a global advertising agency with a strong presence in Brazil, so this helps. The problem as always is money. But it's only a matter of time. Is it possible to obtain copies of your magazine here in South Africa?

Can I subscribe?

Priniven Pillay South Africa We are a group of students in Taiwan. We are searching for information about the rain forest problems in Brazil and an introduction to Brazil (like history, culture, education, health and human resources). Could you send us some useful information? We will appreciate any help.

Via Internet sophia0803@pchome.com.tw

imimmaidj jjjamim.

Bruce, thanks for the illuminating article about Pixinguinha.

Mark Kazanoff Via Internet

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BRAZZIL MAY-JUNE 2000

On Wednesd , May 24, a protest rally by striking Sao Paulo state schoolteach rs ended up on live national television, as thousands of marchers lashed with riot police. The ugly scene featured cops on horsebac charging the crowd, and widespread use oftear gas, plastic bullet , police dogs and pepper spray. There were 17 injured, five oft em police officers. Three days before that, a student walked u to federal Health Minister Jose Serra during a visit to the town o Sorocaba, in the state of sao Paulo, and smashed an egg on his fac . A few days later, Serra was again hit with an egg, this time in the city ofBelo Horizonte, stated of Minas Gerais.

In the aftermath of the clash between strikers and police, sao Paulo state Governor Mario Covas has been involved in a rash of incidents with stri (ing civil servants. A day after the clash, he ended up with a bruised forehead while trying to move through an unfriendly crowd at a political event. A protester got close enough to strike him on the head with a stick. And on Thursday, June 1, Governor Covas was physically attacked as he entered, and again as he left the Education Secretariat, where striking teachers were camped in protest. A local television station's traffic chopper beamed dramatic live pictures of the governor's departure from the downtown building under a hail of assorted fruits and vegetables, eggs, rocks, sticks, and even plastic chairs and empty cans.

Aides tried to protect the governor as he exchanged insults with protestors at very close range. But at least one projectile hit the target, so along with the previous week's bruise, Covas now sports a nasty bump and a cut lip.

These incidents have been replayed and analyzed to exhaustion in the past few days, as the most varied explanations are offered for what's going on. Social upheaval?

That's what government opponents would have everyone believe. Have Mario Covas and Jose Serra done Untimely strikes, surprise revelations, anything to deserve the wrath directed at them? Not specifically, personal attacks have all been a part of the although Covas has been lackluster routine whenever elections draw near. at best in his second consecutive term as Sao Paulo governor. And Voters could be in for much more of these Serra is at the helm of a truly troubled area, which isn't about to tactics over the next few months. show major improvements for lack of funds. The fact that both are possible future presidential candidates ADHEMAR ALTIERI might begin to explain things. Both are also members of the PSDB— President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's political party. Combine that with the words' lection year" and the question marks begin to fade away.

Untimely s rikes, exaggerated assessments, surprise revelations, personal ttacks, fire and brimstone speeches, have all been a part of Brazil' routine whenever elections draw near. It's an approach that ig ores party and ideology, and does Brazil a great disservice: all sides concentrate on attempting to expose the opponent's mi givings, and generatiug bad publicity if at all possible. Most oft e campaign effort ends up going into mud-slinging and finding ays to embarrass or complicate an opponent, with far too little ti e devoted to explaining what a candidate would actually do if ected.

Events so show things headed in much the same direction as in previous lections. The opposition, often in tandem with the labor movement and other organized groups, uses every possible opportunity to try and harm the incumbent's image and capability BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

17

to offer support to candidates at the municipal level. For its part, the government and its allies resort to similar techn iques to discredit opponents, even taunting them to draw the desired results in some situations. A look at the facts surrounding the current teachers' strike in Sao Paulo helps to explain how both sides operate.

For example, the clash with police is being used by the opposition to criticize the government for its heavy-handedness. In fact, the protest was held at Sao Paulo's landmark Avenida Paulista, a major artery where protest marches are forbidden to begin with.

There are 26 hospitals in the immediate area, and blocking the avenue could put lives on the line. With over 100 locations in sao Paulo where protests are authorized, there is no reason at all to stage them at Paulista. Still, police agreed to let the march go on when the teachers' union promised it would only occupy half the avenue—traffic flow would continue on the other half. It was only when marchers insisted on occupying the entire avenue that riot police went into action.

The numbers game played by both sides is another indication that everyone is well into campaign mode. The police said 7 thousand protesters took part in the march, while organizers called it at "between 30 and 40 thousand". The union says teachers have had no pay increase in five years. In fact, there have been several increases over five years, totaling between 130 and 200 percent, depending on salary and function. This must be put in perspective: teachers in the public system in Sao Paulo, or throughout Brazil for that matter, are not well paid, so high percentages shouldn't leave the impression that they're now earning top wages. Teachers are right to be asking for more, but to deny past increases, or that there's been an effort to improve their lot, is silly politicking and nothing more.

At the government end, one has to wonder what governor Covas' real intentions were, when he decided to walk through the striking teachers' camp at the Education Secretariat. He did this without police protection, although a riot squad was on the scene— it kept a distance on his direct orders. This was highly unorthodox and risky behavior. Authorities never enter that particular building through its front door—there is a side entrance which he and other officials normally use, which would have avoided the protesters altogether. It is fair to conclude the governor wanted to cause a commotion, which might be exploited later.

The answer came on the following day, when Covas called a news conference and showed reporters a video ofCongressman Jose Dirceu, national president of the left-wing Workers' Party (PT), telling a crowd "they (the government) must be beaten in the ballot box and on the streets". Covas implied that Dirceu was suggesting that government members should be attacked, and that striking teachers were only following that recommendation. It can be argued the governor may have taken things somewhat out of context.

The exact term used by Dirceu, "apanhar", doesn't necessarily imply physical punishment. The English equivalent would be beaten, which could simply mean beaten as in at the end ofa game, or an election...

Voters could be in for much more of this over the next few months. The PT's candidate for mayor of Sao Paulo, Marta Supl icy, is currently a front-runner in all polls. The government's candidate and current Vice-Governor Geraldo Alckmin has so far failed to make an impact. The tendency, then, is for the government to begin working to prop up Alckmin, at the expense of the PT and other opponents if necessary, while the PT does its best to prevent Alckmin's candidacy from gaining any momentum. There should be no lack of fireworks between now and October...

After the fall Sao Paulo's rundown, dirty and disorganized appearance has become an election issue.

18

Brazil's largest city is breathing a collective sigh ofrelief. One thousand, two-hundred and forty-one days of perhaps the worst administration ever seen in sao Paulo ended, at least temporarily, on Thursday, May 25th, when mayor Celso Pitta was removed from office following yet another court defeat. For the second time in two months, the mayor chose an embarrassing way to react to a negative court decision, and escaped out the back door to avoid being served notice. All for naught: an appeal filed by his lawyers was thrown out that same evening. Pitta resurfaced 15 hours later and finally relinquished power on Friday morning to Deputy Mayor Regis de Oliveira.

Given the massive web of corruption currently being investigated in Sao Paulo, much of it involving the mayor himself, any number of serious charges could have led to Pitta's undoing. Instead, what finally tipped the legal scales against the beleaguered mayor was a charge of misuse of public funds, connected to a loan of R$800 thousand (about US$430 thousand) he received from wealthy businessman Jorge Yunes. The court considered the loan possible illicit compensation for zoning changes that affected properties owned by Yunes, which shot up in value. Considering estimates that show Sao Paulo may have lost more than US$1 billion to corruption last year alone, this is sort of like Al Capone being nailed for tax evasion and nothing more.

Pitta's son helped things along by telling police the loan was never made in the first place: it was, he said, "an excuse" to justify his father's standard ofliving, which is incompatible with a mayor's paycheck. The courts decided Pitta could not remain in office while all this was investigated, because that would give him the opportunity to obstruct the search for evidence in city departments. In delivering the decision, one of the judges wrote that Pitta is "obstinate when it comes to acts of administrative dishonesty". Pitta, who only remained in office this long because of successive appeals, has now been convicted five times on a variety of administrative improprieties, with five other cases still making their way through the system, and numerous other charges and accusations still to come, many made by his own ex-wife. On top of all this, impeachment proceedings against him are still under way at City Council, and will continue even though he is out of office.

After handing things over to Regis de Oliveira, Pitta vowed to continue battling in court to be reinstated as mayor. Analysts believe his chances ofaccompl ishing this are slim at best, so the likelihood is that interim mayor Oliveira will stay on until January, when a newly elected mayor and city councilors take office following upcoming municipal elections throughout Brazil in October.

Oliveira promises a multi-party "consensus" administration, aimed at "recovering morality and dignity" in Sao Paulo. If he simply begins to run the city, Paulistanos (Sao Paulo city residents) will be thankful enough: the city's appearance reflects what's been happening at the top, as officials concern themselves with political survival and literally ignore day-to-day matters. An investigation by a local television news team showed that so far this year, Sao Paulo's City Council has only voted on three projects, and if it were to vote on one project per day, starting now, it would take ten years to clear the backlog. The results of such widespread inaction are visible throughout the city—to a point where Sao Paulo's rundown, dirty and disorganized appearance has become an election issue.

There's a much broader context here that goes far beyond the city ofsao Paulo, and is ofgreat importance to Brazil's current stage of political and social development. Pitta's removal from office is by no means the end of anything. Quite the contrary, this is more like the beginning: what happens next, not just to Pitta but to his mentors and associates, is now the big question—specifically how much, if any of what is now attached to or alleged about Pitta, will eventually be attributed to his political "creator", controversial former mayor, governor and presidential candidate Paulo Maluf.

Pitta was a political unknown until he became Secretary of Finance during Maluf s term as mayor of sao Paulo, from 1992 to 1996. Before that, Pitta was an executive with a company owned

by Maluf s family. Maluf is emblematic of Brazil's old-style of politics, which society has only recently begun to understand as BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

negative and objectionable. He's a remnant of times when administrators known to be corrupt, but who showed some level of efficiency, were considered acceptable and even admired by voters.

Efficiency was often measured by large, visible projects like avenues, bridges and tunnels, usually inaugurated with splashy events that included long speeches, fireworks, and flag-waving public servants bussed in for the occasion.

Maluf might just be the most vivid example of that style of politics still active in Brazil. In fact, he's worth a look by the people at the Guinness Book of World Records, because of the incredible number of charges and accusations of corruption that have been aimed at him over the years. This ends up working in both directions: detractors say he isn't punished because he's a master at covering his tracks and maneuvering in the courts, while supporters say the charges are political in nature, nothing but sour grapes and envy, and haven't led to convictions, which "proves" Maluf is innocent on all counts...

Whatever the case, the fact is that much of what plagued Celso Pitta during his shortened term as mayor originated when Maluf was mayor and Pitta his Secretary ofFinance. This includes everything from the illegal issue of municipal bonds to massive cost overruns on public works projects, including a series of tunnels which accusers say cost more to build per kilometer than the tunnel below the English Channel connecting France and England. The huge corruption scheme dubbed the "Inspector's Mafia", at the heart of Sao Paulo's corruption scandal, surfaced during Pitta's term but what's been exposed about it so far shows that it all began when Maluf was still mayor.

As things stand, Pitta joins the ever-expanding ranks of Brazilians who must now "face the music", at a time when Brazil, as a nation, is learning that it needs to zero in on impunity. Far too many who've done wrong in the past have escaped without punishment or repayment of any kind, but the trend is in the opposite direction now, as recent events clearly indicate: -Dozens of city inspectors have been convicted and jailed in the past year, in connection with the Inspectors' Mafia scandal. Two city councilors and a state legislator have been removed from office, and one councilor remains in prison; -At the end of May, former finance minister Zelia Cardoso de Mello was convicted of corruption and sentenced to thirteen years and four months in prison. A notorious member of the Collor de Mello administration, which ended with the president forced out of office because of corruption, she now lives in New York and is appealing the sentence; -Police are searching for former labor court judge Nicolau dos Santos Neto, accused in connection with a major corruption scandal in which over R$140 million (about US$76 million) destined for construction of a new labor court headquarters in Sao Paulo, were diverted. The judge was tipped off about his arrest and had left his home when police arrived. The owner of the construction company involved, Fdbio Monteiro de Barros Filho, has been in jail since earlier this month, and Senator Luiz Estevao may be the object of impeachment proceedings for his involvement. The Brazilian Senate is currently under heavy criticism for obvious delaying tactics being used to try and spare their colleague; -A former regional superintendent in Para state for IBAMA, the government's environment and natural resources institute, Paulo Castelo Branco, was arrested in May, caught in the act as he collected R$500 thousand (about US$265 thousand) from a logging company—a bribe to allow the company to proceed with illegal logging projects in the Amazon region; -Former first-lady Rosane Collor was convicted in early May for misappropriation of funds while presiding a social assistance institute where the current first-lady usually holds a ceremonial presidency. Charged with using institute funds to throw a private party, she was sentenced to eleven years in prison. She is appealing; For years, impunity has been identified as a national cancer in Brazil, which must be shed. So punishing the guilty, whoever they are, must become commonplace if the right message is to make its way through society and become imbedded in the national psyche.

BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

That must replace the thinking that dominates now: that nothing will happen, that the powerful will walk away with a shrug, or as Brazilians like to say, that it'll all end in one big pizza party, with the accused laughing all the way home, or worse, all the way to the bank.

This is a maj r change that's an absolute must in Brazil— something that s ciety must pilot into place. And there will be powerful oppone its to the effort, because there are still plenty of people in Brazil ho would like to continue believing that it'll always be "busin ss as usual". Former president Fernando Collor de Mello for exai ple, who left office in 1992 to avoid impeachment for involv ment in a widespread corruption scheme, is working hard in 1he , courts to be allowed to attempt a political comeback. He'd ike to run for mayor of Sao Paulo. And Paulo Maluf, whose unf rgettable contributions to the abused city of Sao Paulo include Cel o Pitta, has already announced he'll be after the mayor's chair on e again come October. This alone will be a major test for the peopl of SAo Paulo: when Maluf supported Pitta's candidacy in 199 ,he stated: "If Pitta doesn't turn out to be a great mayor, don't eve vote for me again". Hopefully, Paulistanos will remember, and th courts won't forget about Pitta because he's no longer in the ma or's office.

Hurting the Amazon Currently, there are 165,000 square kilometers of cleared and abandoned lands in the Amazon, a jarring remnant of past projects which did little more than clear the forest and yield a crop for the first two or three years.

For a while in early May, Brazilians experienced a stunning example ofthe gall that characterizes many ofthis country's elected officials. It was the type of condescending, underhanded political behavior that says "we'll try just about anything ifwe think we can get away with it"—including further devastating the Amazon Rainforest for easy short-term financial gain. On the very positive side, last week's short-lived episode also showed that this sort of attempt to pull t e wool over a nation's eyes no longer escapes unnoticed.

Spearheading this particular effort is a member of the Lower House of Congress from the southern state of Parana. Virtually unknown outsid his home state, Moacir Micheletto will now have the dubious hon r of being remembered for his final report as coordinator of a ongressional subcommittee reviewing the federal Forestry Code. He chose to ignore numerous suggestions from the National Environmental Council—a body formed by the government to identify ways to ensure that sustainable development options are purstied. Some 8,000 people were heard by the Council in public sessions designed to develop and refine proposals.

Instead of consitring their work, Micheletto came up with a real gem: a proposal o revise the Forestry Code and reduce from 80 to as little as 20 Percent, the portion of a property in the Amazon region that must be preserved in its original state.

Observers fr m various quarters saw this for what it was: an Amazon-wide chinsaw massacre in the making, in benefit ofthose who would clear ut and log the rainforest into oblivion. Micheletto insisted his prop sal was not a license for loggers and farmers to 19

step up destruction ofthe tropical rainforest, because state governments would first have to define the most appropriate use for each tract of land. He added the percentage of a property that must remain intact might actually be 50 percent in some cases, depending on each state government's conclusion about land use. But his arguments couldn't hold water, in great measure because Mr. Micheletto simply doesn't have the credibility to convince most people that anything he could come up with would favor sustainable development.

For openers, he is a member of the powerful "ruralist" lobby in Brazil's Congress—members who often vote as a cohesive unit, regardless of party affiliation or political ideology. The ruralist lobby is said to include 170 of a total of 542 members ofthe Lower House, or Chamber of Deputies—enough to push through some mighty damaging bits of legislation their leaders might find somehow advantageous. This is about as out in the open as self-serving politics gets. Members routinely defend initiatives that fly in the face of society as a whole, but benefit their backers and, in many cases, themselves—many are directly involved in the activities they attempt to prop up at the environment's expense. And all along, they grant interviews and discuss what they're doing, as if openly working to defend a specific, powerful interest group, at the obvious expense of the vast majority is, well, normal.

Ofthe 13 members on the subcommittee chaired by Micheletto, 10 belong to the ruralist lobby, so when the votes came in, the final tally was easy to predict: 10 to 3 in favor. But politics aside, a strictly "common sense" analysis of what they're proposing spells longterm disaster for the Amazon. The 80 percent preservation rule now in place, which Micheletto's proposal would seriously roll back, was introduced in 1995 by presidential decree to slow down the rate of deforestation. It worked; the Amazon lost about 12,000 square miles of rainforest to logging and agricultural projects in 1995, compared to just under 7,000 square miles last year. This is why there's so much reluctance to change that percentage. According to WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) Executive Director for Brazil, Garo Batmanian, "Brazil will again set records for deforestation" if the percentage is reduced.

Even Brazil's Environment Ministry, which backs the proposals put together by the National Environmental Council, has come up with a set of hard-hitting numbers that expose what the rural ists want to do as sheer lunacy. The Ministry estimates that, should Micheletto's proposal stand, the Amazon would lose an additional 400-thousand square kilometers to "legal" deforestation, an area equivalent to the entire landmass ofneighboring Paraguay (406,000 sq. km .). Each year, logging and farming would result in theloss of tropical forest areas equal to roughly the size of Belgium. Even more convincing are the Ministry's numbers exposing the nearabsolute failure, in economic terms, of the type of exploitation the Amazon region has been subjected to for several years. Those numbers alone are solid enough reason to prevent any further deforestation that pursues typical Amazon "development" strategies, if they can be described as such: -Currently, there are 165,000 square kilometers of cleared and abandoned lands in the Amazon, a jarring remnant ofpast projects which did little more than clear the forest and yield a crop for the first two or three years. This is the process the Environment Ministry wants stopped, and ruralists would accelerate: farmers clear the land, plant and harvest while they can (not long), move on to clear the next patch of land and start the process once again, leaving behind worn out, useless deforested areas. The ministry wants these areas put back to some sort of productive use, or restored as forested areas, before any further deforestation for agricultural purposes is allowed; -Studies by the ministry show that 62 percent of all lands in the Amazon region are highly inappropriate for agricultural activities.

At best, once cleared they'll provide five years' worth of profitable activities. The numbers only reinforce what mere observation of what goes on in the Amazon has already made obvious enough.

Once cleared, the land's ability to sustain crops is quickly exhausted. The lush, sprawling rainforest is an impressive sight, which might lead one to believe crops could prosper there as well, but trial and error has shown that the exact opposite is true: Amazon soil is mostly sandy, and what sustains the rainforest is the organic material the forest itself produces—leaves, falling branches, etc., 20

combined with the extreme humidity in the region; -Finally, there's a strong economic argument: the government's IPEA, Institute for Applied Economic Research, has concluded that properly managed activities that revolve around the rainforest itself tend to be far more efficient and profitable than other activities attempted so far in the Amazon. The IPEA has calculated the amount "lost" in the agricultural sector alone: US$5.9 billion, or about 1.5 percent of Brazil's GDP. Numbers like these are all the encouragement the government needs to block old-style attempts to cut down tracts of forest under the guise of "economic development"; The ruralist approach isn't new. They frequently try, for example, to relax deforestation rules involving what's left of the Atlantic Forest, a less-known Brazilian cousin of the Amazon, already down to about 7 percent of its original size. The Atlantic Forest once covered much ofBrazil's east coast, an area where most major cities and heavily populated areas are now located. Preserving what's left of it is quite a task, and one can always count on a proposal from the ruralists to eat away at what little of it is left.

Organized movements in defense of the Atlantic Forest have managed to give the issue the prominence it deserves, and increase awareness ofthe need to preserve what's left of an ecosystem even more diverse than the Amazon itself. Recent attempts by rural ists to privilege farmers and further harm the Atlantic Forest have all been rolled back, through extensive public and media pressure that followed each proposal.

Moacir Midheletto's report will go before Congress for a final vote on May 24. Its release on Wednesday, May 10, was met with such widespread rejection from society, the media, environmentalists and even government itself, that at first glance it would seem to have no chance of approval. Environment Minister Jose Sarney Filho, son of the former president and now senator Jose Sarney, described those behind the Micheletto report as "the backward sector" ofthe ruralist community, and President Fernando Henrique Cardoso has said, through a spokesman, he will veto the proposal if it passes in Congress. But environmentalists and other sectors of society, including "extractivists" who make a living from the rainforest in a sustainable manner, are taking no chances: they've organized protest rallies and will continue throughout Brazil until the final decision is reached in Brasilia.

It's important to stress that this was, indeed, a short-lived tempest: the outcry was such, and so immediate and far-reaching, that it became clear Micheletto's report could not make further progress.

Even President Cardoso, not exactly known for reacting quickly to most anything, announced within 24 hours that he would veto the project. This is encouraging to see, especially because it is not new. On the environmental front, there is enough awareness in Brazil to generate quick, decisive pressure that rolls back ill-conceived proposals—this is not the first time it happened in recent years.

On a political level, the affair exposes what's so wrong with the current system, which provides more than adequate shelter for a variety of Michelettos—all perfectly willing to consider and propose what is obviously against the common interest, but desirable, useful and profitable for the few whose interests they truly represent. It's certainly healthy and positive to witness democracy at work, where such proposals must come out in the open and be in everyone's MI view before being enacted. What's needed now is the next major step: fundamental change to the system that currently allows Micheletto and friends to survive politically, even while acting openly against the interests of the vast majority of voters.

Adhemar Alt ri is a veteran with major news outlets in Brazil, Canada 4nd 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 politiqs and economy. You can reach the author at editors@infobrazil.com

BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

ronment, attained through commitWhen! first visited Brazil in 1996 ment to discipline, allows the organiI discovered a country, and a culture, zation to invest more of its energy and that was far more diverse and sophislimited resources in more constructive ticated than the media of that time ways since less energy is required to would have led me to believe. It was, address immediate crisis. What I disin fact, at just about that time that covered on my second visit to Brazil Western media finally began to shift was that an intriguingly similar apfrom depicting any nation south of the proach was being used to transform the United States as a"Banana Republic" lives offavela, or slum, children, and to earnestly exploring,;and reporting through them eliminate some degree of on the complexities of life in Latin the chaos within their communities.

America. Wall Street .Week and the In May of 1997 I encountered American Public Broadcasting SysAlonzo Gomez on the exclusive south tem had just finished collaborating on What I discovered on this third j urney beach zone of Rio. Alonzo is an artist the "Emerging Powers" series, which who left his home in the mountains of redefined Brazil, Ireland, Mexico, and opened my eyes to the possibility t at the Colombia in 1994 to find a meaningother nations in substantial ways that went beyond the color and pageantry overwhelming challenges facing razil ful and rewarding opportunity. On the islands of Aruba and Curacao Alonzo of traditional celebrations and ethnic might best be addressed by supp rting discovered he could materialize mythologies. dreams by forming sands into castles.

I would only later discover Paul communities effectively predispo ed to The sandcastles he fashioned attracted Rambali's revealing epic travelogue, homeless children, who existed in chaIn the Cities and Jungles of Brazil helping themselves. otic environments bereft of hope. Re(1993) and Joseph Page's comprehenalizing that beaches are the only playsive treatment of Brazilian history, PHILLIP W GNER ground available to many poor children culture and society, The Brazilians in Latin America, Alonzo attracted (1995). I myself committed to doing them to his work and began to instill in whatever might be possible within my power to introduce America to an honest and meaningful exploration them the disciplin to adopt behaviors that might allow them to successfully integrat into society. The parallel between what he was of the Brazilian experience.

On returning to the United States !authored an article, which only doing, and what I was instructing, seemed uncanny.

Many ofthe children responded to later appeared on January 19, 1997 as Alonzo's encouragement, and he the cover story for the Indianapolis learned from them thatthe plight ofthe Star Sunday Travel Supplement. A poor had not diminished the possibilcopy of my article fell into the hands ity that they might rise above it. of the Rio Convention and Visitors Alonzo moved on from Aruba and Bureau. Rio, at that time, was trying Curacao to seed his work in his native to secure the 2000 Olympics, and I Colombia, Venezuela, Paraguay, was invited back for an insider's view Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil. of the city. While there! discovered.

On my second return from Brazil quite by accident, something beyond I was able to sell a story describing the the pale of orchestrated introductions music of Marisa Monte and Zelia that profoundly altered my view ofthe Duncan (July 3-10 NUVO challenges facing Brazil and how to Newsweekly Sound Section cover deal with them. story "Meet the Girls from Rio"), but My original trip to Brazil had been was unable to interest any publication under the auspices of an Information in the story of "Alonzo's children". I Technology (IT) company introduccountered by having awebsite created ing Brazilian IT professionals to prodepicting Alonzo's work. Fate intercess management. The general idea is vened at that point when !received an that there are certain things that all IT e-mail from ayoung woman in the city companies need to do in order to be of Salvador, in Brazil's northeastern successful. Commitment to those acstate of Bahia. tivities represents a form of "process Danielle Valim informed me that discipline", without which success bethere were many such programs in her comes marginal or even unattainable. city, and that many of them were well Institutionalizing process discipline is organized if not well funded. One viewed by IT companies as the first of striking difference was that music, several stages of maturation to be rather than art, was the "bait" that achieved by organizations pursuing attracted the children. Having just constructive transformation. In the authored an article on Brazilian mumost widely accepted process model sic, and wanting to further explore the (The Software Engineering Institute transformation ofmarginal communiCapability Maturity Model), discities through constructive social enpline is internalized throughout an orgagement rooted in process,! returned ganization by asking each individual to Brazil yet again. to satisfy process objectives, or goals, What I discovered on this third associated with each of six "key projourney opened my eyes to the possicess areas". By so doing, the organibility that the overwhelming chalzation evolves away from chaos and lenges facing Brazil might best be toward stability. A mote stable envi-

A Proposal f r Action

BRAZZIL-MAY4UNE2MM

21

addressed by supporting communities effectively predisposed to helping themselves. Widespread sponsorship, shared understanding, effective change strategies and other fundamentals facilitating constructive transformation were taking hold through ownership of problems within the suffering communities.

The Afro-Blocos and other projetos I encountered through Danielle and her friend, lawyer Marcia Aguiar Borges, appear to have evolved from music groups that compete at Carnaval time. (See "Blocos Afro e Bons Trabalhos na Bahia" at http ://www. iei.net/—pwagner/ gooddeeds/index.html — visitors will find the information there in English.)

Theirs is more refined than Alonzo's, and requirements for participation are more formalized. They include elements, analogous to process management "key process areas", which, when internalized, make it possible for a child living on the margins of society to significantly enhance his, or her, chances for a better life. Those elements are: Adoption of self-discipline Family sponsorship Pursuit of education Commitment to community Acceptance of civic responsibility Spiritual development Focus on ethnic origins Virtually all of the programs I've discovered in Salvador, Bahia seem to employ the same approach involving most, if not all, of the elements described above. But, to the best of my knowledge, there has been no serious effort to generate inter-organizational coordination on a grand scale. Establishing a council representing each participating program would offer a number of advantages. The council could agree that adoption of certain, if not all, ofthe elements described above should serve as the basis for membership. This would lend credibility to all of the programs by offering a clear, public, definition of what it is they're trying to accomplish.

The council could also establish common objectives, or goals, for each element. Doing so would establish what the children would have to accomplish through participation in any one of the programs. But how the children would accomplish these things would be left up to each program to decide. One of the reasons these programs seem to be effective is that they have autonomy, control of their own destinies.

That autonomy should be respected and preserved.

Establishing common objectives would also allow for meaningful assessment of what each program is doing, and would create an environment within which expertise could be more formally developed within, and leveraged between, the member programs. It would also encourage potential private donors, who want to know how their funds will be spent.

Another significant advantage of inter-organizational coordination is that it could facilitate the growth of political influence to generate public support leading to a greater level of assistance from municipal, state and federal governments. It would also provide an infrastructure to initiate voter registration drives within the marginal communities supported by these programs. Doing so could franchise large numbers of disenfranchised Brazilians while simultaneously creating additional momentum within the communities for literacy and self-improvement.

The fact of the matter is that there is much to be done in Brazil, and for Brazil. The strain on the fabric of Brazilian society is truly enormous. But it's neither true nor constructive to suggest that there's no point in trying to do anything about it.

In his eulogy, following the assassination of his brother Robert in 1968, Senator Ted Kennedy noted that "Like it or not we live in times of danger and uncertainty". He went on to say that Bobby "said many times.... to those he touched, and who sought to touch him" that "some men see things as they are and say why, I dream things that never were and say why not". I can think of no better words to express how l feel about Brazil.

22

What you can do Would be philanthropists can support the work ofwell established social programs like Projeto Axe or Projeto Educacional He Aiye in Salvador, state of Bahia, and Cidade das Criancas (City of Children) in Fortaleza, state of Ceara. Projects like Dicta and Bahia Street are less well established and offer opportunities for individuals with fewer resources to provide much needed basic materials for educational activities or individual participant sponsorships. Alonzo Gomez in Rio, and other individuals engaged in constructive social engagement, often have no source of income and live on the generosity of private donors.

Any individual can create, or have someone create for them, a web page publicizing the work of individuals or programs like those described above. Sponsoring web sites or individual web pages is another possibility. And underwriting the efforts of selected individuals who would dedicate their lives to a better understanding of Brazil through scholarship funding or post-graduate sponsorship and mentoring pose opportunities.

Some programs need reliable volunteers willing to commit to an extended period instructing English or other subjects. But these volunteers must truly be focused on giving, rather than on receiving. I periodically, through my websites, receive inquiries from individuals expressing an interest in volunteering their time and effort. But I often discover, only after extended correspondence, that these inquiries are from people looking for me to assist them in securing sponsorship for travel and other expenses.

Many view their willingness to volunteer as an opportunity to travel while they're "between other obligations". Others have a religious motive. I neither condone, nor condemn, "working vacations" or missionaries, but I have no interest in promoting or supporting them either. I feel strongly that assistance should not be intended to support a personal agenda. Helping people to help themselves means letting them do it themselves too, and in their own way, according to their own perceptions of their place in the universe.

Tourism offers an indirect opportunity to make a positive contribution to the betterment of Brazil. And so does the purchase of Brazilian music and film. But I would encourage everyone to consider more direct involvement. I've previously encouraged people to write Netcard at netcard@netcard.com.br and request them to add submissions I long ago submitted for their "Good Works" category. This category was created by Netcard at my suggestion, as a means of bringing attention to the efforts of individuals and programs engaged in constructive social engagement in Brazil. The new submissions may be found at http://www.iei.net/—pwagner/netcard/ .

Finally, I want to say that I, personally, am not a clearinghouse of contacts and information for individuals wanting to help out. I'm more than willing to enter into a serious dialogue with anyone who can bring significant resources to bear, and is committed to assisting specific programs or in encouraging the work of one or more specific individuals. I periodically hear from individuals whose commitment is not supported by access to resources, and I truly haven't the time to help them discover how they might participate. My own resources are all too limited and I must necessarily devote them to pursuit of my livelihood so that I may meet my responsibilities.

Phillip Wagner is a regular contributor to Bra zzil. He's a freelance photojournalist who also instructs and consults on subjects related to IT Process Management and Risk Management. In May of this year Phillip addressed a process maturity model conference in the Dallas area, and will be presenting at the American Society of Quality conference near Detroit in October. Visit his Pagina da Casa do Phillip do Brasil website at http://www.ielnet/--pwagner/ brazilhome.htm . One of Phillip's goals continues to be pursuit of postgraduate study focusing on Brazil. You can email him at pwagner@iei.net BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

b er, lobster and rapadura (block of unrefined I don't know where you are reading this. Pergar). I am bouncing towards Warsaw and still haps hanging round an embassy or consulate trylking ten to the dozen about Brazil, the chances ing to get a visa, perhaps on a dreary Monday invest, the work we do, how my students are the morning in a downtown cab in NYC, or perhaps on stand how Brazil is not a country but an advena beach in the NE of Brazil, or even at work (as I re. am writing now) but whatever the location or deAnd then Jam lecturing and expecting a tough mographic you and I probably share something in +A session: common. I guess that as you are reading my thoughts you and I both have an affinity for this Does Brazil have roads? crazy place we call Brazil. I feel comfortable with Does Brazil have houses? people like yourself, the fleeting encounters in Do you really go to work in a boat? crowded airport lounges, the smile, the flash ofvisas and the smattering of Portuguese we have picked And I want to scream and to strike out, but I up, the way we compare Rio and Bahia with Lonn't because this is my job and...I can think of don and Paris and the way we gravitate towards our other reason. These people are professors I own, whether we be in London, Lisbon or nsole myself over a bottle ofvodka—they know Amsterdam. People like us I understand, we are the better. And then the world is polarized—those romantics, the realists, the masochistic, but above us who have tasted forbidden fruit and the rest all we love, and claim to understand Brazil. It is the the world. And everything is clearer... other people who worry me.

And I am in another city experiencing the They say every journey starts with a single step ipside of the coin. We don't care what you do, and mine began one wet Saturday night at the here you do it is more important—when can we magnificent Fortaleza airport. It's late, almost me and visit, and I am off again, giving immidnight and lightning is flashing across the sky, omptu lectures on the hideous cathedral, the we are tired, sunburnt and the atmosphere is pregod, the beaches and people are salivating to get nant with unfinished business and portent. You ere. For the first time in midlife I have become would guess from the people around me, people I a hot property. 'The guy's work is a joke, but man have come to love in such a short time, that I am ok at the beaches'. leaving for good instead of athree-week recruitment And Jam in Amsterdam, sitting snug in a café drive around Europe. Such is the nature of the ith the love of my life, making jokes about Brapeople here that I am sucked in to the culture, the land our friends there, complaining about indifplace, the time and only when I have finally assimirent services and the lack of physical contact in lated the wonder of Fortaleza and Brazilian msterdam—damn, if someone doesn't touch me hospitability will I be burped out again, and sent off on I am going to die. And then I am suited and on another rampant crusade across the city, or in this oted addressing a company president about the case the globe. For now, it's a sad parting and even chance to invest n the NE and he is reeling off a stream of facts the immigration officer, who stamps my passport with flair reminds about sao Paulo dl am screaming that it's a different world and me to come back soon—as if I could forget.

4000 km away, d how we have it all in the NE and he asks me, And then I am in Lisbon, jostling and fighting to get my next 'do you have roads in the NE, which are flight, Lam hearing what seems to me like paved' and we are in a fancy restaurant a bastardized form of my beautiful Portuand their eyes are lit up—take, take, guese and getting curious looks from take. They don't know, they don't unpeople as! flirt with the pretty stewardess derstand. They have never even been to to get today's London paper, and I am Brazil. chatting to the man next to me passionately And I am up addressing a meeting about Brazil, about the food and the people in the UK again presenting a portrait of and he wants to talk about the political the NE, trying to convince a bunch of situation in London. I explain I have been musty professors to come and expand away for two years, and no longer care or my students minds, to invest in my even need to care and he returns to his dream and they are skeptical, they don't paper—disgusted. And I wonder, what is know Brazil, they don't love it, they this country doing to me, why do I love it don't understand the unseen magnetism so much. which eventually drags us all home, And then I am escorting some Brazilback to this land. And I want to scream ians, new found friends from the flight, and shout—about the cold, the gray, the through immigration in London, fighting lack of compassion, but I grit my teeth with the officials for our baggage, apoloand field the questions like an old pro. gizing for the delays, the rudeness, the chaos. I am fretting. London, lam your son, Is everyone black in Brazil... don't you remember me? And then I am Do you have supermarkets... hurtling down the M25 and Jam animated, Can you buy cheese in Brazil... calling my dad rapaz (young man) at every opportunity and punctuating every senAnd then lam in Fortaleza, my friends And then disaster strikes.... tence with Brazilian gestures, complaining are there to meet me, my cold I am in Poland and realize that next about the gray, the cold, the steering wheel week is the 500th anniversary of B razil. being on the wrong side, and my mother miraculously clears, and we are in a I am rushing all over Warsaw trying to is sitting in the back thinking who is this change a ticket and no one knows how guy who once was my son, and I know, I restaurant and was it all a dream, I to do it, or why. And I am at Heathrow know they will never understand my pasa streaming cold, drinking brandy sion until they see Brazil.. .and I am givdon't know, I don't care. I am home. with with an ancient oil-rigger who is on his ing out presents, talking ten to the dozen, way down to Mexico. He offers rne and watching their eyes glaze over.

1000 dollars for my ticket and then Jam And then Jam in Copenhagen, running PHILIP BLAZDELL in the air, sandwiched between two to get a plane, and sitting down and launchnuns who look on- in mild disappointing into a monologue to the poor guy sitment as I order scotch after scotch after ting next to me, telling him to invest, to scotch for my cold. And it suddenly hits visit, hell—just give me the money, do me, I am going home, and the energy anything, get to Brazil, get to the Northlevels drop and y movements become more fluid. And then I am east—quickly. And then I am in Poland and it's cold and I am at Fortaleza, my lends are there to meet me, my cold miraculously digging clothes out my rucksack and complaining and missing cold BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

23

clears, and we are in a restaurant and was it all a dream, I don't know, I don't care. I am home.

The next day I am edging my way through the town center. I have my new 500 years ofBrazil shirt on, as does my companion— who dragged me around the town all afternoon looking for one and we are cruising the bars, from beer to beer to beer waiting for the show to start. And then it does, late, but fashionably so, and with a slight drum roll the Portuguese MC steps up and welcomes us to 500 hundred years of Brazil, we cheer and clap, resplendent in our new shirts, which clearly mark us out as fashion victims, if not tourists and the click, click, click of my friends camera becomes almost hypnotic.

And then a bunch of embarrassed looking Indians take to the stage to enact a dance, which we suspect was as old as my socks and a student protest breaks out. Paint is thrown and some anti Portuguese slogans are shouted, but of course we all know who discovered Brazil anyway. And the dancers are trying not to set themselves alight on the roman candles and incredible enough my friend has them posing on stage for him—holding up the show for art. And there are some Portuguese singers and dancers, even more embarrassed, and my friend is swapping e-mails with the Indians and before we know it we are walking into the arena in the town center, buying beers and waiting for something to happen.

And all hell breaks loose, there are dancers and singers and crowning of the Carney al king and queen and costumes you wouldn't believe—click, click, click—my friend's camera whirls, it's a riot of color and sounds, and his eyes are rolling maniacally.

Between clicks my friend has that glazed look and I know what he Poo NMI POO

is thinking: 'This is some place and some country.'

And then they are playing the National anthem and ),ve are all on our feet, hands on Our hearts, my friends have tears in their eyes and I feel, proud, priVileged, honored to be here on this day, this special time for Brazil. I shouldn't feel this way, I am only an adopted son, I have only been here for a fraction of the history of Brazil, but I like to think that I will be here for a lot more. And then we are off, on another adventure through the streets, in search of the improbable, the bizarre or another cold beer.

The author has been in Brazil for nearly 6 months now and is often o be found scribbling his thoughts for this agazine. His incessant desire to sleep in a different bed each night has taken him through Africa, ; Asia and Europe. He now lives relatively calmly in Fortaleza, with a nice view of the sea and a colourful window box. He still finds a border a temptation and sneeks out the office as often as possible.

When not travelling he spends his spare time writing to the numerous readers of Brazzil who email him at philip@ufc.br

The photo for this article was taken by Nick Kay who was in Fortaleza for the 500th birthday celebrations.

The author is indebted for the use of the picturee and will be collaborating on further projects with Nick in the future.

IMP NM MI OMB

!..

....I

Picture the scene. Deep, deep, deep in the middle of the Brazili on basin in a rundown riverside port, a hot steamy I Saturday morning and a bar, which at the best could be calledopt 4 ,it the very leastieou d be condeinned as a major hefdth , hazard (assuming that you lived long enough for that to be a proble had ended up here by mistake, a series of wrong busses, mis- a _ understandings and acts of incredible stupidity on my part had takentMe fat from in" hotel and deeper into the unknown.

0 II My better judgment warned me against entering, but hell. I was determined notdo miss the kick off. As Bill Shankley once said '1 1 *Football, its not a question of life or death—its more important than that'. And so r entered, ducking between two beefy fisherman ie : and the carcass of something quite dead which had been hung over the door to dry.

I I squeezed into a seat next to the flickering TV and called for a beer. A few of the fishermen shot me aquizzical look probably wondering I 1 what a guy from Ceara. was doing so far from home (my Portuguese must be a lot better than I think) and the barman pointed that I should 1 ; help myself from the freezer behind me. The two national anthems were played and once we had again taken our seats the game kicked ' ll off to cheers from the crowd, which was now spilling out of the bar and onto the docks. England in their change strip of red and Brazil I in their famous yellow and blue.

B The first twenty minutes or so were a 'scrappy affair, and I was soon nodding wisely with the guy next to me who was taking time !

I out of gutting an enormous catfish with a rusty looking machete to qoadon the referees heredity and sexual prowess. The beers, the I I humidity, the press of humanity and the tense, tense atmosphere, whichliaddescended on the bar was getting tome. The flickering picture, I the buzz of mosquitoes and the monkeys squabbling in the tree outside thedoor didn't detract from the feeling that! was there between thefabled twin towers urging my country onto victory. Sweat tricked down my back as I reached' another beer. .

5I the n i And then, quite suddenly against the run of play, England won a corner. There was some jostling and shoving in the box, and like I II . a a vision in red Michel Owen sprouted wings and rose above the defenders to nod the ball into the back of the net. Befc;re I could contrcil 1 • myself I leapt to my feet, knocking my beer flying, and screamed at the top of my lungs...

I 'England 000000AL' 1 This was swiftly followed by a more profound thought:' ' 1 • 'Shit, I really didn't want to do that'. ' I The crovvd already stunned 1)y the goal slowly turned to stare at me. The barman stopped cleaning his teeth with his butterfly knife, I I the man gutting the catfish next to me turned slack jawed to stare, the Monkeys in the trees stopped squabbling and even the dirty little : toddler who had wandered into the bar with the apparent intention or pissing on my foot stopped and stared at me. .

I 'Oh shit I thought again. ,. . . .

II I I thought about trying to make a swift exit, but my chances of getting to the door past so many viscouslook ing fishknives was slim, I I armed as I was only with my guide book. 'lam English... my team... Owen my hero', I spluttered into)/ bestPortuguese (which had at that juncture in timemore or less deserted I I me), 1 After what seemed like an eternity, during which my life flashed before my eyes (purely, I guess, to remind me, that I,am making a I quite a habit of this kind of thing) the barman loaned over and with a massive hand thumped me on the backend muttered that Owen, m I you know I think he has Brazilian grandparents'. The bar roared with approval and afresh beer was thrust into my hand. The next fifteen I I minutes ofthe match were somewhat °fa blur as my heart rate returned to somewhere near its normal level and the tightly pressed crowd • asked innumerable questions about England They seemed especially impressed when I said I used to work at Wembley.

I was just settling down to a good afternoon of drinking free beers when incredibly Bralril fumbled the ball I til 1 I nstead of the normal screaming and jubilation the whole cr atomwedas , wiliiticohsahyadnsw owelw lettotuarcetnews had got out that an English man was 1 : in town especially to watch the football, turned and stared are you going t? do'. Well, there was only one I thing I could do and let rip with one of the loudest, longest, most passionate `G00000000 screams my life. e rest 0 I ' gcream I the crowd were not far behind in their celebrations and in the ensuring chaos I slipped out d didn't stop running tillei bgaoctk . oonftothaebnet ;S. I ; PB I I I. ... mom mmm mmm mom mom mom mmm mom mom mom mum mom mom mmm mos mmi moon mmm mom .11 mom

1

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24

BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

ESSAY

Archaeology. and Identity Archaeology is practiced by less than 300 people in Brazil, a tiny number of professionals, considering the huge extension of the country. Educational archaeology as such is by and large ignored.

PEDRO PAULO A. FUNARI It is now well accepted that archaeology and education are inextricably linked and that the past is often represented as mirrored by the dominant groups in a given society. The late Brazilian educator Paulo Freire in an interview, in 1988, with McLaren magazine warned that educators "need to use their students' cultural universe as a point of departure, enabling students to recognize themselves as possessing a specific and important cultural identity." Both education and archaeology deal thus with the manipulation of present and past to forge identities useful for people in power and archaeologists and educators have been active promoters of critical approaches. Critical pedagogy has been concerned with student experience, taking the problems and needs of the students themselves as its starting point and fighting for pedagogical empowerment. Archaeologists, acknowledging that history is written by the winners, are now aware that archaeological research must shift from being conducted within a simple people-to-nature to a peopleto-people perspective, as proposed Mazel (1989:25) and, as a consequence, archaeologists must monitor the use of material culture to forge identities.

Archaeologists have been pointing out that "silent majorities" are reflected in the material record and that archaeologists must increasingly take into account the interests of native people and ofordinary people in general. There has been a call to dismantle the univocal architecture of discourse relating to the past, favoring pluralism and the explosion of multiple discourses about the past, including in our presentation of the past a variety of excluded subjects, promoting thus multiculturalism and empowerment.

Archaeology has been shifting its focus from elite evidence to ordinary people's material culture, and the consumers of archaeological knowledge have been considered no longer BFtAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

as consumers of history but as ossible producers of history. Identity and class interests are at the heart of arch eologists concerns and people must be encouraged to think about the past and its significance to present issues. Archaeology and education intersect particul ly in museums, classrooms and textbooks and this article deals with the use of aterial culture in Brazil to forge local, state and national identities by studying everal cases.

Educational A chaeology and Brazilian Society ,beset by contradictions. Nowadays, it boasts Brazil is a most strikingly cou the tenth largest economy, almo t as big, in terms of GNP, as Canada and Spain.

At the same time, it has one of th most appalling maldistribution of income: the richest 20% earn 32 times more t an the poorest 20%. Social exclusion ofthe poor people—all those looked upon expendable, such as indigenous peoples, homosexuals, landless peasants d street children—goes hand in hand with discrimination against several mint ities and Brazilians of African descent, who, despite accounting for roughly h fthe population, are conspicuously absent from positions of power and influen te.

This is due to several cause', not least a colonial heritage of patronage and patriarchal social relations. A ost aristocratic setting prevailed for the first centuries ofthe country and whe capitalism and modernity were introduced, since the mid nineteenth century, the were rather absorbed by the dominating hierarchical ideology and habits. In his context, Brazilian identity is as fluid as any other, varying according to cliff rent social groups, social contexts and specific situations.

As identity is a situational, n n-essential self-definition, it would be misleading to describe general features, as they would by definition be contradicted by specific cases. Even the most ac epted definition, "a Portuguese speaking South American" could be challenge • in specific cases Hbwever, "Portuguese in America" is the most comprehe sive definition, as the overall cultural setting is the result of the Portuguese interaction with natives and Africans.

Brazilian archaeology is a rather recent scientific endeavor. Although it started in the mid nineteenth century, vithin the context of the Royal Historical and Geographical Institute, it was in oduced into the University only in the last forty years or so. As a matter of fact, 4rchaeology is practiced by less than three hundred people, a tiny number of p ofessionals, considering the huge extension of 25

the country. Educational archaeology as such is by and large ignored by most archaeologists, who still consider archaeology to have few or no connections with education. This is due to several reasons, not least the fact that worId archaeology is also still not very much linked to educational archaeology, despite the growing awareness of these connections in several quarters. Amongst other fitctors, not least is the lack of contacts of archaeologists with educational studies and learning concerns in general.

However, there are educational archaeology initiatives in Brazil and there is a growing awareness that the archaeologists cannot avoid the educational implications of their work. There are two kinds of professionals concerned with the subject: professional archaeologists engaged in educational activities and educators who work with archaeological professionals and institutions. These professional archaeologists usually are those who work in institutions with educational sectors and whose projects are discussed with the educators specialized on archaeology. Several projects are worth mentioning, in this context.

The Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum, University of BA° Paulo This museum has a well-established educational sector, whose origins could be traced to the pioneering activities of Paulo Duarte and his commitment to heritage protection, from the 1940s onwards. The educational sector co-operates with the exhibition and research sectors, so that education is always taken into consideration. The exhibitions take into account the use ofthe exhibition by several different publics, with a special attention to pupils and students. Hands-on activities, guided visits and other practices are coupled with the training ofteachers and other professionals who work with material culture as a way ofleaming. The archaeologists who work in this museum, nowadays the leading archaeological institution in the country, are thus in close contact with the educational implications of archaeology, although one must admit that sometimes there is still a lack of understanding between educators and archaeologists.

One of the several archaeological projects carried out by the staff is a good example ofthe educational implications ofarchaeological field word. The so-called Paranapanema River Project, in the southwest of the state, has been carrying out not only traditional field seasons and excavations but has a whole educational perspective, thanks to a successful close co-operation with educators from the museum and from the local communities.

Midden Museum in Joinville Joinville, nowadays an important industrial city in Santa Catarina state, in the South of the country, begun as an immigrant town, as the colonizers came mostly from German speaking Lander, with significant numbers of Portuguese and Italians settling in the area. In recent decades, as a result of the industrialization of Joinville, it received migrants from other Brazilian states, mostly from nearby Parana. Within the boundaries of the city, there are several prehistoric shell middens, large native settlements common in awide coastal area ofSouth America.

The Museu Arqueologico de Sambaqui de Joinville, or Archaeological Museum on Shell Middens in Joinville, even though it was founded in the 1960s, has a collection of artifacts which was the result of earlier amateur activities by a German craftsman, Wilhelm (or Guilherme) Tiburtius, who collected thousands of artifacts, saved from destruction, and who donated not only the artifacts but also his field notebooks to the Middens Museum, some of them recently translated from German and published in Portuguese. This museum has been developing an educational archaeology program in tune with a critical engagement with the community. Developing a critical relationship with the people, the educational activities provide the oppressed with the possibility of human agency and autonomy.

The tension filling the exhibition reaches the community at large, as handson activities and other educational archaeology programs are carried out directly in community schools, most of them close to the archaeological sites, in poor squatter settlements where the middens are located. The preservation of the middens depends directly on the active participation of ordinary local inhabitants, both adults and school children, who take part in different educational programs organized by the archaeological education staff. Acting with the community, archaeology helps to bring up citizens and the discussion of prehistoric remains enables ordinary people to begin to cope with the mixed features of identity, as they learn to evaluate the multicultural aspect ofJoinville's heritage.

Educational archaeology, the early man in Brazil and recent developments Archaeology has been present in school textbooks for quitefa while now, due

to interest on the earliest presence ofman in the Americas. In the last 15 years or so, some archaeologists have been claiming that the human presence in Brazil is much older than formerly admitted and the media have been publishing news about these finds for some years. Maria daConceicAo BeltrAo claimed that homo erect us was in Brazil as early as one million years ago and Niede Guidon produced a lot of media pieces claiming that she had evidence ofhuman beings dated ofat least fifty thousand years. As a result, now most school textbooks include a chapter on "the first Brazilian" or "the earliest man in the Americas", proudly reproducing pictures of much later rock art coming from the same site studied by Guidon. As the site is in Piaui state, in the northeast of Brazil, the Franco-Brazilian Guidon has been able to shift children's les gaulois, nos fiers areuls, (the Gauls, our noble ancestors), used when I was still in school, for a patriotic nosso antepassado, o homem do Piaui (our forefather, the man from Piaui), nota mean feat! However, archaeologists abroad and in e country itselfare openly skeptical about the possibility that the earliest humans in the Americas were indeed Brazilians. Furthermore, the whole misappropriation of the subject by school textbooks should be avoided, for archaeology should not foster vicious nationalism and lack of critical judgment in students and the public in general. Fortunately though, cently the Ministry of Education has distribed to thousand of pupils a book on "The first habitants of Brazil", written by a critical chaeologist (Guarinello 1994), whose pages )ster the search for native culture, not nationfist myths.

More recently, several initiatives by archaeologists, in a way or another concerned with education, have been carried out and should be mentioned. There has been a growing interest in reaching ordinary people by working in co-operation with journalists in producing newspaper and magazine material.

As educators are well aware, teachers and schools encourage pupils and students to use popular science magazines, like Superinteressante and CienciaHoje, publication for teachers, like Nova Escola, and weekly newsmagazines, like Veja and Epoca, as well as newspapers, like FolhadeScio Paulo,Jornal do Brasil and in the last years there has been the publication of several well informed archaeological pieces. They convey data and interpretations on a variety ofsubjects, from the early settlement of the continent, to the Amazonian prehistory, maroon archaeology or rock art. These pieces soon reach the classrooms and pupils all over Brazil, and archaeologists are beginning to realize the potential of the press to educate people about archaeology in Brazil.

Two leading educators in the media, are Walter Alves Neves and Eduardo G6es Neves, but Anna Roosevelt, Andre Prous, Francisco Noelli, among others, must also be mentioned.

Archaeologists are also producing more direct interventions in the production of textbooks and well-informed manuals are now in use, produced by professional archaeologists.

In general, it is possible to say that nowadays BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

archaeology is much more concerned with education than it was a few years ago and that even though still limited to a small minority of professional archaeologists, educational archaeology has produced tangible changes in the perception of archaeology in Brazil today.

In a divided society such as the Brazilian one, the impact is still limited in several ways.

Education in Brazil is not universal and the access to books and other media is not as widespread as it should be. However, within this context, archaeology has been producing results in the educational system. Archaeologists too, although still a majority is not well aware ofits educational implications, are much more concerned with the subject than a few years ago.

Pedro Paulo A. Funari, BA, MA, Ph.D., is an archaeologist, University of Campinas professor, and author of several books and papers. You can contact him at pedrofunari@sti.com.br Acknowledgements I owe thanks to the following colleagues, who forwarded papers and helped me in different ways: Maria Cristina Bruno, Norberto Luiz Guarinello, Sian Jones, Aron Mazel, Jose Luiz de Morais, Charles E. Orser, Jr., Andre Prous, Michael Shanks, Peter G. Stone, Elizabete Tamanini, Bruce G. Trigger. The paper was read by Charles E. Orser, Jr., whose critical comments were particularly important. However, the ideas expressed here are my own, for which I alone am therefore responsible. The research was possible thanks to the following institutions: Brazilian National Research Council and Museu de Sambaqui de Joinville.

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Comparative Studies in Society and History 36, 221-241.

27

De repente me veio clara a explic

as clear to Me why we fall in love. A

nos apaixonamos. Urn cruzament

tinter and an eternal postponing of our

um adiamento eterno da

vic

f what we fear the most. It could only

emos niedo. SO pOdia,sir latio LUCIA LEAO As irmas Rita e Marta gostavam de E namoravam muito.

A mac diziaque aquiloahuia iria fazer mal ao cerebro e talvez ate ao coraclo, mas elas continuavam de orando-se na escadarias corn todos os memos do predio. voltavatn cedos da aula paraa. s pintar as unhas, colorir os cabelos e afinar as sobrancelh A mae tambem se aprontavanessescuidados. Eram bastante arecidas, as fres.

As meninas eram alegres e conheciam todos os porteiros de todos os outros prddios dairia. Nelesmoravam outros men irtos e outras escadas as recebiam piritadas, renovadas, em plena. juventude de horm8nios.

Quando chegou a hora de escolher a profh4 _Ato,estenderamse no sofa da sala, as tr8s4 entre esmaltes, Cocas light e batatas fritas ruidosa.s, descobriram que nao havia muito a escolher A vida prornetia ser dura 0 tempo passaria, e dis.so ntio tinham . a menor dtivida ram mtehgentes Rita mais do que Marta. PoremMartaer m tran maili a decidm pela veterinaria e a outra seguiu os SS9S d!

28

The sisters Rita and Marta lilted to make out with guys.

And they did it a lot.

Their mother said that sooner or later this would be bad for the brain and maybe even for the heart But they continued hanging out on the stairs with all the boys . in the apartment building. And return ingfrom class early to paint their nails, tint their hair and pluck their eyebrows Their mother also engaged in these self-care projects. The three of them were actually very similar.

The young women were hap and knew all the doormen of all the other apai Intent buildings the street. In these buildings lived other boys, and otherstaucases hosted them in all the make-up laden, touched up, hormone-fueled bloom of their youth.

Whenth amo for them to choose a profession, the three of them spread out on the living-room sofa surrounded by email polithbottles, dietcolas, and noisy potato chips. They overed they had few choices. Life promised to be difficult. would pass, and of this they had no doubt.

They were intelligent, Rita more so than Marta. But Marta more relaxed.

BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

mae. Seria advogada e provavelmente logo se aposentaria por piscinas, empregadas, criancas e jantares. Por fim, usaria sua labia nos bares para acomodar desejos que estariam sempre deslocados.

Mas antes disso elas namoravam, porque era isso que gostavam de fazer. Nao queriam se prender. Resistiam a compromissos tanto quanto as outras resistiam a se entregar. A liberdade delas era mais esperta, nem mesmo seu corpo as comandava. Eram apenas aqueles garotos, meninos, homens que nunca as censuravam.

Quando urn se apaixonava de verdade elas ate ficavam serias, mas logo em seguida se despediam pelo caminho, abrindo a porta do carro e saindo so corn a bolsa. A consciencia sempre Marta jogava tenis e tinha pernas bronzeadas e rigidas. 0 sorriso era meio preso, deixando a impressao de que se continha para esgares mais particulares.

Rita sabia bem como ter gestos de sensivel quando no fundo a alma era fria e isolada. Seria ela que mais tarde nao saberia achar a explicacao correta para a vida dentro de sua retOrica e apelaria para o previsivel desafogo no alcool.

Quando liguei o radio e deixei Rita entrar no carro ela logo cruzou os bracos. Eu pude ver uma pulseira fina e prateada desenhando urn cam inho de fantasia. Quis toca-la imediatamente mas me contive, e ela, percebendo a pressa, desfez a dobra da pele e pediu que eu mudasse de estacao.

—Esse radio esta me descompondo.

Comecou bem, eu pensei, o vocabulario revela inteligencia.

Mal sabia que ela queria ter dito "distraindo" e que tinha usado outrapalavrapor pressa e insolencia. Nao dava a minima, queria apenas que eu parasse corn aquela Desliguei o radio e perguntei aonde queria ir. Ela disse que um cinema cairia bem. Que ja tinha ate escolhido um filme e que sabia como chegar la.

Tanta independencia, o que eu faco corn ela?

—Qual é o filme?

—E aquele damoca que foge correndo no dia do casamento.

Ah, nao. Uma comedia romantica. Ela nao tinha cara dessas coisas. Mas tambem, quern sabe no fundo mulher fosse tudo igual mesmo. E as noticias sobre essa fossem apenas um engano.

—S6 tern uma coisa. Estou corn muita fome. Nao podemos corner antes?

Seu jeito de me olhar me desconcertou. De repente surgiu em seu rosto urn tal sintoma que eu nunca poderia ter nomeado se ela mesma nao o tivesse feito antes. E na maior inconseqiiencia declarou: —Acho que podemos, sim. Voce é interessante. Quero conversar mais antes de ver o filme—, sem a minima afetacao, foi como falou.

Tanta independencia, e eu, o que eu faco corn ela?

Fomos.

Chegamos la, pedi um sanduiche. Tinha ficado na praia o dia inteiro e a curiosidade corn a Rita tinha me deixado mais salgado ainda. Passara o dia todo quase dentro d' agua, co isa que nunca fazia. Mal podia parar na areia e esperar as horas passarem ate pea-la na portaria do predio.

—E aquele do fim da rua—, ela tinha me dito na hora de se despedir na noite anterior—Pode passar la as oito e meia.

Agora eu olhava para ela tentando esquecer o que tinha sentido depois de ouvir aquele encontro que ela havia marcado.

Queria saber o que nela era real e nao memorizar apenas o meu desejo.

Eu morria de medo de me apaixonar. Mas nao sabia bem o que procurava.

E aquela independencia toda, o que sera que produzia nela?

Durante o filme ficamos soltos. Ela na quando era para rir.

Sorria para mim quando eu pedia, tocando de leve seu ombro.

E me deu urn beijo profundo no final, antes da cena em que o casal se beija. Tinha jeito de quern quer viver como no cinema.

Saimos e fomos andar na praia. A areia estava fina. As luzes BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

One decide to become a veterinarian; and the other, to follow in their m other' s footsteps. She would be a lawyer, probably soon to aba don her profession and devote herself fulltime to swimming p ols, maids, children and dinners. She would wind up using h r conversational skills in the bars to accommodate desires I at would always be inappropriate.

But before a 1 this was to happen, they made out with guys because this was what they liked to do. Neither of them wanted to be tied down ith one boyfriend. They resisted all proposals, the same wa1 that other young women resist going all the way. Their sense of freedom was so acute that it ruled them even more than their ery bodies. But all those boys, youths, men never censured hem.

Whenever y ung men really fell in love with them, they would even take it seriously. But soon enough they said goodbye in the street, • pening the car door and leaving with nothing but their purse. ever with a guilty conscience.

Marta playe • tennis and had tanned, firm legs. Her smile was rather fixed, lea ng the impression that more specific grimaces would follow.

Rita knew ye well how to act sensitive when, deep down, her soul was col and lonely. She was the one who later would be unable to use er empty rhetoric to find the right answer, the meaning of life and would resort to the all-too-predictable release of alcoh 1.

When I turnS d on the radio and let Rita into the car, she crossed her arm right away. I could see a slender, silverish bracelet, a path if fantasy ready for me. Although I wanted to touch her right way, I resisted, and she, noticing my hurry, unfolded her a s and asked me to change the radio station.

"That radio disconcerting me."

She made a g • od start, I thought. Her vocabulary shows intelligence. Little did! know that she had meant to say "distracting" and had use the other word because she was in a hurry and insolent. This di n't matter to her; she merely wanted me to stop that music.

I turned offt e radio and asked where she wanted to go. She said that the moves would be fine. That she had already chosen the film and kn how to get there.

Such indepe dence. Whatever was Ito do with her?

"What's the din?"

"The one abut the girl who takes off running on her wedding day."

Oh, no. A roMantic comedy. She didn't look like the type.

But then, who knows if all women are alike? And maybe the news I'd heard about her was merely mistaken.

"Just one thing. I'm really hungry. Can't we eat first?"

I found her way of looking at me disconcerting. Suddenly an expression passed over her face that! would never have been able to identify had she not already done so herself.

And, as if it were unimportant, she simply said, "Yes,! think we can. You're interesting. I want to talk to you before seeing the film." Spoken without the least affectation.

Such independence. Whatever was Ito do with her?

We drove off.

When we arrived, I ordered a sandwich. I had spent the entire day on the beach and my curiosity about Rita had left me feeling even saltier. I'd stayed in the water almost all day, something unusual for me. I had no patience to lie on the sand counting the hours until I could pick her up in the lobby of her building.

"It's the one at the end of the street," she had told me when we said good-bye to each other the night before. "You can come by at 8:30."

Now as I looked at her, I was trying to forget what! had felt when she'd made that date with me. I wanted to find out what was real about her instead ofjust remembering that stab of desire.

I was scared to death of falling in love. But I didn't really know what I was looking for.

And all her independence, what could have caused it?

29

manchavam o calcadao de sombras de tins mesmos. Fazia um frio sonolento, quase frio, era abril. Rita usava um sueter vinho, que estava na verdade jogado sobre a camiseta branca corn decote redondo. Eu percebia isso tudo como se fosse urn costureiro. Na verdade, como se olhasse a minha irma antes de sair. Eu tinha a mania de censurar suas roupas, como se protegela dos outros homens fosse o meu papel. Ela nunca dava atencao e saia assim como Rita, como saem as meninas, sem grandes novidades. Elas sabem que o corpo no fundo de tudo, aquele corpo que o tecido encobre e mascara, é na verdade uma mistura sincronica de sorrisos, olhares e porques. E que o misterio que cerca tudo isso é muito maior do que possa prever qualquer urn de n6s.

Volteirapidamente o olhar para os bracos de Rita.

—Estou corn frio, me da um abraco— falou, parando na minha frente e esperando.

Eu dei.

Eu a abracei quente. Eu falei "Rita".

Ela me abracou morna. Eu falei "Rita".

Eu disse Rita e me apaixonei pelo que disse. Pelas sombras, pelos bracos, pela voz de Rita dizendo me da um abraco. E me esqueci de quem era Rita.

Namanha seguinte eu já tinha me esquecido mais ainda. Rita era o nome dela. Era s6 isso.

Fui urn dos que se apaixonou por Rita. Fui a causa de tanta tragedia na vida de Rita apenas por isso. Penso sempre que fui o imico a fazer corn que ela murmurasse mais suave, mas depois me lembro de que no, de que essa é a ilusao que elanuncatentou produzir. De que foi por essas e por outras que urn dia a peguei pelo braco fino e quase bati nela, em pleno descontrole. Que estava sempre querendo chegar em casa para encontra-la e que ela estava sempre em algum outro lugar. Que enchia e esvaziava copos diante de mime depois dizia novamente, em grande ironia de vida e de madrugada.

—Estou corn frio—, quase chorava—, me cid urn abraco.

E eu já nem sabia mais como fazer.

Marta foi outra historia. No dia em que a encontrei havia passado para pegar uma mochila esquecida no apartamento do Marcio. Ela morava no apartamento de baixo e o Marcio se divertia esperando que chegasse da escola para ve-la despir a blusa, depois a saia e conversar corn Rita, as gargalhadas, ate que a mae entrasse e ficassem as tres avaliando seus cones de cabelo, o desenho dos dedos dos Os corn unhas pintadas de chocolate que era a cor da moda.

Era claro que elas sabiam que as janelas da frente continham olhos amassados por detras das cortinas s6 para ve-las. Elas adoravam e desprezavam essa brincadeira.

Passei na casa do Marcio por volta das tres e meia e estava atrasado para a gravacao. Precisava urgentemente pegar as fitas para levar para o esti:1th° e a Ultima coisa em que pensava era em perder meu compromisso.

Era uma quarta-feira, o dia em que Marta teria aulas de tenis as cinco. Por isso, despia-se rapida e febril, já pensando no espetaculo que cram suas pernas, em como precisava depila-las bem lisas e no modo cinico em que o professor a elogiava.

—Voce bate bem—, etc dizia, de lado--, so precisava ter urn pouco mais de suavidade.

Ria o sorriso preso para ele, que tinha uma voz linda mas que nao a interessava. Era mais velho e muito magro.

Eu a vi em urn dia desses, sem nenhuma malicia, eu vinha pegar umas fitas. Ate hoje me lembro. Ela tinha no maxim° dezenove anos nessa epoca e ainda mudaria muito ao longo dos anos.

30

We stayed apart while we watched the film. She laughed when it was appropriate. She smiled at me when I asked for a smile by touching her lightly on the shoulder. And she gave me a deep kiss at the end, just before the scene when the couple on the screen kissed. She acted like someone who wanted her life to be like a movie.

We left the theater and went for a walk on the beach. The sand was fine. The lights mottled our shadows on the wide sidewalk. The weather was almost cold, a cold that made you dizzy.

It was April. Rita was wearing a wine-colored sweater, tossed over her white tee shirt with a rounded, plunging neckline. I noticed all this as if! were a dressmaker. As if, to tell the truth, I were looking at my sister before she went out on a date. I had the habit of censuring her clothes, as ifprotecting her from other men were my role in life. She never paid any attention to my comments and went out looking just like Rita, like all young women do when they go out. Nothing new there. They know that the body, after all, that body that the fabric covers and masks, is in truth a simultaneous mix of smiles, glances and whys. And that the mystery enclosing all of this is much greater than any of us could ever foresee.

I rapidly turned my gaze to Rita's arms.

"I'm cold. Give me a hug," she said, stopping in front of me and waiting.

I gave her a hug.

I gave her a warm hug. "Rita," I said.

She hugged me, lukewarm herself.

"Rita," I said.

I said "Rita" and fell in love with what I had said. With the shadows, her arms, her voice saying, "Give me a hug." And I forgot who Rita was.

The next morning I had forgotten even more. Rita was her name. Nothing more.

I was one of the guys who fell in love with Rita. Because of this I was the cause of so much tragedy in her life. I always think that I was the only one to make her murmur softly, only to later remember that, no, she had never tried to create this illusion. That because of these and other illusions one day I grabbed her by her slender arm and, completely out of control, almost hit her. That I always wanted to return home to find her and that she was always somewhere else. That she filled and emptied glasses in front of me and then, almost crying, she repeated, full of irony about life and about the dawn, "I'm cold.

Give me a hug."

And that I didn't even know how to do it anymore.

Marta was another story.

The day! met her! had gone over to pick up a backpack I'd forgotten in Marcio's apartment. She lived in the lower apartment, and Marciohad a good time waiting for her to return home from school, take off her blouse, then her skirt, and stand talking with Rita, both of them laughing their heads off, until their mother entered the room and all three of them stood there evaluating their haircuts and the polish on their toenails, which was chocolate colored since that was the style at the time.

They obviously knew that hidden behind the curtains on the other side ofthe windows facing them were eyes watching their every move. They loved this game and scorned it, too.

I dropped in to see Marcio around 3:30 and was already late for the recording session. I needed to pick up the tapes as fast as I could and take them to the studio. The last thing I meant to do was miss my appointment.

It was a Wednesday, the day that Marta had tennis class at five. That was why she undressed quickly and feverishly, already thinking about how spectacular her legs were, about how she needed to wax them smooth, and about how her tennis instructor was always cynically praising her.

"That was a good stroke," he said beside her. "Just try to be a little smoother."

Laughing, she turned her fixed smile to him. He had a nice BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

Ela falava devagar corn a empregada que entrou no quarto justo na hora em que iriatirar o sutia. E eu pare i morto no minuto em que a vi abaixar-se para cool- levemente o tornozelo. Ela tinha uma pequena tatuagem que eu no via de onde estava.

Mardi° 6 que me contou: —E urn par de asas minusculo, tao pequeno que quase nao se ye—, dizia, entusiasmado--. Mas os peitos tambem, olhe bem, no sac) la essas coisas de grandes.

Eu comecei a achar tudo perfeito. Os peitos. A chuva que comecou a cair nas persianas externas abafando os comentarios de Marcio e sendo urn &lino motivoparameu atraso consumado.

Os gestos de Marta soltando os cabelos castanhos claros e mordendo o elastic° corn raiva quando este se recusou a soltalos de vez.

O que eu faria corn aquela forca contida que eta expunha a si mesma, tao sozinha?

Urn pouco depois eu estava na sua porta, de frente para o 401 de metal dourado, batendo como se fosse de manhazinha e eu trouxesse as noticias do dia impessoalmente.

—Podia falar corn a Marta?—me sentia como urn gala de novela mexicana. Ate porque tenho as sobrancelhas espessas e os cabelos tAo escuros quanto eles.

—Voce é o Felipe?

—Nao, sou o Ricardo, amigo do Marcio, do 604.

—Ah!—foi sO o que falou a empregada. Como se os nomes e niimeros fossem a mesma especie. Homens vem em duzias, eta devia pensar morando naquela casa.—Espera ai que ela ja vem.

So al me dei conta do absurdo. Devia ter sido o nervoso corn a gravacao, eu querendo atrasar uma coisa tao importante e de puro medo tentando me envolver corn uma estranha de quem tinha visto demais mas nem tanto assim.

So podia ser isso. Aquele adiamento tao meu conhecido que me fazia adiar as composicOes, as visitas ao hospital onde minha mae mal se recuperava, a ida ao barbeiro, ao dentista. De repente me veio clara a explicacao de por que nos apaixonamos. Urn cruzamento atrapalhado e urn adiamento eterno da nossa vida e do que mais temos medo. SO podia ser isso. Por que estaria eu batendo na porta de uma estranha, tao mais nova do que eu e ainda por cima corn aquela fama?

—0i, Ricardo. Voce é amigo do Marcio?

Ela estava de short branco e camiseta verde escura. Os olhos eram claros e a boca já me tracava pesadelos. eu vim aqui e...—sera que conseguiria ir ern frente?— e acabei vendo voce la de cima, do 604.

Ela sorriu o meio-sorriso, jã vencedora de mim.

—E al?

—Al que eu queria...—olhei para as pernas e tentei ver as pequenas asas. Elas nao se moviam.—Eu queria saber se voce nao quer matar a aula de tenis hoje e tomar urn chopp comigo.

Aquilo defmitivamente era a chuva, era a fita, era a musica nos meus ouvidos. Ela era definitivamente meu atraso.

—Quero, sim. Vou trocar a roupa.

E eu pensei em Manic) olhando tudo la ern cima. Iria se deliciar mais uma vez ern poucos minutos corn a nudez sem surpresas de Marta.

A empregada perguntou se eu queria entrar, eu disse nao, me envergonhei, quis entrar depois mas já nao dava tempo, lembrei que nao gostava de chopp e que devia desconfiar de quem aceita urn cony ite assim de algum desconhecido batendo a porta sem aviso.

—Conheco o Marcio ha muito tempo—, eta logo avisou quando subiamosnamoto. A sorte e que a chuvahaviaparado.—

voice but did not interest her. He was older and very skinny.

It was one of those Wednesdays when I first saw her. Cornpletely guilelesS, I had come to pick up some tapes. I remember it to this day. She wasn't more than nineteen at that time and would change a lot as the years went by.

She was slowly talking to the maid who had come into the room just as sh was about to take off her bra. And I almost dropped dead hen she bent down to scratch her ankle lightly.

She had a smal tattoo that I couldn't see. It was Marcio who told me about i "It's a pair if tiny wings, so small you can hardly see it," he said enthusi stically. "But her breasts, check them out, are not that big eit er."

I was begin ing to think that everything was perfect. Her breasts. The rai starting to fall on the blinds outside, drowning out Marcio's re arks and serving as a perfect excuse for me to be late. Marta's gestures as she freed her light chestnut hair and bit the rubber bind angrily when it refused to come off easily.

What woul s I do with that contained force that she exposed to herself, so a I alone?

A little later I was at her door, facing the number 401 in gold metal, knockin as if it were early morning and I were impersonally bringi the latest news.

"May I spe k with Marta?" I felt like a Mexican soap opera star, especially because I have their heavy eyebrows and dark hair.

"Are you F lipe?"

"No, I'm cardo, a friend of Marcio in Apartment 604."

"Oh," was lithe maid said. As if names and numbers were all the same to er. Men come in dozens, she must have thought, living in that h usehold. "Wait here. She's coming."

It was only en that! realized how ridiculous this was. I must have been nerv us about the recording session. Wanting to delay something that was so important. Out of sheer terror I was trying to get invol ed with a stranger I had already seen too much of but about w om I actually didn't know anything.

That's the inly explanation. My tendency to procrastinate that made me . stpone my compositions, my visits to the hospital where m mother was barely recovering, my trips to the barber and the s entist. Suddenly it was clear to me why we fall in love. A clu sy encounter and an eternal postponing of our life, putting of hat we fear the most. It could only be that. Why else would! be knocking on the door of a stranger, someone so much younger han me? Someone, moreover, with that kind of reputation?

"Hi, Rican o. Are you a friend of Marcio's?"

She was w .aring white shorts and a dark green tee shirt. Her eyes were blue nd her mouth was already outlining nightmares for me.

"Yes. Uh, ell, I came here and..." Could I possibly go on with this? "A d I happened to see you from upstairs, from Apartment 60 • If She flashe me her half-smile. She already knew she'd made a conquest.

"So?" "Uh, I wan ed..." I looked at her legs and tried to see the little wings. They di n't move."! wanted to know if you'd like to cut your tennis cl ss today and go have a beer with me."

It was defi itely the rain, the tape, the music ringing in my ears. She was efinitely my way of stalling.

"I would, es. I'll go change."

And! thou ht about Mani° watching all this from upstairs.

In a few min tes he would once again be enjoying Marta' s unsurprising udity.

The maid sked if! wanted to come in. I said no. I was embarrassed. en! tried to go in but there wasn't enough time.

I remembered that! didn't like beer and that I shouldn't trust someone who ould accept an invitation from a stranger who'd unexpectedly ocked on her door.

"I've kno n Matti° for ages," she informed me as soon as 31

BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

Ele é legal.

Entao ela sabia que precisava se defender dizendo que nao sala corn estranhos. Como se eu nap soubesse. Como se o bairro fosse muito grande, e o meu ficasse assim tAo distante.que eu nao tivesse tido conhecimento de todos os rumores.

—Marta—, eu falei.—Acabei de perder um grande compromisso por sua causa—, e encostei a mao na perna dela.

Ela quase encostou a boca no meu ouvido e respondeu:-Eu tambem.

Eu ri pensando que as mulheres sao estranhas e que aquela era apenas mais uma delas. Como podia comparar a aula de tenis primeira reuniao para a gravacao do meu primeiro CD? Marta ficou pensativa, corn certeza imaginando, como me contaria muito depois, se teria valido a pena afmal debtar o professor de tenis esperando-a desesperado em seu apartamento onde iria pelaprimeira vez para sair corn urn carabarbado, magro tambem e que parecia tao alucinado ou mais do que eta. ***

we got on my motorcycle. Luckily the rain had stopped. "He's a great guy.'

Then she knew that she needed to defend herself by saying that she didn't go out with strangers. As if! didn't know. As if the neighborhood were so large and as if! lived so far away that I hadn't heard the rumors about her.

"Marta," I said,i1 just missed an important appointment because of you." And I rested my hand on her leg.

She placed her mouth almost on my ear and said, "Me, too."

I laughed, thinking that women are strange and that she was merely one more of them. How could she compare a tennis class to the first recording session for my first CD? Marta fell quiet, thinking, certainly imagining, as she would tell me much later, that it had been worth it, after all, to leave the tennis instructor desperately waiting for her in his apartment where she was to go for the first time, so that she could go out with a bearded guy who was too skinny and who seemed to be as crazy as she was, or maybe even more so. ***

Quando nos encontramos os quatro, eu, Rita, Marta e ele, era noite escura. Os casais nao combinavam absolutamente.

Marta tinha ainda as belas pemas que fizeram historia e Rita o olhar arredio e ciumento de si mesma que me prendia em pretenses de amor. Ela continuava querendo se superar na independencia e eu nem mais querendo tocar a dor que sentia e Bebemos muito, nos dois. Marta e Ricardo sairam cedo porque eta tinha que participar de uma cirurgia na manha seguinte. Ricardo falou pouco, mas segurou as maos de Marta como se fossem um trofeu. Um distanciamento, um desejo, eu pensava, esvaziado.

Eu fiquei ao lado de Rita por mais alguns minutos e depois me levantei sem nem me despedir. Havia comecado a fazer isso nas nossas safdas notumas. Depois eta iapara casa como podia. As vezes s6 voltava de manha.

Outras me ligava de algum telefone, eu nao atendia, eta desligava e eu comecava a remendar desculpas para nao ter ido ao seu encontro. Eu ainda me sentia culpado.

Afmal, eu the havia prometido o que antes eta sabia nao existir.

Aquilo que pensei sentir desde sempre e que julguei que fosse dela. Eu conseguira convence-la, destoa-la. Ela entendeu que eu tinha uma verdade. Acreditou e acreditou tanto que por fim •se abandonou em mim. Isso custou alguns anos, mas eu tinha sido persistente.

Depois de algum tempo comigo, eta acreditou. Ela me abracou um dia tao tema que eu mat a reconheci. Tive medo de perde-la para sempre nesse dia. E eu a perdi no meio do que imaginei que poderia sentir.

Mas eta sempre teve razao. A hist6ria de Marta e Ricardo era s6 mais uma prova e eu sabia que o jantar corn eles a deixaria mais deprimida. Por isso me afastava, ia embora. Já bastava a minha depressao. Eu nao sabia como deixa-la agora, por isso a deixava aos poucos, largando-a nos restaurantes, bares, praias, hotels. No nosso quarto por tantas vezes eu a larguei tambem. que s6 restava em mim a pergunta, a vontade de saberpam onde tinham ido todas as horas de susto e de falta, de projetos e passeios nos quais a olhava maravilhado por tanta solidao.

Eu desfiz Rita de tat modo que ela mesma se desfez e nao restou nada para eu interpretar. Nem as palavras, nem as musicas preferidas, nem mesmo os outros homens.

Ricardo e Marta cram outra histeria.

Ricardo amaria Marta ate o Oltimomomento. Urn amor ainda urn pouco curioso. Ate porque para ele custara mais, muito mais entender.

Etas eram duas mulheres agora.

N6s, dois homens, Ricardo bem mais velho do que eu. Por isso, talvez, mais conformado.

Quando as duas se levantaram e foram ao banheiro, pude perceber que ele olhava para sua mulher corn uma mistura de

When the four of us got together—me, Rita, Marta and him—it was already dark. The two couples absolutely did not get along.

Marta still had the beautiful legs that had made history, and Rita, the jealous, lonesome gaze that had caught me in pretensions oflove. She still wanted to surpass herself in independence, and I no longer even wanted to relieve the pain that she was feeling.

We drank a lot, the two of us. Marta and Ricardo left early because she had to take part in a surgical operation the next morning. Ricardo didn't talk much, but he held Marta's hands as if they were a trophy.

A distancing, a desire, I thought, emptied of desire.

I stayed beside Rita for a few minutes more and then got up without even saying good-bye. I had begun doing this when we went out at night. Later she would go home however she could.

Sometimes she didn't return until morning. Other times she'd call me from a payphone somewhere. I wouldn't answer the phone. She'd hang up, and I'd begin to make up excuses as to why I hadn't answered. I still felt guilty. After all, I'd promised her something that she already knew didn't exist. Something I thought I had always felt and that I decided! thought belonged toher. I had succeeded in convincing her, in changing her course.

She understood that I had some truth. She believed and she believed so much that finally she abandoned herself in me. This took a number of years, but I had been persistent.

After sometime with me, she believed it. One day she hugged me so tenderly that I could hardly recognize her. That was the day that! was afraid !would lose her forever. And lose her! did in the midst of what I'd imagined that I'd be able to feel.

But she was right all along. Marta and Ricardo's story was just one more proof of this, and! knew that the dinner with them would leave her even more depressed. That's why! pulled away; I left. My own depression was enough. I didn't know how to leave her now; that's why I was leaving her little by little, letting go of her on beaches, in restaurants, bars, hotels. Also, so many times, in our own room.

All that I have left is the question, the will to know, where did all those hours g&—those hours of fright and ofmissing her, of projects and walks? All the time I'd spent looking at her, marveling at all her loneliness.

I undid Rita the same way that she undid herself, and there was nothing left for oe to interpret. Not the words, not the favorite songs, not eten the other men.

32 BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

satisfacao e cansaco. Ela era sua.

Na mesa do lado, dois outros casais conversavam e duas outras mulheres se levantaram. N6s as acompanhamos corn os olhos antigos.

—Ricardo, eununca tinha percebido como somos parecidos.

—Eu e voce?—ele perguntou, incredulo.—Como pode ser isso?

—Tenho ate uma ideia para uma mnsica...

E ele me interrompeu:—Ndo seja ir8nico.—sabia o que estava por vir.

—No, seri°. Comecaria assim: Ricardo e Bruno gostavam muito de namorar.

E namoravam muito.

—Bruno, elas estdo vindo.

Eu dei uma gargalhada. Ele ainda a amava. Era triste para mim perceber.

—Vamos, Marta?—perguntou decidido, ja levando-a pela mdo.

Eu nao, eu preferia descansar a dor.

E Rita, a minha Rita, a dos bracos finos buscando no fundo de tudo aquilo a fantasia que eu lhe havia inventado.

Rita, Rita, Rita, eu diria, ja deitado, de manila, ao lado de uma outra mulher qualquer.

C Lucia Ledo Lucia Lao (Lucialeao@aol.com ) was born in Rio de Janeiro and now lives in Florida. She is a translator who works from Spanish, French and English into Portuguese. The holder of a master's degree in Brazilian literature and a master's degree in print journalism, she writes short stories almost as much as she translates. A collection of her short stories may be published in Brazil in 2000.

Ricardo and Marta were another story.

Ricardo would love Marta forever. A love that still was a little curious. Even because for him it had been much, much more difficult to understand.

They were two grown women now.

We were two men, Ricardo much older than I. Perhaps that was why he was more resigned.

When the two women got up and went into the restroom, I could see that he was watching her with a mixture of satisfaction and fatigue. She belonged to him.

At the next table, two other couples were talking and the two other women got up. We watched them out of habit.

"Ricardo, I had never noticed how alike we are."

"You and me?" he asked, incredulous. "Whatever do you mean?"

"I even have an idea for a song."

And he interrupted me. "Don't be sarcastic." He knew what was coming.

"No, I'm serious. It would begin like this, 'Ricardo and Bruno liked to make out with girls.

And they did it a lot.— "Bruno, they're coming back."

I snorted. He still loved her. It was sad for me to see that.

"Shall we go, Marta?" he asked, taking her by the hand since he'd already decided.

Not me. I prefer to give the pain a rest.

And Rita, my Rita, her two slender arms searching through all that for the fantasy that I had invented for her.

"Rita, Rita, Rita," I would say in the morning, lying beside another woman, any other woman whatsoever.

Translated by Linda Jerome (LinJerome@es.com) Translation 0 Lucia Lea()

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UNITED 33

THE SOUTHEAST

commonplace. The breakdown in law and order recently forced the state and The Southeast region, known in government to ask the President to Brazil as the Sudeste, comprises almost send federal troops into the favelas, in 11% of the country's land area and is an attempt to curb drug trafficking. home to a whopping 44% of Brasileiros Nevertheless, in Rio everything ends (Brazilians)-90% of whom live in with samba—football games, cities. The region is made up of the weddings, work, political states of Rio de Janeiro, Espirito Santo, demonstrations and, of course, a day Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais. at the beach. There's a lust for life, Geographically, the Southeast and a love of romance, music, dance contains the most mountainous areas and talk that seem to distinguish the of the Planalto Atlantico: the serras da Cariocas from everyone else. For Mantiqueira, do Mar and do Espinhaco, anyone coming from the efficiency making it popular with hikers and and rationality of the developed, climbers. capitalist world this is potent stuff.

Most of the region was once covThe sensuality of Carnaval is the bestered by the lush Mata Atlantica, but known expression of this Dionysian this has been devastated since the arspirit, but there are plenty more. rival of the Portuguese. Inland, Minas Rio has its glitzy side—its Gerais also contains areas of cerrado international tourist crowd and the and caatinga. Two great rivers begin lives of its rich and famous. But happily in the mountains of the Southit's also a good city for the east; the Parana, formed by the budget traveler. There are Paraiba and Grande rivers, and plenty of cheap restaurants the Sao Francisco, which beand hotels. The beaches are gins in the Serra da Canastra in free and democratic.

Minas.

There's a lot to explore in The Southeast is the the city center and in economic powerhouse of Brazil several other and contains 60% of the neighborhoods with their country's industry. This wealth parks and museums. Mass attracts migrants from all over transportation is fast and Brazil, who flock to the three easy. And if you can meet largest cities of Brazil--Sao some locals—not nearly so Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo hard as in New York, Horizonte—in search of London or Sydney—well, something better. then you're on easy street.

Attractions of the Southeast History include the cidade maravilhosa Gaspar de Lemos set sail Rio de Janeiro; historic colonial towns from Portugal for Brazil in May (Parati, Ouro Preto and many others 1501 and entered a huge bay in in Minas); national parks (Serra dos January 1502. Mistaking the bay Orgaos, Itatiaia and Capara6); and for a river, he named it Rio de the people themselves—the hardJaneiro. It was the French, working Paulistas (from Sao Paulo), however, who first settled along the fun-loving Cariocas (from Rio), the great bay. Like the Portuguese, the strong-willed Capixabas (from the French had been harvesting Espirito Santo) and the spiritual brazil wood along the Brazilian Mineiros (from Minas Gerais). coast, but unlike the Portuguese they hadn't attempted any RIO DE JANEIRO CITY permanent settlements until Rio There's a lust for life, and a de Janeiro.

Rio is the cidade maravilhosa As the Portuguese colonization love of romance, music, dance (marvelous city). Jammed into the of Brazil began to take hold, the world's most beautiful city setting— French became concerned that and talk that seem to between ocean and escarpment—are they'd be pushed out ofthe colony. more than seven million Cariocas, as distinguish Rio residents from Three ships of French settlers the inhabitants are called. This makes reached the Baia de Guanabara in Rio one of the most densely populated everyone else. For anyone 1555. They settled on a small places on earth. This thick brew of island in the bay and called it coming from the efficiency and Cariocas pursues pleasure like no Antarctic France. Almost from the other people: beaches and the body start, the town seemed doomed to rationality of the developed, beautiful; samba and cerveja; football failure. It was torn by religious and cachaca. capitalist world this is potent divisions, isolated by harsh Rio has its problems, and they are treatment of the Indians and stuff. enormous. A third of the people live demoralized by the puritanical rule in the favelas that blanket many of of the French leader, Nicolas de the hillsides. The poor have no Villegagnon. Antarctic France was schools, no doctors and no jobs. Drug abuse and violence weak and disheartened when the Portuguese attacked are endemic. Police corruption and brutality are and drove the French from their fortress in 1560.

They are Cariotin

34 BRAZZIL -MAY-JUNE 2000

le A greater threat to the Portuguese was the powerful Tamoio Indians, who had allied with the French. A series of battles occurred, but the Portuguese were better armed and better supplied than the French, whom they finally expelled. They drove the Tamoio from the region in a series of bloody battles.

The Portuguese set up a fortified town on the Morro Castelo in 1567 to maximize protection from European invasion by sea and Indian attack by land. They named it Sao Sebastiao do Rio de Janeiro, after King Sebastiao of Portugal. The founding 500 Cariocas built a typical Brazilian town: poorly planned, with irregular streets in medieval Portuguese style. By the end of the century the small settlement was, if not exactly prosperous, surviving on the export of brazil wood and sugar cane, and from fishing in the Baia de Guanabara.

In 1660 the city had a population made up of 3000 Indians, 750 Portuguese and 100 blacks. It grew along the waterfront and what is now Praca 15 de Novembro (often referred to as IPraca Quinze). Religious orders came—the Jesuits, the Franciscans and the Benedictines— and built austere, closed-in churches.

With its excellent harbor and good lands for sugar cane, Rio became Brazil's third most important settlement (after Salvador da Bahia and Recife-Olinda) in the 17th century. Slaves were imported and sugar plantations thrived. The owners of the sugar estates lived in the protection and comfort of the fortified city.

The gold rush in Minas Gerais at the beginning of the 18th century changed Rio forever. In 1704 the Caminho Novo, a new road to the Minas gold fields, was opened.

Until the gold began to run out, half a century later, a golden road went through the ports of Rio. Much of the gold that didn't end up in England, and many of the Portuguese immigrants didn't return to Minas, but stayed on in Rio. Rio was now the prize of Brazil. In 1710 the French, who were at war with Portugal and raiding its colonies, attacked the city. The French were defeated, but a second expedition succeeded and the entire population abandoned the city in the dark of night. The occupying French threatened to level the city unless a sizeable ransom in gold, sugar and cattle was paid. The Portuguese obliged.

During the return voyage to an expected heroes' welcome in France, the victors lost two ships and most of the gold.

Rio quickly recovered from the setback. Its fortifications were improved, many richly decorated churches were built and by 1763 its population had reached 50,000. With international sugar prices slumping, Rio replaced Salvador da Bahia as the colonial capital in 1763.

In 1808 the entire Portuguese monarchy and court— barely escaping the invasion by Napoleon's armies— arrived in Rio. The city thus came to house the court of the Portuguese Empire—or at least what was left of it.

With the court came an influx of money and skills that helped build some of the city's lasting monuments, like the palace at the Quinta da Boa Vista and the Jardim Botanic° (a pet project of the king). The Portuguese court was followed by talented French exiles, such as the architect Jean de Montigny and the painters Jean Baptiste Debret and Nicolas Antoine Taunay.

The coffee boom in the mountains of Sao Paulo and Rio revitalised Brazil's economy. Rio took on a new importance as a port and commercial center, and coffee commerce modernised the city. A telegraph system and gas street lights were installed in 1854. Regular passenger ships began sailing to London in 1845, and to Paris in 1851. A ferry service to Niter6i began in 1862.

At the end of the 19th century the city's population \exploded because of European immigration and internal BFtAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

migration (mostly ex-slaves from the declining coffeN and sugar regions). In 1872 Rio had 275,000 inhabitants; by 1890 there were about 522,000, a quarter of them foreign-born. By 1900 the population had reached 800,000. The city spread rapidly between the steep hills, bay and ocean The rich started to move further out, in a pattern that c ntinues tockly, Climate You can expect some rain in Rio. In the summer, from December to March, it gets hot and humid. Temperatures in the high 30° Cs are common and there's more rain than at other times but it rarely lasts for too long. In the winter, temperatures range from the 20°Cs to low 30°Cs, with plenty of good days for the beach.

Orientation Rio is divided into a zona none (north zone) and a 'zona sul (south zone) by the Serra da Carioca, steep mountains that are part of the Parque Nacional da Tijuca.

These mountains descend to the edge of the city center, where the zonas norte and sul meet. Corcovado, one of these mountain peaks, offers the best way to become familiar with the city's geography—from it you have 'views of both zones.

Rio is a tale of two cities. The upper and middle classes reside in the zona sul, the lower class, except for the favela dwellers, the zona norte. Favelas cover steep hillsides on both sides of town—Rocinha, Brazil's largest favela with s mewhere between 150,000 and 300,000 residents, is in avea, one of Rio's richest neighborhoods.

Most indust is in the zona none, as is most of the pollution. Th ocean beaches are in the zona sul.

Unless the work in the zona none, residents of the zona sul rarely go to the other side of the city. The same holds true for, travellers, unless they head north to the Maracana football stadium or the Quinta da Boa Vista, with the national museum, or the international airport which is on the Ilha do Governador.

Centro Rio's center is all business and bustle during the day and absolutely deserted at night and on weekends. It's a working city—the center of finance and commerce. The numerous high-rise office buildings are filled with workers who pour onto the daytime streets to eat at the many restaurants and shop at the small stores. Lots of essential . .services for the traveller are in the center. The o fices are here, as are foreign consulates, main Brazilian gov nment agencies, money exchange houses, banks and tra el agencies.

The center is the site of the original settlement of Rio. Most of the ity's important museums and colonial buildings are Ilere. Small enough to explore on foot, the city center is lively and interesting, and occasionally beautiful (despite the many modern, Bauhaus-inspired buildings).

Two wide avenues cross the center: Avenida Rio Branco, where buses leave for the zona sul and Avenida Presidente Va gas, which heads out to the sambodromo and the zona orte. Rio's modern subway follows these two avenues a it burrows under the city. Most banks and airline offices have their headquarters on Avenida Rio Branco.

We found sightseeing was safer here during the week, because there are lots of people around. On weekends, you stand out much more.

Cinelandia At the soUth ern edge of the business district, Cinelandia's shops, bars, restaurants and movie theatres are popular d and night. There are also several decent hotels here that are reasonably priced. The bars and restaurants get crowded at lunch and after work, when there's often samba in the streets. There's a greater mixi 35

of Cariocas here than in any other section of the city.

Several gay and mixed bars stay open here until late.

Lapa By the old aqueduct that connects the Santa Teresa trolley and the city center is Lapa, the scene of many a Brazilian novel. This is where boys used to become men and men became infected. Prostitution still exists here but there are also several music clubs, like the Circo Voador and Asa Branca, and some very cheap hotels. Lapa goes to sleep very late on Friday and Saturday.

Santa Teresa This is one of Rio's most unusual and charming neighborhoods. Situated along the ridge of the hill that rises from the city center, Santa Teresa has many of Rio's finest colonial homes. In the 1800s Rio's upper crust lived here and rode the bonde (tram) to work in the city.

The bonde is still there but the rich moved out long ago.

During the '60s and '70s many artists and hippies moved into Santa Teresa's mansions. Just a few meters below them the favelas grew on the hillsides. Santa Teresa was considered very dangerous for many years and is now heavily policed. It's still necessary to be cautious here, especially at night.

Catete & Flamengo Moving south along the bay, you'll come to Catete and Flamengo, two areas which have the bulk of inexpensive hotels in Rio. Flamengo was once Rio's finest residential district and the Palacio do Catete housed Brazil's president until 1954, but with the new tunnel to Copacabana the upper classes began moving out in the 1940s. Flamengo is still mostly residential. The apartments are often big and graceful, although a few high-rise offices have recently been built among them. With the exception of the classy waterfront buildings, Flamengo is mostly a middle-class area.

There is less nightlife and fewer restaurants here than in nearby Botafogo or Cinelandia, which are five minutes away by subway.

Parque do Flamengo Stretching along the bay from Flamengo all the way to the city center, the Parque do Flamengo was created in the 1950s by an enormous landfill project. Under-utilised during the week, with the exception of the round-theclock football games (joining a few hundred spectators at a 3 am game is one of Rio's stranger experiences), the park comes to life on weekends.

The museum of modern art is at the northern end of the park. At the south end is Rio's, a big outdoor restaurant that's ideal for people and bay watching. The park is not considered safe at night.

Botafogo Botafogo's early development was spurted by the construction of a tram that ran up to the botanical garden linking the bay and the lake. This artery still plays a vital role in Rio's traffic flow and Botafogo's streets are extremely congested. There are several palatial mansions here that housed foreign consulates when Rio was the capital of Brazil. This area has fewer high-rise buildings than much of the rest of Rio. There are not many hotels in Botafogo but there are lots of good bars and restaurants where the locals go to avoid the tourist glitz and high cost of Copacabana.

Copacabana This is the famous curved beach you know about.

What's surprising about Copacabana is all the people who live there. Fronted by beach and backed by steep hills, Copacabana is for the greater part no more than four blocks wide. Crammed into this narrow strip of land are 5,000 people per sq km, one of the highest population

densities in the world. Any understanding of the Rio way of life and leisure has to start with the fact that so many people live so close together and so near to the beach.

Only three parallel streets traverse the length of Copacabana. Avenida Atlantica runs along the ocean.

Avenida Nossa Senhora de Copacabana, two blocks inland, is one way, running in the direction ofthe business district. One block further inland, Rua Barata Ribeiro is also one way, in the direction of Ipanema and Leblon.

These streets change their names when they reach Ipanema.

Copacabana is the capital of Brazilian tourism. It's possible to spend an entire Brazilian vacation without leaving it. and some people do just that. The majority of Rio's medium and expensive hotels are here and they are accompanied by plenty of restaurants, shops and bars.

For pure city excitement, Copacabana is Rio's liveliest theatre. It is also the heart of Rio's recreational sex industry. There are many boates (bars with strip shows) and prostitutes; anything and everyone is for sale.

From Christmas to Carnaval there are so many foreign tourists in Copacabana that Brazilians who can't afford to travel abroad have been known to go down to Avenida Atlantica along the beach and pretend they are in Paris, Buenos Aires or New York. As always when there are lots of tourists, there are problems. Prices are exorbitant, hotels are full and restaurants get overcrowded. The streets are noisy and hot.

Ipanema & Leblon These are two of Rio's most desirable districts. They face the same stretch of beach and are separated by the Jardim de Alah, a canal and adjacent park. They are residential, mostly upper class and becoming more so as rents continue to rise. Most of Rio's better restaurants, bars and nightclubs are in Ipanema and Leblon; there are only a few hotels, although there are a couple of good aparthotels.

Barra da Tijuca Barra is the fashionable suburb with Rio's rich and famous. The beach is beautiful, and apartments in the closed condominiums are expensive. Like fungi in a rainforest, hundreds of buildings have sprung up wherever there happens to be an open space. Whether condo, restaurant, shopping center or disco, these big, modem structures are, without exception, monstrosities.

Information Tourist Offices Riotur (541-7522) has a tourist information hotline. Call them from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday, with any questions. The receptionists speak English and more often than not they'll be able to help you.

Riotur (297-7177) is the Rio city tourism agency. The main office is at Rua da Assembleia 10, 8th floor, Centro, but the special 'tourist room' is in Copacabana at Avenida Princesa Isabel 183. There, you'll find free brochures (in Portuguese and English), which include maps.

For more on information and foreign consulates, guidebooks, and bookshops read 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.

BFtAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

Advertised as the largest open-air theater in the world, Nova Jerusalem attracts, during the week leading to Easter Sunday, people fro1all over Brazil and abroad, traveling to see the annual 'Passion of Christ' play.

HABEEB SALLOUM

For two weeks we had enjoyed the seaside life of Recife—B azil's northeastern resort capital.

We had lazed for hours on Boa Viagem, its major but somewhat! ttered beach, soaking up the sun.

The Canadian winter cold had been virtually forgotten as we say ed to the full the manyettributes of this tropical paradise. By the third week, I was becoming bored with the beaches, swaying palms and nightlife and began thinking of other activities.

While chatting in a bar with John, an American who had lived i Brazil for years, I asked, "What tours do you suggest that I take. I want to do something new. I h ve had enough of nightlife, sand and sea." John grinned, "There's no question! It's Nova Jerusale (New Jerusalem)! That's where you should go." He went on, "The tour also includes a stop at the pi turesque artisan town of Caruaru.

It's the best day tour one can take from Recife. You should not iss it."

Taking my bar room friend's words to heart, a few days later, I joined a tour group and early in the morning we were on our way to that fantasy Jerusalem—the brainchild of a local landowner.

Although, according to John's explanation it was only a religious ymbol erected in the wilderness, it appealed to my sense of adventure.

Our bus with only open windows for air conditioning, at mg, traveled through a tropical landscape, which soon gave way to a rolling cultivated countrysid . Climbing upward through green hills, we made our way through fields of sugarcane, stretching far as the eye could see. It was strange to see sugarcane, usually grown on flat land, thriving in mountainous landscape.

Our guide, who spoke passable English, appeared to be ins ired by the cane swaying in the breeze, as he related the history of sugar cultivation in Brazil. Ho ever, we barely could hear what he was saying. The microphone was not funationing and the noi of the road almost drowned out the essence of his story. With the windows open and his voice co peting with the din of the motor, we could barely make out his words. He-had to repeat his story half a dozen times before it was understood by the majority of our tour group.

Like most yarns spun by guides throughout the world, his n tive was full of inaccuracies.

When he said that sugarcane was first brought from India to Br il, for me, it was the last straw. I broke in to tell him that sugar had been introduced into the Iberi Peninsula by the Arabs and had been cultivated in that part of Europe for over five centuries befor the Portuguese colonized Brazil.

I went on to explain that the name was pure Arabic—sugar, fr m sukkar (sugar) and cane from ganaah (reed or canal). My correction to his story had no effect. e just shrugged his shoulders and continued his rehearsed monologue.

The sugarcane fields dotted with neat-looking homes began o fade away by the time we had stopped in Victoria de Santo Antao for a tour of the gigantic pit(' actory. A hard liquor made from sugarcane, Pitt, about 43% alcohol, is a popular Brazilian drink erhaps its low cost—less than 50 cents a liter bottle—is large factor in its popularity.

On the other hand, it is not palatable to most European and orth American tastes. During the tour, our guide told us that the plant had an open offer to all foreign visitors. If a tourist would consent to drink a bottle of Pitt without stop, he/she would receive a pr ze and be photographed with the president of the company. He said that no one of any of the group he had taken through the factory had ever volunteered. Of course, there was a reason. A few ounce of this firewater would be enough to immobilize any tourist.

BRX211„-MAY4UNE2000

37

Leaving Victoria behind, we drove through semi-desert hills until, from a high point, we could see Caruaru, Brazil's northeastern center of handicrafts, nestled in the valley below.

Set bowl-like between the surrounding cactus-strewn mountains, its location resembled, to some degree, the charming setting of Fez, Morocco, which I had visited a short time before.

Some 130 km (80 mi) west of Recife, Caruaru, a city of some quarter of a million, situated 600 m(1960 ft) above sea level, has an invigorating climate. Here, where thousands of peddlers offer their mostly regional-handmade articles for sale, is to be found one of the largest open-air markets in Brazil.

We roamed the market offering hand-carved articles of wood, costume jewelry, leather goods, pottery, straw products and other goodies. Even though the prices differed little from those in Recife, the joy of strolling among the displayed handicrafts was a pleasurable and exciting experience.

After spending about two hours roaming through the friendly marketplace, we were again on the move. The road traversed boulder-strewn hills, many of which had the appearance of being sculptured by human hands, until we reached Nova Jerusalem—the name given to an extraordinary theatre, edging the village of Fazenda Nova. About 40 km (25 mi) northwest of Caruaru in this area of Brazil, Nova Jerusalem has become a tourist spot par excellence. Advertised as the largest open-air theater in the world, it attracts, during the week leading to Easter Sunday, people from all over Brazil and abroad, traveling to see the annual 'Passion of Christ' play. At that time of the year, it is a Mecca for the curious and religious.

Nova Jerusalem was created by a local Brazilian who had lived in Christianity's Holy City for some four years. When he returned to his native land, he saw that in this part of northeastern Brazil, the climate and countryside were similar to those of Jerusalem. His admiration for that Holy City inspired him to

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build a theatre town modeled after historic Jerusalem. Cashing in on the deep religious feelings of the local inhabitants in the 1970s, he, with their help, built a replica of Christianity's Mecca.

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During Easter week, some 500 costumed, mostly local amateurs, recreate the Passion and Crucifixion of Christ. As the tale unfolds, a huge number of visitors move in the theatercity for each scene from one stage to the next, for some three hours, guided by centurions with torches. For believers, it is a gratifying experience, well worth the trip. We had come in early winter and the masses of people who would be there during Easter could only be imagined. In this wilderness creation, as we moved from stage to stage and the guide explained the scenes in the Passion play, we had to visualize it all. Yet, even though not as fulfilling as the real thing, it was a unique experience walking around this man-made replica of history, not found in any other place on earth.

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

Among his most important works are the books: Journeys Back to Arab Spain (1994); with J. Peters, From the Lands of Figs and Olives (1995 HB; 1997 PB); with J. Peters, 2 (1996); and Classic Vegetarian Cooking From the Middle East and North Africa, (in press). You can contact him at salloum@chass.utoronto.ca

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Chain and Blood He c ewed his gums for a while deep in thought. hen he spoke laughing: 'Actually, we were onl the first town to abolish slavery because e were all too poor to afford slaves'.

PHILIP BLAZDELL

I am laying in my hammo k, the maid has just brought me another cold , beer—my fourth I think, them squitoes which have plaguing my every move have fmally retired for the fig t. I am alone with my thoughts now; only the incessant night sounds of the fo est disturbs my scribbling. I should be at peace here high in the mountains abo e the searing heat of the coastal plane, but! am not.

I feel ill at ease in the lap f luxury that my host has forced onto me, the car—should I need it, is read and fuelled to go and the maid is preparing another meal for me and fuss g with my hammock. I swing listlessly and imagine that I can hear voices in the night. I imagine the pain and suffering which this land endured, and it ills me. I look at my own hands and in the halflight of dusk I can almost ima me that I have blood on them.

I have come deep into the rest to the town of Guaratniranga, in the state of Ce A, which lam reliably told, is Atlantic Coastal ' Fores , and not the rain forest proper, for two reasons. t is to escape the blistering heat of the coast The A hea , which over the last few days has been pounding m continuously, denying me sleep, making me slugg sh and melancholic and the second is to learn a little ore about the history of Brazil and in particular sl very. It was here that the first nail in the coffin cif Li on's inhumanity was hammered home. e colonization of this beautiful land was based • on ex ensive agriculture, immigration by Portuguese colon sts and the unrestricted use of slaves. That alone is not remarkable. However what is perhaps rem able is that the colonists preferred African slave to the local Indians as they believed they were stron er, more disease resistant and, more importantly cheaper. The African slaves brought to Brazil came from different regions of frica, from exotic countries in Western Africa such as Guinea, Senegal, and ambia and later from Benin, Nigeria, Togo, tly Angola. Little accurate historical records Cameroon and more impo remains, only scratches of te timony told many years after their capture remain: 'They put us in separate p cels and examined us attentively. They also made ,us jump, and pointed to the land, signifying we were to go there, We " thought by this these ugly men hould eat us, as they appeared to us. When soon after we were all put down un er the deck again, there was much dread and trembling among us and nothi g but bitter cries to be heard all the night from BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

39

the apprehensions'

•

One historian notes that the indigenous Indians of Brazil had not urbanized or developed religious cultures, which made it easier for the Portuguese to be accepted and for slavery to be used extensively. I, like many others, wonder at the folly of such thinking which is often used to justify barbaric acts. The Spanish colonies, conversely, were confronted with organized indigenous people, such as Aztec, Inca and Mayan civilizations. Religious cultures were very much a part of their daily lives and they lived in a more structured urban area, which somewhat restricted the Spanish in their use of slaves. Perhaps this also accounts for the difference in Portuguese colonies from, for example, the colonies of other ex-colonial powers. I had, for example, fallen in love with Macao and Mozambique— both former Portuguese colonies whilst! feel a continual sense of loss each time! visit a former British colony—such as India.

Pulitzer nominated Los Angeles Times journalist David Lamb partially agrees with me when he says that the Portuguese were unique to European colonialism in that they built beautiful cities, but he adds that 'to refer to Portugal's colonial history as disgraceful would be to give Lisbon the benefit ofthe doubt'. He continues by pointing out that Portugal stood for all the evils of colonialisms and none of the good.

It milked its former colonies such as Angola and Mozambique to economical ruin and bequeathed them nothing. He brushes aside the fact that Brazil was left with a single language that has allowed it to sidestep many of the problems experienced in Angola and Mozambique and remains, at least on paper, a potentially strong country. Today, this sole language is the binding force that unites one of the world's most diverse populations.

Early the next morning, whilst everyone was still asleep, I took a dawn walk around the farm where I was staying. The morning was slowly creeping over the fields and a sallow mist hung in the air. I crept into the silent barn, which apart from the prim farmhouse, where for the last few nights I had slung my hammock, dominated the landscape. The door was stiff and warped with age and the hinges creaked as I pulled it open— a thousand Black and White horror movies came to mind.

The early morning sun had yet to penetrate its depths and my flashlight pierced the murky gloom. I took a few small,' tentative steps inside and pulled the door closed behind me. I stood still waiting for my eyes to become accustomed to the dark, breathing in the musty smell of rotting wood and decaying fruit.

I left my flashlight play lazily over the walls of what my host had told me, just a few hours ago, with considerable pride, had been built entirely by slaves. My light disturbed the flock of bats that were roosting in the rafters. Unlike every scary film I have seen their swooping and confusion at being disturbed was not accompanied by a blood-curdling screech or a sense of menace, but their frantic motion was still enough to send me flailing, like a whirling dervish, out the door into the early morning sun. The farm hand, or boias-frias (cold lunch folks) as the Brazilians say, was leaning on a post laughing genially at my antics.

The moist and fertile seaboard of what is now the State of Pernambuco was most suitable for growing sugar and also conveniently located as a port of call for sailing ships traveling from Portugal to West Africa and the Orient. The sugar plant and the technique of its cultivation had reached Brazil from 40

Madeira. A flourishing triangular trade soon developed, based on the importation of slave labor from West Africa to work on sugar plantations. The sugar was exported to markets in Europe where rising demand was beginning to outrun supplies from traditional sources. Slavery suddenly became a major issue.

Later, when the bats had returned to their roosts, the old farm hand showed n't the exquisite machines that remained in the barn, the last testament of a different age. The machines reminded me of theiglorious steam powdered devices I had once, seen in a museum in London, remnants of an age when engineering was both noble and worthy and England was a mighty nation. However, these machines, which had seemed somehow to have resisted the inevitability of rust, were clearly not designed to be powered by electricity or steam (in fact electricity was a recent arrival in Guaramiranga). It seemed to my mind that they were clearly designed with human power in mind.

Their function eluded me, though their sleek cogs and huge wheels suggested the backbreaking labor of processing sugar cane. The farm hand shrugged, he too did not know what purpose these machines once served, and it seemed that he cared very little. To Me, it seemed profoundly sad, both as an engineer and as a humanitarian. We left them alone in that dark barn, like ghosts from the past.

The final aboliticn of slavery, which occurred largely as a result of British pressure, is usually regarded as the most immediate cause for the fall of the monarchy. With the Emperor Dom Pedro II,!who had recently made a rousing speech declaring that he whuld rather loose his crown than allow slavery to continue, away in Europe, his daughter, Princess Isabel, acted as ReOnt. On May 13, 1888, responding to the collapse of slavery as a workable system and yielding to pressures from the !abolitionists, she signed the so-called "Golden Law" (Lei Xurea) that abolished slavery in Brazil.

For once I felt a slight glow of patriotism. I felt proud that it was British presstire that had bought this terrible trade in humanity to an end. However, a few days later! read a more comprehensive account, which left a bitter taste in my mouth.

I read that 'the end of slavery in Brazil came by the way of the British influence, because of the British colony of the West Indies, where slavery had been abolished." This didn't seem bad until I continued to read 'both the West Indies and Brazil were sugar-producing colonies. The British interest in abolishing slavery in Brazil was to insure that Brazil did not gain a financial advantage„by using slave labor, in selling sugar to world markets at a 16wer price than the British colony could compete with.'

I left the library, ironically enough, in search of a coffee.

Historians of the time note that by the end of the 19th century, slavery in Brazil was declining under pressure from immigrant laborers whose wages cost less than the upkeep of slaves. Nevertheless, the "Golden Law" set off a reaction among slave owners that rapidly eroded the political foundations of the monarchy. After a few months of parliamentary crises, the Emperor was deposed on November 15, 1889, by a military movement that proclaimed the abrogation of the monarchy and the establishment of the Republic.

This institutional transformation, albeit profound, was surprisingly carried out without bloodshed. Although treated with all possible respect, the Emperor and his family had to be asked to leave the country. Accompanied by some close BRAZZL-MAY-JONE2000

associates, they went into exile in France. Most of the leading figures of the country lent their support and collaboration to the new regime; among them was one of Brazil's most outstanding statesmen, the Baron of Rio Branco. It was his wisdom and skilful diplomacy that enabled Brazil to end, by treaty or arbitration, nearly all its outstanding frontier disputes.

After a leisurely breakfast we drove to the town of Baturite.

Founded in 1745 this town played a strong part in the story of slavery in Brazil. It was the town where slavery was first abolished, but today little evidence remains of the glorious past. I was musing this fact over, leaning on a tree in the shade, when I fell into conversation with a local man who was on his way to the pretty market to buy some fruit.

I told him I was fascinated that Baturite was the first town to abolish slavery. He chewed his gums for a while deep in thought, when he spoke, it was with the slow clear voice Brazilians use to speak to foreigners like myself, 'actually', he laughed, 'we were only the first town to abolish slavery because we were all too poor to afford slaves'. It stuck me as typical Brazilian logic and I couldn't help but smile as he shuffled off.

I walked myself into the market and bought for a small handful of coins (actually it was with two grubby notes, but I yearn for a more romantic view then current fiscal policy allows) a clutch ofpitombas. I am told that there is absolutely no clinical reason why I should be addicted to this small lychee like fruit— like there is no clinical reason for my addiction to chocolate or exotic places, but still I need my daily fix. As I peeled off the thick outer skin and let the first initial flavor explode, almost numbing my mouth I wondered how far we have really come. Pitomba is a real philosopher's fruit. The effort required to strip the flesh from the generous seed and to extract every last ounce of intense flavor is not a task to be taken lightly. It is a fruit, like a fine brandy, to be taken seriously. I found a dense mango tree and sat in the shade sucking fruit.

Slavery may have gone, but still today the richest 10% of Brazilians control a staggering 50% of the nation's wealth, the poorest 10% have just 0.6%, sixty million live in squalor, 60% of people make less then the minimum wage ($80 a month), 40 million people are malnourished, 25 million live infavelas, 12 million children (roughly the population of the Netherlands) are abandoned and 7 million don't receive any formal education. Brazil may claim, with some justification, to be free from racism, it is true that there is little visible discrimination between skin colors, however racism raises its ugly head in terms of money.

When the slavery was first abrogated the newborn babies (or children from a very young age) were made free. However, their families were often not free and so liberation took place at a snail's pace. Adult slaves were free when they reached the age of 60, but then had nowhere to go (they hadn't been able to build up sufficient capital to make a clean break from their owner and were now too old. The slaves were free, but nothing more. Very few people tried at all to give them a good start.

This policy left a large population with little education, no money, and very little chance of bettering themselves. As one acquaintance told me we can't equate poverty with stupidity anymore, as a nation we must take responsibility for our forefathers actions and do our best to reach out to this people with economic reforms, schooling and compassion. I would like to believe this sentiment.

BRAZZIL -MAY-JUNE 2000

The following weekend I found myself once again bouncing around in the back of a pick-up truck. We climbed the winding roads through the fields thick with dense green vegetation. The chuchu (a strange green watery vegetable which tastes something like a potato) were almost ready for harvesting and the air was rich with the scent of bananas. I really couldn't understand why my girlfriend had opted for the air-conditioned interior of the truck— to miss the wind in her hair and the smells of a dozen fruits surely was a crime.

On our way to the highest point in Ceara, the appropriately named Pico Alto, we passed through villages that hardly seemed touched by these first few days of the new millennium.

Young children played carelessly in the street, gaudily dressed women chatted amiably with friends as they returned from market and old men swung in their hammocks.

I leaped fram the truck when we stopped for a young mother to amble across the street and dived into a one-room lean-too bar for a beer. In the dim light! could see strips ofmeat hung curing over the bar (the fantastic came de so!) and two wizened locals fresh from a hard day in the fields, were nursing small dirty glasses of sugar cane rum. 'Two beers',! smiled at the barman in my best textbook Portuguese, 'and make sure they are icy, icy cold'. He grinned and invited me to linger and chat, It was a tempting offer, a bar, the sound of mosquitoes and a genial host, but the sun was setting and! had a sunset to see.

Sitting alon on the peak I let the mist roll around me. The sun slid below he horizon draining the color from the sky.! was alone with y thoughts, or at least! thought! was until the largest (or if! honest, the only) tarantula I have ever seen in the wild Cr .wled across my boot. Although it was an undeniably bea tiftil animal! suffer from a compulsive urge to run screaming om even the smallest spider, let alone this plate sized mon ter, which was currently inspecting my shoe with grim dete ination.

Unable toe en scream I sat shivering, hoping that it wasn't as mean or as ungry as it looked. Eventually, after it had completed its i spection and left me alone and my breathing had finally re rned to normal the stars had come out. We drove back thro gh the now deserted villages, the streets were empty but when we stopped to ask for directions we could hear the unmistakab e sounds of beer glasses clinking together.

The night w s thick with the light of fireflies as we made our way back to the farm where my travels had begun. A fire burned to welcome us home. Such a starry night, the smell and sounds of the forest and the gentle murmuring of the maid as she bustled around serving drinks seemed idyllic. It seemed hard for me to equate this with the suffering that had shaped this land.! didn't know how to feel, relieved that the past is now little more than a fading memory, or anxious for the future. I sipped my beer and tried to find the Southern Cross, which like the answer to many of Brazil's enigmas still eludes me.

Th author grew up in London but left at the first opportunity. He currently lives and works on the NE oast of Brazil. He has traveled extensively and currently divides his time between his office and the lo al travel agents trying to sniff out cheap deals to little nown and exotic places. He loves to hear from readers a d enjoys spending a significant amount of his working day reading and replying to emails: philipAdem.ufc.br 41

Mmusica Phenomena Pushing the frontiers of his artistic evolution, Carlos Malta shows his reverence for Pixinguinha, Elis Regina, and the Xingu Indians.

BRUCE OILMAN .

Working within a wall of woodwinds, switching from baritone sax to piccolo, from soprano sax to alto flute, performing solo, without benefit of accompanying musicians, the young musician on stage in the dark recital hall was assured and comfortable, no doubt aware that his technical command was considerably better than any of his contemporaries. I was witnessing an almost schizophrenic duality: on up-tempo, overtly rhythmic numbers, the musician's tone was indomitable, coarse, threatening, fierce, and there was a feeling of pushing things to the edge; on ballads the tonal quality became sensual, tender, sumptuous, with an expansive sound and delivery that created a cloud I could sink into and float away on. Talk about being relaxed! It was 1992, and I was in Rio at CIGAM (Curso Ian Guest de Aperfeicoamento Musical). It was an epiphany, a performance experience that has remained etched in my memory.

Now every time I write or say something about Carlos Malta, I find myself consciously holding back accolades.

But he is undoubtedly one of the world's fastest and most imaginatively advanced improvisers, with a vision that streaks ahead of his flying fingers, throwing out whirlwinds of ideas in prodigal handfuls—beautiful melodic lines, cliff-hanging climaxes, startling tonal devices, the whole held together by a colossal drive. An exciting tone colorist and obvious master of extended techniques, Malta's open ears and senses led him early on to experiment with an everwidening circle of possibilities, to abandon notions that the flute has only one basic tone quality and is capable of producing only one note at a time, and to radically expand the instrument's sonic resources, its sound envelope.

Not only is Malta an undisputed master of the flute family (including ethnic fifes, Japanese shakuhachi and Chinese di-zi), he virtually brought the soprano sax into prominence in Brazil as a distinctive solo instrument. And BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

there is little argument about his similar accomplishments on alto and tenor, or to the categorical statement that Malta is Brazil's premier baritone saxophone player, in a class of his own, omnipotent, and unchallenged in terms of sheer tonal quality, ability to improvise, and rhythmic drive. A virtuoso and an innovator, Malta has extended the range of the often-cumbersome instrument upwards into the high harmonic sphere and freed it of its stigmatized position in the sax family while loosing none of its substance or grandeur.

Malta's early apprenticeship with Hermeto Pascoal's 0 Grupo was an important developmental period for him as a leading soloist, and it passed on his first acclaim as one of Brazil's greatest solo virtuosi—a reputation his effortless improvisations and omnipresence as an arranger or session musician on literally hundreds of record dates and tours sustains with consummate ease. Says Malta, "During my time with Hermeto, I had the chance to listen to him on woodwinds, and his best lesson was "create your own sound." I mean, for a kid like me who never got any solos on recordings, I was ready to listen and to practice. I was ready to go." 0 Grupo was also where Malta embraced the influences of other significant soloists and innovators and established the patterns that nurtured his sophisticated conceptual development as a composer and arranger.

By any yardstick, Carlos Malta's career has been overall an astonishing as well as a personally rewarding one. There is little doubt that Malta is an important figure in Brazilian music as well as one of the most exciting musical personalities ever recorded. But a far more important index to the validity of an artist's work than the opinions of reviewers and critics, favorable or unfavorable, is the judgment of his peers. Former bandmate Jovino Santos Neto told me, "Malta is a unique player in a world where so many horn players sound alike. It's very hard to find saxophonists who play the entire family of reeds, from soprano to baritone and even harder for them to keep their signature sound with all the variations in timbre among these horns. Malta is also a virtuoso flautist who has taught me a lot about the essence of the instrument. I worked closely with Carlos for ten years, and he was consistently brilliant in the handling of his vast arsenal of instruments. Additionally, he has a strong stage presence, and his own fine recordings attest to the quality of his musicianship."

Malta speaks Portuguese, French, and English fluently, but his communication often transcends language—something I discovered almost ten years ago at CIGAM. I spoke with Malta shortly after his group Pife Muderno returned to Brazil from their performance at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and just before he left to perform with Gilberto Gil and Lenine in Paris. I was charmed by his ease and generosity, his humility, and by his enthusiasm for musical life in general. We discussed his numerous projects, his instruments, and sonorous architecture.

Brazzil—How was New Orleans?

Malta—It was incredible. We arrived on the 28th of April, and (Marcos) Suzano, Bolo, and I conducted a panel discussion where we talked about Brazilian rhythms and the BRAZZIL-MAY-JUNE2000

traditions and transformations of Brazilian musical culture.

The day after that, we played the festival and hosted another panel. The ne t day, another panel and a performance in Congo Square Between all that, we performed at night at Café Brasil. P ople were just crazy about us! Everywhere Pife Muderno as been, we've received emphatic responses.

In Venezuela, the people loved us, and the journalists at PercPan (Pano ama Percussivo Mundial) in Salvador got so excited that w were invited to the Paris edition. We're going to Japa in August. It's a very import year for Pife Muderno.

Brazzil—I now the critics went crazy with the CD. 0 Dia, Jornal do Brasil, and 0 Globo cited it as best release of last year. C n you talk a little about the other players and your har ionic concept for the group?

The concep I had in mind when I formed the group was to construct a armonic field of flutes and pit it against a harmonic wall of percussion. The banda de p(anos is the family of sou d with which Pife Muderno is primarily associated. W are, however, a modern band, a band built up in the cent r of the city. We have a classical flautist, Andrea (Ernes Dias), an orchestral player with a huge reputation; Bo Ao, a multi-dimensionalist and a kind of partner of min who performs in both Coreto Urbano and Pife Muderno. There is Marcos Suzano, who brings the pimenta, the s asoning from Rio with his pandeiro, which is not a very co mon instrument in a banda de pifanos, but one of the secr ts of Pife Muderno. And then we have the authentic seas ning from Campina Grande, Paraiba, on zabumba, the uy who makes all the difference, Durval. If you can think f Suzano's pandeiros as a bass instrument and Durval's z bumba as a piano—he plays low and medium frequenc es on the top skin of the zabumba and high frequencies on the lower skin—we've got piano, bass, and drums. This is he whole idea behind the group. When you listen to the tuning, the drums are really connected to the flutes in a harmonic context. Suzano really plays the bass line and Durval gets the (sings), which is the piano, the piano part! And this is the mix of Pife Muderno. We blend in bass flutes, alto flutes, Chinese and Indian flutes, and fifes from Caruaru, Brazil, with this rhythm section and come up with some very subtle harmonies.

Brazzil—I know Alain Marion from his work with Pierre Boule 's high-powered Ensemble InterContemporain. Yolu dedicated the Pife Muderno CD to him.

What is your connection to Marion?

Malta—Al in Marion was a French contemporary, classical flautist, o e of the finest to pass over this earth. I first met him when e came to the International Flute Festival sponsored by Associacao Brasileira de Flautistas here in Rio. They had invited me to perform the Villa-Lobos piece "Assobio a Jato" (Jet Whistle), which is a very difficult piece. Incidentally, this piece is recorded on my Rainbow CD. Alain Marion just got crazy with my playing. It was wonderful to listen to the standing ovation he initiated. He called my work a "bridge from earth to heaven." The things he said about how you play and what you think about when 43

you play resonated with my own ideas. And for some reason he went completely crazy with the sound of the Brazilian fife. I was introduced to Jean-Pierre Rampal through Alain.

They were like father and son. We formed a remarkable bond, and then suddenly, he died from a heart attack while on tour in South Korea. He was about 66 years old, which was too young for me. I was finishing the Pife Muderno CD at the time, and the dedication was my way of showing homage to him and connecting the French and Brazilian flute. Lately, I've been working with a friend who lives in Paris on a project called Maison du Pife. It's an association sponsored by the city of Paris whose objective is the exchange of artists between France and Brazil.

Brazzil—Y ou formed both Pife Muderno and Coreto Urbano in 1994. Why undertake so much at one time?

How could you possibly manage two groups that were so different?

Malta—Yes, they are twins, born in '94. Coreto Urbano, one week in a cultural center here in Rio, and the next week, Pife Muderno. After leaving Hermeto's band, I was having a hard time. I was playing, but as we say, playing for survival. A lot of people still don't know that I am writing my own music and leading my own groups. They think that I still play with Hermeto, but he hasn't made any group recordings since Festa dos Deuses. He's playing everything himself on his new CD, Eu e Eles. Those years with Hermeto were crazy times, and I left with a sense of respect for my first impressions and the insight to sculpt with my ears, not with my eyes. But I had no group to perform my own work, to hear how it sounded. Coreto Urbano was originally a way to develop my pencil, to write arrangements.

In spirit, Coreto Urbano is a revival of those little bands from past times, when we had those gazebos, the coretos, before we had computers and TV's, when people could sit in the square and listen to music, when there were no cinemas and everything happened at the coreto. That was entertainment, and this is the spirit of Coreto Urbano. But to that sound from the gazebos, to that brass and percussion music, I've brought a Gil Evans harmonic concept. As you can hear on "Luz do Sol" and "Baguncando o Meu Coreto" from the Jeitinho Brasileiro CD, these are very, very hard arrangements, especially "Baguncando o Meu Coreto." The lines are really challenging for the players. And this is a piano-less band and bass-less band. I mean, there are only seven people blowing, and it sounds like a huge band. It's very hard for any musician to get in the kind of shape that these players are in and to gel on that level, but all the players in Coreto Urbano are orchestral musicians who came to explore fresh ideas and to improvise. We're planning to record a CD, just Coreto Urbano, during the second half of this year.

Brazzil—When I listen to Coreto Urbano on the Jeitinho Brasileiro CD, I hear your mentor's influence.

How much has Hermeto Pascoal's unique harmonic approach influenced your writing and arranging?

Malta—I can say that just about everything I've approached in the harmonic field, I developed with Hermeto.

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The group would meet with him in the afternoon and we would write arrangements and compose together. We could see all the time how he was creating—right under our noses—how simple he made it seem, and how strong he was, always showing lots of respect for our contributions.

Many aspects of my arranging and composing were developed just by observing him. Being with Hermeto was an intensive experience for me, so sometimes my sound has whispers of someone who was educated by him. You know; there is a big difference between being educated at GIT (Guitar Institute of Technology) or Berklee (College of Music) and by Hermeto Pasdoal.

Brazzil—Was it your work with Hermeto that helped you develop your multi-horn capacities?

Malta—A lot. A lot, of course. When I came to Hermeto, I was playing flute, piccolo, and soprano sax. The next thing I knew, I was playing tenor, and then during a trip to Paris, I took up alto and baritone at the same time. Baritone was really weird in the beginning. I was getting a lot of back pains, because it is such a heavy instrument. It's much heavier than tenor, and your position has nothing to do with it. With the tenor you can get a comfortable position by resting the instrument on your leg, but baritone, no chance, man. You have to hold that horse in your hands. So there I was with seven instruments in front of me, and, of course, the first thing Hermeto wrote was a "do-or-die" piece for baritone called "Arapud." It was amazing how I started to.. .had to develop. I had to learn, because I was usually the player responsible for exposing his themes on saxophones and flutes, and I often had to invent ways of playing pieces that seemed unplayable. But that experience taught me to trust my playing anywhere, anytime. It's because I've played very, very hard lines, that I know the value, the real value, of every single note. Hermeto is a muse and a really generous person who trusted me as his porta voz. He always appreciated my Brazilian way, this jeitinho Brasileiro that I suggest in my playing. And to Hermeto, a man who can perform amazingly on any instrument, this is very important. He told me, "Hey, kid, come on, play these things." (laughs) Very nice.

Brazil—Do you use circular breathing?

Malta—Yes, sometimes you can't cut a note. Hermeto's music has many passages where I had to use circular breathing. Even on the flute, and it is a very serious thing to do on the flute. On saxophone and clarinet or double reed instruments, it's difficult, but on flute, it's really hard.

There is no resistance for the air column, so you have to create it inside your body to make it work. Very funny, but the sensation is very nice. I like the sensation. Feels like you're going to die! (laughs) Brazzll—Hermeto wrote many different horn parts for you within the same arrangement, so you not only had to learn the parts, you also had to learn how to drop one horn and pick up another one quickly. Did that take lots of extra work or did it come naturally?

Malta—That was some challenge! After playing the BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

saxophone for some time, the muscles of the mouth hurt from the reed and mouthpiece, so I had to learn how to manage. Some ofthose albums, like So Nilo Toca Quem Não Quer...changing from baritone to piccolo flute, for example, is a crazy switch. The reference is so large. But it was something that I wanted to learn. Now when I go into the studio and I'm asked to play flutes and saxophones on the same recording, I always say, "Let's do the saxophones first." And they flip. "Really! Are you sure?" Developing on diverse instruments has brought me to the core of what's happening with my music now.

Brazzil—How do you keep in good shape on so many instruments?

Malta—When I have to concentrate on a particular instrument for a concert, I keep that instrument close by.

Even if I'm watching TV, I'll have the instrument in my hands and be practicing some fingerings, without disturbing anyone, you know? I'll get a soprano sax mouthpiece out and play some notes and do some tonguing just to exercise the muscles. Or, for example, if I'm working on the computer writing arrangements, I'll have an instrument next to me, just to practice some ideas or to build up the embouchure.

That's the key to managing a better sound faster. It's just knowing what you have to do, so you're not uncomfortable when performing.

Brazzil—Does the key have anything to do with a particular kind of reed?

Malta—You might find this a little curious, but I use plastic reeds on all my saxophones. You know, those crappy things everyone hates? They are the only ones that allow me to switch from one instrument to another.

Because the climate here is so warm and wet, a good bamboo reed in the morning looks like a potato chip by the afternoon. It's impossible, impossible!

But like an angel from North Carolina, a saxophone player came to visit us. He had a nice sound, so I asked him what kind of reed he was using. He told me, "This is a plastic reed." I said, "Oh, man, tell me about it." Now I have sound for a week, for a month, for a year, and no more problems.

I had to learn how to bring out that good sound, but I already had it in my head.

Brazzi/—Who did you listen to in order to develop that sound? Who were your inspirations?

Malta—You know, I fell in love with soprano sax after hearing Wayne Shorter's Native Dancer. Shorter became a very strong reference point for me. Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) and Thijs Van Leer (Focus) were also strong influBRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

ences. You know, not long ago, I was a special guest at a recording sess'on for a group from Holland and Thijs Van Leer was also invited. Thijs Van Leer! It was very funny, because he wa one of my heroes. The Banda de Pifanos de Caruaru, defi itely is a strong influence. My other heroes are the classic I flautists, Rampal and Marion, and I love Copinha, Nico ino COpia. If Altamiro Carrilho is the Pele of the flute, then Copinha is the Garrincha.' Yeah, Copinha was amazing. opinha was the flautist on all the Brazilian bossa nova re ordings. The bossa nova style asked for a cool sound; C pinha had that cool sound.

But Altami o Carrilho is the player with the most individual sound. I used to listen to him when I was a kid. There was a TV show Altamiro used to play on with his little band, which had a ba and an accordion played by Hermeto Pascoal. Yeah man, Hermeto used to play with Altamiro Carrilho's littl band on TV. So funny. They wore little hats, those cap and dressed in marching band uniforms. I always watche it. And later on, the tune "Primeiro Amor" was used as an verture for one of the soap operas here and Altamiro Carri ho played it. Every night I would wait up ntil ten o'clock just to hear that fucking une. I had to listen to the flute before I could o to sleep. (laughs) Last month, I was called o do a recording of that famous Pixinguinha nd Benedito Lacerda duet "Urn a Zero." I layed tenor sax and Altamiro played flute. t was incredible. Dino Sete Cordas looked at e and said, "Pixinguinha is standing right eside you, man." (laughs) Brazzil—Do you recall a point in your fe when you knew you were going to be a usician?

Malta—Oh yeah, I had been complaing a lot after reading a magazine article tled "Leve Sua Vida na Flauta." That was expression here a long time ago that meant easy way of life, like a playboy's. The icle told about the mysteries of the flute, ith pictures of Gilberto Gil, Hermeto ascoal, Jeremy Steig, and Jean-Pierre ampal. It's amazing, because at this point, I ve met all the guys that were mentioned.

Right now, I'm orking with Gilberto Gil. We're performing this weeken in Paris and next week here in Rio. We were talking jus yesterday about how strong the fife culture is here, and he told me that after hearing the Banda de Pifanos de Car aru, he knew they had to appear on his album Express 2222. The first track on the album is "Pipoca Mode a." But that's getting ahead of my story. I read that article nd got completely crazy about becoming a flautist, so m grandmother, who knew nothing about music, bought s e a Yamaha blockflote, a recorder. But it was kind of bo ing, because the article showed the big flutes. "I want o e of those," I told her. "I want a silver one."

She said, "Hey, ou've got to practice first. It's very expensive to buy a flut . You'll just leave it lying around." I said, "Oh, no! I want o practice. I want to be a musician." So I 45

waited three years, just looking in the store windows, standing there looking and wishing. It was something like platonic love. Then one day I dragged my father to one of the stores. It was the 6th of September, 1975. I remember the day. I told him, "You're not leaving until you buy me this flute." The guy in the store told my father that I knew how to play, because I had picked up the flute and played (imitates rapid passage) right there in the store. My father bought me a very good French flute, a Louis Lot, which was a wish come true.

Brazzil—Do you like the Haynes flute?

Malta—I've played Haynes flutes and felt very good vibrations. I've also played on a Marigeaux. Andrea plays on a Marigeaux; they're very good. Odette (Ernest Dias) also has a Louis Lot with a golden embouchure plate. Oh, man, is that an amazing flute. Sometimes you can take a Japanese flute and find a lot of sound initially, but after a while you get bored with it, because its sound can only be pushed so far. I have two American flutes. My bass flute is an Armstrong, and my second C flute is a Gemeinhardt. I also have a rare piccolo with a C-foot. A friend of mine, a very old man, who has since passed away, had an instrument shop in Sao Paulo, and when I found it there I said, "Oh, man, this is mine!"

Brazzit—Carlos, how do you feel about playing flute with electronic effects?

Malta—You know, I have a friend who uses a lot of effects on flute, and I've tried some things at his house. He's from Switzerland and uses a kind of digital delay and some pedals for solo concerts. Very nice. I think it's very interesting. When you have this touch for electronics and some ideas to develop during a solo concert, electronic effects are useful. But we have to be conscious of exaggerated colors, the exaggerated use of effects. It should just be a question of having another key on the instrument. Something that attracts me more is a kind of chamber constructed from various materials, like metal, wood, and leather. Each material in the walls of this chamber would present its own

443

timbral characteristics, and players would go into this chamber and generate and respond to the inventory of sound possibilities. In 1993, when the cellist Daniel Pezzotti and I were working on the Rainbow project, we gave a concert in Curitiba, and the producer constructed two huge wooden pyramids on the stage. Microphones were placed inside the pyramids, and we went inside these structures to make sound explorations. It was wild! These pyramids were tuned (sings a perfect 5th), like surdos. No one could see us, and we did crazy things inside these sound installations.

Sometimes adding some electronics, like a delay or a good reverb or some echo makes for a nice ambience, but I like the structural idea more. I'm more unplugged.

Brazzil—S peaking of structural ideas, can you tell me a little about the recording of"Camaleao" on the Jeitinho Brasileiro CD? Malta—You remember Hermeto's tune "Cannon" that sounds like it had been written in a tunnel, like a time tunnel? Well, my idea to record in the tunnel was to create one of the longest soprano saxes in the world and to create chameleonic images by playing underground, under Corcovado, you know? Reboucas tunnel runs underneath Cristo Redentor (the stature of Christ the Redeemer) and connects the south side of Rio (Lagoa) to the north side (Rio Comprido). It's very, very Carioca. I called my friend and we took a portable DAT unit and a pair microphones into the tunnel. It's about two miles long, so the lows get really, really low. There was no traffic, because we went the night they clean the tunnel. When I got to the mouth of the tunnel, the supervisor ran over and started giving me hell, "Hey, man, what do you think you're doing? What are you thinking about?! I suppose you'll bring a whole orchestra down here tomorrow night and throw a big party. What are you thinking?!" It was a crazy scene, but we recorded it there, man, at two o'clock in the morning.

Brazzil—T his year you've got another set of twins: Pixinguinha Alma e Corpo and Pimenta. Those arrangements for string quartet just penetrate and expand—the quintessence of musical ecstasy!

Malta—Yes, it's beautiful, just a beautiful thing, the works of Pixinguinha arranged for saxes, flute, and piccolo with string quartet. Pixinguinha Alma e Corpo, is a poem, a poem. I wrote the arrangements in 1997 for the Pixinguinha centennial and always wanted to record them. They're highly unusual in the Pixinguinha tradition where we have so many recordings, but always in the same choro atmosphere, like you're playing outside on the veranda, on the balcony. But these arrangements transform Pixinguinha's music into something for the concert hall with an erudite atmosphere, or chamber music quality. And Pimenta is an homage to Elis Regina. That was her nickname, an homage for Pimentinha. It's a memoir of tunes eternalized by Elis, like Jobim's "Chovendo na Roseira" and "Aguas de Marco," Milton Nascimento's "Cols" and "Nada Sera Como Antes," Edu Lobo's "Upa Neguinho," Gilberto Gil's "Ladeira da Preguica," and JoOo Bosco's "Bala com Bala." The production has a very nice, live atmosphere. I just performed the BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

project last night at a spot here in Rio called Arte Sumaria with Triade, a group that plays on the recording.

Brazzi1-1 should tell you that I'm partial to bald° anyway, but "Nada Sera Como Antes" with Triade is burning! The 12-string sounds like a sitar and that extended flute solo...haunting!

Malta—Yes, Triade is an excellent trio from Rio composed of DaImo C. Mota, berimbaus and 6 and 12-string guitars; Augusto Mattoso, double bass; and Luiz Sobral, drums. The group's name means triad, or 3-tone chord.

Brazzll—Carlos, a couple of months ago you mentioned a project with the Alto Xingu Indians? How did that come about?

Malta—The idea was Ana's, my wife. We were in Brasilia, and she suggested that we see the Memorial dos Povos Indigenas (Memorial of the Indigenous People). It's (Oscar) Niemeyer's architecture and breathtaking. We met Sandra Wellington there, the English girl who directs the memorial and who is a close friend of Aritana, one of Brazil's most important Indian chiefs. Somehow the idea of recording and producing a concert evolved and everyone got crazy with the idea. So we had this gathering there in Brasilia. The Indians brought their flutes, their sacred flutes, the Jakui and the Takuara, very holy objects. Music is sacred to them. Their existence is connected to the universe through music. They celebrate the morning, the sun, the mid day, the sunset. They celebrate the moon and the birds.

Music is supernatural, and flute blowing is used as a mediator between the human and spirit worlds. Playing their flutes invokes the presence Of the spirits and makes those powers accessible to the people. Whoever carries music inside himself is a kind of magic person. Our concepts of virtuoso musicians mean nothing to them. A flawless performance of Chopin means nothing to the Indians.

We played together, bass flute with the sacred flutes. I was improvising on their harmonic fields, and an amazing bond was created. The whole thing was just magic, one of the greatest experiences of my life. We recorded the main song of the Kuarup and also the main song of the Yawarete, the celebration of the birds.2 Yeah, man! We could tell at the time, there in Brasilia, right after the session, that we had captured something magical with exquisite musical color, full of spirit, full of heart. It was completely new to our ears, something as strong as those Bulgarian voices. The chief told us, "No one has ever had permission before to put a microphone up to the mouth of the singer during the Kuarup."

Yeah, man, this is a religious ceremony, a very strong ceremony. It was really special for all of us. The Indians will have a CD, with all copyrights going to the Kuarup Foundation, which is very important, because they have been taken advantage of so often by people who go there taking pictures, making books, and a lot of money, with the Indians receive nothing. That's exploitation!

Brazzil—Y ou seem to have a full plate, so I'm wondering what next?

Malta—In July, I will be performing an homage to BFWZIL-MAY4UNE2aM

Charlie Parker ere in Rio, which is a genuinely gratifying project for me. 1 t is a challenge, but I love playing his solos note-for-note • n my Selmer alto. What a player! What an innovator! H built up a solid wall of sound like Pixinguinha...r ses, thousands of roses coming from his horn.

Brazzil—C rlos, what are your views on the current trends and fut re of instrumental music?

Malta—I t 'ilk everything that has good intentions and good direction s important. It's also important for new labels and new producers to come out and for alternative ways of selling ecords to develop. Because in the end, what is most importa t for us is to have recognition for our work.

We need mult ational companies here that have some concept of our usic. I saw Roy Hargrove at the Village Vanguard at th beginning of his career, his first concert in New York. He as so nervous, man, but his producer was sitting next to u saying, "Roy is a big jazz star." And that's it, man. That's he thing we need here in Brazil, the same spirit, the same espect, like the trends in the United States and Japan. An I'm quite sure, as Tom Jobirn once said, "The best way • r the Brazilian musician is the door of the airport." But ju t to get out and close the door, no. I like to come back, and I like to tell my friends here what's going on. I think this s a maxim, a good phrase once you come back. I'd like t build up something here similar to what I saw and felt in ew Orleans, in New York, in Tokyo, in Los Angeles. I've n ver seen anything like that festival in New Orleans—thirte n stages working simultaneously. You couldn't hear so nd bleeding from one stage to another, and it was an open-a r venue, like a fairground where they have horse races. It as amazing, the control of the air they had.

There were no ound wars between the different performance spaces. he sound just went. Rio has a lot of places like that, but w haven't developed them yet. There are so many things to uild up here. We need to use those models and good influe ces to support festivals here. And it's nice 47

because we're a young country.

Brazzil—Carlos, thank you very much for allowing me to take so much of your time. It was an honor and a pleasure to talk with you.

Malta—Enjoy the sounds!

1. Mane Garrincha was Brazil's (some say the world's) second best soccer player ever, right after Pele. He died a couple of years ago after a long period of heavy drinking and was possibly the last great representative of romantic soccer.

Garrincha reached the climax of his career in 1962, in Chile, where Brazil won its second World Cup without Pete, who had been injured during the first match. Some say Garrincha won the cup for Brazil. Garrincha's position practically doesn't exist in today's soccer: right wing forward. Pete was a scorer (center forward) in the beginning of his career, but later became an advanced mid-fielder, a position that in Portuguese is called ponta de lanca (spear head). Pele and Garrincha never played for the same team (except on Brazil's national team). Pele played for Santos (from SAo Paulo state) and Garrincha for Botafogo (Rio).

2 The Kuarup is a ritual rarely performed, that celebrates life, and is reserved only for chiefs and warriors. It is the highest tribute the Xingu Indians will bestow upon a person.

Web sites of interest: Malandro Records http:// www.brazilianjazz.com Toll free telephone number: 1 (888) 225-7878 Associacao Brasileira de Flautistas www.abraf.org Information about and purchase of Carlos Malta's recordings can be obtained via e-mail: cmalta@rio.com.br 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: cuicaginterworld.net

(1111111

bet i.cpeMent

Date 2000

0 ds Hard Out Records 1999 Na Pr 1999 _ Car o alta JeitinoThtisilefro Malaridro Records 1998, (Released as O Eulto do Vqato in Brazil) Os Paralamas do Sucess Hey7VaNa Guinga Suite Leopoldina VelaS, Rosa Passos Can a Antonio Ccirlos Lumiar 199 RCA/E11‘,IG 1998 50 Anos Uma Productles 1997 0 Dia em Que Faremos Contato Vivanoel-Tributo a Noel Ros'' Caetano Veloso Livro Leila Pinheiro Catavento Girassol Odeon 1996 Guinga Cheio de Dedo etas 1996 Caetano Veloso Tieta do Agres Natasha 1996 Marcos Suzano Sambatown IVIP.B 1996 Ithamara Koorax Red River Movieplay 1995 Edu Lobo Meia-Noite Velas 1995 Malta & Pezzotti Rainbow ndependent 1993 Lenine & Suzano Olha de Peixe Velas 1993 Sergio Mendes Brasileiro Elektra 1992 Bennet() Pascoal Fester dos Deuses Polygram 1992 Hermeto Pascoal Mundo Verde Esperanca om daGente 1988 ,56 V& To Quern N'do Qu Hermetic, Pascoal Brasil Universo 'Som da Gente Hermeto Pascoal Lagoa da Canoa Som da Gente Hermeto Pascoal Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo Som da Gente

1987 1986 1984 1982

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BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

RIO Alice Atraves do Espelho (Alice Through the Looking Glass)—Based on Lewis Carroll story, the staging uses tricks like a moving ceiling that forces people to lower the head, so the spectator can feel a little like Alice must have felt. Directed by Paulo de Moraes with Cia. Armazem de Teatro.

Fundicao Progresso.

Um Certo Olhar (A Certain Glance)— Poems from Fernando Pessoa and Federico Lorca trace the itinerary of a man from cradle to old age. Raul Cortez, accompanied by two musicians does it all: interprets, sings, and tap dances. Directed by Jose Possi Neto. Teatro das Artes.

Ventriloquist—An amusing and critical take on modern society and the difficulty of being original. Internet, futurology, fashion, and drugs are some of the target of writer and director Gerald Thomas. Movie director Caca Diegues participates with his voice in off. Espaco Cultural Sergio Porto Os Monologos da Vagina (The Vagina's Monologues)—Comedy. Written by Eve Ensler, directed by Miguel Falabella, with Zeze Polessa, Claudia Rodrigues, and Vera Setta. Based in 200 interviews made in 200 different countries by American Ensler, deals with sexuality and problems with dealing with it from a woman's perspective.

SAO PAULO Beckettiana #3—Two texts by Irish playwright Samuel Becket. In the first, different voices talk about the life of an old man.

In the second, an old man talks about his anxieties and loneliness. Interpreted by Becket expert Linneu Dias and directed by Rubens Rusche, another Becket expert.

Centro Cultural Sao Paulo.

Fragmentos Troianos (Trojan Fragments)—A comparison between the old Greek wars and World War II and the Holocaust. Written and directed by Antunes MIAZZIL-MAY-JUNE2000

Filho, with the young actors of Antu es's Centro de Pesq_uisas Teatrais.

0 Acidente (Tile Accident)—Despite the routine a couple ends up finding new virtues in each other, which makes them gb on with their relationship. Written by Bosco Brasil, directed by Ariela Goldman, with Denise Weinberg and Geraldo de Barros.

Basement of Centro Cultural Sao Pau o.

0 Zelador (The Janitor)—The Ha old Pinter story about the impossibility of ci mmunication between two men. Directe by Michel Bercovitch, with Selton M lo, Marcos Oliveira, and Leonardo Medei os.

Teatro Alfa Ultimas Luas (Last Moons)—While wi iting to be taken to a rest home, a 70-y arold man talks to the ghost of his wife, ho died 30 years ago. Written by Furio Bor.: n, directed by Jorge Takla, with Anto io Fagundes, Mara Carvalho and Petro io Gontijo.

Filhos do Brasil (Brazil's Children Comedy. Written by Andrea Bassitt nd Regina Galdino, directed by Reg na Galdino, with Andrea Bassitt and Debo ah Serretiello. Show examines Ind an children's games as well as kids' stori s.

A Vaca Metafisica (The Metaphysi at Cow)—Comedy. Written by Marcilio de Moraes, directed by Leonardo Cortez,,w th Glaucia Libertini, Henrique Pess a, Claudia Tordatto and Leonardo Cort z.

The presence of a cow in a middle-cl ss home makes life a little easier for a cou i le who cares for the animal.

Just-released American movies: Happy, Texas (Happy, Texas), Fortres 2 (A Fprtaleza II), Angela's Ashes (As Cinzas de Angela), Mission Impossible 2 (Missa o Impossivel 2), Keeping the Faith (Ten /a Fe), Beefcake (Came Fresca), The Milli 4n Dollar Hotel (0 Hotel de Urn Milheio e Dolares), Here on Earth (Seu Amor, Mu Destino), The Next Best Thing (Sobrou pra Voce), Anywhere but Here (Em Qualqu r Outro Lugar), Erin Brockovich (Ern Brockovich, uma Mu/her de Talento , Deuce Bigalow (Gigolo por Acidente Hanging Up (Linhas Cruzadas) Ole, um Movie Cabra da Peste—Brazi / 1999—A Nordestino (a man from the Br. zilian Northeast) searching for his sist r ends up in Los Angeles and is chased b the Police after getting involved with drurn dealers and prostitutes. Directed by Robert Santucci Filho, with Mario Helborn, Jesu Nebot, Anthony Cordova Atraves da Janela (Through the Win dow)—Brazi1/2000—A retired nurse doe not know what to do when her young so starts behaving in a weird way. Directed b Tata Amaral, with Laura Cardoso, Fran sergio Aranjo and Ana Lacia Torre.

Oriundi—Brazi1/2000—Anthony Quin stars in this Brazilian production by direc tor Ricardo Bravo. On his 96th birthday Giuseppe (Quinn) is sick and in bad shap financially, A story of intimate dramas an family conflicts. With Leticia Spiller, Paul Autran and Paulo Betti.

Bossa Nova— Brazil/2000—Based o Sergio Sant'Anna's book A Senhorit Simpson (Miss Simpson), this romanti comedy tells the story of an American wh

teaches English in Rio and who falls in love with two of her students. By Bruno Barreto, with Amy Irving and Antonio Fagundes.

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Ciencia Moderna, R$ 49 According to Jornal do Brasil, http://www.jb.com.br 49

MARTA'S BED & BREAKFAST HOTEL "RIO DE JANEIRO" With TV, stereo, fax, e-mail, laundry, air-conditioning, large balconies and views 150 Meters to Copmabana and Ipanema beaches

For reservations contact John & Marta Miller

Tel.: +55 (021)521-8568

E-mail: millerj@gblsom.br

• AXE U2241.44242 ')61/Z/Z, Cell/S.04de,

We bring you infectious enerv, a driving rhythm, and the most innovative Brazilian instrumental music

TABLETS IMD*QVININIIM,Els ATTORNEY AT LAYi/ABORA1JO/ADVOGAO0 MEMBER. STATE BAR OF CALIFORNIA

(818) 986-1295 e-mail:eqlaw@pacbell.net IMMIGRATION MATTERS BUSINESS VISAS DEPORTATION DEFENSE DIVORCES SAN FERNANDO VALLEY, CALIFORNIA

TB11115L19110115 in

BARBARA MAGLIO to & from

172 CM

Portug_uese General & Computer

un (561) 391-1057 Fax: (561)391-2174 E-mail: bimaglio@compuserve.com

(310) 839-3788

TOUCHDOWN FREIGHT INC BRAZIL CARGO SPECIALIST

AIR/OCEAN / HOUSEHOLD GOODS

BEST SERVICE + BEST RATES

TEL:

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E-maillti@touchdownco.com FALAMOS PORTUGUES

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CERTIFIED TRANSLATIONS (TRADUcA0 JURAMENTADA) Legal, Medical, Scientific, Business Documents and School Transcripts Certified by the California Judicial Council and filed with the Brazilian Consulate

Since 1981

BM E Brazilian illusic Enterprises

IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY

Brazilian CDs, Songbooks & Historical Recordings and more! http://www.brazmus.com or call

• GREEN CARDS THROUGH MARRIAGE & FAMILY • EMPLOYMENT VISAS

STEVEN R. LAN DAAL Men er, Amelicon Imnpution luwiersAssoontion

I 800 621-4199 1 360 468-3616

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FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION MONTHLY PAYMENT PLAN AVAILABLE

ALSO HANDLING AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS 1316 3rd Street - Suite 311 Santa Monica, CA 90401

Tel: (310) 395-2828

WHEREVER YOU ARE IN THIS GALAXY

Ni NE" )s

BRAZIL NEVER SO CLOSE

(800) 577.4582

PORTUGUESE

LANGUAGE SERVICES (415) 587-4990

VOLUNTEERS {-L.R

Let an English-speaking native carioca show you the Wonderful City

TEL: (510) 655-9904 FAX: (510) 655-9229 E-mail: tropicaf@slip.net

E-mail:krioka@yahoo.com

4168 PIEDMONT AVE., SUITES C & D OAKLAND, CA 94611

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Customized tours Individual .. . or Groups . (serious inquiries only)

PROOFREADING WRITING MAINTAINING MAILING LIST & EVERYTHING ELSE

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I I WANT MORE INFORMATION ON ADVERTISING IN PLEASE SEND ME A MEDIA KIT. COVPANY: CONTACT: ADDRESS: CITY, ST, ZIP: PHONE: PRODUCT:

E-VAIL: RETURN THIS FORM TO:

BRAZZIL - PO BOX 50536 LOS ANGELES, CA 90050 Call (323)255-8062 or E-mail: brazzil@brazzil.com

For Ad, call (323) 255-8062 or E-mail: brazzil@brazzil.com 50

BRA7_ZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

FEIRA IIVRE MARKET marcada -(310) 644-1368. Horario comercial. [ 71] Spiritual Psychic Readings by Barbara. Help nd guidance on all Life issues, such as Love, Marriege, Money, Career, Health, Family, and Friends. Call now for complimentary reading by phone. (310) 7451186 - psychicvisions@email.com [171] Ticket to Sao Paulo, Brazil, one way only. $300.

Valid until December 2000. (949) 364-2256 [17'

Seeking ladies 18-45 years old to correspond with American men for friendship and companionship.

FREE for all ladies. Write: TigerLilies, 2709 Lookout Dr., Suite 5206, Garland TX 75044 USA [160]

Cavaquinho for Sale, hand made in the USA, all solid wood, under saddle, pick up is optional. (New) (310) 412-6071 Los Angeles [163]

ersona 'an see s man

Brazilian Music in its totality. Samba, bossa chorinho, balk, axe, and more. Merchant Express (954) 785-2131

brazzilaS 13231 255-8062

'ewspapers ' agannes

; mess ; ppor um 1

Jornais e revistas do Brasil. Recebemos jorn3is diarios e todas as principais revistas, incluindo masculinas e femininas. Tel. (954) 785-2131

$ Money $ International Sales Marketing. NEVER has it been so easy to make thousands of dollars on a weekly or even daily basis. Free training, no selling, consumable products. Call me and I will share my "Fortune" quest secret. (800) 242-0363 [1751]. We speak Portuguese and English [163]

asses Conversational Brazilian Portuguese Method -"I tried several methods to learn BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE, but when I started lessons with NILSON, I knew immediately that I'd found the best one. And in just a few months, I was able to communicate on a one-on-one basis." Individual, Total Immersion, Corporate Group and Semi-Private. Phone (310) 3790738 [172] Portuguese Courses in Salvadorda Bahia, Dialog°, E-mail: http://www.brazilstudy.com, dialogo@brazilstudy.com, fax: 01155 71 336-6329 [155]

OP 2 8 BRAZIL - Wildlife Refuge - 130 acres Atlantic Forest, near Recife. Also tropical fruits. Excellent income from tourism. Price: $100,000. (310) 832-4367 [156]

Oil OPE Housekeeper needed to live in. In the San Diego Area, beaujful horse club. Private Estate. Call Dino (760) 749-4068 [160] Motorista part-time Santa Monica area. Buscar na escola menino de 10 anos. Segunda a sexta 5:30 ate 7:30 PM - 10 horas semanais -$300 mensais - Rita (310) 450-7501 [158]

o "an e Looking for part/full time job. Housekeeper/babysitter experience. I have fluent English/computer skills. Marlene (310) 836-2458 [158]

ace aneous Luciana Manicure/Pedicure. Estilo Brasil (naofago colagem de unhas). Atendo a domicilio corn hora BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

Seeking Bay Area single Brazilian women to meet nice, single, attractive American men in the Bay Area for friendship, romance, and marriage. No fee. Send color photo and profile to Love Connection - 964 Howard St, San Francisco, CA 94103 Suite 20 [160]

ersona uoman see s man Brasileira, atraente, procura americano 40-50. Fc to para 140 Del Paso Ct, Fairfield, CA 94533 [165] Brazilian mulata lady—a knockout at 35—sees young nice looking young boy 18+. Preference to dark skin. For good times. Letter and pict to: Cida, F 0 Box 894, Wildomar, CA 92595 [165]

iersona noman see s woman Brasileira, bonita e educada, 26 anos, dese[a conhecer mulheres: simpaticas, educadas e femininas p/ relacionamento. Tel.: (510) 367-54.c 4 [174)

8PS11112

an ee s unman African/American Male, 40, Engineer, handsome, affectionate, romantic, in Houston, desire to meet Brazilian lady 25-35, send letter with photo; Wilfred Edwards, PO Box 2025, Missouri City, TX 77459, USA E-mail: wilfred.edwards@usa.net [166] Brasileiro-Americano, 36 anos, romantic° e atraente, procurando relacionamento com brasileira ou americana. (818) 344-1881 [166] Seeking beautiful, professional, English-speaking Carioca woman for best friend and marriage. Write to: Jodaps, Box 1492, Morrobay, California 934431492, USA [163] Swedish gentleman, widower, 58, well educated, speaks Port., seeks independent, warmhearted, educated lady with humor, and good professional status in Brazil, USA or anywhere. Write Bjorn Gunnarson PO Box 17242, Stockholm, 10462 Sweden - Emainjorn_s@dataphone.se [164] Americano, 38, atraente, romantic° e sincero Procura brasileira 18-45. Enviar foto para 2440-16t St, No. 179, San Francisco, CA 94103 [158]

Brazilian bottom, 33 y/o, 55", 123Ibs, white skin, seeks black, young top man who wanna move to Brazil and share a whole life. Valdeck - Phone 011 5571 981 1990, valdecka@hotmail.com [163] Very handsome, professional, 40's WM seeks sincere, VGL/black/Brasil man. Truly love the music from Gaetano to Nana to Gil and more! Maybe we can make music! I'm real thing! (323) 227-8935 [158]

'en a The ideal apartment for vacation or business Beautiful air-conditioned studio apartment with all new appliances and parkay floors, in the heart of Copacabana, located on quiet tree-lined street, around the corner from shopping area and restaurants, just 2 blocks from the beach. Building is clean, well managed and has 24-hour security. Perfect for one or two people. $45 per day during low season and $55 during high season. Monthly rates also available. Tel. (718) 658-4987. E-mail: rio988@gateway.net [164] Rio de Janeiro - Apartment for Rent - Great Area!

- Beat Hotel Prices! (510) 236-3684 [164]

rans a ion n erp.

Dialogo Translates from and to Brazilian Portuguese: http://www brazilstudy.com [155]

rave Receba seu cartio de sock) do Club Brasileiro enviando $2.00 por ano corn seu nome e enderego para A TTT SERVICES - (909) 627-2171 - 12400 Cypress, 88, Chino, CA 91710 e tenha 10% de desconto na passagem para o Brasil. [164] • FEIRA LIVRE RATES: 500 a word Phone is one word • DISCOUNTS. For 3 times deduct 5%, for 6 times deduct 10%, for 12 times deduct 15%.

• POLICY: All ads to be prepaid. Ads are accepted at our discretion. Your canceled check is your receipt. Please, include address and phone number, which will be kept confidential.

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•TO PLACE AD: Send ad with check, money order or your Credit Card number (plus your name and expiration date) to BRAZZIL P.O. Box 50536 Los Angeles, CA 90050-0536.

51

•luis

Finance Plus Mort. Corp.

(310)585.8911

• PsYcliEW/Ciaisit

• Piblkatios

Dr. Jorge Macedo (305) 271-7311 Dr. Mario Sanches (305) 541-7819 Dr. Neil Franzon (305) 776-1412

•Mateimalar

Fogo e Paixio (310) 450-4586

• flasklai

Nilson A. Santos (213) 483-3430

Elizabeth Almeida, M.A. (310) 281-7536 Dr. Jefferson Si (213) 207-2770 Tania Haberkom, MA. (310)840.5380 Brazzil (323) 255-8062

•Bial Estate

Cent. 21 Tinia Sayegh (562) 865-2992 Solon G. Pereira (562) 924-9633

• Rubino • csie

Boston •lids

Livraria Plenitude (800) 532-5809

•basil&

Consulado do Brasil (617) 617-542-4000

• Realist

Sylvio P. Lessa (617) 924-1882 • f1111 I Prank Brasil Brasil (617) 561-6094 Jerry's Cachaya (617) 666-5410

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Approach Student Ctr (617) 787-5401 Braz. & Amer. Lg. Inst.

(617) 787-7716

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Brazzil (323) 255-8062 The Brazilian Monthly (617) 566-3651 Bossa: Braz. Jazz Guide (617) 262-9997

•listairaita

Café Brazil (617) 789-5980 Ipanema • (508) 460-6144 Tropicilia (617) 567-4422 Pampas Churrascaria (617) 661-6613

Chicago •Csamaits

Culture Planet (310) 441-9808 Zebi Designs (310) 391-6530

•Mdi Rape

Cos mo Auto Parts (213) 259-9818 Pit Stop (310) 643-6666

• RIM

Banco do Brasil (213) 688-2996

• Mk

Verio Brazil Bikinis (818) 887-1776

• MOBS Samba Collection (562) 438-3996

• gibs a Assulatlias

Brazil-Cal. Chbr of Corn.

(310) 657-3161 Brazilian Sociocult. C. (310) 370-0929 Centro Cultural Gaticho (323) 256-6548 MILA - Samba School (310) 202-8091 Mov. Social Huma nista (310) 281-6652 SambaLi -Esc. de Samba (562) 438-3996

• Mutate

Brazilian Consulate (213) 651-2664

• lutist Gilberto Henriques (310) 371-0620 Georgia Maria Ferreira (818) 908-9199

•nuts Priaitlis

Portuguese Lang. Ctr. (312) 276-6683

Brazilian Nites Prod.

(818) 566-1111 Samba & Saudade (323) 634-7811 Sayegh Promotions (562) 863-3463

Dallas •lostairats

Cachaya Pitu (714) 731-7788

Consulado G. do Brasil (312) 464-0244

• RasMaas

Fogo de Chio (972) 503-7300

• Trani Atm

Brazil Brasileiro (972) 594-8894

Los Angeles •Wm yang (800) GO VARIG

• Arts & Crafts

Bakari Art Studio (213) 731-3700 Folk Creations (310) 693-2844 52

• Full Protads • Health if Muss

Hands of Care Mas. Ther.

(213) 937-3835

•batmen

Brasil Brasil Cult Ctr (310) 397-3667 Modern Lang. Center (310) 839-8427

•Wrist Dirt MO

ArtMedia (310) 826-1443

• falai Services

Meiojas & Ferraz (310) 360-0901

• fist & leverages All Braz. Imp. & Exp. (305) 523-8134 Brazil by Mail (954)472-7163 Guarani Esteves (305) 345-1540 Vanya's Sweets (954) 785-0087 Via Brasil (305) 866-7718

Bossa Nova (310) 657-5070

By Brazil (310) 787-7520 Café Brasil (310) 837-8957 Rana Bahia (310) 657-6306 Rio Braz. Churrascaria (714) 739-2000 Sabor Brazil (310) 839-9196 Zabumba (310) 841-6525

• fraishaii/bdera.

Brazilian Int. Affairs (310) 854-5881

• Trani/Mrs

ATW Travel (800) 529-2990 Brazil Air (800) 441-8515 Brazil Tours (818) 767-1200 Cheviot Hills Travel (310) 202-6264 Copacabana Travel (800) 471-6333 Festival Travel & Tours (800) 776-0088 H.I.S. Internat. Tours (213) 613-0943 South Winds Tr & Tours (800) 533-3423 .

Brazil TV & Production (562) 439-4830

• Fiysklais

• FiliiiediUS Brazzil (323) 255-8062 Florida Review (305) 374-5235

• Real Estate

Simone Bethencourt (954) 704-1211

•lasturaits

Boteco (954) 566-3190 Brazilian Tropicana (954) 781-1113 Porcio (305) 373-2777 Steak Masters (305) 567-1718

Brazil 2000 (212) 877-7730 Brazilian Pavillion (212) 758-8129 Cabana Carioca (212) 581-8088 Indigo Blues (212) 221-0033 S.O.B. (212) 243-4940 Tapajos River (201) 491-9196

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Barb Tour Service (201) 313-0996 Odyssea Travel Service (212) 826-3019

San Diego •Aide Car Mania Auto Repair (619) 223-7748

•Vas llssulatlsss

Clubs Bras. San Diego (619) 295-0842 Sunday Night Cl. Brazil (619) 233-5979 • IMPOPUEXPIn Brazil Imports (619) 234-3401

•Nisey lemiltuat

Vigo-California (800) 994-VIGO

San Francisco

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• AMOS

Brazilian Wave (305)561.3788 Discover Brazil Tours (800) 524-3666 Euroamerica (305) 358-3003 International Tours (800) 822-1318 Luma Travel (305) 374-8635 Monark Travel (305) 374-5855 New Port Tours (305) 372-5007 Br Online Travel (888) 527-2745 Via Brasil Travel (305) 866-7580

Varig (650) 794-1998 Vasp (800) 732-VASP

New York N. Jersey •Ries Luso-Brazilian Books (800) 727-LUSO

• Mks I ASSICNINIS

•Mow

Laura Basaloco-Lapo (415) 288-6727 Manoel Faria (510) 537-3533

•slits

Nilson Auto Body (415) 255-6717 Matte Auto Body (415) 565-3560

• Isaity Mai

Elibbo (415) 421-BIBO Carmen's International (415) 433-9441 Neyde's (415) 681-5355

•ads I Associations

B.A.S.O. (415) 661-2788 Bay Area Brasilian Club (415) 334-0106 Capoeira Institute (510) 655-8207

• listaidai Portuguese. A. Frame (510) 339-9289 Portuguese Lang. Seri.

(415) 587-4990

• Nasty leidffsica

Brazil Express-Vigo (415) 749-0524 West Brazil (415) 695-9258

•

Celia Malheiros (415) 738-2434 Fogo na Roupa (510) 464-5999 Ricardo Peixoto (415) 752-9782 Voz do Brazil (415) 586-2276

• Pareasstos

Emiliano Benevides (415) 648-2441

• Arnim

Dr. Guilherme Salgado (415) 832-6219

• Mari

M. C. Printing (510) 268-8967

• PffilittliM

Brazil Today (510) 526-1115 Brazzil (323) 255-8062

•ifitnEgiffht Mit

Bahia Cabana (415) 861-4202 Café Mardi Gras (415) 864-6788 Canto do Brasil (415) 626-8727 Janete & Pedro Br. Food (415) 821-4600 Muuarela Di Bufala (415) 346-2284 Nino's (510) 845-9303 Porto Brasil (510) 526-1500 Terra Brazilis (415) 863-5177

• frassialleb

Port. Lang. Services (415) 587-4990

• NM AMOS

Brazil Express (415) 749-0524 Paulo's Travel (415) 863-2556 Rio Roma (415) 921-3353 Santini Tours (510) 843-2363 Travel Americas (415) 334-0404 Tropical Travel (510) 655-9904 Tucanos Travel (415) 454-9961

Brazilian Ch. of Corn.

(212) 751-4691 Brazilian Corn. Bureau (212) 916-3200 Brazilian Trade Bur. (212) 224-6280

Micronet (415) 665-1994

Brazilian Gen. Cons.

(212) 757-3080

Brazilian Consulate (415) 981-8170

• UlsuItlig

•lieu Eastman

ashington DC •Mies

Joel Stewart (954(772.7600

BBJ (Br. Bus. Junction) (212) 768-1545

Banco do Brasil (305) 358-3586 Banco Nacional (305) 372-0100 Banco Real (305) 358-2433 Banespa (305) 358-9167

Amazonia (718) 204-1521 Coisa Nossa (201) 578-2675 Merchant Express (201) 589-5884

Aquarela (510) 548-1310 Birds of Paradise (415) 863-3651 Ginga Brasil (510) 428-0698 Escola Nova de Samba (415) 661-4798 Samba do Cornio (415) 826-2588 Samba, Swing & Suor (415) 282-7378

Transbrasil (202) 775-9180 \twig (202) 331-8913 Vasp (202) 822-8277

Miami - S.Florida • MIMS Transbrasil (800) 872-3153 yang (800) 468-2744 Vasp (800) 732-8277

• Affirm • IMO

•ONO ASSICIONS

ABFC - As. Bras. da Abr. (407) 354-5200 Cim. Corn. Brasil- EUA (305) 579-9030 ARARA - Amazon. As. (813) 842-3161

•&Mak

• fiat if Predicts

• Pablicaliiis

Brazzil (323) 255-8062 The Brasilians (212) 382-1630 Brazilian Voice (201) 955-1137

Consulado do Brasil (305) 285-6200

(516) 596-1853 Portugal-Brasil News (212) 228-2958 Samba Newsletter (718) 937-0574

Hodimo de Si (305) 262-8212

Brasilia (212) 869-9200

•Cusilati •ileitis&

• IMMairaits

•CIOHIOr

•Consalifi

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Roberto Sales, DDS (510) 451-8315

• Emits Prawns

Eyes For Talent (650) 595-2274 F. B. C. Events (415) 334-0106 Nativa Productions (408) 287-9798

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Evergreen Market (415) 641-4506 HOC Imp. Wholesale (408) 947-8511

•lasts

Banco do Brasil (202) 857-0320 Banco do Est. de S. Paulo (202) 682-1151

•Clubs & tssidathis

Braz. Am. Cult Inst.

(202) 362-8334 Inst. of Brazil. Business (202) 994-5205

•Embassy

Embaixada do Brasil (202) 238-2700

• Restursits

Amazonia Grill (202) 537-0421

•&MI AlUdIS

Intern. Discount Travel (703) 750-0101

BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

ED* QUINTANILIAI q'

Brazil Air Travel Services

Excellence is a habit.

ATTORNEY AT LAW/ABOGADO/ADVOGAD

Tony Banos, Owner 42 years travel industry experience.

MEMBER, STATE BAR OF CALIFORNIA

Fala-se Portug ties.

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(818) 986-1295

AIR $590*

e-mail:eqlaw@pacbell.net

RIO DE JANEIRO HOT EL PACKAGE 6 nights Based on double occupancy p/p 5284*

IMMIGRATION MATTERS BUSINESS VISAS DEPORTATION DEFENSE DIVORCES

' Low Season • Plus applicable taxes.

(800) 441-8515 10100 SANTA MONICA BLVD., SUITE 15

LOS ANG ELES, CAUFORNIA 90025.

(310) 441-8500•FAX (310) 441-8502 E-mail:Tonybanos(Cebrazilaincom htta://www. brazi I air. corn

SAN FERNANDO VALLEY, CALIFORNIA

© Brazil Air li-avei Services, 1999

BrasileiroCo oVoce BrasileiroComoVoce BrasileiroCom

CiNTRAL DO BRASIL MERCHANT EXPRESS OF FLORIDA, INC. ALL ABOUT BRAZILIAN MUSIC

'a)

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CENTRAL DO BRASIL 900 E ATLANTIC BLVD #6 POMPANO BEACH, FL 33060 TEL: 785-5991 F (954) 785-4699 BRAZZIL -MAY-JUNE 2000

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SEGUNDA A SEXTA - 10:00 AM to 8:30 PM DOMINGO - 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM

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Join our Samba School Dancers and Percussion! www.sambacollection.com Monthl Classes & Shows at Ton s Restaurant T-Shirts 701 Lon Beach Blvd. 7th Street Cavaguinhos June 3 (Sat). Rainha da Bateria Contest. 8 pm - 1 am Brazilian Crafts July 1 (Sat) - Festa Jumnha - 8 pm - 7 am Aug 5 (Sat). Samba Enredo Contest. 8 pm - lam Brazilian Music S-ept 17 (Sat) - 5th Annual Brazilian Street Camaval!

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53

It's a Game, 's a it Fight, a

It's

Dance Capoeira is a flame made up of tha purest white light burning from a source deep within. I never realized, nor fully believed in the truth of the berimbau anti! I started playing capoeira myself...

J HAN ABDALLA

A sweet memory, the birth of inspiration, the flame of desire, an unquenchable thirst... I was in Santa Cruz, California, at a dance party. Lost somewhere in a trance dominated by the solid pounding of bass... Suddenly my eyelids flicked open like an insomniac, hypnotized by a new type of movement that transcended my dance realm knowledge. What in the hell is that? My attention was so fixated to this interesting interaction between two people that I almost forgot to blink. It appeared as if they were dancing, fighting, and somehow playing at the same time.

The glow of joy in their faces lit up the room with more intensity and truth than the pulse of the disco ball. The smooth circular motions that they performed flowed in such a harmony, that it appeared as though they had choreographed this together many times before. It wasn't any typical fight or dance that! had ever witnessed, and I struggled with myself to label it as one or the other. A game perhaps? Before I had the slightest chance to analyze this beautiful enigma, the lights turned on, and people were being pushed out the door. Ah, uh, uh ...Wait! But I, I just, oh my God! Did you see? Hey! But did anyone see that?

I had to do a little investigating before I was able to find out that I had witnessed capoeira for the first time. In modern day Brazil capoeira is a social activity and a national sport. The game of capoeira started out as a resistance to slavery. The African slaves brought a beautiful culture with them to Brazil, one that differed from the European world. This intensely vivid culture perseveres today, a culture so vibrant because it denotes freedom. It is an expression of living life with passion. It is a type of enlightenment that comes from deep within—within mind, heart, and soul. This untouchable culture has been handed down through blood, from father to son, generation to generation. It has the power to transcend the barriers and dimensions of everyday life as we know it—all you have to do is believe in it.

Capoeira is a challenging activity built with strategies that exercise both the body and the mind. It is a martial art in its own class. Capoeira has many unique characteristics which distinguish it from all other types of self-defense. The truth is that it is a game, it is a fight, it is a dance, it is religious, ritualistic, and spiritual, and at times it even is an acrobatic exhibition. The magical ambiance in which capoeira is played is unique as well. Therefore. capoeira deserves more recognition than it would receive if it were classified into any one specific category. One who grew up in the world of western philosophy especially might have difficulty with this. We all want simple answers—to define things we analyze, dissect, label, and categorize everything within everything. But capoeira is capoeira.

The two players of capoeira are embraced in a constant flow of graceful and circular movements. It should be noted that capoeira is not just some type of beefhead battle played to win or to survive, to beat or to be defeated. These days the truest capoeira philosophy is that it is a peaceful sport, and most often played without making contact with the other players (especially the style of capoeira Angola). It is more common to mimic blows and kicks instead of connecting all the way through with them.

The players also do not block offensive movements. In the art of capoeira the goal is to use 'body evasion,' sometimes avoiding or dodging offensive movements all together. And while defending, one also goes with the same motion and direction of an offensive kick when possible. Then, the next movement is built on top of the same defensive motion to form the attack. The result is one harmonious movement shared between two players. This unity of movements is unique to capoeira, for in all other martial arts all movements of defense and attack are executed separately.

The philosophy of capoeira entails that the competitors truly enjoy themselves while playing capoeira. It is a celebration of being an individual, and most importantly it's a celebration of being alive! There is music, hand clapping, singing, positive energy, and an irreplaceable passion for life involved. Creativity, individuality, philosophy, and poetry are also indispensable characteristics of capoeira, thus making it a manifestation of freedom and liberty in its purest form. To understand it, all you have to do is listen to your senses, and let the tale of capoeira take you on a journey, perhaps learning and discovering things about yourself that you never even knew existed...

0 Jogo (The Game) logo in the Portuguese language means 'game' or 'play'. The jogo itself is the fundamental interaction—the energy exchange between two people playing capoeira.

The jogo always takes place inside of the roda da capoeira. Roda literally means wheel or circle, and is formed by people surrounding the two competitors.' The people that form the roda all participate in the game of capoeira as well. Some have the duty of playing the instruments, such as the Mestre or Master. He is the most experienced player of all, usually having 25 or more years of experience. The others sing and clap to the beat, their eyes and energies never once leaving the attention of the two players in constant motion inside.

Inside of the roda, the performance can represent a type of mini-skit, or

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screenplay. It is a unique body dialogue, made up of movements instead of words. Although arms, legs, and even bodies often swing faster than speculating eyes can follow, the heads and necks of the two players are always sustained in fixed positions, never allowing their eyes to move away from the opponent. Only hands and feet are supposed to touch the ground in this constant harmony of attack and defense movements, mixed in with character, individuality, intensity, and life.

The two players are suspended in the moment—they know nothing about the world around them. The distractions on the exterior of the roda such as the spectators—or the problems of the subconscious mind like whatever drama you have—be it family or social problems, or daily frustrations, etc., all lose their existence. It's all about being in the moment. All that remains in this thing called life is the berimbau, and the fixed eyes of the competitor. A human stare so powerful that one becomes suspended in it. Dangling inside a sea of exuberant color, breathless, as you wait for the slightest flicker of light inside of the only reflection that you see. An intuitive message rolling on the back of the wave of the mysterious berimbau calls you, and your senses react. Oh yes, caught in the marvelous capoeira trance, what a feeling...

And that's when the mini-skit, or screenplay is born. The jogo for an experienced capoeirista (one who plays capoeira) also has the power to transcend its significance into every day life. It is about how humans behave, how they play the game of life with one another. Here I present an example of a typical capoeira scenario: Player 1 attacks with a high kick.

• Player 2 dodges the kick by going along with its motion, and he tries to counterattack by using the offensive kick as a base for his new movement.

Player 1 pretends that he will not do anything, pretending he is scared or weaker than player 2. While player 2 is not looking, or lowers his guard thinking that he has already won the battle, player 1 comes back with a deceitful blow!

Malicia is a vital characteristic of the jogo da capoeira. This style of behavior or state of mind is both more common in and also the basis of capoeira Angola. It can be defined as a way to behave, think, or interact. It is a mixture of slyness, skill, and most of all intuition, perhaps better labeled 'street smarts'.

Malicia entails being aware of the idiosyncrasies and personality types of all human beings. Personality types which could be anything from shyness, to intelligence, to aggressiveness, to arrogance, to fear, or violent natured, etc. And malicia also requires having the ability to distinguish and perceive these same traits in the behavior, aura, or image of your competitor, and to use it as an advantage. If a capoeirista is skilled with malicia (malicioso), he may dodge a movement before his opponent finishes executing it, while he hits the opponent with his own offensive movement. He might also fake one move, and try another, such as in the scenario presented above. Malicia can be used in the everyday game of life as well—there is nothing more advantageous than to be able to sense the superficiality of another.

In the game of capoeira, one often confronts his enemy in a deceitful manner. He plays this game, simulating that he is one type of person or player, when he is someone else—smarter perhaps. He uses his intelligence and intuitive skill to fake out the other player, pretending to have no experience, to be a coward or a weakling, and then he nails his opponent when the competitor least expects it. This is one ofthe most beautiful, meaningful, and symbolic things that! have learned about capoeira—for this can be thought of as a mimic of times of slavery.

This is a way of survival that started with the personalities of the slaves, and eventually evolved into the game of capoeira.

One has to understand that during the fillies of slavery, there was no one to be trusted, especially the enemy. Slaves were never even considered to be human. The slave masters were so demented—they raped, battered, and killed. So the slaves too had

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to learn how to • e deceitful, it was a form of survival. The only way (i f any) to b at the slave master was through the power of the mind.

Axe is anoth r very important characteristic of thejogo to the capoeirista. A ording to Afro-Brazilian religions such as Candombl 6, a x • is the supernatural force, which is responsible for moving all ings in the universe. Axe exists in all realms of life. To a capoei ista, axe is about having a strong connection to the roots and uni of the universe. It is a divine energy developed by capoeiristas, d is responsible for the momentum in various acrobatic move ents such as the au (cartwheel), au sem mao (aerial), and mo tal (backflip).

Today, man capoeira groups begin the roda with capoeira Angola. After p ying respects to the berimbau, the first two players enter slo ly and gracefully usually with an au or another type of moveme tin which the head touches the floor. All the movements to c, poeira Angola—both dance and battle-like— are meant to be s swand peaceful. Although sometimes a player who is skilled at alicia (malicioso), may fake out his opponent and give him a armful blow mimicking times of slavery and distrust, typicall the movements to Angola are more artistic.

They are perfo i ed gradually and with respect to the other player, so that he has plenty of time to react in perfect harmony.

Some examp es of the non-violent motions could be the au batido (one-han, ed handstand with one knee resting on one elbow), macaco (the monkey, a funky type of back bend/ cartwheel), quedo de rins (kidney stand, sort of like a sideways handstand), and any other movements such as variations of headstands. One should note that the competitors never look away from each o er during the game, a good capoeirista never lets his guard do or loses his attention span.

Eventually th • game changes into the faster style of capoeira regional. Many I f these non-violent movements mentioned above are execut - d as well, but usually faster and with more awareness becaus - you never know what will happen i f you take your eyes off yo opponent. As the jogo continues, the intensity of the game spee us up with the rhythm of the berimbau and the beating of the ata, ague (conga drum). They say that the sound of a loud drumb • t has a link to primal human instincts. The louder and faster e beat, especially the lower bass tones, the more primal we b; come. The drumbeat influences our behavior. as if it has the po er to take control of the soul. The drumbeats in capoeira regi nal are much faster than those of capoeiro Angola. Perhaps t e fact that regional uses connective blows— and sometimes th: music drives aggression to the point that even fights do break o t—can be attributed to the faster drumbeats.

The capoeiris as' hearts throb faster and faster With the beating of the d m and the intense strokes of the berimbau.

Faster, until the b tterflies inside feel so intense you begin to wonder if the bloo • is in fact making it to every vital organ, or if your system is nctioning so fast that the blood is merely squirting by? As our thoughts race wildly, you wonder how they can be so vivi or colorful without being able to place them significantly or wi origin. And as you try to put your finger on it, on that somethi g, while being so absorbed in the game, IT arrives.

This feeling, is feeling like a great entity is about to be revealed to you. It's oh, so on the tip of your tongue, and then BAM! It's over, • d you just want more...

It is the game, the challenge, the combined energy of the people, but most i f all it is the music that is responsible for igniting the fire of • apoeira. A flame made up of the purest white light burning fro a source deep within. I never realized, nor fully believed in th - truth of the berimbau until! started playing capoeira myself...

The Berimbau The berimbau i . the bow-shaped instrument that commands the jogo da capoe ra. It is like the thunder that launches the storm; the enigmati gust ofwind responsible for the action of the

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players during the battle. The berimbau is absolutely essential to the game of capoeira, uttermostly respected, and considered as holy to the capoeiristas as the Catholic religion to the Baianas (the native peoples of the state of Bahia). The berimbau is usually played with other instruments such as the atabaque (conga drum), pandeiro (tambourine), agogo (cowbell), and reco-reco. But the berimbau is the master of the jogo da capoeira—the players must obey and respect its mighty rhythm, its knowledge, and its supernatural powers.

The berimbau dominates the roda by setting the speed of the jogo. It dictates the style of the game, both the mood and the rhythm. In the beginning of the roda, the first two players kneel down below the berimbau, as if taking part in a sacred ritual. After paying their respects by making the sign of the cross across their chest, saying a brief prayer, and kissing their fingers, they make reference to the berimbau, and wait for the right moment for it to take them on that familiar voyage, the journey inside the roda...

Whether the group of Capoeristas are playing capoeira Angola or capoeira regional, the roda always starts out with the toque or beat of capoeira Angola. It is both a form of respect for the original style ofcapoeira—the roots—and the slower rhythm and sty le is also more beneficial as a warm up for the faster more strenuous movements of capoeira regional. The chanting, singing, and hand clapping are also kept in rhythm with the omnipotent berimbau during the roda.

The berimbau has a history in other nations as well as Brazil.

And in all of them it expresses divine meaning or power:2 * It is said that in certain parts of Africa it was forbidden for the young who cared for the livestock to play this instrument; it was thought that its sound would take the soul of the youth— which was still inexperienced—to the "land of no return" * In Cuba, where it is known as burumbumba, it is used to communicate with the spirit of the dead ancestors (e guns) in ceremonies of necromancy (Fernando Ortiz, Los Instrumentos de la Musica Afro-Cubana, Direccion de Cultura Ministerios de EducaciOn, Havana, 1952). * The berimbau was also used in many parts of Africa and Brazil during the nineteenth century to accompany chants, storytelling, and poetry (Debret, Voyage Pitoresque et Historique au Bresil, Firmin Didot Freres, Paris, 1834).

1 have been told that the berimbau was used once in the open street markets of Brazil as a type of attention-getter to sell food products. I have also heard that the berimbau was originally used to hypnotize animals. The berimbau possess special powers for it has the ability to deeply affect or alter states of being in people or animals. The berimbau is a sacred instrument, perhaps from an unexplainable realm.

There are three different types of berimbaus—the size of the gourd or cabaca is mostly responsible for the various tones. The rhythm, sound, and most of all the spirit of the roda is ultimate when all three are present: * The gunga is the bass; it has the deepest sound, the responsibility for the rhythm of which the other berimbaus follow as well as the rhythm of thejogo, and is usually played by the Mestre—the most experienced player. * The medio plays the opposite rhythm of the gunga; it is the mid-range sound and it plays a role similar to a rhythm guitar. * The viola is like the treble. It has the sharpest tone, and is responsible for improvisation. It can be compared to the role of a lead guitar.

All types of berimbaus realistically only play two notes. But the sound of these two tones is so enchanting that it is capable of revealing so much more. The various parts of the berimbau are very simple as well, like the uncomplicated people who created it. The strength of the berimbau is the verga or bow, which is usually about 5ft tall, and about 3/4 of an inch to 1 inch in

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diameter thick. Attached to the verga is a steel wire known as the arame. The cabaca is a dry, hollowed out gourd, attached to the lower inside part of the verga, and serves to amplify the sound.

The berimbau itself is usually held in the left hand, with the pinky finger supporting most of the balance and weight of the instrument. The dobrclo, which is in fact a coin or more commonly in Bahia a stone, is also held between the thumb and index finger, sturdy against the arame. Meanwhile the right hand holds the vaqueta or also baqueta—a wooden stick, and simultaneously the caxixi—the shaker which is made of straw and filled with pebbles, beans, or the like.

Capoeira is but one expression of culture found in modern-day Brazil, the culture of the repressed! In regions such as Bahia, it was these repressed people themselves who have contributed more to the rich culture of Brazil than any other racial group. To have culture is to celebrate being an individual. Culture is a celebration of life, because when Brazil began, the slaves knew that any free moment that they would ever have, they would cherish for all of eternity. Capoeira back then was a medium to develop the personality. It promoted innergrowth, and it also was a means to study and understand other human beings. It was an expression of self, affiliated with the desire for freedom.

The practice of capoeira held on to many of the same elements as it did when it began; that is one of its beauties. Just like its history, today the participants of capoeira often denote the poor, the lower classes of society, and even street people— the people who struggle to survive among both the continuing racism, and the current economic crisis of Brazil. And one must never forget that it was in fact those same people who created capoeira.

Capoeira is a simple art; simple but yet complex. Capoeira is a symbol of a simple people whose lives were made complex by their domination. Domination by a society who lost touch with the pure things in life in order to live a life of greed and corruption. Capoeira prevailed from that time period because of its connection to purity. There is so much truth in the statement that the most beautiful things are simple. Capoeira is a solid proof that life beyond the material realm exists as something much more important and deep...

I have read tales of mestres and players that are so experienced, they have been known to make the impossible possible.

Mestres with old age, stiffjoints, and slow reflexes, that can still beat any player. Corpo fechados (closed bodies) are those who attain (perhaps through magic rituals) almost complete impenetrability against weapons when used against them in jogos.

Some of these more experienced mestres are able to play with the minds of their opponents. They are skilled with malicia (maliciosos) and it appears as if they can silently order their competitor to do whatever they want them to do. They have been taught very well by the game of capoeira, and they can read other people in the game of life just as easily. Although I have been searching, it appears as ifthese tales are rare these days, and were more commonly told in the days of Bimba and Pastinha.

One aspect of the infinite beauty of capoeira, is that for every capoeirista it has its own intimate meaning and sacredness.

There are few written words on the philosophies of capoeira.

Most of this knowledge is passed on directly from mestre to aluno (student). One also has to experience a roda to even begin to understand; only your participation will make it real...

My first experience of a true roda de capoeira was such an emotional one that it almost brought me to tears. It was a longawaited dream of mine to witness a true roda with instruments, singing, clapping, energy, and of course in the homeland of capoeira itself—Salvador da Bahia. I do not exaggerate in the slightest when I say that this roda was so powerful and uplifting that it gave me the chills—just like hearing a beautiful song on

BRAZZIL - MAY-JUNE 2000

the radio that gives you nostalgia of your youth. It was as if my soul had literally jumped out of my body and stood beside me dancing and clapping. I felt like capoeira was something that had always lived inside of me, and I just needed to liberate it once to feel it again. For myself, this feeling continues anytime that I allow it. Every roda has the power to make me feel like I did the first time, whether I am on the outside with the rest of the people, or on the inside as the center of attention.

And this feeling becomes something deeper and deeper each time, with each new day of experience. It is not only the beautiful movements, nor the energy of the people, nor the singing, the clapping, nor the instruments, nor the heat of the game, that makes me want to cry out with joy. It is also the history, the culture, the lives, and understanding of the people who created it. Although that is what makes capoeira such a beautiful entity, one must never forget all the pain and the suffering of the people who created it...

There is a state of being known as `transe capoeira'. It is a state of consciousness when the roda actually takes control of a capoeirista. It is a special moment composed with the elements of the magical berimbau, the energy of all the people chanting and clapping, and even the power of the circle itself (it is a common spiritualistic belief that circles are powerful). So somehow this energy suddenly manifests itself inside of one of the players, and before he/she knows it he/she is capable of doing things that he/she has never done before.

Incredible movements and sequences done with such grace and skill, but never thought of or practiced by the player until that •very second when they are invented inside of the roda. This has already happened to me once or twice. In those moments, my movements and reactions just flowed together like they never had before; I had no fear. And perhaps it is those very experiences which have gotten me so addicted to capoeira, always searching for more.

Sometimes when I am on the inside ofthe roda, all that I hear, breathe, and feel, is the berimbau. The more advanced players know to follow the berimbau, to allow it to have its control.

When I am entranced by this magical instrument, it's also about being in tune with my own life—it's this incredible feeling of balance and belonging. That same sense of belonging that people spend their entire lives in church and prayer searching to find. To feel the rhythm of the berimbau is to feel the pulse of the universe. It is the same pulse that I have felt once, while inside of a deep underground cave, knowing that I was so close to Mother Earth, to the answers and secret forces which lie within...

A Strategy for Social Change Although capoeira is such a beautiful thing to watch, to the experienced players the truths it reveals over time have far more splendor than the exterior appearance of this marvelous art. Beside of all the physical elements such as strength, beauty, ability, grace, and flexibility; in the intellectual realm capoeira promises much more for its participants. If one can learn that some ofthe best and purest things in life are often simple, he/she will also learn to appreciate the uncomplicated people who created this wonderful phenomenon of dance, fight, and game.

The philosophies of capoeira provide infinite possibilities, which can be integrated into daily life and used as a mechanism for the individual to survive, or as a strategy for social change. Most of all, the path of capoeira has the capacity to enrich the soul amongst the difficulties and contradictions that today's societies face.

The first and most important 'thing about capoeira is that capoeira is not just another sport, martial art, or even a simple game between two people; capoeira belongs in an existence of its own. For those of us used to the methods of the western world—capoeira might seem like an absurd fairytale. It cannot be labeled, categorized, analyzed, nor dissected by any processes

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of western thoug t or philosophy. That's because one can never completely und stand capoeira, there is absolutely nothing scientific about t. Capoeria uses other senses and types of knowledge; it is about a 6th sense. The entity of capoeira is often as mysterious as the universe itself. And to even begin to experience it, just like life itself, one must be aware of its neverending possibilif es because some of the best things in life just don't have expl ations.

Capoeira wa first materialized as a resistance to slavery.

Capoeira was a orm of self-expression driven by a cry for freedom. When lavery was abolished in Brazil in 1888, the game continued t be played by newly freed slaves, among other citizens who live in poverty and lower class societies. In the early decades of e 20th century, the game was illegal basically because of the t pes of people who played it. After it was legalized in the 3 Ps, the harsh labels continued to stick to the game and its peo le, despite the fact it was considered both a cultural expressio and' a national sport.

In modern da Brazil where its people are well aware of the existence of this many still continue to scrutinize its participants. I have ofte heard many Brazilians say that capoeira and capoeristas are di y. Many capoeiristas are black—black in a society where rac sm although concealed, is very alive. Many capoeiristas are a so poor. I believe that the upper-class folks who are cynical to ards capoeira, jump to the conclusion that it is a bad thing be ause they immediately associate it with the types of people ho play it. Personally I think this is a fear controlled by igno ance. (How can capoeira be so bad if the idea of a party to a cap eirista is a roda?)

The truth is th it has been only the types of people who are scrutinized by soci •ty that have made the game so real to a person such as myself w o has experienced it from the insidejhe creators of capoei a have demonstrated extraordinary strength and perseverance n dealing with the harsh realities that confronted them—and capoeira itself is the proof. By appreciating the people who cre ted capoeira, I have learned that by looking past the harsh label and judgments of society and following the heart and intuitio instead, the reward can be an absolutely surreal experience.

Capoeira teaches to always be in the moment. To practice being in the moment is a type of meditation. Both meditation and capoeira have the ower to unite one with the universe. When unity is accomplish d, thoughts are clearer and everyday chores and processes are lso easier to achieve. During the jogo da capoeira, you must lways keep your eyes fixed on the opponent.

Just like in the gam of life there is often a time to be serious, and a time to concentr te—if you lose your focus you can suffer irreversible conseq ences.

Under almost al situations which demand focus and concentratio , if we take heed we will always be repaid in the e d. Just like a good capoerista who pays attention during the Jo go. A capoeirista learns through practice that when he/she loses that moment of concentration, he/she is often hurt during the game. This alertness also follows the capoeirista outsi e of the roda. If you don't pay attention in life th re is often someone or something there to take •vantage of you that very second that you drop our guard.

0 e of the most important skills for a capoerista to develop is malicia. The easiest defini ion to malicia perhaps is 'intuition'—but like entioned earlier, capoeira cannot be defined, labeled or cat gorized, and so malicia is really something with much more co plexity to it. Malicia is the ability to read other people—their personality traits, intentions, and even thoughts. Inside of th roda, the capoeirista who is malicioso has the skill to perceive he movements that his/her opponent will execute before the s e opponent has even begun. A malicioso player also has the s ill to learn about what type of person the opponent is in real 1 fe by the way that he/she plays capoeira:

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Therefore, a player with more experience is a great judge of character, he/she has a wonderful sense of 'feeling people out'.

For example, he/she knows how to choose his/her friends wisely, and also knows to what extent someone should be trusted.

An experienced capoeirista also uses his/her malicia to deceive the other opponent. He/she knows how to fake out the other player with his/her movements—he/she pretends to do one thing but does something else. In the game of life a capoeirista malicioso could be a hard person to figure out, he/she seems to be one person but acts like another perhaps to protect themselves from the deceitful enemy, which originally was the slave driver.

The game of capoeira is all about being an individual because it was a created with a desire for freedom by those who did not know freedom, independence, nor individuality. When playing capoeira there are certain guidelines and beliefs, but in reality there are not many strict rules because that would only limit the individual. In a roda of capoeira, there is no winner or loser; no one is better than the other.

Capoeira teaches to not let what others think bother you; the roda is your personal space of freedom to do your own movement, it is your place to become whoever you want to be, and do whatever you want to do. The spectators on the outside of the roda give you their energy, strength and support, as you make your fantasies come true on the inside. As long as we are playing the same game where we are all individuals, everyone has a fair opportunity to play, and only equality shall exist.

As human beings, many of us have built up frustration inside as a response to the difficult world around us, and the daily problems that we face.

Depending on the individual, that frustration has the power to eventually manifest into other emotions, one of which is violence. For those of us who do have a touch of violence inside, capoeira can be a promising approach to release the tension. Capoeira teaches to channel that frustration out productively instead of using it to dominate one another. It is only natural to have such feelings, but we can also learn to use them in a positive manner, for we also have the power to bring them to a higher level. By not connecting all the way through with blows and kicks, and turning it into a type of jokeful play instead, one lets not only our opponent know, but everyone around the roda as well, that one really has no intention to hurt the other player.'

The berimbau also teaches the capoeirista important strategies for living. An experienced player has felt the almighty power of the berimbau and knows that when he/she is in tune with this instrument, magic occurs. Transe-capoeira is a special moment inside of the roda where an unknown force propels a capoeirista to move with more grace and dexterity than ever before. During transe-capoeira, awesome movements and sequences are executed which the capoeirista has never practiced before. The only explanation for this momentum is that there is no logical explanation.

A good Capoeirista learns to respect the berimbau by moving together with its mighty rhythm. Just like in real life, if you go with the flow whether than go against it, time will prove that you are on the right path, and magical things will occur to remind and reward you. Destiny, like transe-capoeira, has no logical explanation. But it is the truest path to follow in life, if you are in tune with it, it will bring you in harmony with the universe, just like a capoeirista in tune with the berimbau. And if we were all in tune with ourselves, with our lives, and with the others around us, wouldn't this world be a marvelous place?

One of the best strategies for social change is to start with the individual. Capoeira is a great way to develop people and communication skills. Even though one of the elements of capoeira is a fight, capoeira is one of the most positive ways that I have ever seen to justify this human frustration. It is only natural that we might have a little violence inside ourselves, but there are productive ways to channel this fury. A good Capoeirista does no actually use that violence; he/she plays with it instead. The

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unrestricted movements of capoeira also denote the power and freedom of the individual.

After the individual comes the family, and then the community. A roda de capoeira is a wonderful example of a functioning community. Within a group or community of capoeira, competition does not exist. Capoeira is a social activity shared between people with the objective of joining together to help overcome the contradictions of world. It is only after we have strong communities that we will be able to move to the greater societies—societies which are very problematic in today's world. The teachings and philosophies of capoeira have the power to bring the classes of society to a different level, but only by individual participation do we have the power to materialize this goal.

Capoeira is a useful tool, not only for the Third World, but for the First World as well. A roda da capoeira is a place where we can all be together and share something. Something so simple, yet so moving. Capoeira is a special existence of purity and happiness, where everyone has a wonderful time by singing, dancing, clapping, and freeing minds and spirits.

In the First World, sometimes it seems as if imagination and creativity no longer exist; the only expressions of culture which have prevailed are materialism and an electrical box known as television. Capoeira was created by people who had nothing—they didn't even have freedom or individuality. But they were rich and experienced in self-expression. Capoeira is a revelation that denotes their beautiful strength and perseverance; it is a strategy for social change in today's world of conflict. Capoeira is a guide on the path of spirituality, and the individual has the power to make it happen if he/she believes it. Capoeira is proof that life beyond the material realm can promise something so much better, for it is a cry out loud from the soul within, and the soul is what is truly eternal.

'It is believed that the element of the roda used in capoeira was introduced by the religion of Candomblé. Candomble is an Afro-Brazilian religion that was rooted in Africa, but practiced among all the diverse tribes that were brought to Brazil. Many of its rituals and ceremonies are held in sacred circles. Candomble is believed to have influenced many other aspects of capoeira as well.

Capoeira, Nestor. The Little capoeira Book. Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 1995.

'Although violence is wrong, sometimes it is also necessary to survive- as in the case of slaves who wanted freedom. It is a common belief that the movements of capoeira that mimic fighting were derived from times of slavery. Slaves in captivity practiced capoeira as self-defense but disguised it as a type of play among themselves so that the owners would not fear a slave rebellion and prohibit them from continuing. When capoeira is played in modern times, this poignant historical period is portrayed in the roda as a reminder and a way to honor those who suffered for freedom and individuality.

Jihan Abdalla, 23, studies photojournalism and language in an independent program sponsored by Long Island University.

This study abroad program focuses on cultural awareness and understanding, global knowledge, and social change.

She has spent over a year and a half in Latin America and is passionate for capoeira.

She will eventually settle down in California one day, but for now please send comments to jittypop@hotmail.com

BRAZZIL- MAY-JUNE 2000

Speak Brazilian Portuguese like a Diplomat!

What sort of people need to learn a foreign language as quickly and effectively as possible? Foreign Service personnel, that's who. Members of the United States diplomatic corps are assigned to embassies abroad, where they must be able to converse fluently in every situation.

Now you can learn to speak Brazilian Portuguese, just as these diplomatic personnel do—with the Foreign Service Institute's Programmatic Portuguese Course.

Tens of thousands of dollars were spent by the United States government in developing this course. It's by far the most effective way to learn Portuguese at your own convenience and at your own pace.

The Programmatic Portuguese Course consists of a series of tape cassettes and an accompanying textbook. You simply follow the spoken and written instructions, listening and repeating during the pauses on the tape. By the end of the course, you'll find yourself learning and speaking entirely in Portuguese!

This course turns your cassette player into a "teaching machine." With its unique "programmatic" learning method, you set your own pace— testing yourself, correcting errors, reinforcing accurate responses.

This Programmatic Course comes in two volumes, each shipped in a handsome library binder. Order either or save 10%

O Fast-Track European Portuguese.

6 cassettes (6 hr.), 346-p. text, $155.

O From Spanish to Portuguese. 2 cassettes (2 hr.), 91-p. text, $45.

Latin American Spanish (FSI): O Basic Spanish Vol. 1. 12 cassettes (17 hr.), 464 text, $185.

O Workbook for Spanish Vol. 1.

128-p., $7.95 O Intermediate Spanish Vol. 2. 8 cassettes (12 hr.), 614-p. text, and manual, $165.

O Workbook for Spanish Vol. 2.

201-p., $14.95 O Spanish Advanced Level Part A, 12 cassettes (13 hr.), 614-p. text, $185.

O Spanish Advanced Level Part B, 12 cassettes (13 hr.), 472-p. text, $185.

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by ordering both:

Brazilian Portuguese (FS!) O Basic Portuguese Vol. 1.

Also available:

16 cassettes

(19 hr.), 783-p. text, $225.

O Intermediate Portuguese Vol. 2.

18 cassettes (16 hr.), 618-page text, $225.

The Foreign Service Institute's language courses are unconditionally guaranteed. Try it for three weeks. If you're not convinced it's the fastest, easiest, most painless way to learn a language, return it and we'll refund every penny you paid.

Order today!

To order by phone, please call toll-free 1-800-243-1234

Credit-card orders call toll-free 1-800-243-1234, fax toll-free 1-888-453-4329, e-mail: info@ audioforum.com, or mail check or money order.

Call or write for our free 52-page Whole World Language Catalog offering courses in 101 languages. Our 28th year.

BUDIOIFORUM® THE LANGUAGE SOURCE Suite P931, 96 Broad St., Guilford, CT 06437

SPAN tSH

FRENCH

GERMAN

30 Cassettes Bemis $295.00

30 Cassettes Triple Bonus 5295.00

30 Cassettes r Triple Bonus $295,00

ITALIAN 30 Cassettes + Tripte Bonus - 5295.00

JAPANESE 30 ias-aetteisi + Triple Bonus $295.00

MANDARIN

CHINESE 30 Cassettes Bonus It $295.00

RUSSIAN 30 Cassettes Tripre Boats $295.00

BR AZ ILIAN •

PORTUGUESE 31 Caswttes + Tapir: BMUS

$295.00

I Learn Foreign Languages. Incredibly Fast!

Conversing in a foreign language is a major social and business asset... and brings new life to the worlds of travel, entertainment and relationships. The technique of accelerated learning, as conveyed by these proven foreign language courses, allows anyone to comfortably converse in a new language within 30 days.

Now Over 30 New Courses!

Hard-to-find language programs are no longer hard to find! We now publish all U.S. Foreign Service Institute language courses.

A typical Course includes: • Cassette Album (12-18 hours) • 250+ page Text • Language Dictionary Just $225.00 per course

O Amharic O Arabic, Saudi ri Bulgarian O Cantonese O Czech O French Level II O French Level HI

0 Greek 0 Hebrew 0 Hungarian 0 Persian 0 Thai 0 Ukrainian 0 Vietnamese

ceelerated learning, developed by famed learning expert Dr. Georgi Lozanov. is based on the premise of involving both hemispheres of the brain in the education process. The analytical or logical left side of the brain, when properly activated with the musical or artistic right side of the brain, both increases the speed and heightens the retention of learning. Utilizing these untapped mental capacities of your learning ability is the basis of this unique. highly effective course.

You will learn the language stresslessly, as a child does, by hearing new vocabulary and phrases in alternately loud, whispered and emphatic intonations, all accompanied by slow rhythmic music in digital stereo.

This perfect combination of music and words allows the two halves of the brain to work together to dramatically facilitate your assimilation of the new language.

The first 15 (memory') tapes of this 30-tape package help H , activate the learning capacities or the brain. The second 15 (study) tapes are the very same tried and proven tapes used by the Foreign Service Institute to train career diplomats. This marriage of two concepts literally gives you two courses in one, providing the hest of both worlds in language instruction.

Best Value! With a total of 32 cassettes plus study materials, this program represents the best value available today in language instruction. Compared to other programs, the Accelerated Learning Series outperforms them with twice the audio and 20 times the study material.

To correctly converse in a foreign language, you must understand the meanings and intent of the native speaken:..0;.;!': :. ,.:,.,;!

If, after 30 days of listening to the study and memory tapes, you are not comfortably understanding and conversing in your new language, return them for a inn Thou!.

Triple Bonus!!

You will also receive:Vocabulary Tapes • The I 0(1- page flow to Learn • •-•' A Foreign Language • the Lonely Planet Dictionary Phrase/wok

To preview products or order online, visit the world's largest language bookstore!

Professional Cassette Center 408 S. Pasadena Ave., Dept. BR Pasadena, CA 91105

Please add $14 S&H. CA residents add 8.25% sales tax.

• Two 90- minute

CALL FOR ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE COURSES,

• Arabic to Zulu...over 120 language choices • Translation Software • ESL Courses • Best Price Pinasleur Courses; • Children's Language Courses • New BBC Video Courses

Charge the full price of any course — $295.00 or make 5 interest-free. payments of just $59-.00.

1•800•85•AUDIO CALL TOLL-FREE 24 HOURS OR FAX YOUR ORDER TO 1.626.585'8180