Year 13 - No.182 - April
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IIIf TASTE Of ESPiRITO SANTO
Ell CENTURY:
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3
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.7.: BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
The AIDS virus continues to reap lives all around the world. There are 36.1 million people infected by the illness, which already killed 21.5 million people in the African continent alone, the area most ravaged by the disease. The participation of Brazil in this epidemic has been much lower than expected, though. The country was supposed to have 1.2 million AIDS victims by the end of the year 2000, according to estimates from the World Bank. The numbers didn' t meet the expectations, however, and there are no more than 530,000 AIDS infected Brazilians. While the figures are still too high, the story of the war against AIDS in Brazil is one of determination, hard work and daring, a story that has been an inspiration to other Third-World countries. First, the country stood up to the big labs and their patrons in the White House and the American Congress and decided to copy patented medicaments and produce its own AIDS drugs. Faced with extortive prices from these laboratories, Brazil while enduring the jeers of "pirate, pirate" was able to reduce in 80 percent the cost of treating the disease. Similar treatment that costs $10,000 a year in the US and Europe as being offered for $2,000 in Brazil. Then Brazilians launched a campaign to educate people about AIDS and how to avoid it at the same time that a nationwide network of mostly volunteer workers got ready to teach those with the disease to take their medicine with the discipline it requires. Naysayers in Brazil and overseas didn't believe the effort would work. It worked. It's working. The UN recognized the job well done, nations not tied up to multinational narrow interest applauded the efforts, poor nations got inspired. And Brazil felt great to be a hero for once. R/14
Cover Brazil shows the world you can live with AIDS A
budgets 11
Behavior That naughty, naughty funk
11
Satire The new national anthem Nation And A Voz do Brasil for all
11
Economy Way too low minimum wage
11
Nation Bush and Cardoso summit
11
Politics Just to harm Cardoso
21
Computer Dirty Cheap PC
21
Travel Working the soil with the MST
23
Profile Odetto Guersoni's 50 years of art
27
Short Story 'Vestido de Noiva" by Nelson Rodrigues - Part 3
32
Travel At the table in Espirito Santo
35
Impressions Wise lessons of the past
37
Movies Chrystianne Rochat goes Hollywood
41
Music Rick Warm, a hard-working malandro
52
Special Building railroads in the 19th century
Send mail to: P.O. Box 50536 - Los Angeles, CA
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E-mail: mItdalvimayahoo.com TIME TO RENEW? Sorry, we don't send reminders. Look at the label to know when your subscription ends. BRAZZIL (ISSN 1091 -868X) is published monthly by Brazzil 2039 N. Ave. 52, Los Angeles, CA, 90042-1024.Periodicals
Postage rate paid at Los Angeles, CA. Single copy sold for $2. One year subscription for 12 issues is $3 (three dollars) in the U.S., $15 in Canada and Mexico, and $18 in all other countries. No back issues sold. Allow 5 to 7 weeks to receive your first issue. You may quote from or reprint any of the contents with proper copyright credit. Editorial submissions are welcome. Include a SASE (self addressed and stamped envelope) if you want your material mailed back. Brazzil assumes no responsibility for any claims made by its advertisers. The Library of Congress ISSN: 1524 -4997 POST MASTER : Send address changes to BRAllIL P.O. Box 50536 - Los Angeles, CA - 90050-0536
BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
Urn Monts
a
OB Rapidinhas 18 letters 41 Cultural Pulse 49 Classifieds 50 That's Brazilian
5
Behavior Naked City y see
think that it was invented as part are options of fun forRio 's poorest called the press to report about a y those who frequent these balls. now is for girls to go these parties in short have sex with several different part one version, known as musical chairs, ing boys. When the music stops, the ethod is called trenzinho (little train), d go around the dance hall in every Arouca, "this is a compulsory action. m the group." The secretary is worried, rticipated in this group sex are showing have the same story and they never know x with so many men. rtator of the Health Secretary's teen many girls became pregnant this way. ex is responsible for an increase in STD's nt because we only find out about g the pre-natal exams. But we know there rdingto the coordinator, the majority of girls use them, but don't use any kind of contra-
bruto
authorities made aware of the probscuous sex will continue to spread: am fun it is even a kind of rite of passage, es And, as it is common among teens, ern." n e mid '80s Brazilian funk n now be heard in Sao Paulo and
(literally
brute)--the bo
Maim quente (hot plate)--woman good in bed, ,T Crowded place enehom(bitchy — woman who's'dari in bed fiie (filet)--pr woman or man gatinha (puSsyca0 woman who's conservative in bed , pegar .(to pick up) tay with a in during or after the ball
ist Tutty Vasquez wrote, "That •uality than with juvenile delinquents-towards the suburb's leisure. In the eyes e shocking than the poor killing each s in prejudice! Why do blacks, poor, and leaf, in red by the right."
pazudo—big-butt woman, pretty girl
brat. o barraco o break the aek)—to have sex
tchatchuca—pretty
cuiniral I'm against any mu that uses children spread po
The muse of funk
wci n
6
BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
Jonathan 2000 Jonathan 2000 (Romulo Costa and Dennis 11/) De kegunda a sexta, Esporro na escolal Sabado e domingoi Eu sotto pipa e jogo bola • • . Dance potranca, Dance corn emocao • Eu sou Jonathan da Nova Geracao_ ettlkeStiati crescendo • awl° de emoca0 E eu ja you pegar Um file corn popozao
From Monday to Friday Scolding in school Saturday and Sunday I fly kite and play ball Dance, young mareDance with emotion I am Jonathan from New Generation But I'm already growing up Full of emotion And will soon get A filet with big butt Some lyrics are much lest subtle than this. 'Naga* (Sex Machine), for example, says: Maquina de sexo, e Afransa igual a urn animal A Chatuba de Mesquita do bonde do ,rexo anal hatuba come Cu e lepois come xereca Ranca cabaco, j bonde dos careca Sex machine, I screw like an animal Like Chatuba of Mesquita from the anal sex rnrn Chatuba screws ass and then screws pussy _ Screws cheraw, it's the bald men's tram , ,And "Barraccii (Shack No 3) goes all the wayt Me chama de eachorrc-, que eu faco au-au Me chama de gatinita, que eu faco miau Goa nacara, goza na boca loza onde Call me bitch and I will do bow tr Call me pussycat and I Will meow Come in my face, come my mou come wherever you lile
Lame
The most ambitious Dictionary of the Portuguese Language ever put together is scheduled to make Words by Houaiss its debut in a few weeks, according to a story in 0 Estado de S. Paulo, a leading morning paper of the largest city in Brazil. More than 20 years in the making. the end-result of the joint work of approximately 50 lexicographers led by razilian author and linguist, the late Antonio Houaiss, the project has tile financial sponsorship of a numberof entities Ouding the Gulbenkian Foundation of Portugal. Roberto Feith, CEO of the Brazilian publishing firm Objectiva, told newsmen that right now two rnenibers of the editorial staff of the "New Antonio HouaissDictionary," are in Lisbon, discussing with a Portuguese publisher, Circulo, the last details for a local edition of the book, which aims at including, in two Slightly different versions, all terms in which the Portuguese language differs between Brazil and Portugal. One of the conferes in Lisbon is Franck° de Mello Franco, director of the Antonio Houaiss Institute in Rio de Janeiro. Never has such a complete dictionary been undertaken, neither in Brazil nor Portugal, or many ilia seve-al Portuguesespeaking republics of Africa. Following in the footsteps of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). the forthcoming contains abundant etymological information, including the dates when a given term has been used with a different aning. The'Houaiss Dictionary offers the largest number of Portuguese words ever known to exist wherever Poruiguese is spoken: 228,000 entries and 381,000 definitions. A CD edition is expected to be offered for sale in a few weeks, while the printed volume will take a little more time. No price has ye been set for either _versior..
BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
7
A new version of the peacefully Satire ° inigoistl3razilian national anthem has been circulating on the Internet infer cent weeks. While other national anAll the Right Plugs thems like theAmericanortlieFrendi , about bloody War and;reyenge,'ithe: the 4onntry 'a natural wealth and its serene skies. e new anthem, though, pOtpOOTIet dene—a national footwear manufacturer— . „. to multinational Coca-Cola. . ; The hilarious ad-like parody soon spre re one more of those anonymous little jewels • dtat,ofteri arrive in oineT Sin, one of the members of the acting sextet ,_, _ d 4:)•Melliores do Mundo (The Wdd's ès iI Brazil 's capital. He was particularly bythe fact that that the text's au • hip* After all Ski, together with his group, created the parody antheinas the, The spectacle, Politica ( ' which was presented Feb() people in the Federal ' Brasilia, was seen by 'Tura' marl' in . : The show also makes symbol: the Brazilian flaau ,. her n4 sed inetheethsheow pn,vthe words Ordem to flag duenoun t . fun Progresso (Order and. Progress) were I'm, atization of state e' companies, Ite country.. • s the invasion of multination-aalsta ; Just before the anthem is sung, Mottth.at thIPtresidentwill be talking on a national TV and radio pool, Then he comes onstageehas authorized _ and tells ihe ‘ *• ate nthiii investors have decided to i together to pay the national debt. Irt return, the pt7new theniioiu tobe rewritten, The audienceis nvited to stand while onstage anthem _ the actors perform .. he „. , . , A 1971 Brazilian law regthnieremsuthttarytheoliverttate formedy in a respectful and patriotic manner. Law at ahMal n mberd5700 was was pa.ssed arid is still in force, but it is not . Ri byo terfounzingw exupecte Os Melhores no M ful use of the piece. Now, the group is in ra,the sh da Paixdo (Passion's Storms) and Escrava Isaura, a Carnedta (Slave Ispti theCo <'°1111e plaring to present Politica again inJanuary, in Rio. They hope by thervfew pe , *4°1:jos so that the surprise of the show's finale can be restored. -; Num Posto da Ipiranga, margens De urn Volvo henSice Brahmatennitbir, Skol da liberdadeem Rider ilgid jJWBrilhou no Shell da riesse te Se o. Knorr dema : . Conseguimos conquittar corn bnico Ford Em teu Seiko, 61 Desafia nosso peito a Microsoft 6 Parmalat, Mastercard, Sharp, Shatp Anti), um sonho intenso, UM tidies De amor e Lufthansa a teniIntel formoso ceu risonho Qlyrnpikus A imagern do 13radesco re Gillete pelapropriaPatUre , Es belo Escort intpiivido colosso E o teu futuro espelha essa Grendene A Cell* olitris mil e's Suvinit ComptuL, Philo° cleste Sollo ode Dorn • 7 Coca Cola, Bombal.
'crdsoft "
Sharp io Wa to land
- "In Brasilia, 7 p.m. On the air, ,41 Voz do Brasil (The Voice of Brazil). • Every weeknight at the same time, • these words by a male arirloaun ra7 z Down the Throat , . ,the signal for millions of \fey r 1 ationa ' 'toturn off their radios.That's rfltetto the most powerful, capable of reaching .,„ several states, gets into a mandatory ri all*4 in 1931 during the Getnlio Vargas's clictatorship as the maiiiitop.ropaganda arm of di,e, e Imprensa e Propaganda—Press and Pro' ptaganda Department). ' Only recently have a handful of stations ,,tke ss' by appealing to the courts. Rio Grande do ' Stil's Bandeirantes network went to the Justice ar for two of s stations (Ipanema FM and Band AM) to present the Voz in adifferent time than the rest of racfio stat*m's management convinced the judge that the listeners would be better served at that time *. . ,, wa and traffic orts. The court's only requirement was that the program would still be broadcast the same 4tty ity(aa-released r .1,, •
8
•
BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
le A Voz do Brasil only presents the official angle of the facts and seems to be hated by most people it also has tbdefenders. The program is the only source of news in many small towns, villages and rural areas without newspapers and TV. As for Band AM and Ipanema FM they start transmitting the daily program a little before midnight just in time for hern to conform to the special license they were awarded. From 7 p.m. to 8 p in. they play popular Brazilian music interspersed with news and traffic flashes. With the market exclusivity for this time slot they have gained many new advertisers, The Bandeirantes example hasinspired several other radio stations across thecountry to try doing the same and many have asked the Justice for thespecial exemption. They continue, however, lobe the exception. In Silo Paulo, giant Eldorado (AM and FM). a company belonging to the media powerheuse group 0 Estado, for years has waged a battle to Vw do Brasil's requirement. They led 850 other radios stations in a public relations and court campaign against ernment. They contend the law that forces radio stations to broadcasiA'ódoBr4zsiiis unconstitutional. "This democratic inheritance of the Vargas' era." s encountered opposition Eldorado is now waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on the aileet The vent in Congress. The OAB (Orderdclos Advogados do Brasil—Brazil Bar Association) had promised to fight against the aw, but went back in its decision after being pressured by house members and senators. In December 1997, the Republic' General Prosecutor, Gerald() Brindeiro, seemed ready to take on the case. But he also excused himself from the litigation when Congressmen started to call his office in protest. Eldorado has posted document on itS Website saying, among other things. "We have no doubt that our action will be victorious and that the disgraceful program will be judged unconstitutional because there is no jurist or professor of constitutional right in this country that will not recognize the unconstitutionality of the obligation to broadcast Voz do Brasil. For all these reasons we can say that Voz do Brasil is finished. !Mies to survive, as a castaway, clinging to minor The so-called cesta basica (basic basket) is a list of 13 food items (meat, milk, less Than Minimum beans, rice, wheat flourlmanioc flour in the Northeast], potato, tomato. bread. coffee, banana, sugar, oil and butter) in an amou4tsuffieient to maintain a family of four for a month. This measurement was created by the Brazilian government among other things, evaluate how far its annual minimum wage increase will go in giving purchasing power to those workers whose salaries are' tied to the minimum (mainly public workers and retirees). By this criterion the new minimum wage in force since April 1" is doing tittle to improve the standard of living of the poorest. Whilethe 19.2 percent raise will inject $1 billion a month into the economy and touch the lives of 37.7 nn workers, the new salary (180 rettis or roughly $84) it barely pays for a cesta ba sica. A worker needs 63,8perce of the minimum (compare this to 15 percent in the US and 13 percent in Germany) to buy that food basketand will have to make do with $30 for all other expenses including medici, transportation and leisure. If there's any consolation, with the previous minimum ($70), a workerhad to spend76percent to acquire the basket, leaving $17 for all other expenses. When created in 1940 by President Getulio Vargas. the minimum had considerably greater buying power. At that time a worker needed 39% of his salary to get the cesta. What would be an adequate minimum to meet the basic needs of a Brazilian living in big city today? According to DIEESE (Departamento Intersindical de Estatisticas e Estuclos Socio-Economicos Inter-union Department of Statistics and Socio-Economic Studieg), to pay for enough food, clothing, transportation and I leisure, a worker would need to receive a monthly minimum wage of $480. According to President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who went to TV to announce the new minimum, "'since the beginning of the Plano Real, in 1994, until today, the buying power of the minimum wage grew 40 percent compared to the National Index of Consumer Price and 100 percent in relation to the cesta brisica." Studies by the Finance Ministry reveal that close to 23 million Brazilians (13.9 percent of the population) still make less than the minimum. As gloomy as these numbers might seem, they look good when compared to the situation in the '60s when 70 percent of the wage earners working under contract were reeeiving the tnimum wage, For Antonio Carlos Spis, president Of Sio Paulo's CUT (Central Trabalhadores—Workers Unified Central) the new minimum is "huller shows the pauperization of the Brazilian people. This is the smallest minimum wage of Mercosul. It's smaller than theone from Paraguay." The minimum n1018016 boring country. $176, is more than twice that of Brazil's. CUT is in favor minimum of $120, which is the salary suggested by Mercosul.
BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
9
American president's remarks in photo opportunity with President Cardoso of Brazil. Transcript of the conversation held March 30 and released by the White House. The Oval Office - 2:15 P.M. EST y honor to welcome our friend from Brazil. Mr. President, PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you all for coming. It are honored—we're honored to have you here. We've got a lot in common. Brazil is a vast nation. It's a democracy. a country with a huge economic potential. It's a government run by a good man. We've had a good, frank discussion about a lot of subjects. There's no question in my mind that we'll have good relation over the next years. And there's no question in my mind that as we c°9Pelat: together, the people of both our countries wi , benefit. A `A. We've discussed a lot of topics, including trade. We've agreed to work closely together to see if we can't come up wit a way for our nations to continue to interface with each other. This country invests a lot of money in Brazil, because Brazil's a safe place to invest money. And we're going to keep it that way, keep our relationship strong. So Mr. President, welcome, glad to have you here. 0 PRESIDENT CARDOSO: Thank yen Very mtrelOir. Let me say that I am Very glad to be here, be with you. I kne your father. Now I'm very glad to see the way you are. As I said yesterday, I will put—take off my glasses to see your eyes, because you said that you would like to see my eyes directly. PRESIDENT BUSH: That's right. (Laughter.) PRESIDENT CARDOSO: I must say that it was a very pleasant conversation about several u s. And I do agree with you, sir, on the sense that Brazil and the United States have to be close, and close not just intt rrns of trade, but in terms of the hemisphere in general, in terms of security, in terms of democracy. We have shared values; so why not work together? And also because we know our responsibilities across the Bush c FHC falam ern acordo, sem citar Alca world. We know that the world is uneven, and it's necessary to ork—to do a lot of things to offer more perspective to the world, to the hemisphere, to Africa and other parts. And the United States and Brazil can work together. We will work together. I also see that you are a very informal kind of people, a so I am very glad. PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, sir. PRESIDENT CARDOSO: If you allow me now, I spe little bit in Portuguese because there are lots of Brazilians over there. (Remarks in Portuguese.) PRESIDENT BUSH: We'll have one question from t American press, one question from the Brazilian press, and everybody can go home for the weekend. Q: Mr. President, there seems to be an effort underway in Belgrade to arrest Mr. Milosevic. Does the United States suppo this? Will the United States contribute in any way to getting it done? What do you think should happen to him? PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, we've always said that Mr. MilOsevic ought to be brought t justice. I had a visit witht Secretary of State about this very matter. We're watching it very carefully. We will cooperate o jin any' way that we're asked ' o do so. Q: Mr. President, in terms of trade, have you, Mr. President, President Cardoso and President Bush, havey ou been able— do you think that you are going to be able to bridge the differences between the two countries? Are you ready as free traders to fight the protectionists in each of your respective countries? PRESIDENT BUSH: Absolutely, we can work together. We had a very good discassion about trade. The President and have made a decision that we'll work closely to iron out any differences that may exist. Obviously, each of us have got different issues that we have to deal with within our own borders. I'm mindful of that, so is the President. But the thing that's important is the spirit of cooperation. There are no differences when it comes to the desire to co operate. I'm confident we'llhave a very fruitful relationship. It's in our nations' best interests that we have close relations ith Brazil. For those of you who have never heard me say dna, good relations in our neighborhood is not going to be an afterthought or our foreign policy in America. The best foreign policy starts with making sure that relations in our own hemisphere ar very positive. And the fact that the President would come here to Washington and have a fruitful dialogue with me is indication that not only are we interested, but so is the President. For that, I'm very grateful. PRESIDENT CARDOSO: That's true. I do agree with the President. I believe that—we have, of course, from time some difference. That's normal between nations. Yesterday the President said, American—to be American f Well, I would say the same, to be Brazil first. That's normal. But then let's see how to cooperate. And the point is that regarding trade you asked what about trade—our problems are going—are being discussed in several meetings. We have been making progress toward a more free trade. Of course we're going to have to take into accouni the situation in Brazil, Brazilians' interests, and we'll have to see how to solve, eventually, what can bea conflict of interest. But very localized interest, very specific interest, We cannot generalize as if America and Brazil will clash. No, by being one point to have the difference. So let's try to work together to solve the difference. That's the way,
Summit
Presidential Talk
10
BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
The Right Prescription
Make love with passion and condom
Like the United States and the world's richer nations much Brazil—with cunning, lots of daring, plenty of work and little money—has transformed AIDS from a lethal scourge into something much more manageable and pronounceable: a chronic disease. The whole world, mainly the developing countries want to learn how can they do the same for their own AIDS victims.
AIDS P1 Li.
Liley
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IDS e motional posters by G APA- BA
desi
FRANCESCO NEVES
Brazil s Unconventional AIDS Fight 1. thl -Ns 1,4
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11
As has often been the case, not until renowned French daily Le Monde and Yankee publications like The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Time magazine and The New York Times had talked about the subject, did the main Brazilian press open space to report that Brazil has become a model and an inspiration for nations around the world on how to fight and win the war against AIDS. Not a small feat for a country that often appears very low on international lists of health care providers and high on rosters of violent and corrupt nations. Brazilians felt good that for once it could make news as example for other countries to follow. Thanks to a free government program of AIDS medicine distribution the nation won some headlines on the positive column although multinational laboratories and the US tried to paint the country as an outlaw infringing on patent and stealing intellectual property. International organizations like the United Nations and Nobel Prize Winner France-based Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Frontiers), however, had only words of praise for the pioneer work of Brazil. The Medecins group praised "the political commitment of the Brazilian government, which cut in half the number of deaths caused by AIDS from 1996 to 1999." While rich countries have been able to keep AIDS victims alive and leading a productive life, the same didn't happen to the rest of the world that cannot afford the expensive antiretroviral treatment, which can cost as much as $15,000 a year in the United States. That's why the disease is ravaging Africa, India and has become a serious health problem for Eastern Europe. Brazil should also be in very bad shape according to estimates from the early '90s. In 1994 the World Bank predicted that Brazil would have 1.2 million AIDS victims by the end of the year 2000. And they seemed right. During the '80s, the number of new cases of AIDS was growing by 35 percent a year in the country. Brazil, however, surprised the World Bank and itself. The country today has 530,000 cases of the disease—less than half of what the Bank predicted—and the epidemic has stabilized with 20,000 new cases a year for the last three years. It's believed that four-fifths of those infected with the disease in Brazil don't even know they have AIDS. Many of the 95,000 people infected with AIDS and receiving treatment are being seen as outpatients and are living an almost normal life. The program should be extended to 110,000 patients by year's end. Now, while 20 percent of adults in South Africa and many African nations are infected with HIV, the rate of Brazilians with AIDS is 0.6 percent. Throughout the country, special places created to attend to HIV-positive people, like Casa da AIDS (AIDS Home), in Santos, Sao Paulo, use beds reserved for AIDS victims to care for other diseases, since those with AIDS come only once in a while to pick up their medicine and take it home. Brazil's public health policy has lowered the AIDS infection rate among adults to 0.6 percent. Compare this to Botswana where this rate—the world's highest—is 35.8 percent. Since 1997, virtually every Brazilian who needs the saving cocktail, the same drug mixture that keeps AIDS victims alive and productive in the US and Europe, can get it for free from a government administered clinic. Even in the US, AIDS victims from some states who cannot afford the expensive antiretroviral medication might die without having access to it. In the last four years, the number of deaths caused by AIDS has dropped 50 percent at the same time that the number of people being admitted to the hospital due to complications of AIDS fell 80 percent. As Paulo Teixeira, the Health Ministry's coordinator for the AIDS fighting program recently told Brazilian reporters: "The disease's expansion has been contained." 12
For Luiz Loures, UNAIDS' s chief for Latin America and the Caribbean, Brazil's pioneering has been a worldwide inspiration: "The Brazilian response is kind of a flagship not only in Latin America and the Caribbean but also at the global level," he said, adding, "The Brazilian response is transferable. While Brazil is wealthier than some other developing nations, political will and community support have made the difference in a variety of countries. We are also looking at other countries, such as Senegal and Uganda, that have taken the lead in Africa or other regions to provide symbols in this fight." The harder battle, the one that demanded the most effort—a discipline other countries didn't believe Brazil would be able to demonstrate— was that from patient to patient. The effort from an Army of officials, doctors, helpers and volunteers—approximately 600 NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) have joined forces—that united in a common work to distribute the saving medicine and guarantee it is taken correctly, at the right times, some with food, some without. Daily 0 Estado de S. Paulo reported on a telling story that illustrates how AIDS was cornered and controlled in the country. In 1991, when doctor Robinson Fernandes de Camargo started to treat HIV positive people in Sapopemba, in the east side of Sao Paulo, people in the average were surviving two years, and his main effort was to guarantee that the infected person had a dignified death since there was no prospect of prolonging his or her life. Ten years later, at the Centro de Referencia Herbert de Souza "Betinho" AIDS continues to kill—there were six AIDS related deaths in 2000—but the situation would be much worse without some dramatic changes that occurred since 1996 when patients started to be given the socalled anti-AIDS cocktail. In comparison, in 1993 there were 78 deaths with 50 of these people having died within a year of finding out about their disease. No patient survived past 14 months. Survival of the Species Data from the consortium UNAIDS, which is a joint effort between several UN agencies and the World Bank, last December there were 36,1 million people contaminated with the HIV virus in the world. 25,3 million of them were living in subSaharan Africa. While 95 percent of AIDS victims live in poor countries, more than 90 percent of those who get adequate treatment for the disease live in rich nations. The AIDS epidemic has already killed 21.8 million Africans. In the year 2000 alone more than 3 million Africans died from AIDS while 5.3 million others were infected by the disease. Thanks in great part to AIDS, life expectation in Africa has fallen to around 40 to 45 years. While Africa carries a disproportionate burden with 70 percent of the cases (having 10 percent of the world population) and 17 million AIDS caused deaths, Brazil BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
would be in a much worse shape than it is today if it weren't for some courageous measures taken by President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, often criticized for his neglect of social problems. Against the reasoning of aides and political allies who advised him to cut the budget of AIDS programs when the Brazilian economy was showing signs of imminent crisis at the beginning of 1999, Cardoso chose to continue funding it. Former President Jose Sarney—a conservative, he was the first civilian president after the military dictatorship that lasted from 1964 to 1985—in 1996, became an unlikely ally. As a senator for the state of Amapa he sponsored in congress a law that guarantees every AIDS patient in Brazil, regardless of his or her financial capability, the best treatment available. In an interview with The New York Times, Sarney talked about being made aware of the triple therapy that could reduce the presence of HIV to undetectable levels and that was announced during a Vancouver, Canada, AIDS conference: "A doctor friend informed me about what was going on in Vancouver. I saw that most of the medicine in the cocktail would not be available to the poor, and I felt that we were talking about the survival of the species." The same World Bank that in the '80s and '90s together with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) advocated a "structural adjustment" that decimated health budgets all across the developing world estimates that the cost preventing AIDS in Africa is over $2 billion, while there is no more than $160 million available for this fight. Today African countries are looking towards Brazil as an inspiration to fight and threaten multinational laboratories that charge prices extremely high for their AIDS medication. Seven countries alone—US, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, England and Italy—bring to the pharmaceutical laboratories 80 percent of their revenues and an even bigger share of their profits. Deriving a ridiculous 1 percent of its sales from Africa, the big labs could afford to be humane and do humankind a favor by giving their anti-viral drugs away for free. But for years they haven't lowered a cent in their extortive prices, more interested in answering to corporate interests than save lives. They wouldn't consider offering a discount to poor countries lest their clients in the US and Europe would find they were being gouged and demand equal treatment. According to Jean-Hervé Bradol from Medecins Sans Frontieres AIDS is the locomotive for remedies in general. In the wake of AIDS the question of access to drugs is very important for diseases such as tuberculosis and paludism. Some of these remedies are not manufactured anymore—like the ones that fight the sleeping sickness. And for 20 years there haven't been investments in the research of tropical medicine." Pirate Brazil The Brazilian story is still being written and it's not without controversy, foes and defamers. In order to make the AIDS treatment affordable, Brazil decided to copy patented drugs and to replicate them in its laboratories. The country is now producing 8 of the 12 drugs commonly used in the AIDS cocktail. Since 1998 when it started making copies of brand-name medications to treat the disease, the country was able to reduce by 80 percent the cost of such drugs. The same triple drug cocktail treatment that costs around $10,000 a year in the US and Europe can be offered for $2,000 in Brazil and this price tends to go down to $700 or even less as the nation improves its technique and convinces international labs to lower their prices.
Unabashedl the country made drug piracy an official undertaking. Br zil has been a paradise for pirates of all kinds of products: fro Rolex watches to Levi's jeans, from French perfumes to Am rican computer software. But now, invoking humanitarian re ons contemplated in international agreements, the poor Brazili n government started to copy patented formulas from rich an stingy laboratories to save lives that otherwise would be lost. T e program of free distribution of antiretroviral drugs started in 1996. To produce he medicines Brazil had to find the raw material in countries like China and India, which disregard the international law • f patents. But the nation continued to buy from foreign labs tw essential products in the fight against AIDS: Efavirenz prod ced by Merck Sharp & Dohme and Nelfinavir manufactured b Roche. In a package of 12 drugs, these two alone consume 36 percent of the $306 million spent by the Health Ministry in the purchase of AIDS drugs. Tough-talking Jose Serra, the ealth Minister, let it be known that the country would end up nufacturing all AIDS drugs unless the laboratories would ubstantially cut their prices. Not that the razilian government does not believe in intellectual propert and in the importance of drug patents for medical researc and the development of new medications that otherwise wouls never be produced. Six years ago, Brazil was one of the first ations to adopt legislation based on the criteria established by he World Trade Organization. According to Brazilian law, d gs produced before 1997 can be replicated in the country, bu not those that were released since that year. It is estimat d that a laboratory spends between $400 million and $1 billi en to develop a new AIDS drug. Merck, Sharp, & Dohme said t at it spent six years of research and half a million dollars to devel ii p Efavirenz, one of the drugs Brazil threatened to pirate. The quipment Brazil purchased to replicate the medicine cost uch less: $250,000. It was acquired by FarManguinhos, public laboratory associated with publiclyowned Fundag o Oswaldo Cruz. And the laboratory believes that it will be a le to copy the Merck drug by September. Wrote The ew York Times Magazine on a superb cover story by Tina Rosen erg on the status of AIDS in the world and the Brazilian cont ibution to solve the worldwide AIDS crisis: "Brazil is show ng that no one who dies of AIDS dies of natural causes. Those ho die have been failed—by feckless leaders who see weap ens as more alluring purchases than medicines, by wealthy cou tries (notably the United States) that have threatened the liveli ood of poor nations who seek to manufacture cheap medicin and by the multinational drug companies who have kept the p ce of antiretroviral drugs needlessly out of reach of the vast mai rity of the world's population." And the arfcle continues: "At first glance, it would seem th Brazil has advantages tha are hard to duplicate. It as a wellorganized net • rk of civic groups, which ere essential to building upport for the program, .esigning it and making it ork. It is a big country, ith a large market of dru s. It has a health care sy tem, however patchy. nd while it is a poor coun , it is a rich poor country. ome countries will be u able to follow—they are too corrupt or war-torn or enally gov13
BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
(4,11. C•11 io erned or not governed at all." Brazil is already starting to export its technology for the manufacturing of AIDS drugs as well as control of quality techniques and ways of administering the medicine, much of this for free. A delegation from Burkina Faso, Africa, has visited the country recently to learn how Brazilians are managing their AIDS predicament. The government has also signed cooperation pacts with Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe. International aid group Oxfam has joined the increasingly loud chorus of those defending the idea that Third World countries should be allowed to copy drugs and to manufacture them at much cheaper prices not only to treat AIDS but also to deal with respiratory tract infections and childhood diarrhea. Oxfam has also appealed to Washington and major pharmaceutical labs to drop their suits against countries that are copying patented AIDS drugs. In a statement released recently Oxfam explained its position: "This industry campaign has been led by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), one of the worlds most politically influential and well-financed industrial lobbies. The primary source of PhRMA 's power is its influence over the office of the US Trade Representative, which has repeatedly backed its claims with the threat of trade sanctions." Mark Grayson, spokesman for PhRMA, responded that his organization has the same concerns as anybody regarding access to affordable drugs in developing nation and blamed the poor countries for not having an infrastructure good enough to take advantage of a possible deal with labs. He also accused some governments of having little interest in health matters. As for Brazil, Grayson, as expected, doesn't like the government's approach: "We believe Brazilian officials have had some good efforts putting resources toward this major problem, but they are still part of the world order and need to work things out with our companies." In an interview with weekly newsmagazine Veja he was even more incisive: "I'm sure Brazil is already paying prices well below those charged other developing countries. What else does the Brazilian government want? The same treatment as Botswana?" The Goliaths Brazil decided to face and who have a powerful godfather mostly in the government of the United States have names like Boehringer Inelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Glaxo Wellcome, F. Hoffmann Laroche and Merck and Co. Only in May, 2000, these five pharmaceutical giants agreed on giving discounts for their AIDS drugs to poor nations. Senegal, Uganda and Rwanda were able to sign secret agreements with the labs with the price charged not being publicly revealed. The government of Ivory Coast also disclosed that the laboratories Glaxo SmithKline, Bristol Myers Squibb and Merck decided to sell them antiretroviral drugs discounted up to 90 percent. That would allow the country to spend as little as 1,200 in AIDS drugs to treat a patient for a year. Only in recent weeks, after much posturing and threats of suits, however, the giant laboratories started to be more flexible in their discussions with Brazil. It helped a lot that the country has shown determination, starting to produce its own generic drugs and seriously contemplating the patent breakage of some intransigent companies. This didn't go well in Washington though, and the democratic administration of Bill Clinton has taken Brazil to the World Trade Organization's Dispute
14
Settlement Body. The country is being challenged in its program of distributing free drugs to AIDS patients. No wonder there were no takers, last year, when the Clinton administration made available $1 billion through the Ex imbank to fight AIDS. It happens that the money was a loan charging regular commercial interest rates. Besides, the borrowers were supposed to buy drugs from American laboratories for the full price they are sold in the US. It was inevitable that such arrangement would generate the universal chorus of "thanks, but no thanks" that it did.
it( SPON
I t DACE DE TOWS NOS
Doubts, doubts
Even among AIDS researchers the Brazilian effort was questioned early on. Some doubted that Brazil would have the technology to produce proper generic equivalents. Others feared that a mismanaged program with people taking the drugs irregularly would create more resistant strands of the HIV virus. "I was against the Brazilian program at first," said Brazilian Mauro Schechter, one of the world's most respected AIDS researchers who is head of Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro's AIDS Research Laboratory. "I thought it would be very expensive and difficult to establish the necessary lab infrastructure. But the program has been very effective." He admits, however, that some of Brazil's generic drugs may not have the same quality of the top name brands. Why did Brazil lead the way in this worldwide war? Brazil was the only nation smart and brave enough to take advantage of a "loophole" in the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), a pact practically imposed by the international lobby of several multinational groups on the World Trade Organization (WTO). The treaty that gives pharmaceutical companies the right to hold to their patents and charge as much as they wish for a drug for the period of 20 years, also, recognizes the right of a nation to break a patent in case of national emergency. Before the Brazilian chutzpah act, however, this clause had no teeth. Countries that tried to invoke the emergency clause were massacred by the threatened laboratories and by Washington. When South Africa and Thailand, for example, tried to manufacture their own AIDS drugs, the American government sided with the pharmaceutical industries and threatened with trade sanctions. They seem intent also now in dissuading Brazil from selling the generic AIDS drugs itproduces to third countries. They would also like to forbid these countries from obtaining the Brazilian medicine. For UN secretary general Kofi Annan, part of the success of the Brazilian experience should be attributed to the government's decision to manufacture its own AIDS drugs even without the permission of the laboratories that developed the medicine. Persistence was the other factor of this equation. Despite all the cost involved and the pressure from the Catholic Church and other conservative forces against the ample distribution of condoms and educational campaigns about AIDS and how to prevent it the Health ministry went ahead and was able to control the disease. While other countries with similar AIDS epidemics have adopted programs similar to those implanted in Brazil only rich countries like the US were able to give continuity to them in a so large a scale. The Brazilian open attitude about sex and the BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
mobilization of the gay community were fundamental since the beginning of the fight against the AIDS epidemic. Brazilian campaigns on AIDS awareness were taken not only to the airwaves and the pages of the press but also to churches' and' nightclub's doors, to prostitution areas and gay clubs. The Brazilian youngster has become the best informed in the world about the AIDS virus, according to a UNAIDS study. Tens of millions of condoms have been distributed for free and annual consumption of the product has reached 320 million units. Drug addicts can also easily get disposable syringes. Being a pioneer in the treatment of AIDS victims has taught Brazilian health officials some precious lessons that are helping patients themselves and the national AIDS treatment program. Artur Kalichman, coordinator of the Sao Paulo Program of AIDS Combat, has found out, for example, that stronger drugs shouldn't be used before the patient shows symptoms of the disease. "We soon noticed," he told weekly Veja magazine, "that it is more convenient to wait for the first symptoms of immunological weakening instead of attacking the HIV as soon as it is found in the organism." This procedure not only frees patients from side effects from drugs they don't need now since the disease can sometimes take years to manifest itself, but also allows more people to enjoy the benefit of these expensive and helpful drugs. A Breakthrough In March, after lengthy negotiations with the Brazilian Health Ministry, New Jersey-based Merck announced that it was cutting the price on Efavirenz and Indinavir, two of its AIDS drugs. It was a significant drop. The Efavirenz capsule had its price reduced from $2.32 to 84 cents (64 percent) and the Indinavir was reduced from $1.62 to 47 cents (71 percent). According to the Health Ministry, Brazil will save $38 million a year with the discounted price. "This is a big victory that was possible only because Brazil has been fighting for this here and overseas," said outspoken Health ministerJose Serra. "The price offered is lower than what we would get by breaking the patent and producing the drug in the country." On March 30, one day after announcing the price-cuts by Merck, the Health Ministry revealed that it would once again appeal to Swiss drug maker Roche Holding AG to also cut the price of its AIDS drug, Nelfinavir. Together with the appeal there was again a threat that the country could break the patent of the medicine and start to produce the drug as a generic as soon as June. The ministry said also that the state-owned Far-Manguinhos laboratory will keep studying the composition of the Nelfinavir in order to replicate it, since the 13 percent cut announced by Roche a few weeks ago was not good enough. "If an agreement isn't reached, the Health Ministry will ask for compulsory licensing for national laboratories to produce Nelfinavir," said the ministry spokesperson. Reacting to the Merck's announcement, Paulo Teixeira, coordinator of the AIDS National Program, said that "for the first time in the history of the market economies, a multinational was guided by UN's HDI (Human Development Index). "We have here," Teixeira said; " a differentiated price charged according to the paying ability of each country." While the tablet of Efavirenz is being sold for 84 cents in Brazil, they are paying 45 cents for it in Africa and $4.32 in the US. This drug is being taken by 15 percent of the 95 patients being treated for AIDS in Brazil and represented 11 percent of the cocktail's whole price. Roche's Nelfinavir is used by 23 percent of the patients and is consuming now 23 percent of the money spent in AIDS remedies. BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
High Times The explosiv arrival of AIDS in Brazil, in 198 , coincided with ----A, 0 the end of a repr ssive and moralcat e istic military die • rship that had lasted 21 years. here was a new generation ready • experience life, sex, and drugs to the fullest, ready to use the pill but willing to wear condoms, follo ing the letter of Milton Nascimento's lyrics: "any kind of by is worth loving." An explosive combination guaranteed to ea ily spread a disease that's mostly transmitted through sex and contaminated syringes. It's not b, coincidence that 66 percent of t AIDS victims in Sio Paulo were orn between 1955 and 1971. The were between 14 and 30 years of a e when the disease started to sprea in the country. "It was the generation that didn't trust any ne over 30 and lived the time of the so-called free love, with h terosexual practices and growing homosexual permissiveness, 'according to Sao Paulo econo ist and PUC's (Pontificia Un versidade Catolica—Pontifica Catholic University) professor amuel Kilsztajn, 49. He is the co- uthor of the study Notified Cases o AIDS in the State ofSdo Paulo— e Vulnerable Generation. Among the c lebrities who were taken by the dis ase were Cazuza, singer-composer who was born in 1958 an died in 1991; rock composer Renato Russo who died in 199 at age 36; soap-opera leading man Lauro orona who was a TV sensation when he ied in 1989 (he was born in '57) and Claudi Magno, another TV actress who died at ag 34, in 1994. With the w rse behind, Brazil now is afraid that peo le will forget the times of fear. Half of th se being infected by AIDS today are youn people who didn't experience first hand t e full blow of the epidemic Recent research shows that the AIDS explosion of cases in 985 didn't translate immediately in a gre umber of deaths due to the nature of the disease that takes an a rage of eight years to reveal its symptoms. It ok ten years for the 1985 explosion to show in e death statistics. In 20 years of epidemic the w rst year was 1995. While horn sexuals were the first to be infected, there w s a second outbreak that affected mainly those u ing intravenous drugs. Most recently heterose uals have been the main victims of AIDS due to e initial misconception that this was a gay dise e. Much has been said and written about the f inization of the disease in Brazil. Most of the omen are married living in a monogamous relat onship and are being infected by their husbands. For Health Min ster Serra this development was anticipated by health experts. 'There was no surprise there because the Ministry was folio ing this growth. Now we have to improve our prevention wor among women, and they need to adopt a more assertive postu e in order to avoid the contamination."
1Love
9.........„---
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to Brazil. In the last 10/12 years I've been disgusted with the way foreign words have been used. People use foreign words to name their businesses and restaurants, dishes or food cards. The magazines use foreign words or sentences. I once showed an English sentence in a magazine (there were several) to a friend of mine and I asked her if she had understood it. She hadn't. The worst part is most people don't even know how to pronounce those words correctly or they misspell them. On T-shirts especially, they are misspelled or often make no sense. To substitute foreign words for Portuguese ones. I think is disgraceful! To use foreign words where there are no suitable Portuguese words is fine, but why not do better? Create an equivalent word in Portuguese? I will retire and return to Brazil in about two years. When there I will have the time to boycott all the businesses with foreign names. I will travel farther and pay more to patronize only businesses with Portuguese names. Geoniora G. Oliveira Fountain Valley, CA
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
11H H t11.1 I 1,11;H: I read with keen interest the article in the March 2001 edition of Brazzil magazine entitled "Slavery and Freedom". As a black American I have always wondered what differences blacks faced in Brazil. After visiting Brazil and reading several publications, I definitely think that the definition of what race and individual is varies between the US and Brazil. The black American is anyone with African features apparent. Therefore any hint of Afro style hair or skin tone labels you black in the US. Generally when I travel the US and see other blacks I usually get a nod or a hello. The look seems to say, "I am sure glad to see your' This was not the case in Brazil. The look that you get is more of a "so what". I attribute this to the fact that black Americans all know about the struggle that we have faced since coming to America. I plan on traveling back to Brazil this summer. Perhaps I will nod at the first Black Brazilian that I see and get a nod back... (See whole letter on line). Brian Coffee Philadelphia, PA
NimmakuLu.usai
I am an American Indian descent person researching WVVII topics for a history project reflecting contributions Of Americans of all backgrounds during this era. Persons with VWVII memories are now society's elders. I very much would like to correspond with Brazilian-Americans who can relate any of the following: service in the military, Red Cross, merchant marine, civil air patrol, civil defense organizations, USO, war related industry, etc. I especially want to include a woman's perspective, so if any BrazilianAmerican women served in the WAC, WAVES, WASP, SPARs, or women marines, please write. If there is anyone who still lived in Brazil and can relate memories of Brazil during the early 1940s, I'd like to hear from you. I am aware that Brazil entered the war late, but still served the Allied cause. I specially want to hear from Brazilian women, Jewish Brazilians and Brazilians indigenous Indian Ancestry or German heritage. Too often history portray Anglo whites as the only persons who contributed to VvVVII victory. Persons who have WWII memories to share are now society's elders. Please write to me at the following address: Robert J. Clark — PO Box 685 Collinsville, IL 62234 Robert J. Clark Collinsville, IL I read with interest Marta Alvin's article "English Spoken Here" and also her interview with Mr. Aldo Rebelo. I've lived in the US for more than 32 years, but I travel often 16
.1.1111Mtaiii1111.111=1.1.1 I just wanted to tell you that I enjoy reading your magazine online very much. I particularly like Phillip Wagner's articles, especially the ones about Bahia's Afro Blocos. My wife and I recently visited Salvador da Bahia, and saw Dicta Banda Feminina perform while we were there. We didn't know anything about them, so it was great to log onto your site and read Mr. Wagner's articles about their history. We hope to read more articles by Mr. Wagner in the future. Thanks for doing such a wonderful job! Randall Moeller Seattle, Washington Why do so few blacks appear on the covers of your journal? I have been browsing the website (although not consistently) for more than a year and have yet to see a black face on a cover. It strikes me as strange that a country with such a large percentage of African peoples does not feature them more prominently in the media. Will Emerson Via Internet I am a Brazilian native. I liked your website and it seemed interesting. It had some good work telling us about Brazil Carnaval's history, which is good. On the other hand, I think the page could have told us more about the parades. It is because there are only things about Rio, and Rio is not the only place where we can enjoy the festival. Ricardo Brazil Man, this is one of the saddest stories that I have ever read ("The Ghosts of Rio"). I just decided to boycott any product or services originating from that cruel city. Thanks for informing us. Via Internet
FOR MOREL IATT Er i
D ENTIRE
r-- http://www.brazzil.com
I enjoyed your article "Velloso with a J" in the March 2001 edition of Brazzil. Your account of the monied manipulation of the Brazilian music industry and the social segregation affecting Afro-Brazilian artists was certainly eye opening, but I was puzzled by one of your footnotes. Footnote #9, intended to make a point about the shallow, class-based marketing of blocos, seems to also be a critique of Daniela Mercury as someone sought out because she is "passably European." I am puzzled; why choose Daniela as your example? Daniela Mercury is far more than some "girl" selected by a small-time bloco for her "European features"! Are we talking about the same Daniela Mercury, the "Axe diva" and world music superstar known for her live performances? Daniela Mercury has long been a public supporter of and collaborator with the Afro-bloco movement in Salvador. She has performed with both Olodum and Ile Aiye, and she has defended to the media Ile Aiye's choice to have only dark-skinned members. Her music clearly acknowledges Afro-Brazilian and Bahian influences in musical styles, lyrics, and concert presentation. Daniela has contributed her time socially to Projeto Axe [listed on your own web site) and to UNICEF as a Brazilian ambassador. In Salvador she has been a madrinha to support a smaller neighborhood Afro-bloco. Daniela has also voiced her opinion favoring reform of the process for assigning Carnaval parade times and stated that Afro-blocos and afoxes should be able to perform at earlier hours when more people are Rely to see them. I have seen Daniela perform both in Brazil and in California; she is a world-class musical artist. The goodwill for and interest in Bahian music and culture that she has attracted abroad are incalculable. As for her "long, straight black hair," Daniela has for several years appeared with reddish hair in the curly baiana fashion. For Carnaval 2002, Daniela will no longer be "selected' by a bloco; she has announced that she is leaving the Crocodilo bloco and will perform as an independent. Anyway, I have become a fan of your articles in Brazzil and look forward to reading the next one. Keep on writing and publishing! Bernie Magier Via Internet Bernie, I am most grateful that you have taken the time to read and comment on my recent article detailing the work of Jota Veloso and Marlene de Castro. I also very much appreciate your challenge to my footnote (#9) and its references to Daniela Mercury. I believe my unfortunate phrasing led you to conclude that I was suggesting something other than intended. When I said that "Daniela Mercury, with her European ancestry, straight black hair and slim, very full mouth exemplifies the ideal candidate in this case," I meant only that her appearance fit that description. (See whole answer on line.) Phillip Wagner pwagner@iei.net Can't you find Brazzil at your Brazilian consulate? Don't ask us why, ask the consulate.
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BRAZZIL -APRIL 2001
The Old Way The idea of a parliamentary inquiry of corruption in the government resulted from an unlikely, rather irrational alliance—a marriage of extremes with nothing in common, except the wish and need to harm the government's image at a critical time. ADHEMAR ALTIERI
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Brazil's age-old defining phrase and cliché description, "land of contrasts," is in no danger of becoming outmoded. On the contrary, Brazil at times seems determined to retain this trait it should be working hard to shed. The second half of March offered a vivid, wide-ranging example of how Brazil insists on perfecting the art of making available both the best and worst of everything. This example pits obsolete, at times obscene, always inefficient political practices on one side, and an orderly, focused, even admired economic management team on the other. What further exposed these two extremes was a political battle that dominated the scene, over the installation of a broad ranging but vaguely defined parliamentary inquiry into government corruption. At a glance, not a bad idea: to deny that corruption exists in Brazil would really be a waste of valuable time, so why not investigate? So popular was the proposal that most of the public bought it. Surveys indicated the majority of respondents throughout the country believed government corruption to be a serious problem, and were in favor of the inquiry. But how the proposal came to be is a telling aspect. The idea resulted from an unlikely, rather irrational alliance—a marriage of extremes with nothing in common, except the wish and need to harm the government's image at a critical time, when economic pressures are mounting from within and beyond. A broad, unfocused inquiry into government corruption, and its numerous opportunities to grandstand before live cameras, certainly have the potential to accomplish what the two allies have in mind. The partner on the right in this endeavor, politically and otherwise, was until recently a key government ally. Antonio Carlos Magalhaes from Bahia, the buffoonish former Senate president whose cohorts lost the battle for the presidencies of the Senate and the Lower House of Congress, fell badly out of favor with the government when he resorted to wholesale charges of corruption, and insinuations about President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's willingness to oppose corruption in government. Magalhaes' accusations were meant to try and force the President's hand against the eventual winner of the Senate presidency, and main benefactor of the legislative battle, Senator Jader Barbalho. It backfired, and Magalhaes is now out of the mix and looking for revenge. The other half of this alliance is the left wing led by the PT, the Worker's Party. Anything it can generate that harms the government in any way is considered useful—this has been standard fare for years. Cooperation and constructive criticism are out of the question. The party has already decided to focus its 2002 presidential campaign on what it sees as misguided economic policies, a formula it has tried for three consecutive elections with its emblematic leader as the candidate, Luis Ink io Lula da Silva. BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
Three consecutive defeats, and it seems they're going to try and make it four—but they won't be blamed for not trying hard enough. Several mayors elected by the PT in October of 2000 have joined the effort, and frequently blame the urban problems they promised to solve in their campaigns on federal government policies. Yes, this precocious campaign is definitely under way (even though there's no sign of a government candidate) ... A most interesting element: many of the corruption charges that supposedly justify a parliamentary inquiry came from Magallfaes himself, as part of an obnoxious mud-slinging duel with Jader Barbalho during the already mentioned legislative clash. Even before that, Magalhaes—technically a member of the governing alliance—habitually attacked government members and actions according to his own political and personal convenience of the moment, an attitude that certainly accelerated his demise from the bosom of government. Most of his accusations are based on newspaper clippings and plenty of innuendo—what he and others in Brazil like to describe as "dossiers". Although he always promises hard evidence, none has ever been produced. In a country with so much that can be substantiated and ought to be investigated, the only possible reason for calling an inquiry to rehash news clippings would be making political noise—in that respect, the government had a point in criticizing the proponents, and working to prevent the launch of the inquiry. But the government was equally disappointing when it once again resorted to tried, tested and true Brazilian political tactics. In a fragmented political scene like Brazil's, with 26 political parties looking for a piece of the action, one might even argue there's hardly another route available. But this is also the type of argument Brazilians have been hearing for far too long, and it does serve to perpetuate wrongdoing and corruption where it indeed exists. The "formula" found by the government to keep legislators from signing on in support of the inquiry, was the release of funds for budget amendments made over the last four years, but not implemented. Members of Congress often introduce budget amendments to benefit their political base, so when these don't materialize, they face problems at election time. Amendments are also a way to direct funds to favorite causes, or to nonexistent causes'. in this case, the funds often "disappear" along the way. Since 1997, so-called "late credits"—unreleased funds for amendments, total R$8.6 billion (about US$4 billion). One political columnist estimated that 400 members of the Lower House cashed in: they were assured that funds would be released for that old forgotten amendment, in exchange for not supporting the proposed inquiry... The potential size of this mega-handout (there's no way of knowing at this point how much of the R$8.6 billion was actually distributed) would indicate the government had a lot more to fear from the inquiry than noise from the opposition. But the clincher, or what finally guaranteed the proposal wouldn't go anywhere, is even more suspicious. The PMDB party decided in a closed meeting that its members in the Senate would not support the inquiry. The party has 26 of 52 senators. One of them is the recently elected Senate president, and also party president, Jader Barbalho. Because many of the corruption charges to be investigated in the inquiry were aimed at Barbalho, he had no choice but to sign in favor of the inquiry. While he said he had no problem with being investigated, the rest of his party made sure the proposal went down in flames... Consider that as Senate President, Barbalho is now the third man on the Brazilian political totem pole—he would become president if Cardoso or Vice-President Marco Maciel couldn't hold office for any reason. Since taking on the Senate presidency,
there hasn't been a single day when Barbalho wasn't forced to comment on additional, indicting details that continue to pop up involving his name. Worst of all is the charge, documented by the Brazilian Central Bank, that while governor of Para state in the 1980s, he diverted R$10 million (about US$5 million) in state funds to perOnal bank accounts—his own, his wife's, other relatives and political associates. This may help explain another charge: that he atnassed more than R$30 million in properties (about US$15 mplion) during his political career, a figure that is totally incompatible with the salaries he earned as an elected official. Consider, finally, the unfortunate fact that Jader Barbalho and his PMDB are who the political end of Brazil's government is now in bed with. We began this column making reference to a sharp contrast. Indeed it is striking. While all of this dominated Brazil's political front—and we've simplified a few events for brevity's sake, the economic side reaped the benefits of a reasonably levelheaded long tem'i game plan: positive indicators and projections collected praise, from various quarters, in Brazil and abroad. These include 129 thousand new jobs created in the first two months of the par, and a February unemployment rate of 5.7 percent, down fiom 8.2 percent in February of last year. For the time being, thoe in the know are apparently concluding that Brazil can withs and whatever pressures the Argentine crisis or an economic sl wdown in the U.S. might generate, and still manage at least 4.5 percent GDP growth for 2001, with inflation at 4.8 perc nt for the year. For years n w, it has been rather obvious that Brazil's fiscal and econom c performances are held back not by a lack of competence am ng those who hold the purse strings, and certainly not by a ack of overall potential, but by obstacles the political side refuses to deal with and eliminate. Given the choice, self-interest always comes first, and it's bound to get worse as the 2002 mega-elections approach. Brazil's economic team certainly hasn't been flawless—insisting on an overvalued currency for too long, and just recently, raising interest rates and delivering an unnecessary negative signal, are both examples that they do make mistakes, including serious ones. Still, one can only wonder what Brazil would be like today, if President Caildoso had made more of an effort to run the rest of his administ ation a bit more like the economic side. Related sit s: PMDB—P rty of the Brazilian Democratic Movement official websit (Portugues only) http://www pmdb.org.br PT—Work r's Party official website (Portugues only) http://www.pt.org.br Adhemar Altieri is a veteran with major news outlets in B azil, Canada and the United States. He holds a M ter's Degree in Journalism from Northwestern Uni ersity in Evanston, Illinois, and spent ten years wit CBS News reporting from Canada and Brazil. Altieri is a member of the Virtual Intelligence Community, formed by The Greenfield Con ulting Group to identify future trends for Latin A erica. He is also the editor of InfoBrazil (http:// www.infobrazil.com), an English-language week e-zine with analysis and opinions on Brazilian po itics and economy. You can reach the author at editors@infobrazil.com 19
BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
Researchers from UFMG (Universidade Federal de Minas Some people, lwever, are still heavily incredulous about Gerais—Federal University of Minas Gerais) have developed the popular PC. Fo4 them, it's just a waste of public money and a computer prototype with a 500 MHz equivalent processor, 64 another way for a w companies to benefit from the governMb RAM, an Ethernet network card, a 56k modem, 14" moni- ment money. Onlytime will say. tor, sound and video cards, serial and USB ports, mouse and Uniform Time keyboard, that could cost as low as $300. Soon, the Internet in Brazil may receive a heavy increase Despite the lack of CD-ROM, floppy and hard disk, the in e-commerce and net sales. In a CG's promising initiative, all popular PC is focused on lower-income families who can't national servers and providers could adopt a unique time zone afford to buy an ordinary computer. People won ' t be able to save for exchanging and trading information, such as commercial files, unless they make an upgrade, but the main role of the transactions, forms and ordinary data. computer will be accessing the Internet. The idea is to create a default work time for ISP' s -Internet The PC, however, will be primarily used in social programs Service Providers - in order to facilitate the e-commerce penfrom the government's F'UST (Fundo de Universalizacao das etration and, at the same time, avoid security problems. As soon Telecomunicaciles—Fund for the Universalization of Commu- as the system gets ready, the Comite Gestor intends to invest nication), which already has a $500,000-yearly budget. The gov- in a public campaign and there'll be a list with all the ISPs who ernment intends to buy the first shipment of PC's to equip adopt the new protocol. schools, libraries, health posts and communities, in order to A Stratum 1 server is already installed at the National provide easy access to the Internet. Observatory in Rio de Janeiro. The Stratum 1, which uses atomic The PPC (Popular PC) was time, allows the national created thanks to $75,000 investserver clocks over the ment. To create the cheap machine, Internet to be adjusted in a researchers used accessories unique zone. widely available in Brazil's marAccording to CG's offiket, For Roberto Begonha, head of cials, either ISPs or net users the University's computer science won't have to pay anything department, "the intention was to for the changes. Also, users build a computer with the miniaren't supposed to notice the mum requirements and that could difference while browsing be produced at a very low cost." the Web or working with the The final product was supInternet, since the changes posed to be ready in April, 2001, would be made internally and any company willing to suponly, not affecting users port or to manufacture the PC may Brazilian government approved last month a behavior because only sefind all the necessary information cure servers - mostly eat CG's website: www.cg,org.br— project for producing a cheap personal computer commerce - would be alCG (Comite Gestor da Internet no lowed to "understand" and for the masses that could cost as low as $300. Brasil) is the national regulator communicate between each committee for the Internet in Bra- The new PCs will be going first to schools, other using the specific time zil. zone. The software for use with the libraries, health posts and community International Allicheap PC will be ready only in ance institutions and clubs. May, according to CG's officials. After the free-fall of Since there's no hard drive, the PAULO REBEL° many American and Euroapplications must use a 16 MB pean dotcom companies, flash memory card. Of course, it Brazil ' s time has come. Sevwon't be a Microsoft Windows or eral Brazilian dotcoms any kind of paid software. The started firing its employees, project will use free, public-domain software, inespecially Globo.com, which fired more cluding an Internet browser and a word processor. than half of its staff. Globo.com is the Sergio Campos, project coordinator of the PPC, Internet arm of Globo TV, Brazilian explains that the secret of low costs is to "dismiss largest TV network and the fourth largthe superfluous, like hard drives, floppy and CDest in the world right after ABC, CBS ROM." According to Campos, the PPC doesn't have and NBC. any structural difference from an ordinary computer Things seem a little greener at and people may upgrade it with any components UOL's garden. Universo Online (aka they wish. UOL) is the biggest ISP in Brazil and The operating system is Linux custom packLatin America, with more than 900.000 age (still in development by UFMG) with subscribers who pay for its services and Xwindows, KDE and basic applications as a content. UOL (www.uol.com.br) has browser, word processor, spreadsheet and others. made a deal with PT Multimidia (aka How it will fit in 16 MB, no one exactly knows. What PTM), an arm of Portugal Telecom, is known, tough, is that users will be encouraged to which includes a possible incorporation use the Internet for all their needs: e-mail, personal of Zip.Net (www.zip.net), which is condocuments, file storage etc. Not much different from trolled by PTM. Zip.Net was born in the NetPC proposed in the US years ago. 1998 from a free e-mail initiative in Brazil and the whole portal While many believe Brazil has several more social needs was sold in February/2000 to the Portuguese for $365 million. than providing computers for the masses, others are categoriThe fusion between UOL and Zip.Net is yet to be decided cal in supporting the initiative that could decrease the clamor- and, until now, no one has been dismissed. According to UOL's ous digital divide in Brazil and increase the Internet use. The officials, only time - and the market - will say if both portals program has created a partnership with state bank Caixa will continue to act independently or not. Economica Federal. Thanks to this the machine may be bought Paulo Rebel° (rebeloaginx.ned is a staff writer at in 24 installments—about $15 each month. Webinsider - www.webinsider.com.br
A PC in every desk
20 BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
Traveling with a Purpose Travelers will soon be able to work the ground at a farming settlement in Rio Grande do Sul. They are already able to meet the turtles of the Tamar project and to explore Fernando de Noronha, an archipelago that is a National Marine Preserve. REBECCA ORCZ ECK Brazil's cultured paradise, with its destination cities and tropical jungles, isn't new to the international jet-setter. Recently though, it has been coming into focus as a hot spot for family vacations, honeymoons, and adventure travel. A unique aspect of adventure travel is socio-ecological travel, a fast-growing trend. This travel with a purpose concentrates on education, respect, and preservation of a culture, living creature, or land—or any combination of the three. Starting immediately, nontraditional travelers will be able to work the ground and steep themselves in tradition at a farming settlement in Brazil's southern state, Rio Grande do Sul. An affordable tour package will soon be offered through travel agencies in North and South America and Europe. No, it's not a new eco-tourist outfit. It's a Brazilian national movement, Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra(MST) or Landless Workers Movement. Founded in 1984, MST is structured in 23 of Brazil's states— a number that may quickly increase with the country's growing movement. Their purpose is to take barren, unprofitable land
BRAZZIL APRIL 2031
parcels and esta es and work them into successful agricultural settlements. Ap roximately 60 percent of Brazil's farmland is empty or unuse , yet over 25 million citizens labor in temporary agriculture obs with no promise of feeding their family in the days and w eks to come. The MST's nswer to this is to take land reform into their own hands, seiing land first, waiting for government-recognized deeds sec nd. This mission is met with much controversy and sometimes bloodshed, but it is not without remarkable benefits to its m mbers. Over 250,000 families now have stakes in MST-owned farming communities, thus enabling them to provide themse yes with a steady supply of food and, not surprisingly, their iwn society. In an effort t maximize the world community's awareness of their organization, MST members are expanding their settlements and preparing for dealing with tourists. Several thousand people already visit their communities, with reasons ranging from curiosity to education to political affiliations. These visitors have interfered with the farms daily operations, but given its leaders the valuable idea to market the tours. In no way are the tours intended to provide funding for the entire organization, but they certainly will provide a welcome financial boost for their foundering profits. Or possibly the vacation of a lifetime! Save the Turtles Lining the coast of Brazil is an adventure awaiting animal lovers. The internationally known Tamar project, a sea turtle preservation program, has twenty-one stations in eight of the country's states. Several of the stations have Visitors Centers open to the publ c, offering tourist attractions, stores, museums, and, of course, the turtles themselves. The Tamar project's main reason for opening Visitors Centers is to educate people about the ever-present and growing threat to sea turtles. One of the focal reasons Brazil's sea turtles are endangered is the use of fishing nets, both legal and illegal. If one of the creatures becomes caught in a net, it is prevented from surfacing for air, and erishes. Modern development is also a threat to sea turtles; a ificial light and shadows from nearby buildings confuse th m and upset the sand temperature crucial for proper nesting. In 1980, a c astal survey of Brazil determined that enough was not being d ne to save the sea turtles. The Green, Loggerhead, Hawksbi 1, Olive Ridley, and Giant turtles were being 21
exposed to pollution, fishing nets, development, and unnatural predators. Something had to be done. That's when Tamar stepped in and formed its conservation stations. They were a community effort; local residents thoroughly explored the issue and were educated on environmental concerns. The group got off to a slow start, but gradually won the public's trust, building a very successful preservation program. Today Tamar assists in the safe release of thousands of baby sea turtles. Turtle lovers and environmental enthusiasts can go to the Visitors Centers to learn more about the history of Tamar and its ongoing environmental education and conservation programs. Far from Civilization
Fernando de Noronha, or Island of the Forbidden, is for the traveler who wants to take in the sights and sounds of a remote tropical island that happens to be a National Marine Sanctuary. Just a little over two hundred miles from Brazil's coastal state of Rio Grande do Norte, the small vacation spot has little more to offer than sparkling, clear water perfect for diving and an elaborate marine ecosystem perfect for an educational family vacation. Fernando de Noronha is an archipelago consisting of twenty-one small volcanic-matter islands. The islands are actually partially submerged mountains, part of the long MidAtlantic underwater mountain range. The main island, population approximately one-thousand, five hundred people, is diminutive at seven square miles. The limited space provides a calm, unhurried feeling. The island's capacity for tourists is restricted to four-hundred and twenty people daily. You won t be seeing rowdy groups of teenagers in sports-cars either; there are no rental cars on Fernando de Noronha—unless you count the dune buggies!
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Aside from the tranquil atmosphere, the main draw to this little paradise is abundant marine life. Over two-hundred fish species, both native and migratory, swim the warm waters. They are not alone, though. As you explore the underwater caves and rock formations that house a wide variety of sharks, crustaceans, mollusks, and coral you will discover why most of the archipelago was declared a National Marine Preserve. Divers will usually encounter a huge group of playful spinner dolphins in the afternoon. If you choose to take a boat tour of the islets chances are good that you will have the opportunity to see the dolphins too. The Tamar project has a station here and you can watch baby sea turtles being released into their natural habitat. Any animal lover would have a great time here! If splashing in the water isn't what attracts you, find beauty in the island itself. Following the volcanic landscape, hike the coastline to see the sparkling ocean shooting high into the air through blowholes and watch the many protected birds. Along the way you will find imported banana, guava, papaya, and tamarind trees. You might also come across an innocent—looking bush called burra leiteira, but don t touch! It has an acidic sap that can seriously burn your skin. Fernando de Noronha is an idyllic cast-away island, with crystal waters, a rich ecosystem, and a slow, quiet lifestyle. This gem in the Atlantic isn't so much an activist's dream, but a great vacation with an eco-twist. For more information on traveling with a purpose, visit your favorite travel website and search for adventure travel. Have a great trip! Rebecca Orczeck, a freelance writer and Internet content developer, creates her own adventure trips, kayaking rivers and hiking rainforests at her home in Hawaii. She can be reached at brcjo@prodigy.net
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BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
A small boy Jaboticabal, state of Sao Paulo, had a dream. His name was Odetto Guersoni, and he was a second generation Brazilian of Italian descent. He loved the town of his birth, and neighboring Mo ite Alto where he had grown up. But he had greater plans for ife. He kept reading voraciously and learning. Then he hankered for seeing more, for traveling, and for visiting places, other countries, the world. Being skilled with his hands, he taught himself to draw and design leaves, flowers, fruits, animals, shapes. And people. Yet he felt he needec much more learning than he was getting. He had to discover the hows, the whys, and the wherefores of everything.. So it happen d that on a certain day, after finishing his basic studies, the tall, tinny, gangly 17-year Odetto boarded a woodburning, smoky, narrow gauge train to Sao Paulo, the capital of the eponymous tate. There he found a powerful magnet, the Lyceum of Arts land Crafts, where he enrolled. After the turioil and the shock waves eddying out from the U. S. Great Dep ession, Sao Paulo was beginning to shake off its idyllic provincial looks, with its cobblestones and gas lamps. After playing secondfiddle to glitzy Rio de Janei ro for many years, Sampa-city launched on the sly a momentous economic, financial, and social revolution of its own. The former King Coffee had just been dethroned and there had been hard times all over Latin America. The Black Gold of yore, source of so much wealth, had made many millionaires, the socalled coffee barons. New industry was expanding astronomically and the nouveaux riches got even The art market exOdetto Guersoni's w rks grace a richer. panded as the Paulistas travlarge number of ga leries and eled to Europe and America and acquired more refined museums. He is often approached appetites and tastes. At the same time, foreign corporato illustrate mag zine and tions were getting onto the loop. The call for workers, newspaper stories. B t he is still craftsmen, and artists of all the soft-spoken, g ntle, mild- kinds, gifted with skills and talents grew and got more demannered, helpful, generous, manding. Guersoni had no of knowing it at the time, caring man who arr ved in Sao way but he was part and parcel of a new urban civilization that Paulo more than 50 y ars ago. was blossoming all around him. He was a full-time protagonist being born. WILSON VELLOSO For sure, black slaves from Africa had planted and nurtured untold millions of en, at long last, they were freed, they were recoffee trees. placed by imm grants. Little by little, the pride in King Coffee faded. No long r there was any point in boasting that if Sao Paulo State coffee tre s were placed online, that imaginary line would extend all the ay to the moon. At least to the moon. The funeral of King Coffe was how another fetish of the Brazilian hubris bit the dust. Guersoni ad chosen the Lyceum for its reputation of a hallmark sch • 1 in Sao Paulo and its excellent, devoted and progressive fa ulty. Attending it was no picnic. It was four long years of hard ork, hands on work, much lecturing, much reading, much sear hand research. When he graduated in 1945, with a diploma in P inting and Decorative Arts, he had a profession
Renaissance Man ad Arti t
BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
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that made him capable of earning a living. Even before graduating, he worked parttime in a big downtown store, dressing windows, designing advertisements and overseeing the cutting of stencils for direct mail advertising. On weekends and whenever he had some leisure, he worked on his art, always searching and experimenting. For more than two years Guersoni struggled to produce art that would sell. But the market was still too restricted, provincial and tightfisted, and the few artists who managed to live on art were "classical," or "academic," as they were called in Brazil. Yet they welcomed the new arrival in their studios and even gave him a few pointers for the paintings he insisted on doing on weekends, in the gardens and parks of the city. Then, in 1947, out of the blue he had a stroke of unbelievable luck. He entered a contest for the selection of an artist able and willing to teach drawing at the National Industrial Apprenticeship Service (SENAI). He sweated the competition out and won the position and he joined SENAI, which would be his working home for 25 years. Thus he planted his feet on solid professional ground. No more anguish about paying the rent and putting food on the table. And he was doing what he loved! Indeed, he did so well that in 1948, one year later, the French government gave him a scholarship to study in Paris and in Europe. He worked as a student in the ateliers of some of the topnotch artists then residing in Paris. He also studied at the Grande Chaumiere Academy and had works of his accepted by the Salon Officiel des Beaux Arts. Then he toured most European museums. At 24, Guersoni had arrived as an artist. He got recognition for his work at SENAI helping many young people to develop their skills and talents and find better paid jobs in industry and business in the ever growing Paulista economy. SENAI reciprocated its staffer's good services. When approached by the International Labor Organization (ILO) of Geneva, to nominate a Brazilian for a study grant it offered, SENAI selected Guersoni for his performance, merits, and abilities. It was his chance to inhale international art even more deeply and learn with the masters. He interned in several graphic arts schools and in the College d'Art Graphique Estienne. In Paris he also began his apprenticeship as a printmaker in the famous Atelier 17, under the English grand master Stanley W. Hayter. It was learning that would bloom and yield fruit in Guersoni 's career. He showed so much promise that in 1955, ILO called him back to Geneva to put together a Program of Drawing Applied to Graphic Arts, marrying arts, crafts, and industry. The program proved so successful that Guersoni took it to Sao Paulo SENAI. Several Latin American countries and Portugal adopted it too. Having begun as a painter practicing what he called "diluted expressionism," Guersoni now felt he should have a go at sculpture. He tried metal and color laminates and had satisfactory results. The final execution of the project pieces was done under his supervision, with the molds he cut himself, in a metalwork shop. But there is no doubt that the turning point was his invaluable experience of engraving and printmaking under Hayter. It seemed to inspire him. From that point on, the brunt of his activity was engraving. He found it satisfying and rewarding to create new designs, abstract and otherwise, and see shapes blossoming under his fingers and his tools. He experimented endlessly and, as he progressed, he tried even more daringly. It was a fabulous wonder to see how different colors, sizes, inks, different kinds of wood, metal, lino, and papers responded together and contributed to the final results. Gradually he surveyed his path of creation and on it he grew 24
surer and surer. He found that his most productive approach was to draft lightly and swiftly images generated in his subconscious. Alternatively he would choose the awareness of existing shapes, forms, symbols, old and new, sometimes found carved, inscribed, recorded on stone in prehistoric times, or freshly sprouted vegetable forms. However, since his purpose and intent were never the production of historical, pictorial, or legal records, he streamlined them, deconventionali zed them. Thus he arrived at almost unexpected, unrecognizable results. What they lost in identity they gained in rich imagery, in the tenderness and voluptuousness of forms, in the struggle of contrasting elements. As the finished plates are printed, another step of research begins. Once an "organized structure"—squares, rectangles, triangles, circles and disks, ovals, ellipses—is selected, Guersoni repeats the module, sometimes in geometrical multiplications, until he considers he obtained a composition. In other words, his modus operandi is a process of juxtaposition of forms. In his own words, "the conception of the whole takes off from an idea.. .As the work advances, many changes crop up, either by hazard or by analysis. Then the procedure turns into a game.. .The most exciting and exhausting part of the work is the seemingly endless series of printing proofs. Only they tell me what possibilities there are, Analysis? Selection? Each little detail matters..." As technology offers new media, tools, equipment, canvas, and printing papers to artists in general, and printmakers in particular, results blossom in many directions. Like when flat surfaces are sought. Once upon a time, Odetto worked experimentally with lithography but abandoned it, as lithographic printing is costly and increasingly hard to come by. In the past, Guersoni has worked on metals—copper, brass, zinc—used either as the engraving surface or as bases for the wooden surface to be engraved. Nowadays he concentrates most specifically on woods, including several whose texture, grains and streaks have to be taken in consideration for the overall effect. He also works on plywood and tightly pressed wood layer boards such as Duratex. A visit to Guersoni atelier in Sao Paulo (in a building within walking distance from his home) may take many hours, so wide is the variety of proofs of old wood blocks, works in progress, presses, and all the paraphernalia of the trade, including an impressive array of burins, chisels, gravers, carving knives, Japanese knives, knives (with oddly shaped blades such as pen, punch, B-clip, long clip, Turkish clip, spear, saber, Great Western, long spey, budding, sheepfoot, Wharncliffe, spoon, J chisel, fishtail, backaroni, edge, parting tools, etc), gouges, awls, punches, bodikins, wood hammers and mallets, jigsaws. A lay person cannot even begin to dream of all that he/she is going to find in BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
an printmaker's studio! As an old friend to Guersoni and his wife Haydee Gomes, the author was treated to a step by step demonstration of printmaker's art: 1. He chose a 30-cm piece of wood board with its surface ready to be worked on and carved on it a few lines with chisel and hammer. 2. Now he shifted to show how printing was done. 3. From scores of finished wood boards he picked one looking like a disk from which a 50-degree wedge had been cut off. 3. He cleaned it and placed it on apaper topped worktable. 4. He repeated the action with 3 other pieces of board somewhat similar in their shapes. 5. Using a printer's roll, he carefully and evenly spread a blob of printing ink on the shapes. For time's sake, he used only one color and simplified the process. He could have chosen to combine colors and hues at will but that would have taken more exertion. 6. The four pieces were placed on the flat bed of a manual press and arranged together harmoniously. 7. A big art size (20 x 30 inches = 56 x 77 cm) sheet of paper was gently and accurately put on the inked shapes and covered with a sort of soft padding, 8. A hand-cranked wheel over the press bed pulled the bed and made it pass surely and evenly under the upper cushioned roll of the press, which forced the paper against the shapes and produced a print. No job for amateurs. Even seasoned printers like Guersoni occasionally get prints that are not up to standard. Then, the sheet can only be saved as scrap paper or scrapped outright. As an established artist, Guersoni often uses an electric press, which has a higher output but requires more setup work. And, of course, after a few prints are ready, the shapes have to be re-inked, depending on the number of prints desired. In case of woodcuts, domestic made printing paper may be used without a problem. In case of deep-etched metal plates, expensive German-made ("Hahnemiihle") or French-made ("Rives" and "Arches") paper has to be used. For extra fancy work, Guersoni utilizes the "Lunar" Japanese paper, whose special texture adds beautiful effects to the prints. Obviously, the most important element in printmaking is the "matrix," the plate or block in which the design is made by the artist. But printing with loving care, by an expert printer who knows what his doing, is almost as important. To obtain his fantastic, almost magical prints, he runs the same matrix, with the same colors on the same sheet of paper. Sometimes, the secret is to use a "transparent clear" mixed into the inks. When the paper goes again through the press, sheet after sheet, the resulting effect is of a kind of veiling which translates in unusual combinations of tints and tones. Guersoni says that this "transparent clear" is also called "colorless mass" and is used in industry to thicken inks and paints. He also teaches me that a framed print becomes a "module" that is ready for display. In the present economic juncture, the Brazilian market for engravings is just so so, says Guersoni. It has been much better. For paintings and sculptures the market is fairly good and it grows by the day. The most sought for objects d'art are definitely the modern ones. That is also the rule in the case of prints. "I always succeed in selling my modern work," says Guersoni. Becoming a bestseller print depends on a number of factors, among which the artist's ability of "taking the market's pulse" then choosing the themes, colors, papers. Customers seldom make personal requests. By and large the purchasers accept the artist's preferences. "In the 70's, 80's and 90's I sold a lot of prints. Even then, it was never quite enough to cover all expenses. My salary as a SENAI teacher, and Haydee's salary as an advertising woman helped us to maintain a fairly high standard of living. We have no complaints. We have been smart enough (perhaps lucky enough), to invest our savings in banking and real estate operations. It really helped. "Haydee collaborated a great deal. She nurtured my artistic career. She helped considerably with her practical business sense. She got to know very well the ins and outs of the art world, which is extremely complex. "She is, and has always been, my ideal companion through thick and thin, and an excellent, organized, observant, and realBRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
istic travel mate 'n the dozens of trips we took together. "Because she realized that under Brazilian law she couldn't take more leave t an it allowed, she resorted to a fine trick. She would resign. Of course, she was also sure that she was such a good account ex utive that the agency would always rehire her on return." Haydee and I detto live in a beautifully furbished apartment in one of sao Pa lo main avenues, perhaps a little too busy for comfort. Securit is stern with no dodges allowed. It does not rely on newfangled t chnology that keeps failing at the worst moments. They lead a s renuous social life and they enjoy it. They go to many vernissages, penings of most art exhibits in town, are invited to art fairs, conce ts, dances, civic events, family festivities. Until t a datcha in Yolanda' s Garden, a suburban recently they kec mmunity where several other artists reside. It limited-access was a serene oasi on top of a hill near Sao Paulo with a comfortable brick built r nch house, a sculpture garden, a great variety of flowers and f it trees, and a tantalizing view of the distant Sao Paulo skyline, s metimes wrapped up in fog. Odetto and aydee Guersoni are trustees and members of several art organ zations, are time and time again invited to judge nd are well-liked, indeed loved, by their many art competitions friends and asso iates. They are in tune with the world they live in, and he strives o be an interpreter of that world. Both are deeply interested in pol tics, new initiatives, new ideas, new business ventures. They ave no complaint with how the media and the media critics pr ss have dealt with Odetto over the years. Many media art critics have joined their circle of admirers. Several Br zilian cultural organizations have inserted samples of Gue soni's art in their websites. He has accepted to participate pers • nally on the sites, but so far the result is slim, he says. As a hick f om way back, Odetto reacts to the Internet with Missouran susp cion: "Show me!" He has sho what he can do and every day goes to his studio to work and ex eriment with new ideas, compositions, techniques, material, devices and put them to the test. He is very much present in the cu ural picture of the day. Recently, MMC Recordings launched a ew album of contemporary erudite music by U.S. composer John I owney, played by the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra and t e Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, illustrated by ersoni. He has won many awards, some of which are listed in the ox below. He has had a long series of one-man shows, and parti ipated in as many collective exhibitions (sample below). His wo ks grace a large number of galleries and museums, homes an offices all over. He is often approached to design and illustr te special magazine and newspaper stories. No part of that has one to his head, filling it with vapors of selfimportance. He is still the soft-spoken, gentle, mild-mannered, helpful, genero s, caring man who arrived in Sao Paulo more than 50 years ago to conquer the city. And he did it—graciously! Haydee's d Odetto's friends know where to go to find them and pour their li ye on them. And the Guersonis reciprocate that love by assistin them to find joy and fulfillment in that noisy, dynamic, and o erpopulated (about 18 million!) city of Sao Paulo. (Assistance in technical terminology by B arbara J. Robb, art consultant) •
SOME OF ODETTO GUERSONI'S AW RDS & SHOW PARTICIPATIONS AWARDS
1951 Sao P ulo Salon of Modern Art, Silver Medal 1952 sao P ulo SENAI Art Salon, First Prize, Printmaking 1953 sao P ulo Salon of Modern Art, (Purchase) Prize 1963 Sao P ulo Salon of Modern Art, Gold Medal 1971 Sao Pr ulo XI Biennale, Itamaraty Foreign Office (Purchase) Prize 1972 Capr,, Italy, Contemporary International Woodcut 25
Triennale, Gold Medal 1975 Sao Paulo XIII Biennale, Itamaraty Foreign Office (Purchase) Prize 1975 Punta del Este, Uruguay, I River Plate Basin Printmakers' Encounter, Pascual Gaitas Prize 1982 Maracaibo, Venezuela Printmaking Biennale, Carlos Suehos Prize 1992 Valparaiso, Chile, International Art Biennale (Purchase) Prize ONE-MAN SHOWS 1949 Sao Paulo, Alliance Francaise 1950 Sao Paulo, U.S. Brazil Cultural Union 1953 Sao Paulo, Folklore & Craftsmanship Gallery 1958, 1961, 1962 Folha de S. Paulo Art Gallery 1960 New York NY, Sudamerica Gallery 1953 Rio de Janeiro, Museum of Modern Art 1964 Porto Alegre, Gallery of Art of Rio Grande do Sul 1969 & 1983 Santos SP, U.S. Brazil Cultural Center 1981 Washington, D.C., Organization of American States Gallery 1971 John Downey House, Milwaukee WI 1971 Osaka, Japan, Fugibe Gallery 1973, 1975, 1977, 1980, & 1983, Sao Paulo, Alberto Buonfiglioli Gallery 1974 Sao Paulo, Anhembi Park, FENIT Industrial Arts Show 1975 Sao Paulo, Kodak Cultural Center 1975 & 1979 Montevideo, Uruguay, Karlen Gugelmeyer Gallery 1978 Porto, Portugal, Superior School of Fine Arts 1994 Sao Paulo, S. Paulo State Pin acotheca, 50 Years in the Artist's Career COLLECTIVE SHOWS 1938 Peintres et Graveurs Etrangers, Paris Salon of Fine Arts /11.948 Le Salon, New York Palace, Paris //1951 through 1968
Sao Paulo Salon of Modern Art//1953, 1955, 1963, 1965, 1969 & 1971 Sao Paulo Biennales//1955 Lugano, Switzerland, MAM Rio de Janeiro, MAM S. Paulo Incisioni e Disegni Brasiliani 1955, 1957 & 1959 National Salon of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro//1957 Berlin Germany Grafik aus Brasilien Show //1968 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Historical Museum Janeiro, Brazilian Printmaking//11968 1971 Bradford, England British International Print Biennale//1970, 1972, 1974,1977 & 1981 San Juan, Puerto Rico, US, Bienal del Grabado Latinoamericano//1971 Lausanne, Switzerland, Graveurs Bresiliens 1 11 971, 1974,1977 & 1980 Sao Paulo Museum of Modern Art, Panorama of Brazilian Printmaking/11971 Ljubljana, Y ugoslaviaPrintmaking Festival 1 /1972 Oslo, Norway Printmaking Biennale //1972 & 1973 Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Taipei, Bangkok Traveling Exhibition111976 Florence, Italy V International Graphic Arts Biennale//1976 & 1977 Washington D.C. and 8 other U.S.Cities, Organization of American States, Contemporary Printmakers of the Americas/ /1977 Sao Paulo Museum Lazar Segall, The 40's Show//l 979 Buenos Aires, Argentina, First Latin American Print Triennale 1 /1980 Miami US International Print Biennale//1981 Cali, Colombia, Fourth Graphic Arts Biennale of the Americas//i982 Montevideo, Uruguay, First Ibero American Biennale//1983 Bogota, Colombia, Six Brazilian Artists//I 985 Ottawa, National Library of Canada, Three Brazilian Artists//1985 Buenos Aires, Argentina, Praxis Gal lery,EightBrazilian Artists/11987 Brasilia, Brazil First Latin American Festival of Art and Culture//1991 Valparaiso, Chile, International Art Biennale //1994 Sao Paulo Brazil Twentieth Century. Wilson Velloso is a veteran Jack of all trades who has practiced several of them in Brazil—where he was born of Spanish parentage—Argentina, the UK, and Canada. He is an American citizen by choice since 1955, was chief of press at the Organizaton of American States in Washington DC and has been writing on and off for Brazzd since 1995. He can be reached, sometimes, at vewilson@3oaks.com
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I'll make a tell somethi Don't provo Alaide. I shou bride! You're a The only man I love never married my sweethearts. But meyer had your impudence. NeL soNuipracaufa THIRD oF THREE PARTS
BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
(Sai. Lucia senta-se na banqueta. Luz no piano da alucinacaq.) ALAIDE (evocariva)—Voce foi apunhalada por urn colegial. CLESSI (admirada)--Quer di zer q ue Ltici a e a mul he r de veu sao a mesma pessoa! ALAIDE (sempre evocativa)--...urn menino de 17 anos matou voce. (abstrata) 27 de novembro de 1905. Ate a data eu guardei! CLESSI (doce)—Irmas e se odiando tanto! Engracado—eu acho bonito duas irmis annando o mestno homem! N5° sei—mas a.cho!.. ALAIDE—Voce a.cha'? CLESSI (a serio)—Acho. (Som dederrapagem. Umgritodemulher. Arnbulancia. Personageps imoveis.) ALAIDE--Mais bonito é ser tassassinada por um menino. Urn colegial! (noutro torn) Ele usava uniforme caqui? CI ,IRSSI(doceeevocativa)—Dedia, sim. Denoite. nao. ALAIDE—Eu queria ter amado urn menino. 0 seu tinha 17 anos? (a outra confirma) Devia ser muito brasier). CLESSI (inquieta)--Seria tao born que cada pessoa mortapudessever as proprias feicOes! Eu fiquei muito feia? ALAIDE-0 reporter disse que nao. Disse que voce estava linda CLESSI (impressionada)—Disse mesmo? Mas... (pausa,comoolharextraviado)Eo Who no rosto? (abstrata) Umapunhaladanorosto naoepossivel ! Foi naval hada, rão foi? (Noutro torn) Eu queria tanto me ver morta! (Aproxima-se dos cirios. Hesita. A mulher inatual faz que levaraa urn invisivel lenco a cobrir urn invisivel rosin.) CLESSI (espantada)—Gente morta conao fical... (Foge corn Alaide. A mulher inatual comenta corn Os companheiros do veledo.) MULHER INATUAL--Parece sonir. HOMEM DE BARBA (corn urn gesto imenso e rrn torn profundo)—Quern morre descansa. MULHERINATUAL-0 senhor C espirita? HOMEM DE BARBA (corn urn gest() ainda mais amplo)—Respeito todas as religiOes. (Pausa. Os dois ajoelham-se, faz,em o sinal da cruz e levantam-se.) MULHER INATUAL (ajeitando qua] quer coisa no vestido)—Eu acho que you-me embora. HOMEM DE BARBA (depois de olhar para o lado e faunesco)—Já? MULHER INATUAL—F, tarde. HOMEM DE BARBA (olhando outra vez pant os lados) Mora longe? WEBER INATUAL--Assim. assim. Mas o lugar é muito escuro. Fico corn receio. HOMEM DE BARBA (concupiscente)—Posso acompanha-la. MULHER INATUAL--Nao vale a pena. HOMEM DE BARBA (corn urn novo gesto)--Eu ia sair mesmo. MULHER INATUAL--Ah, entao... (A mulher vai ao invisivel caixao e faz o sinal dac Sal corn o homem de barba.) HOMEM DE BARBA (grave, prolundo e pau.sado)— Alias eu sou contra mulher andar sozinha tao tarde. (0 moco romantico, indignado, passa pelt) invisiN el cadaver, faz urn rapido sinal da cmz e segue adiante. Já ia sair, quando bate na testa, lembrando-se dos cirios. Volta e apanhadois cirios; o homem de b arba faz o rnesmo. Tre vas. Luz no piano da alucinacao. Pedro c Al aide, de noivos, ajoelhados diante da cruz. Projetor solar vertical. Disco de Ave-Maria, como de Rosa Pancelle.) VOZ DE LUCIA (microfone, em crescendo)—Eu ' dalo. Se eu disser uma coisa que sei!... Nilo me faco escart desafie, Alaide! Eu e que devia ser a noiva! Voce e urn monsh o! 0 Critic° homem queeu amei! N Inca me casei corn os seus namorados! 0 que eu nab tive foi seu impudor! (Ave-Mariaarenuada.Derwente suraeLticia,correndo, vestida de noiva.) LUCIA—Pedro! ALAIDE—Voce? PEDRO--Ah, voce, Lucia! Ate que enfim! (Lucia abraca-se a .Pedro. Ealarn-se quase boca dorn
LUC IA—Demorei meu filho, porque custei a encontrar a linha branc.a. ALAIDE—Onde e que voce achou? LUCIA--Na comoda. Estava na gaveta de baixo. ALAIDE (triunfante)—Eu nao disse?! Eu tinha posto la! PEDRO (cinico)—Se voce chegasse urn pouquinho mais tarde, o casamento teria se realizado! LUCIA (desprendendo-sedePedro,gritando, corn o punho erguido, como na saudacao comunistai--Eu ê que devia ser a noival... ALAIDE (excitadissima, tambem corn o punho erguido)—Mentirosa! Sua mentirosa! Roubei seu namorado e agora ele e meu! SO meu! LUCIA (corn o punho erguido)—Confessou. Ate que enlim! Pelo menos, diga, bore: "Roubei o namorado de Lircia!!!..." ALAIDE (perturbada)—Nao digo nada! Nao quern! (Trevas.) CLESSI (microfone, bem lenta)—Duas noiv as! Interessante—duas noiv as! Masquefoique disse o padre, quando Ltacia aparecm? Renda da Bel g lea. voce mandou buscar. Quantocustou? Nab digs. Deixa N'er se eu adivinho? Aposto que foi... mais ou menos... (Luz no alto de uma das escadas laterals, no piano da real idade. Pedro, corn roupa normal, falando corn o medico de servico. Projetor vertical sobre os dois.) PEDRO (comovido)—Eu me chamo Pedro Moreira. MEDICO—Pois nao. PEDRO (cornovido)—Sou o rnarido dessa senhora que esta send° operada. MED ICO—Caso de atropelamento, nao foi? PEDRO (corn angastia)—Sim, doutor. Foi a tmpel ada n a G lOri a. So ainda agora e queeu soube. Telefonarantparaoescritorio. (expectante)Oestado dela- --qual C, doutor? Muito grave? MEDICO (reticente)—Bern, o estado dela nao e born. PEDRO (patetico)---Naae born? (noutro tom) Mas ha esperanca? MEDICO—Sempre ha esperanca. Esta-se fazendo tudo. PEDRO (agoniado)—E ela sofreu mit°, doutor? MEDIC 0--N ao. Nada Chegou emestado de ehoque. Nem vai sof rer nada PEDRO (chocado) Estado de choque? E isso para o acidentado e uma fel icidade. Uma grande coisa A pessoa Ina° sente nada--nada. (Trevzis. Desce o pano rapidamente.) F1M DO SEGUNDO ATO TERCEIRO ATO (Corneca o terecim ato corn o teatmemtrevas: Clessi e Alaide ao microfone.) CLF'SSI(micmfone)—Talvez vocenaotenha assassinado seu marido. ALAIDE (microfone) Mas eu me lembro! Era corn um I erro-- bati na base do cranio! Aqui. CLESSI (microfone)—Asvezes,podetersido sonho! ALAIDE (microfone, corn urn acento dol oroso)—Sonho—sera? Estou corn acabeca tab virada!Podeserquetudo tenhaficado so na vontade! CLESSI (microfone)—Entao aconteceu o que, na igreja? (Lu z no piano damemOria. Estao Clessi eoseu namorado vestidos S maneira de 1905.) ALAIDE (rnicrofone)—Estou semprecom a ideia que seu namorado tinha a cara de Pedro! Clessi c Pedro sentados, num recamier.) CLESSI (corn o mesmo vestido, mas sem chap:',u)---Quer ver meus coelhinhos no quintal? 27
NAMORADO (frio)—Nao. CLESSI (meiga)—Tern uns tao bonitos! (levantam-se os dois. Ele olha- a, depois senta-se de costas para ela. Clessi anda e volta) CLESSI (corn impaciencia e dengue)—Ih! Voce é crianca demais! NAMORADO—E o que voce pensa! CLESSI (sentando-se, languida)—Entaonao e? NAMORADO (corn raiva concentrada)— Voce acha que eu sou? CLESSI (corn lang. u idez)—Aceitou dinheiro de mim! (provocadora) Nao queria, mas aceitou! NAMORADO (atonito)—Mas foi voce que botou no meu bolso! Insistiu! CLESSI—Estou brincando, bobo! Aquilo nao tern nada demais! NAMORADO (levantando-se)—Voce brinca assim c,ornigo e um dia... CLESSI (brincando)—Voce me bate! NAMORADO (serio)—Clessi... CLESSI—Senta aqui! NAMORADO (sentando-se)—(baixo) Sabe o que é que a gente podia fazer? CI INS' (acariciando-o nos rohelos)-0 que? NAMORADO--Adivinhe. CLESSI--Diga. NAMORADO (baixo)—Monerjuntos. (face a face, os dois) Vamos? CLESSI (sonhadora)—Voce se parece tanto como meufilho quemorreu! Ele finha 14 anos, mas tao desenvolvido! NAMORADO (sUplice)—Quer? CLESSI (meiga)-01he assim. (pausa, contemplacao) Os olhos dele! Direitinho! (Trevas. Disco de denspagem, grito, ambulancia. Luz no piano da alucinacao. Pedro, Alaide e Lficia de noivas. Cruz.) LUCIA (furiosa, punhoerguido)—Digabem alto, paratodoo mundoouvir: "Roubei o namorado de Lucia." ALA1DE,—Digo, sim! LUCIA—Diga, quero ver! ALAIDE (em alto e born som)—Roubei o namorado de Lucia! LUCIA (excitada)—Viu, Pedro! Ela disse! Nao teve vergonha de dizer! ALAIDE (agressiva)—Digo quantas vezes quiser! PEDRO (cinico)—Briguem a vontade! Nao faz mal! ALAIDE (repreensiva)—Voce nao devia dizer isso, Pedro. E cinismo. LUCIA (sardOnica)--Mas oh! So agora voce soube que ele era cinico! Me admira muito! ALAIDE (dolorosa)--Sempre soube. LUCIA (corn desprezo)--Entao por que firou Pedro de mim? ALAIDE—Voce sempre corn esse negocio de tirou—tirou! (num transporte) ECaobomtiraro namorado das outras. (ironica) Entao de uma irma... LUCIA (v ang I ori ando-se)— Voce continua pensando que ele é so seu? ALAIDE—Penso, nao. E. LiJCIA.—.15. Die disse que é de nos duas, minha filha! Nao quer acreditar—melhor! PEDRO (para Lacia)—Voce nao devia dizer isso! Alaide nao precisava saber! ALA1DE (patetica)—Mas agora sei. Chegou tarde a recomendagao. (Entra a mde das duas. Vem-se abanando.) ALAIDE (excitada)—Foi born a senhora ter chegado,,mamae! D.LIGIA (sempredeleque)—Brigandooutra vez! LUCIA (acusadora)—E ela, mamae! 28
ALAIDE (indignada)—Eu? Ainda tern coragem!... Mamae eles estao desejando a minha morte! D. LIGIA—Tire isso da cabega, minha filha. Voce nao ve logo! ALAIDE (patetica)—Quandoeu morrer, eles vao-se casar, mamae! Tenho certeza! PEDRO--Voce parece doida, Alaide! ALAIDE (para Liacia)—Diga agora o que voce disse de mamae! LUCIA (virando-lhe as costas)—Quer me intrigar corn marnae! (para Alaide) Nao adianta! D. LIGIA (abanando-se)—Vamos acabar corn isso! E feio! ALAIDE (corn escarnio)—Ela esti corn medo! (para Lucia) Nao quer dizer? LUCIA (resoluta)—Digo, sim. E muito simples. Eu disse... MADE (ironica)—Perdeu a coragem? PEDRO (olhando em tomo)—Nao tern cadeira. Entao vou-me ajoelhar. Ajoelhar tambem descansa. (Ajoelha-se diante da cruz.) D. LIGIA (repreensiva)—Voce precisa respeitar mais a religiao, Pedro! (Evai-sesentar, ao lado de Pedro, decostaspara a cruz.) ALAIDE (para Lticia)--Diz ou nao diz? LUCIA (corn certa relutancia)-0 que eu disse, mamae, é que a senhora... transpira muito. Demais! Pronto! (paraAlaide) Viu comoeu disse? D. LIGIA (abanando-se corn mais forga)— Mas, minhafilha! Voc.etevecoragem... Oh! Lucia! ALAIDE(nasuao5lera) Masnaofoisoisso! (Escurecimento total. Voz de Clessi ao microfone.) CLESSI—Por que voce panou no meu caso, Alaide? (Replica que ninguern ouve.) CUSS' (impaciente)—JA sei! Depois voce conta isso! Mas primeiro minhaconversa com ele! Era tao parecido corn o meu filho, mas tao! E os olhos,Alaide!Aquelejeitodesorrir! Queequetrazia mais o jomal? (Luz no piano da alucinagao.) ALAIDE (cruel)—Eaquelahistoria,"aquilo" que voce disse? D. LIGIA (levantando urn dos bragos e abanando na altura das axilas)—Chega, Alaide! Chega! Uma filha, meu Deus! LUCIA—Aquilo o que? PEDRO (ajoelhado)—Deixe ela dizer, D. Ligia. Esti tao interessante! ALAIDE (agressiva)--Nao se lembra? LUCIA (resoluta)—Agora me lembro! Eu tambem falei, mamae, que quando a senhora comega a transpirar—a senhora e minha mae--mas eu naoposso!Nao estaemmim. Tenho que sair de perto! (Ao mesmo tempo que fal a, aproximase de D. L,igia e senta-se ao seu lado.) ALAIDE (triunfante)--Isso mesmo! Viu, mamae? (Al aide tarnbem vem se sentar, ficando ao lado de Pedro.) (Trevas. Luz sobre namorado e Clessi.) CLESSI (insistente)—Aceite. Nao tern nada de mais isso! Tao natural! NAMORADO (relutante)—Nao. Eu sei como voce 6! CLESSI—Mas seu pai nao tirou a mesada por minha ransa? Entao? (noutro torn) Assim eu fico z,angada! NAMORADO (relutante)—Para depois vocedizer. "aceitodinheiro meu." Pensaque me esquego? CI FRSI—Aquilofoibrincadeira!Pensouque eu estivesse falando serio? NAMORADO (vencido)—Entao depois eu devolvo. So assim. CLESSI—Esta born. Que menino! (noutro
torn) Agora vá, meu filho! NAMORADO (amargo)—Nao precisa me enxotar! Eu you. CLESSI (conciliatoria)—Vocesabeporque! Daqui a pouco o desembargador chega! NAMORADO (enciumado)—Viu? CLESSI—O que? NAMORADO (amargo)—Eu nao tenho nem coragem de reclamar, depois que aceitei coisas de voce. CLESSI (explicando)—Voce sabe que ele urn velho amigo! NAMORADO (animado)—Só isso? Jura! CLESSI (categorica)—Entao!Meconheceu menina! NAMORADO (num repente sinistro)—Eu acabo matando voce por causa desse desembargador! Voce vai ver! (Erni-a a mde do narnorado, vestida a maneira de 1905.) NAMORADO (em panico)—Mamde! (Clessi levanta-se.) MAE (corn raiva concentrada)—Eu bem sabia! Tinha a certeza que voce estava aqui! NAMORADO—A senhora vai fazero que? MAE (autoritaria)—Vá para casa, Alfredo! CLESSI (doce)—Vá. Sua mae esta mandando! (0 namorado sai, depois de tomar a bengal° materna) MAE (num largo gesto, visivelmente caricarnral, tremulona voz)—A senhora quee madame Clessi? CI FSSI (humilde) Sou. A senhora nao quer sentar-se? MAE (em tom de dramalhao)—Nao. Estou bem assim. (exageradissima) Sou a mae de Alfredo Germont. CLESSI (humilde)—Eu sei. MAE (comtremurana voz)—Entao a senhora nao tern consciencia? CLESSI (chocada, mas doce)—Eu? MAE (cada vez mais patetica)—A senhora, sim. Entaso isso se far? Corn uma crianca? CLESSI (suave e do lorosa)—Mas que cul pa tenho eu? MAE--Que culpa! (noutro torn) Um menino, umaverdadeiracrianca, chegandoem casa is duas, tres, quatro horas da manila! A senhora nao ye? (Trevas. Voz de Alaide.) ALAIDE (micnofone)—Mas euestou confund i ndo tudo outra vez, minha Nossa Senhora! Alfredo Germont 6 de uma opera! Traviata. Foi Traviata! 0 pai do rapaz veio pedir satisfagOes mocinha. Como ando corn a cabeo, Clessi! (Luz no piano da memoria. Clessi e Mae do namorado. Tom diferente de representacao, mas ainda caricatural.) CI FSSI(choramingando)—Oolhardaquele homem_despe a gente! MAE (corn absoluta falta de compostura)— Voce exagera, Scarlett! CLESSI—Rett indigno de entrarnuma casa de familia! MAE (cruzando as pemas; incrivel falta de modos)—Ern compensacao, Ashley é espiritual demais. Demais! Assirn tambem nao gosto. CLESSI (chorando, despeitada)—Ashley pediu a rraode Melanie! Vai-se casar com Melanie! MAE (saliente)—Se eu fosse voce, preferia Rett (noutro torn) Cem vezes melhor que o outro! CLESSI (chorosa)—Eu nal° acho! MAE (sensual e descritiva)—Mas 6, minha filha! Voce viu como ele e forte? Assim! Forte mesmo! (Trevas.) ALAIDE (microfone)—Voce esta vendo, Clessi? Outra vez. Penso que estou con tan do o seu caso, contando o que Ii nos jomais daquele tempo sobre o crime, e quando acaba, misturo tudo! Misturo Traviata, ...E o vento levou..., corn o seu assassinio! Incrivel. (pausa) Nao é? BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
ALA1DE--Covarde! Agora esti com medo! (Luz no piano da memoria. Clessi e mae do ela? ALAIDE (como quern se escusa)—Ahl E Mas disse—disse a mim! namorado já em atitude normal.) PEDRO--Mas se ela nega, Alaide! MAE (ameacadora)—E a Ultima vez que eu mesmo! Me esqueci de apresentar! Clessi, Madarne LUCIA (noutra atitude)—Po is disse! Pronto! Clessi! Aqui, meu marido! pergunto. Desiste ou nao desiste? PEDRO (amavel)—A senhora uma que foi Disse! E agora? CLESSI (corn docura)—Pega tudo, tudo, ALAIDE (patetica)—Entao me mate! Po r que assassinada? menos isso. Isso, nao. nao me matam? Estamos sozinhos! Depois voces CLESSI—Pois nao. MAE (agressiva)—Entaovouentregaro caso ALAIDE—Foi,sim. Em 1905. Aquelaqueeu escondem o meu corpo deb ai xo de qualquercoisa! a policia. Al quero ver. (e, a medida que ela fala, os tres se aproximam, CLESSI (sonhadora)—Tenhuchoradotanto! Ihe contei, Pedro. PEDRO--Eu me lembro perfeitamente, 0 juntarn as cabegas) (noutro tom) Nunca tive um amor. Eaprirneiravez. (As cabegas baixam, seguindo o ritmo das namorado era urn colegial, nao e? Deu urna A senhora, se já amou, compreendera. palavras.) punhalada? MAE (perdendo a cabeca)—Indigna! PEDRO (sinistro)—Agora, nao! Tern tempo! CLESSI (sonhadora)—De dia, usava CLESSI (com a mesma dogura)—Eusei que (Quandoele acaba, tem-se a i mpressao plastica sou. Sei (rindo echorando) Se a senhoravisse como uniforme gaqui. De noite, nao. ALAIDE—Agora quer dar licenca, Clessi? de um bouquet de cabegas. Trevas. Luz no piano ele se zanga, quando eu falo no desembargador! da realidade: rumor de f erros cithrgicos.) CLESSI—Claro. MAE (tapandoorostocom amao)—Meufilho 1° MEDICO—Pulso? ALAIDE--Preciso falar corn Pedro uma metido corn uma mulher desmoralizada! 2° MEDICO--Incontavel... Nao reage mais! coisa. Depois chamo voce. Conhecida! 1° MEDICO—Colapso! PEDRO (para Clessi, que sai, cinico)— CLESSI (no mesmo tom de abstragao, senta3° MEDICO—Pronto! se)—Entao quandoeu botodinheiro nobolso dele! Apareca! (Um dos medicos estacobrindo o rosto de uma (Clessi, antes de sair, ainda se vira para ele e MAE—Mentirosa! mulher. Saem os medicos lentamente, urn deles CLESSI (sempre doce)—Ele, tao cheio de cumprimenta.) PEDRO (comsubitairritacao)—Quenegocio tirando a mascara. Marcha FUnebre. Trevas. Luz no dedos para aceitar! esse de vcioce andarfalando com Madame Clessi? piano da al uci nacao. Alaidee Clessi de costas para MAE—Vou falar corn meu marido! ALAIDE (atarantada)—Que é que tern a plateia. Alaide corn urn bouquet, no qual esti (ameacadora) Ah! se isso for verdade! dissimuladoo microfone. Luz no piano da real idade: (Vai saindo, mas Clessi mudadeatitudeegrita demais, meu filho? PEDRO (comveemencia)--Elanaoe direita! botequirn e redacao.) violentamente.) PUVIENTA (berrando)—Morreu a fulana. CLESSI—Olha! (Mae, para, atonita) Voce, Nao quero essas relagees! REPORTER (berrando e tomando nota)— ALAIDE (exaltando-se)—Ela nao é direita! sim! (Aproxima-se, agressiva, damae, que recua, em panico.) Se vier outra vez a minha casa, corro E voce "direito"—e? Voce pensaque eu nao sei Qual? PlIVIENTA—A atropelada da Gloria. de nada? Pensa mesmo? corn voce daqui! REPORTER—Que mais? PEDRO (espantado)—Ndo sabe o que? MAE (as duas, face a face)—(AcovardandoPIMENTA—Chegou aqui em estado de ALAIDE (excitada)—Que voce e Ltic se) Mas que é isso? CLESSI (violenta)—Eu nao sou direita, mas (arnearyadora) Sim, vocee Lucia! Andam desej ando choque. Morreu sem recobrar os sentidos; nao sofreu nada. a minha morte! digo. Nao escondo. Esta ouvindo? Saia, ja! REPORTER—Isso é o que voce nao sabe! PEDRO (virando-lhe as costas)—Voce stá (Sai a mae al armada. Trevas. Luz no piano da PIMENTA—A irma chora tanto! doida. realidade. Redacao e sala de imprensa.) REPORTER—Irma é natural! ALAIDE--Doida, eu! Voce sabe que nao! 1° FULANO (berrando)—Diario! PIMENTA—Urn chuchu! 2° FULANO (berrando)—Me chama o Entao eu nao vejo? REPORTER—Quern? PEDRO (volta aficar de frente)-0 queelque Osvaldo? PIMENTA—A irrna. voce ye? 1° FULANO—Sou eu. (Trevas. Luz no piano da realidade: Lucia e ALAIDE--Voces oochichando! Eu aparecgo 2° FULANO—E Pimento. Toma nota. (sardanica) voces arranjam logo tun assunto Pedro. Dacia chorando. Coroas. Luz tambem no 1° FULANO--Manda. piano ineal.) 2° FULANO--Alaide Moreira, branca, diferente, muito cliferente, ficam tao naturais. ALAIDE.—Quern tera morrido au, naquela PEDRO (ironico)—Voce tern imaginagao, casada, 25 anos. Residencia, Rua Copacabana. casa? minha filha! Olha... CLESSI—Olha! Uma fortuna em fibres! ALAIDE—Dia e noite, desejando clue eu 1° FULANO—Que e? ALAIDE--Enterro de gente rica é assim. 2°FULANO--Essazinhaeirnportante.Gente morra! Eu sei para que e! Para se casarem depois CLESSI—O meu tambem teve mu ita gente, rica. Mulherdaquele carnarada, urn quee industrial, da minha morte! PEDRO (num torn especial)—Entao voce nao teve? Pedro Moreira. ALAiDE--Pelo menos, o jomal disse. acha?... 1° FULANO—Sei, me lembro. Continua. (No piano da realidade.) ALAIDE (numaexcitacao progressiva)fJa 2° FULANO—Afundamento dos ossos da PEDRO (em voz baixa)—Lucia! face. Fratura exposta do bragodireito. Eseoriacoe,s planejaram tudo! Todo o crime! Assassinato em LUCIA (tomando urn choque, levantandodeixar vestigios! generalizadas. Estado gravissitno. PEDRO (sardonico)—Autentico c 'me se)—Que 6? Que horas sao? 1° FULANO—. .. gen e ral izadas. Estado PEDRO-3 horas. perfeito! gravissimo. LUCIA—Fique longe de mim! Nao se CLESSI(microfone)—Quedois!Planej do 2° FULANO-0 chofer fugiu. Nao tomaram aproxime! um crime! o numero. Ainda esti na mesa de operacao. PEDRO--Mas que e isso? ALAiDE(sempreexcitada)—Aindapor a (Trevas. Luz no piano da alucinagao. Estao LUCIA (corn odic) concentrado)—Nunca Alaide e Clessi imoveis. Rumor de derrapagem. se faz de inocente! Mas eu pego voces do s— mais! Nunca mais quero nada corn voce! Juro! direitinho! Deixa estar! Grito de mulher. Ambulancia.) PEDRO--Voceenlouqueceu? 0 quee queeu (Lticiaentra,comoumaaparicao.Vemd luto CLESSI—O que é que ela disse mais no fiz? fechado.) jomal? LUCIA (obstinada)—Jureidiantedocorpode LUCIA—Ah! Voces estao ai? ALAIDE--Disse que voce tinha di to: "Saia, ALAIDE (triunfante)—Pronto! Che u a Alaide! jã." Que ela teve medo de ser assassinada! PEDRO (chocado)—Voce fez isso? ' estao tao certos da minha orte CLESSI—No dinheiro que eu dava nao cumplice! Voces LUCIA (corn decisao)—Fiz. Fiz, sim. Quer que ate ja botaram luto! tocou? queeuvanasalaejureoutravez?(mergulhaacabecya LUCIA (inocente)-0 que e que ha? ALAIDE—Quern falou ao reporter no PEDRO (apontando para a testa)—E A aide entre as maos) Ontem, antes dela sair para morrer, dinheiro foi a criada! tivemos uma discussao horrivel! que nao es,ta regulando bem! CLESSI (sardonica)—Imagine! PEDRO (baixo)—Ela sabia? ALAIDE (fremente, para Lucia)—V nha ALAIDE (nervosa)—Ele vem ai, Clessi! LUCIA (patetica) Sabia. Adivinhou o nosso repetir para meu marido aquilo que voce • isse, Pedro! pensarnento. E eu disse. CLESSI—Mas voce nao tinha assassinado "aquilo,"! No dia do meu casamento! PEDRO—Mas comigo nunca tocou no LUCIA—Sei la de que é que voce esta ele? assunto. ALAIDE--Pensei que tivesse. Mas deve ter falando? LUCIA—Discutimos quantas vezes! CLESSI (microfone)—Irma assim em lhor sido sonho! Olha ele! Mas ontem,foi horrivel— Ameacei-adeescar' (Entra Pedro, de luto. Alaide vai ao seu nao ter! ALAIDE—Sabe, sim. Sabe! Ai ela horrivel ! Sabe o que ela me disse? "Nem que eu encontro, sorrindo.) morra, deixarei voce em paz!" ' que voce fez... Que eu podia mo r! insinuocao ALAIDE—Dá licenga, Clessi? (para P (Dicia fal a com acabeca entre as maos. Al aide LUCIA (virando-lhe as costas)—Vs esta de luto) Entao, meu filho? (beijam-se) responde atraves do microfone escondido no boueme sonhando, minha filha. Disse coisa nenhu PEDRO (admirado, confidencial) BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
29
quet. Luz cai em penumbra, durantetodo odialogo evocativo) ALAIDE (corn vozlentaesem brilho)—Nem que eu,morra, deixarei voce em paz! LUCIA (falando surdamente)--Pensaqueeu tenho medo de alma do outro mundo? ALAIDE (microfone)—Naobrinque, Lucia! Seeumoner—ndo sei seexistevidadepoisdarnorte, mas se,existir—voce vai ver! LUCIA (sardonica)—Vero que, rninhafilha? ALAIDE (microfone)—Voce nab tera urn minuto de paz, se ca sa rcomPedro! Eu nao deixo— voce vera! LUCIA fironica)—Esta tao certa assim de morrer? ALAIDE (microfone)—Nao sei! Voce e Pedro sao capazes de tudo! Eu posso awrdar morta e todo 9 mundo pensar que foi suicidio. LUCIA—Quem sabe? (noutro torn) Eu mandei voce tirar Pedro de mim? ALAIDE (microfone)—Mas que foi que eu fiz, mea Deus? LUCIA (sardonica)—Nada! ALAIDE (microfone)—Fiz o que muitas fazem. Tirar urn namorado! Quer dizer, uma vaidade... (corn yeemencia) Voce, nao! Voce e Pedro querem-me matar. 1sso, sim, é que é crime, nao o que eu fiz! LUCIA (irritante) MasconquistouPedrotao mal que ete anda atras de mim o dia todo! ALAIDE (microfone)—Sabe para onde eu you agora? LUCIA—Ndo me interessa! ALAIDE—E nem digo--rninha filha! Vou ter uma aventura! Pecado. Sabe o que é isso? Vou visit& um lugar eque lugar! Maravilhoso! Já fui la uma vez! LUCIA (sardOnica)-1magino! ALAIDE (com provocacao)—Na Ultima vez que fui, tinha duas mulheres dancando. Mulheres corn vestidos longos, de cetim amarelo e cor-derosa. Uma vitrola. Olha: querendo, pode dizer a Pedro. plao me incomodo. Ate é born! LUCIA (sardOnica)—Mentirosa! ALAIDE (microfone)—Ah! Sou? , LUCIA (afirmativa, elevando a voz)—E! Nao foi la, nunca! Nunca! Tudo isso que voce esti contando--as duas mulheres, os vestidos de cetim, a vitrola—voce leu num I ivro que esta la em cima! Quer que eu vá buscar? Quer? ALAIDE(nicrofone)--Estabem,LOcia.Nao fui, mepti. (dolorosa) LUCIA (cruel)—Voce podia ir eficar por la! ALAIDE (microfone)—Ouca bem. Eu posso morrer cem vezes, mas voce nao se casard corn Pedro. (Luz volta a ser normal.) LUCIA (impress ionadissima, agora para Pedro)—Agora, quando penso em Alaide, so consigo ve-la de noiva. PEDRO (tacitumo)—Foi isso que ela disse, so? LUCIA (sombria) S6. Previa que ia morrer! PEDRO (corn certa ironia)—Isso tamberp nos prey iamos. LUCIA—Voce diz "nos"! PEDRO (afirmativo)—Digo, porque voce tambem prey ia. (pausa) Previa e desejava. Apenas nao pensamos no atropelamento. LUCIA (comdesespero)—Foi voce quem botou isso na minha cabeca—que kieL. ela devia morrer! PEDRO (corn cinismo cruel)— Entao nao devia? LUCIA (desesperada)—Voce é urn miseravel! Nem ao menos espera que o corpo saia! Corn o corpo, au, a dois passos. (aponta para a direcao do que deve ser a sala contigua) Voce 30.
dizendo isso! PEDRO (insinuando)—Quem é o culpado? LUCIA (espantada)—Eu, talvez! PEDRO (energico)—Voce, sim! LUCIA (espantada)—Tern coragem... PEDRO—Tenho. (corn veemencia) Quern foi que disse: "Voce so toca em mim, casando!" Quern foi? LUCIA—Fui eu, Inas issonaoquen-liwrnadat PEDRO (categorico)—Quer dizer tudo! Tudo! Foi voce quern me deu a ideia do "crime"! Voce! LUCIA (corn medo)—Voce é tio ruim, tao cinico, que me acusa! PEDRO (corn yeernencia, mas baixo)—Ou voceou el atinha que desaparecer. Preferi que fosse ela. LLICIA(comangtistia)—Essaconversaquase diante do caixao! PEDRO (sempre baixo)—Nao estudamos o "crime"emtodos osdetalhes? Vocenuncaprotestou Voce e minha cumplice LUCIA (alheando-se, espantada)—Mandaram tantas flores! PEDRO (insistente)—Agora voce se acovarda porque o corpo ainda esta aqui! LUCIA (meioalucinada)—Voceselembrado que ela dizia? Daquela vaidade? VOZ DE ALAIDE (microfone)—Eu sou muito mais mulher do que voce—sempre fui! LUCIA (noutra atitude)—Foi voce quem perdeu minha alma! PEDRO (rapido)—E voce a minha! LUCIA (sardonica)—Voce nunca prestou! Foi sempre isso! Nao me olhe, que nao adianta! PEDRO--Estabem. Depoiseufalocomvoce. LUCIA—E inutil. Nao serei de voce, nem de ninguem. Voce nunca me tocara, Pedro. PEDRO--Voce diz isso agora! LUCIA—Jurei que nem um medico veria o men corpo. PEDRO (cruel)—Entao ela ficou impressionadissimacomasmulheresvestidas de amarelo ecor-de-rosa. Umavitrola!Duasfulanas dancando! LUCIA (chorosa)—Nao fale assim! Ela esti au. Morreu. PEDRO (sardonico)—Era louca por toda mulher que nao prestava. Vivia me falando em Clessi. Uma desequilibrada! A LUCIA (revoltada)—Vitedeveestarbebedo para falar assim! PEDRO (serio)—Ou louco... (grave) Nao tenho o menor medo da loucura. (Trevas.) Speaker—Pedro Moreira, Gastao dos Passos Costa, senhorae filha, Carmen dosPassos, Eduardo Silva e senhora (ausentes), Otavio Guimaraes e senhora, agradecem, sensibilizados, a todos que compareceram ao sepultamento de sua inesquecivel esposa, filha, irma, sobrinha e cunhada Alaide e convidam parentes e amigos para a missa de 70 dia, a realizar-se sabado, 17 do corrente, na Igreja da Candelaria, as 11 horas. (Luz no piano da realidade: Lucia e mae.) , LUCIA (comoumalouca)—Voce viu o que saiu no jornal? "Alaide Moreira, branca, casada... (sardonica) Brancal... (surdamente)"fraturaexposta dobrawdireito. Afundamentodosossos da face"... MAE (assustada)—Nao fique assim, Lucia! LUCIA (wntinuando sem dar aten escorikees generalizadas"... "Nao resistindo aos padecimentos"... (corn voz surda) Sei isso de cur, mamae! De cod MAE—Minha filha!
LUCIA (espantada)—Estiouvindo, mamae? Ela outra vez! Ela voltou--nao disse? MAE—Ndo e nada, minha filha. Dusk sua. LUCIA (atonita)—Mas eu ouw a voz dela. Direitinho! Falando! MAE--Voce parece crianca, minha filha! LUCIA (corn ar estranho)—Nao foi nada Bobagem. ALAIDE (microfone)—"Voce sempre desejou a minha morte. Sempre—sempre." MAE—Quando voce for para a fazenda, tudo isso passa. Lao clima e uma maravilha! Trevas. SO rnicrofone.) PA! (microfone)—Quee que ha com Lficiae Pedro? MAE (microfone)--Que eu saiba, nada. Por que? PAI (microfone)—Voce nao viu ontem? MAE (microfone)—Aquilo? PA! (microfone)—E. Foi esquisito. MAE (microfone)—Talvez tenha sido sem querer. PAI (microfone)—Sem querer coisa nenhuma. MAE (nicrofone)--Lficia anda tao nervosa! Mas eu falo corn ela. PM (microfone)—Nao se meta. MAE (microfone)—Elaontem me disse uma coisa! Enfim... (Luz no piano darealidade: pai e mae de Lucia, esta e D. Laura. Lucia chega de viagem.) LUCIA—Mk! Quantas saudades! PAI—Eu nao mereco. LUCIA—Papal! MAE--Esta tao mais gorda, corada—nao é, Gastao? PAI—Muito mais. D. LAURA—Depois, quando a gente tira o uto, é outra coisa! LUCIA—Ah, D. Laura! Nem tinha visto a senhora! (Saem D. Laura e nide de Lucia.) PA! (confidencial)—Ja resolveu? LUCIA-0 que e que o senhor acha, papai? PAI—Isso e corn voce, minha filha; voce é quern tern que decidir. (Trevas. Luz sobre Alaide e Clessi, poeticos fantasmas. Ilurninam-se as duas divisoes extremas doplanodarealidade. A direita dopublico, sepultura de Alaide. A esquerda, Lucia, vestida de noiva, prepara-se no espelho. Arranjo da Marcha Nupcial e da Martha Funebre) LUCIA—Aperta bem, mamae. LUCIA—Esti muito folgado aqui! LUCIA—Sera que Pedro ja chegou? MAE--D. Laura aparece, quando elechegar. LUCIA (retocando qualquer coisa ao espelho)—Eu so quero queele me veja la na igrej a. (Entra D. Laura.) D. LAURA—Pode-se ver a noiva? LUCIA—Ah! D. Laura! (Beijam-se) D. LAURA (para a mae)—A senhora deve estar muito atrapalhada! MAE--Nem faz ideia! LUCIA (corn dengue)—Estou muito feia, D. Ira? D. LAURA—Linda! Urn amor! LUCIA (estendendo osbraws)-0 bouquet. (Crescendo da mnsica, funeral e festiva. Quando Lucia pede o bouquet, Alaide, como urn fantasma, avanca em direcaoda inna, poruma das escadas laterais, numa atitude de quern v ai entregar o bouquet. Clessi sobe a outra escada. Uma lux vertical acompanhaAlaideeClessi. Todos imoveis em pleno gesto. Apaga-se, entao, toda a cena, so ficando iluminado, sob uma luz lunar, o ttimulo de Alaide. Crescendo da Marcha Finiebre. Trevas.) FIM DO TERCE1R0 E ULTIMO ATO BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
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Humble as they may be, Espirito Santo has its attractions, like the fishing villages and beaches on the southern coast. To the north, Conceicao da Barra and the nearby sand dunes at Itaimas are worth a visit. Excellent seafood is available in the state.
If Brazil were to conduct a contest for the least appealing state. Sergipe would be a contender but Espirito Santo would win the prize. Perhaps Espirito Santo suffers from the glory of neighboring Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Bahia states. In any case, it's a small state without much to interest the traveler. Colonized in the 16th century. Espirito Santo became an armed region to prevent gold from being smuggled out of Minas. In the 1800s, Germans and Italians settled in the hills of the interior. Until the 1960s, coffee plantations were the prime source of income, but coffee has been superseded by heavy industry. The coastline away from VitOria is clean but not particularly pretty. The turbulent surf kicks up sand, giving the water a muddy-brown hue rather than the aquamarine found in Bahia or Rio. In all fairness, Espirito Santo does have some attractions, humble as they may be. Some of the fishing villages and beaches on the southern coast are attractive, however, they have no provisions for tourists. To the north, Conceicao da Barra and the nearby sand dunes at Itannas are worth a visit. Excellent seafood is available in Espirito Santo; especially noteworthy is the moqueca capixabq, which is made without dencle oil. VITORIA VitOria, capital of the state of Espirito Santo. is 521 km from Rio de Janeiro and 602 km from Porto Seguro, making it a convenient place to break the journey between Rio and the state of Bahia. Founded in 1551, Vitoria has emarkably little to show of its colonial past. It's a port 32
city, connected by rail with Minas Gerais. Large amounts of export coffee and timber pass through here, and the port at nearby Tubarao is the outlet for millions of tons of iron ore. Orientation The rodoviaria is a km from the center of town. There are two strips of beach: Praia do Camburi, a 10-minute bus ride northeast of the city, and Praia da Costa, 12 km south of town, at Vila Velha. Information Tourist Office Cetur (223-9090), the state tourism authority, has the tough job of promoting tourism in Espirito Santo. Their main office is in the center. at Avenida Princesa Isabel 629 (on the 1st floor of the Vitoria Center building), open on weekdays from 9 am to 6 pm. They also maintain a booth at the rodoviaria: it's supposed to be open daily from 8 am to 7 pm, but don't bet on this. They hake lots of colored brochures of the various points of interest in the state, but no decent maps of the city. The Cetur advisers also have hotel information (but not prices) for the mid and top-end range. The best map of the city and its surrounds can be found in the middle pages of the local telephone directory (unless you happen to look in the copy we used). Money The quickest and easiest way to change cash is to go to the Escal souvenir shop just off Avenida Marechal Mascarenhas and round the corner from the Banco do Brasil, in Avenida Governador Bley. You'll have to go there or to the nearby BEMGE (State Bank of Minas Gerais) to change travelers' cheques. Post & Telephone The main post office is in the city center, on Avenida JerOnimo Monteiro, and there's a branch at the rodoviaria. There are three pastas telefijnicos: at the rodoviciria, at the airport and on Rua do Rosario, in the center. They all open at 6.30 am and close between 10.30 and 11 pm. Praia do Camburi This five-km stretch of beach is where you'll find lots of restaurants, nightspots and midrange hotels. It's not good for swimming, as its proximity to the port at Tubarao means there's usually some oil or chemicals in the water. Vila Velha This was the first place in Espirito Santo to be colonized. The most interesting thing to do in Vila Velha is climb up to the Convento da Penha, set atop a 154meter granite outcrop. In the week after Easter, thousands of devotees come to this major pilgrimage center to pay homage to the image of Nossa Senhora da Penha, some even making the climb on their knees. Even if you don't
BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
usually visit convents, the panoramic view of Vitoria makes the climb worth it. Praia da Costa, the main Vila Velha beach, is close to the convent. It has fewer hotels and restaurants than Camburi, but is better for swimming.
Other AttractionK. The pink Anchieta Palace, on Praya Joao Climaco, is a 16thcentury former Jesuit college and church. It's now the seat of state government, and the only part you can enter is the tomb of Padre Anchieta, co-founder of sao Paulo. Close by is the Catedral Metropolitana, with its neogothic exterior and interesting stained-glass windows. Teatro Carlos Comes, on Praca Costa Pereira, is a replica of La Scala in Milan. The Parque Moscoso is where Capixabas (as natives of the state are called) go for a break.
For Places to Stay and to Eat, please read the book. Getting There & Away
every hour from 6 am to 7 pm.
GUARAPAR1 Guarapari is Espirito Santo's most prominent resort town. It's too big a city to be a proper beach town, but there are 23 beaches in the municipality, each with a lovely mountain backdrop. The best beach is Praia do Morro; unlike the others, it doesn't have too many stones, and it does have the healing monazitic radioactive sands touted in Espirito's brochures. Guarapari was an excellent base for a family holiday We enjoyed being off the beaten tourist track in a genuine Brazilian holiday resort—albeit out of season. From Praia do Morro there is an excellent walk around the headland through brushland where birds abound, to lovely unspoiled coves. There superb views back towards Guarapari and Muquicaba with the backdrop of the dramatic coastal range of mountains. To the south of Guarapari, at the tiny resort of Meaipe, there is a magnificent beach. At lunchtime, stroll of the sand into the cantina de Curuca for excellent lobster and prawns. M K Barritt (UK)
For Places to Stay and Places to Eat, read the book. Getting There & Away Buses run from Vit6ria to Guarapari every hour from 6 am to 9 pm ($2, 11/4 hours). To Vitoria, buses run hourly
It's all too easy to get to Vitoria—the trick is to get away. The bus station on Ilha do Principe has connections to all major cities. There are nine buses a day to Belo Horizonte ($12, eight hours). To Ouro Preto, there's a direct bus at 10.45 pm. To Porto Seguro, there's one daily bus. at 9 am. The 11-hour trip costs $16. Eleven buses a day make the eight-hour journey to Rio de Janeiro ($ 11).
Getting Around To/From the Airport The airport is 10 km from the city center; take the local bus marked 'AeroportY from the bus station ($0.50).
Bus All local buses run from the various stops outside the main rodoviaria. As in Rio de Janeiro, the route is written on the side of the bus. To get to the center, catch any bus that goes along Avenida VitOria. When you pass the pink palace on the left-hand side, get out at the next stop. It's only a three-minute ride. For Praia do Carnburi, catch any bus that goes along Avenida Dante Michelini. To Vila Velha, catch an allyellow or all-blue bus. To get to Praia da Costa, you'll have to catch a bus from the Vila Velha terminal.
Ferry An alternative, more scenic way to get to Vila Velha from the center is to catch a ferry from the Terminal Aquaviario, on Avenida Beira Mar. They run on weekdays,
BRAZZIL -APRIL 2001
from 6 am to 9.30 pm. Frequent buses make the 28-km trip to Anchieta.
ANCH1ETA Anchieta is 88 km south of Vit6ria. Its attractions are the 16th-century church of Nossa Senhora da Assungdo and, alongside, the Museu Padre Anchieta. The church walls are original; they were built by Padre Anchieta and the local Indians. The museum is no big deal, although it containsthe chair of Padre Anchieta, and other relics. It's closed on Monday.
For Places to Stay and Places to Eat, read the book. Getting There & Away To Guarapari, buses run every 20 to 30 minutes from 6 am to 6.50 pm. To Pinma, 12 km away, they run every
33
30 to 40 minutes from 6 am to 7.20 pm. PIOMA Known as the City of Shells, Pitima is a small village 100 km South of VitOria. The rarest shell in the world, Oliva Zelindea, is occasionally found here. There are some nice beaches around Piiima, and some nearby offshore islands which are worth a look. The coastline is dominated by the 300-meter-high, cone-shaped Monte Agha, which is a good place for hang-gliding and climbing. Islands Ilha do Gamba is connected to the mainland by a thin isthmus, and is home to lots of seabirds. Ilha dos Cabritos, 15 minutes away by boat, has a good seafood restaurant. Ilha do Meio preserves wild orchids and native trees, and a large variety of lobsters, sea horses and starfish are found in the surrounding waters. To get a boat to the islands, ask the locals with boats on the beach. Beaches Praia Boca da Barra and Praia Maria Nenen are surf beaches, while Praia Acaiaca has calm water. For Places to Stay and Places to Eat, please read the book. Getting There & Away There are frequent buses that go to Anchieta and Marataizes. Only four buses a day go to VitOria. MARATA1ZES The town of Marataizes caters to the working-class Mineiro holiday crowd during high summer season, and lives off its small fishing industry the rest of the year. Every morning the town beach throbs with fisherfolk, who pull lines in teams, haul in and sort their catch, fix nets and push tiny boats into the foamy sea. It is possible to hire a boat from Marataizes or Itapaiva beach to the islands of Frances. Ovos or Itaputera. For Places to Stay and Places to Eat, please read the book. Getting There & Away Three buses a day go to VitOria, at 6 and 6.15 am and 3. 10 pm. There's also a bus to Rio de Janeiro, which leaves at 10.30 pm. AROUND MARATAIZES Praia Marape is a lovely beach adjacent to a poor little fishing village about 30 km south of Marataizes. There is no formal accommodation here, but hardy travelers can make do. Praia das Neves, Praia Moroba and Praia Lagoa Boa Vista are reasonable beaches further to the north. DOMINGOS MARTINS Domingos Martins, also known as Campinho, is a small village settled by Germans in 1847. The pride of the town is the musical water clock decorated with figures of the 12 apostles; it's in the Restaurante Vista Linda, seven km before the town proper. The town is a good base for exploring the streams and forests of the mountains. Fifty km further into the mountains, at Arace, are some fancier resort hotels with
horses for hire. For Places to Stay & Eat, please read the book. Getting There & Away Nile buses a day make the 41-km trip from VitOria to Domingos Martins ($2, one hour). SANTA TERESA Santa Teresa is a small town settled by Italian
immigrants. It has a pretty, flowered plaza. and a cool, mountain climate suitable for vineyards. Nearby trips include the valley of Cana 5 and the Reserva BiolOgica Nova Lombardia. Museu Biologico do Professor Melo Leitao The town's main attraction, this museum represents the life's work of Augusto Ruschi, a staunch environmentalist and world-renowned hummingbird exp,21-1, who died in 1986 after being poisoned by a frog. The truseum also has a small zoo, a butterfly garden, a snake farm, and a large number of orchids and other flora. It's open only on weekends, from noon to 5 pm. Time you- visit to Santa Teresa accordingly. as the museum is very interesting. For Places to Stay & Eat, please read the book. Getting There & Away Santa Teresa is 76 km from VitOria. and seven buses a day make the journey ($3, two hours). CONCEIcA0 DA BARRA Situated in the north of the state, 254 km from Vitoria, the ;wall town of Conceicao da Barra lies between the mouths of the Itaimas and Cricare rivers. "Th re are some quiet beaches in the area, such as Praia da Ban-a, Bugia and Guaxindiba, but the main attractions are the Dunas do Haulms: 20 to 30-meter-high dunes of fine sand that engulfed the small village of Vila de Itaiinas. Only the church tower is still visible. From the top of the dunes, it's possible to see the sea, the Rio Itaimas and the surrounding Atlantic rainforest. The dunes are 23 km from Conceicao da Barra. For Places to Stay & Eat, please read the book. Getting There & Away There is only one daily direct bus from VitOria, leaving at 19 am and arriving in Conceicao at 2 pm (5 10). You could .-•. atch a bus to So Nlateus, and then one of the frequent buses that make the 35-km trip from there to Concecao da Barra. Alternatively, take any bus going to Bahia along BR-I01, get off at the turn-off to Conceicao. and titch or walk the 15 km to town. Excerpts from Brazil - .1 Travel Survival Kit 3rd edition, by Andrew Draffen, Chris N1cAsey, Leonardo Pinheiro,and Rolnn Jones. For more information call Lonely Planet: (800) 275-8555. Copyright 1996 Lonely Planet Publications. secl b;% permission.
34
BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
Golden Lesson Like the Spanish explorers to the north in Central America, the Portuguese came to the New World in the pursuit of conquests and converts, filling the treasuries of the crown with gold and heaven with souls. MICHAEL COLLINS
BRAZZIL -APRIL 2001
The aging a tress sits diagonally from me under the swimming pool cab a that doubles as a bar. Dim light illuminates her still lovely ace as she leans forward to straighten the stack of magazines t at I had just sifted through. "Is there so ething in particular you are looking for?" she pleasantly inq tres turning up a smile. The early 60's something proprietr ss' curiosity is seemingly aroused yet politely distant by her Is ne and approach to the question. "I am loo mg for magazines about the architectural history of the area nd was hoping I would find some on the coffee table," I explai . "I am a student back in the United States and it would be he • ful in the research I propose to do." "Take as m y of you like," she replied. "We have bastante." my Brazilian ostess offered. As the own r of the small hotel or pousada, I am sure that by now she h encountered all sorts of characters, requests and unusual pe sonas. The evidence for this is confirmed when I later wander round the centuries old edifice by the appearance of the wal hangings. In a stark contrast to the aging stucco walls, art dec • posters adorn the confines with theatrical performances he has appeared in, photos of former Brazilian dignitaries pre enting flowers after a series of encore curtain calls and even montage of her posed in an Australian bush hat delivering aid ackages to an African village. As she ag d, the calls for performances dwindled and finally stoppe coming altogether. Ever the entertainer, she purchased the 20 room historic inn at Parati as a means to sustain hersel and as a forum to continue to meet with the public. A bris tourism trade coupled with idyllic beauty of the tranquil seaco st village nestled among the coastal mountains in the southern state of Rio de Janeiro has been her deliverance. Unable to Ind any useful information among the magazine hat can you tell me about the history of the stack, I ask, village?" in h pes she is willing to start conversation. The actres ' face visibly changes, eyes focused on me, her back erect an arm gestures purposeful. Animated and smi Iing, she is ge inely pleased to have an audience, even if it is only an audie ce of one. The glorious history of Brazil's past now comes ive in colorful description, seemingly unrehearsed yet u doubtedly told hundreds possibly thousands of times. A past hat parallels her own. Like the S anish explorers to the north in Central America, the Portugue e came to the New World in the pursuit of conquests an converts, filling the treasuries of the crown with gold and heav n with souls. Eventually their diligence paid off with the disc ery of vein rich mines in the interior in what is now the pres t day state of Minas Gerais (General Mines in Portuguese). n abundance of minerals, gold, silver, diamonds and p cious gems that heretofore had not been know to the explor rs were only a scratch of the pick, a turn of the shovel benea the surface. With thei newfound wealth, the crown ordered public works project on a scale that would boggle the mind. Churches in particular came decades long works of art with no expense spared. Mast r carpenters, sculptors and artists were commissioned to use heir crafts for the glorification of the Church, the 35
,
k
Crown and most importantly to impress parishioners of the grandeur and majesty of these benevolent institutions. The altar of the colonial baroque church was central to the opulence and religious themes the craftsmen poured their souls into. Intricate carvings of cherubim, the saints, the Madonna and Christ were painstakingly constructed under the supervision of the religious hierarchy. Gold for chalices and crosses as well as leaf to cover the altar and statuary was amply supplied from the indigenous slaves cutting away at the inexhaustible sources from the surrounding countryside. The encircling mountains that provided the mineral wealth for the colonial cities such as Diamantina (Diamantine) and Ouro Preto (Black Gold) forced isolation on them as well. Stockpiles of riches idled around counting houses while accountants and civil servants wrung their hands in worry about how they would deliver their goods to the Crown in Portugal. Eventually a trail was found, the shortest distance considered safe for man and heavily laden pack animal to successfully cross over miles of frontier to the seacoast. There among the islets and reefs a natural harbor provided refuge for the merchant ships to load their precious cargoes for the long voyage home to Portugal. From this harbor sprung the fledgling village of Parati. Like the other cities born of the gold trade, Parati grew and prospered with the same intensity of her sisters. Eventually, the trail of pack animals descending the mountain pass began to dwindle as the gold gave out. The village was eventually bypassed altogether when a better port with roads leading to the interior spread out from an upstart village on the north coast, a village that came to be known as Rio de Janeiro. The beauty of the gold rush villages remains in much the same way as my actress friend. Like her, charm is exuded from
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every pore and surface that is visible to those that take the time to appreciate her. Her quiet dignity is preserved in contrast to hectic glories of the past. Enduring character and strength lives on in the face of indifference by the modern world. My lesson is reinforced the following morning when preparing to leave, I frantically make my way with tickets in one hand and bags in the other to the front desk of the hotel. My only thought is to catch the bus, be on time, and move my career forward. My new friend by contrast is calmly directing the employees' activities, placidly greeting me and reassuring the frustrated desk clerk. And then I have a moment of clarity. The young desk clerk and I by our natures are mistakenly rushing through the world to acquire what she and the villages on the golden trail already own: a legacy of beauty, wealth and character that only improves with the passage of time. Parati is located a few hours south of Rio de Janeiro and a similar distance northeast from Sao Paulo. Historic Cities tours are plentiful and inexpensive for the interior mountain state of Minas Gerais. A must see on your tour should include the town of Ouro Preto, a city designated and protected as international cultural treasure by the United Nations. Michael Collins is a freelance writer and columnist whose work has been published in Porthole, Navy Times, Proceedings and other maritime related journals. Combining his insatiable urge to go exploring with altruistic instincts, Michael will begin work on his doctorate this fall researching best practices of non profit organizations, such as Elderhostel and Earthwatch, that target and use lifelong learning for those age 55 and over as a promotional tool to accomplish their organizations' goals. His email address is michaelzinho@juno.com
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Dream Stuff Chrystianne Rochat. Pay attention to this name. You'll probably hear much more about this young movie director who just had her Hollywod debut with Novela Novela, a filme she wrote, directed and starred in. TEXT: LIANA ALAGEMOVITS PHOTOS: SONYA TRYHANE Have you ver wondered what goes on backstage of a soap opera? Which plots are cleverly elaborated, reaching far beyond the imag nation of the audience? What crosses the mind of those who Ii e the lives of the characters in each soap opera? What would it e like to experience the adventures and misfortunes of the i &nue or to be the male lead with all of the women at his eet? Or the director with the power to modify each characte 's destiny and consequently the actors as if he were God? W uldn't it be spectacular to enter into the combined world if realism and surrealism to single-handedly change the liv s of the characters and create a dramatic ending to your favori e soap opera? All of the e questions prompted Chrystianne Rochat to write, produc and direct her first film Novela, Novela. In her screen debut, the original script, shot in both English and Portuguese, f atures a multiracial cast including twenty Brazilian actors. ccording to Rochat, "the work of Brazilian actors is appr ciated worldwide but unfortunately due to the limited numb r of projects that attract international attention, we Brazilians till do not have a space in the market that really shows that w are here. "Brazilian cinema, with few exceptions like Central Station, nominat d for an Oscar last year, and more recently I, you and them just released in the United States, is not as widely recognized as Brazilian music, for instance. My decision to make this fi using a predominantly Brazilian cast was to reinforce th there are a lot of talented Brazilian actors, writers, direc rs, technicians, special effect artists and composers living California. By showcasing Brazilian talent in my films I w t to unite the artistic community here so that we can start a Brazilian cultural movement that will be appreciated in Brazil and internationally." Rochat gained experience through extensive travel and by studying different techniques, such as Stanislavislcy, Bretch and Meisner, o arrive at what she humorously refers to as her own "Chryst anovskyniano Method". She began studying acting at the aculdade da Cidade da Lagoa, a private university in Rio de Janeiro. Soon thereafter, however, she decided to move to L s Angeles to continue her studies because she was intrigued by American acting techniques. "In my o inion," she says, "the American actors are the most natural nd subtle in the world, besides being the besttrained in eve way. Here every actor dances, sings, taps and I think that th s dedication to their art is very cool." Later, as er desire to learn varying acting techniques increased, she went to live in Europe and did theater in Paris and Lisbon. "I wanted to learn how the Europeans worked. I wish I could have done theater in Russia too. Although that would not have worked since I don't speak Russian!" Rochat commented j kingly of her inability to perform in Russian. After her experience in Europe, Rochat returned to Los Angeles were she started acting in films and writing scripts. In 1997, she de ided to return to South America to focus on the art form in B azil. While living in Brazil, she wrote the script for Alice in io, based on the Lewis Carroll classic Alice in BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
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Wonderland, adapted to the urban life of the slums in Rio de Janeiro. She wrote a similar script adapting the French play Ondine by Jean Giraudoux. Still, she found time to experience what it was like to work on the novela (Brazilian soap opera) Mandacaru under the direction of Walter Avancini. From this experience she gained insight on the production process and further described this opportunity as "a great testing ground for the film, Novela, Novela. The idea of creating a link between the audience and their favorite show always appealed to me. Brazilians' involvement in soap operas inspired me to imagine what would happen if the two sides were to meet in a coincidental situation. As an observer of both sides, I was then able to identify the discrepancies of what the network wanted to show and what the audience wanted to see. I discovered that while the audience depends on the entertainment of the television, the television depends on the ratings and the two extremes are interdependent and ironically unable to fulfill the other's needs." Rochat also sought to demystify the vie en rose associated with actors and used the film Novela, Novela to expose the reality of the life of an actor who is not normal like everyone else and is not as easy as many would think. "Actors choose a profession that demand talents within their personalities and emotions not required in other professions. Basically, the working tool of an actor is himself: his body, his emotions, his senses, his memories. That is their reality and still these beings are able to provoke laughter, emotions and entertainment. LAnd they are happy about it, even though they have their issues." She reflected on her experience as an actor and more recently a director. Citing an example from the film, Rochat used robbers to symbolize the audience and as a vehicle to expose everyday social issues. She further described the robbers as "uneducated people marginalized by an uneven society that didn't give them a chance to exploit their potential." With their unique philosophy on life, the robbers depict the struggle of overcoming the system that perpetuates their insignificance. In 1999, the original, 15-minute film script of Novela, Novela was selected by the Centro Cultural do Banco do Brasil (Cultural Center for the Arts sponsored by the Bank of Brazil) at the Rio de Janeiro Short Film Festival. When the project was well received, Rochat took the initiative to develop a full length digital production upon her return to Los Angeles. According to Rochat, she found the "magic potion" that enabled her to produce the film independently in Hollywood amongst millionaire producers. "I believed in the good faith of people. I knew what I wanted and was ready to fight. The DV enables new talents to appear and low-budget, meaningful productions to be executed. With a well structured script and a lot of will power, it is possible to create a good project," said Rochat about her • decision to work independently on a limited budget. According to the young director, her cast of 26 actors were extremely supportive and the atmosphere of the set was great 1 because as an actor, she respected them for their talents. 'Since I also acted in the film, it was a lot of fun to experiment on both sides as director and actor. They gave themselves entirely in order to give me the results that I was seeking. Everything went great! The vibes were high and 1 can say that I have already been compensated for my work," Rochat commented on her dual role in the production process. The director organized screenings for the cast and had
I
little difficulty finding Brazilian actors in Los Angeles since Brazilians are amongst those in search of their "big break" in Hollywood. She further explained, "I found experienced actors like Eduardo Dias, Beto Simas, Paulo Landim, among others. I also had a few actors who were beginners before the first day of shooting and are now considered professionals. The group was very talented and homogenous." "My main concern was the artistic aspect of the film. I was very clear and humble when I asked for help and at any moment I could have sold my soul to the devil. Or, simply put, everyone who contributed to this project was willing to do so because they believed in the potential and liked the story. I wanted people with positive energy around me." She explained of her desire to seek assistance from her peers throughout the process. With one film complete, her life in post-production mode has actually made her realize that this is only the beginning of her life as a producer. The level of commitment and investment that was involved in creating a film, affirmed Rochat's love for the project, the importance of support from family and friends and her belief throughout the project that "there are a lot of good people out there". She learned the valuable lesson that life is full of surprises if you dare to dream. A sneak preview of Novela, Novela was shown in Los Angeles in March before the film's premiere at New York International Independent Film Festival that ran from March 31st through April 7th. The film will also compete at the Los Angeles International Independent Film Festival in June. Project: Novela Novela Genre: Comedy Lenght: 65' Director/Producer/Writer: Chrystianne Rochat Website: http://www.novelanovela.com Contact: chryspires@prodigy.net The Cast Beto Simas Chia() JiIO Eduardo Dias Chrystianne Rochat Mimi Bira Castro Walter Wagner Liana Alagemovits Vanessa Villians Denis de Souza Angelo D'Angelico Marcelo Tadeu Gales Iago de Monterealli Fernando Gasca Stud Paulo Landim Boris Bora Ricardo Movits Kobbe Raquel Urey Marina Sonia Tryhane Sonia Audrey de Barros Secretary John Strand Police Officer Rogerio Monteiro Sam Pook Fernando de Souza Denis Middler Paulo Lima 1st AD Eric Rochat Producer Sanjay Sippy Reporter Liana Alagemovits, the author, from the Brazilian Press International is vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce Brazil-California and hostess of Perdidos Pela America, a cable-TV show. You may contact her at movits(&,earth lin k.net BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
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The classic malandro never worked for a living. He was a pimp, a gambler, a thief, or a sambista (sometimes all four combined), living on his luck, charm, and ruthlessness. Composer Wilson Batista, who prided himself on never having held a job in his life, paid tribute to the malandro in the 1933 samba "Lenco no Pescoco" (Kerchief Round the Neck), provoking Noel Rosa to exhort him in the samba "Rapaz Folgado" (Successful Fellow) to stop dragging his clogs, throw away the knife, replace the kerchief with a jacket and tie, and start concentrating on his music. Noel concluded:
Rick Warm's record label is the hardest-working malandro around DAN IELLA THOMPSON
Met' chapeu de lado Tam an arrastando Lenco no pescoco Nava!ha no ho/so, Eu passo gin gando Provoco e desqfio, vadio. Eu ten/u) orgulho em ser My hat cocked Clogs dragging Kerchief round my neck Knife in the pocket. I pass swinging Provoking and challenging, 1 take pride in being so idle 40
Malandro Ê palavra derrotista Que so serve pra tirar Todo o valor de urn sambista. Prop onho ao povo civilizado Nao te chamar de malandro E sim de rapaz folgado. Malandro is a defeatist word That serves only to strip All the value from a sambista. I propose to civilized folks Not to call you a malandro But a successful fellow. Entrepreneur Rick Warm evidently identified more closely with Noel's stance than with Wilson's when he founded a record company in 1996 and named it Malandro Records. Since then, he's been keeping very busy. In less than five years, the label has released eighteen CDs of music that Warm calls Brazilian jazz and that, in fact, encompasses choro, samba, bossa nova, and MPB, as well as jazz (see Balaio do Malandro for CD capsule descriptions). If they're not so easily classified, Malandro's offerings are nevertheless readily recognizable via their covers, incorporating tinted photos shot in Brazil during the early 1940s by the American photographer Genevieve Naylor. But the covers are the only historic aspect of Malandro's releases. The recordings are decidedly modern, even when they're interpreting older compositions. Such is the case with master guitarist Paulinho Nogueira, whose treatment of Ernesto Nazareth's tango "Odeon" (1910) infuses new shades that extend from a berimbau effect to loose improvisation in varying tempi. The same can be said of reedman Carlos Malta, whose soprano-sax & stringquartet arrangement for Pixinguinha's warhorse "Carinhoso" (1917) crosses the boundaries of popular music into the modern classic realm. Yet the mainstay of Malandro's catalog consists of music of the past few decades, much of it composed by its interpreters and therefore scarcely heard elsewhere. The musicians themselves are far from being the run of the mill— even to listeners who are well-versed in the Brazilian repertoire so an album like UZ 22's Renascimento, with its jazzrock fusion interpretations of Milton Nascimento's standards, comes as a fresh contribution, while Tutty Moreno's jazzy renditions of Dorival Caymmi's songs accomplish a similar feat. Malandro's recordings range from the pleasant to the extraordinarily beautiful. Without exception, they feature highly accomplished musicians, many of them in the worldBFtAZZIL -APRIL 2001
class category. This small label is at the forefront of educating the American public to appreciate less-obvious trends in Brazilian music. The task isn't an easy one and begs the question as to why a businessman from Ohio would choose to specialize in Brazilian music made by artists who are, on the whole, little known in the U.S. I asked Rick Warm to tell us this and other stories from his musical life. Brazzll—Where did you grow up? Rick Warm—I was born and raised in Cincinnati. From high school I began to travel and live in various countries, including Brazil, but I ended up actually moving back to Cincinnati after meeting the woman I would subsequently marry (a childhood friend of my sister). We have four children, and our parents live in Cincinnati—giving us built-in babysitters and a good support network. Brazzil—Do you come from a musical family? Rick Warm—Yes, kind of. My father's mother's side of the family was definitely the musical part of the family tree. My grandmother was a concert pianist, and her maiden name was Funk—also my father's middle name. I was always jealous of that name growing up—what a great stage name that would have been! My grandmother's brother was a jazz cornet player who made his living touring and playing throughout Europe. Brazzil—Are you a musician? If so, what instrument(s) do you play, and what type of music? Rick Warm—I don't claim to be a musician any more, though I still dabble. I studied piano growing up and was in a number of jazz bands through college. I had wanted to be a professional musician and study music, but my father, wise to the difficulties of the life of an artist—and probably also keener about my own personality, discouraged me. He told me to study something in college that would be better suited for making money—and then if I still wanted to go to music school, he would help me. By the time I had graduated from college, I had forgotten about that promise. Though I always was a pianist, I had a love affair with the guitar—particularly the Brazilian sound. In graduate school, knowing I would be going to Brazil, I began to study classical guitar. After arriving in Brazil, I began to study more of an MPB—based guitar; this is how I met Rick Udler. Then, upon returning to the U.S., I continued studying jazz guitar. But unfortunately I have had to give up practicing and playing, as time does not allow me to do much more than run my business and raise a family of four kids six-years old and younger. Brazzil—How did you relationship with Brazilian music begin? Rick Warm—I very vividly remember my slow introduction to Brazilian music. The first song I remember was, of course, "The Girl from Ipanema" with Joao Gilberto, Stan Getz, and Jobim. I don't remember the first time I actually heard the song, but I remember hearing it quite a bit growing up. We were blessed with a great jazz radio station in Cincinnati that just recently shut down, and my father would listen to BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
it a lot. That's where I am sure I first heard that song. Brazzil—What in particular attracted you to the music? Rick Warm—What attracted me to the music was a vibe, a feeling. It was sultry yet sophisticated. It was full of soul, yet very laid back. It just cried out to me like a Siren song. In junior high school I started listening to rock. There was another very g od progressive rock station that was quite eclectic, and eery once in a while they would play Brazilian music. I remem er hearing Flora Purim do "Nada Sera Como Antes" and Mil on doing "Fairy Tale Song." In tenth grade I moved to Israel and lived on a kibbutz in the north of the couptry. My adopted father was really into jazz— especially Ella,1 Sinatra, and lots of singers. My best friend's father was also into jazz, but he had what became a seminal album for us: J zz Samba, with Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd. At that poi I started playing jazz, and we formed a band and started doi g Jobim songs. From that point on, I slowly began collectin Brazilian recordings. At that time there was no such thing a the Internet, of course, so you learned about music through ial and error. By the time I was out of college, I had probably close to a thousand LPs—many of which I didn't like. Bu the recordings that stick out in my mind are Flor de Lis and eduzir by Djavan, several by Caetano (Cores Nomes, Velo, utras Palavras, Qualquer Coisa), A Sede do Peixe, Juntos by Ivan Lins, and a couple of compilations. In college I was playing jazz and some Brazilian music (while not studying music), but it seems I had almost forgotten about what initially wowed me about the music. Upon graduation, I got a job in Vienna, Austria and I remember that my very first night there, some friends took me to a Brazilian bar, and there was this singer/ guitarist playing. The place was packed—probably mostly Brazilians. He had everyone singing. There was so much happiness, it seemed (not to sound too corny). But it really made this impression on me. I was surprised that everyone seemed to know the words of each song. I thought I knew something about the music and I found I didn't recognize almost a single song. So I kept learning and researching the music more and more. Towards the end of the '80s I got a job in Japan. I was absolutely stunned to see the number of Brazilian artists and recordings and the amount of activity in Japan. That was when I decided to apply to graduate school for International Business. I chose to attend the University of South Carolina, which has one of the top ranked IB programs. On my application I had to choose a language/country in which I would specialize. One of the options as Brazil. I reasoned that I had already lived on most of the major continents, but I had never lived in South America. And razil was a large country with a huge economy, so... But by that point, I chose Brazil mainly because of the music. And to ing a very long story to an end, when I arrived in Brazil, I beg n taking guitar lessons and eventually met Rick Udler. Rick to k my musical education up to the next level. I will never forg t a 4-hour listening session we had after my 41
first lesson with him. We were listening to Elis e Tom, and he played "Por Toda Minha Vida." The emotion behind that voice—it just blew me away. That session included Clube da Esquina, as well as a whole slew of guitarists, including someone who I am proud to include on my roster and as my friend—Ulisses Rocha. Brazzil—What gave you the idea to start a label? And why a Brazilian label? Rick Warm—The idea came from a number of directions. I had been working in the corporate world since I had graduated from college, and one day I finally realized that it was not my scene. By that time I was married and had my first child on the way. My friendship with Rick and Maria Alvim had grown, and since my internship in Brazil after grad school, I had returned to Brazil at least once a year. I had fallen in with some people in the entertainment business, and they brought me into a venture that did not make it, but I was introduced to the concept of the independent record label and an organization, then called NAIRD and now called AFIM, which is made up entirely of indies. Shortly thereafter I quit my job and started investigating new options. One of them was a record label. Before starting Malandro, I wanted to be sure I wasn't going in with rosecolored glasses—though I certainly did not realize just how hard it would be. At the same time—because of my friendship with Rick and Maria and the musicians I met through them— I realized how difficult it was for good Brazilian musicians to record and work. Brazil is a weird place. It produces some of the greatest instrumentalists in the world, yet as a society they largely shun anything but vocal music. So, Malandro was started partly to help my friends and to try to give them a chance to express themselves, and partly to satisfy my desire to be a part of the music and the culture of Brazil. Why a Brazilian label? The answer to this is very simple. It is the music that I know best. It is the music I feel most passionate about. And, outside of Brazil, nobody else was doing what I wanted to do—so it was a perfect niche. Brazzil—What's the profile of Malandro? It's not strictly jazz and not strictly instrumental. Rick Warm—I've had a variety of "formulas" to explain the Malandro profile over the years, but it basically comes down to a few key points. The music has to be Brazilian—it has to come from that tradition of samba, bossa, choro, MPB—but with some kind ofjazz touch. I usually only record Brazilians, with very few exceptions. The music has to be original—it can be a Jobim song—but the approach has to be unique. And, the music needs to move me. Because ultimately, I have to get behind it and fight for it. Over time I have learned that there has to be a certain level of commerciality for a record to be successful. I am not sure I 42
have come upon the right combination. For some music that I adore, sometimes I throw that out the window—like in the case of choro. That is an uphill battle, but one I am willing to fight. I have also learned that my relationship with the musicians is critical. It used to be that I would simply go after what I thought was the best music. But the process of developing a product and selling not only the music but also the idea of what this music is takes an incredible amount of time. And the artists I now choose to work with fully understand that, are willing to support what I do, and work hard for themselves—they don't sit back and wait for the "big record company" to make things happen for them. I also choose to work with musicians who are not only hard workers, but also humble. I can't stand the huge egos, particularly when we have to fight so hard for such a small piece of the pie. Life is way too short. But the artists I work with know that I am constantly doing my best for them, whether or not the results are immediate. Brazzil—W hat are your criteria for selecting albums to release? Rick Warm—This has changed with time as well. I used to do a fair amount of licensing—usually product that was available only in Brazil. But I am doing the bulk of the recordings now. That way I have more control over the final product and don't have to worry about what's going on behind my back. As I mentioned before, I am looking for bands that are really creative—music that is representative of what is happening in Brazil today not 40 years ago. And we are looking for ways to make this "Brazilian Jazz" more appealing to the public at large. I've just gone into the studio with one of my alltime favorite groups, the Trio da Paz, to record their next album. This recording features several well-known guest artists. Our special guests are Dianne Reeves on two cuts, Joe Lovano on two cuts, and Cesar Camargo Mariano on one and maybe two cuts. It is a well-proven way to expand your audience, which helps us sell CDs of course, but also helps more people become aware of the music and helps the Trio da Paz increase their marketability as a performing group. Speaking of the Trio da Paz (of course, anyone who's into Brazilian jazz has probably heard of them), this must have happened in early 1997, not too long after their Black Orpheus release on Kokopelli. I was in New York on business, and it was one of those weird winters where it was hot one day and cold the next. I had arrived in New York with a coat shell but no lining, and it literally froze overnight. It was a Saturday, and by the afternoon I knew I needed some warmth, so after calling around town, I found that I could find a fleece for my coat downtown at a big sporting goods store off Union Square. After buying the fleece, I walked down Union Square West a few blocks and heard some really great music coming out of a restaurant. It was about 4:45 p.m., and I popped in to warm up and listen. The band was really great, and obviously Brazilian. There was a pianist, a bass player, a drummer, and a female vocalist. At that time I had recorded only one album, Rhythm & Romance, and was looking for new artists. Unfortunately, the group stopped playing at 5:00, so I didn't get to hear too much, but it also gave me an opportunity to talk to them as they BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
were packing up and talking with their fans and• friends. The drummer was the only one not talking when I approached the bandstand. So I started talking with him, telling him a little about my company, etc. I told him I didn't know who they were, but I would certainly be interested in talking with them about recording. When I asked the name of the band, he looked at me incredulously and said, "We're the Trio da Paz." Only at that point did I recognize Duduka, Nilson, and Maucha. The pianist was Dario Eskenazi, a token member of the group along with several other great pianists that sit in when Romero is not available (as is most often the case). And, of course, the venue was the Coffee Shop, on W. 16th and Union Square West—the only place to catch the Trio, or a good part of them, on a fairly consistent basis. Duduka and I got together the next day and talked for a long time. But it really wasn't until another year later, at the IAJE conference in New York, that I nailed down the details with Romero and Nilson, and Partido Out became the fifth Malandro Release. Brazzil—W hat are your other original releases? Rick Warm—Original Malandro recordings include Rhythm & Romance (my first baby); Ulisses Rocha' s Moleque; Partido Out by the Trio; Guarani Banana by Ze Luis; File) Machado's Cantando urn Samba; Reflex5es by Paulinho Nogueira; Hendrik Meurkens and Nilson Matta's Encontros; and the newest CD, Balaio by Richard Boukas and Jovino Santos Neto. Brazzil—Was Agua de Moringa'sSaracoteando released by Malandro before it came out in Brazil? Rick Warm—You know, I honestly do not remember. I think we may have released it first. We had been working on it jointly for some time. Agua de Moringa was one of the very first bands I wooed. I love those guys. They are so good. Brazzil—How did you come to release Carlos Malta's Jeitinho Brasileiro? Rick Warm—I met Carlos Malta by accident in sao Paulo. I was on the set of the long-running TV show Ensaio hosted by Fernando Faro at TV Cultura to meet one of my most favorite musicians and composers—Guinga. He was in So Paulo with Leila Pinheiro, Lula Galva°, and Malta among others just to record the show, and he had invited me to the taping. He introduced me to the band before the taping began, and Carlos, upon hearing about the record label, thrust a CD and a tape into my hands and told me to take a listen. At that point I had really not known too much about him, other than the Hermeto connection. The CD was this great indie recording he had made with Swiss cellist Daniel Pezzotti. The tape contained some first takes of what would become Jeitinho Brasileiro. Needless to say, I was hooked immediately and was thankful that he was brash enough to force his music upon me. Brazzil—T his probably happens to you quite frequently. Rick Warm—I think that music, like anything else in life, is one of those things that are so personal, in many cases you either love it or hate it. I find this particularly the case when BIWZIL-APML2UM
there are musicians involved judging another's work. At the CD Expo in Rio one year, I was walking through the aisles with a musician frie d when somebody very timid approached me and asked if 1w. Rick Warm. I said yes, and he told me he was Robertinho Bra t, nephew of Fernando Brant, and he had this recording that as being underwritten by the state of Minas Gerais in homa e to Milton Nascimento. He wanted to know if I would be int rested in hearing it. Of course I agreed, and he went his way. ut the person I was with wasted no time in telling me I wo Idn't like it. So when I later listened to the recording, I w already slightly jaded. Still, something in the recording struc me, and I listened to it again and again. It was really quite orig nal, certainly had appeal to a more contemporary audience, d the musicianship was excellent. Since that time I have ma • a point to listen to projects people submit to me more than o ce—and I try to keep a very open mind. Brazzil—Y u had a similar experience with Rabo de Lagartixa's Q ebra-Queixo. Rick War —Perhaps it's being in the right place at the right time or jus coincidence, but I often end up meeting some of my future art sts without planning—while other times I will actively search ut an artist. I was in Rio a few summers ago, and a group left a most excellent choro CD for me. The group is Trio Madeir Brasil, made up of two guitarists and a mandolin playe I liked the CD so much that I called them to schedule a mee 'ng. I knew I would not be able to release this recording as c/pro is a real hard sell, and I just wasn't in a position to focu on another hard-core choro album at the time. But I wanted to eet the band and at least make a contact. So we met at one o the guys' apartments and I explained to them the difficulty i promoting the music. One of the guitarists turned to the •ther (Marcello Goncalves) and said, "well maybe he'd lik Rabo." Marcello gave me a copy of a recording he was wo king on with another group called Rabo de Lagartixa—and it was just the kind of choro recording I thought would ga over well at the time. Just an awesome group. Brazzil—W hat are your best-selling CDs? 43
Rick Warm—Probably our best selling CD to date is FilO Machado's Cantando urn Samba, followed by the Trio da Paz' Partido Out and Paulinho Nogueira's Reflex5es.
Balaio do Malandro The label's offerings
Richard Boukas & Jovino Santos Neto: Balaio (Basket) Mal 71017 Brazzil—How did you decide to go with the cover art Boukas, voted best Brazilian guitarist in the U.S. by you're using, incorporating Genevieve Naylor's photoGuitarOne magazine, is also a fine jazz vocalist. In this new graphs? Rick Warm—Kind of by chance. At the same time I was album he joins brilliant pianist and longtime Hermeto Pascoal contemplating starting Malandro, I also met a man who was to associate Santos Neto in a compelling synergy of various become a business partner (in a separate venture) and one of Brazilian rhythms—samba, baido, maracatu, choro, and my very best friends, named Peter Reznikoff. His mother was frevo—impregnated with the intricacies of jazz harmony. The a photographer who had lived in Brazil in the 1940s as part of duo interprets four tunes written by each and four by Pascoal. a U.S. government—sponsored artistic exchange. She has an (See Jovino's track-by-track comments.) archive of photos from Brazil at that time that I found very Ulisses Rocha & Teco Cardoso: Caminhos Cruzados striking. All along, one of the ideas behind Malandro was to create (Crossed Paths) MAL 71016 Guitarist Rocha and extraordinary reedman Cardoso— an identity in the marketplace, and the use of these photos on here playing alto, soprano, and the covers was something that I thought would baritone sax; flutes; piccolo; and convey the beauty of Brazil along with a bamboo flutes—execute six of feeling of the music. I wanted unequivocally Rocha's compositions, plus to show Brazil on the covers, convey the idea "Infancia" (Egberto Gismonti), that the music came from traditional roots but "Caminhos Cruzados" (Tom also was contemporary music. Thus the picJobim/Newton Mendonca), ture collage, the colorations, and finally what "Retrato em Branco e Preto" has become known as the "bullet"—the title (Tom Jobim/Chico Buarque), of each album. I stole the idea of colorizing and "A Nolte" (Ivan Lins/Vitor the photos from old Blue Note artwork. Also Martins). we designed the spines to be colorful and stand out while still maintaining the Malandro Nilson Matta & Hendrik padrdo [mold]. Meurkens: Encontros (Meetings) MAL 71015 Brazzil—How did you settle on the name Bassist Nilson Matta teams Malandro, and what (if any) were the other up with harmonica and vibracandidates for label name? phone player Hendrik MeurRick Warm—It started really as a joke. kens in a gorgeous production, Actually, I never really started the label necalso featuring ace guitarist Romero Lubambo and drummer essarily with the intention of going at it full time. But during the time of my life that I was exploring various options, including Duduka da Fonseca (Nilson's partners in Trio da Paz), pianist the label, one day I think I just came up with the name rather Helio Alves, and vocalist Maucha Adnet. The pair regales us spontaneously. I remember being in New York, at the home of with their individual compositions, augmented by two stana Brazilian composer with some other friends (Brazilians and dards by Tom Jobim and one by Hermeto Pascoal. not), and I tossed out the name for their reaction. It was Rabo de Lagartixa: Quebra-Queho (Jaw Breaker) MAL immediate, most of them loved it—they laughed and thought it was perfect. The rest instantly hated it. And that is how the 71014 This young and inventive choro group turns the traditional name has been received by people who speak the language genre on its ear. Anchored by Daniela Spielmann's exuberant since then—you either love it or hate it. There is an expression in Brazil: Fale mal de mim, mas fale saxophones and punctuated by lively percussion, the band de mim [talk badly of me, but talk about me]. And the fact of delights with tunes by Caio Cezar ("Quebra-Queixo"), Marco the matter is, people started talking about the label. More Pereira ("Paranod"), Bilinho Teixeira ("Brincadeiras de Quinimportantly, outside of Brazil, where most of our sales are tal"), and Luis Filipe de Lima ("Joaozinho na Gafieira"), along made, the name and concept of the malandro is a story to be with better-known numbers by Baden Powell, Villa-Lobos, told. It is not simply a name. We have a wonderful explanation Waldir Azevedo, and Jacob do Bandolim. of the Malandro on our brochure and we go to great pains to Tutty Moreno: Forcas d'Alma (Forces of the Soul) explain that the Malandro we refer to is not what one would refer to from day to day. We are referring to a certain figura, MAL 71013 The veteran jazz drummer is joined by bassist Rodolfo an historical character, perhaps best represented by the likes of Moreira da Silva. Someone from a different era, when good Stroeter, pianist Andre Mehmari, and reedman Nailor "Proveta" music meant a respite from the day-to-day drag of life, not Azevedo in a set of tunes composed by the giants of MPB: Dorival Caymmi's "A Lenda do Abaete," "SO Louco," "Joao crime. To be quite honest, there were never really any other Valentao," and "A Vizinha do Lado"; Joyce's "Baracumbara" and "Forcas d'Alma"; Luiz Eca's "Alegria de Viver" and names, other than Malandro. "Imagem"; Durval Ferreira's "Samba Novo"; and Egberto 44
BRAZZIL -APRIL 2001
Jovino Santos Neto on Balaio I met Richard Boukas, my partner in Balaio, through Mike Marshall, with whom I have played several times (we are just beginning a new project dedicated to Hermeto's romantic ballads). He told Boukas about me and vice versa. It turns out that I had met Boukas way back when I played at SOB' s in Nev York with Hermeto, and he had approached me and given me his business card and a score of a tune he wrote for Hermeto. We met again in 1997, when I came to New York as the musical director of a Native American show, and he gave me all these transcriptions of my own playing in Hermeto's records. which he took directly from the records. Knowing Hermeto's music, you know how hard that can be... We started communicating often, and in a few months he set up a quartet concert for us in Queens. After that he came to Seattle, and we started this bi-coastal collaboration, of which the CD Balaio is a good snapshot. "As Cores da Menina" (The Girl's Colors)--I wrote this tune way back in 1979; it was one of the first things! composed after starting to play with Hermeto. It used to be called "Sitio Born" after a beautiful spot on the coast south of Rio where I used to go camping. In 1993 a friend asked me to create some music for a children's theater play, and there was a scene where a girl who used to paint lost her colors, and finally she recovers them, and I thought this theme would work fine. It did, and this tune has since then been a favorite of mine—we play it with my band here in Seattle and also in many other ensembles. When Boukas and I were starting to mix our duo CD, we figured we were still missing a burner, a samba with a lot Boukas and Jowl° of energy, so this one popped up. We quickly set up to record and did it in a quick take, and there it is "Balaio" (Basket) One month after I started playing with Hermeto, right around New Year's 1977, I was (again) camping up in the mountains in Mury, and I got a message that I had to return to Rio right away, because Hermeto had decided to invite me to go to the studio in Sao Paulo and record with him on a soundtrack for the film Trindade. One of the tunes he wrote for that was "Balaio," originally a march. The other tunes we were working on eventually became "Suite Norte a Sul, Leste Oeste" that we recorded on Zabumbe-bum-á. That was my first time ever in a real recording studio, and there were Paulo Braga, Mauro Senise, Cacau, Marcio Montarroyos and all these great cats playing, and I was so green and just loving the whole thing, learning with my eyes and ears wide open. This tune never left me, 1. just love to introduce it to musicians I meet. Of course, Boukas loved it, too... "Gajatucada"—A composition by Mr. B. that he showed me when he came here to Seattle for the recording. At first L thought that this tune would not work well as a duo, being so rhythmic, but after doing it and listening to the result, I did enjoy the way it turned out. "Campinas"—One of the most beautiful ballads ever written, in my opinion. It's really like a journey, the way it unfolds and modulates. In Hermeto's group, playing this tune was a great way to unwind after rehearsing for six hours straight. It was also the vehicle for us to learn how to deal with chord changes, since it has so many unexpected modulations. If you BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
only play clichés and licks, they will not work here. It forces you to be creative as a musician. "Homeopatia" (Homeopathy)--I wrote this samba in 1996 at the piano at Ronnie Scott's club in London, when I was playing there with A irto and Flora Purim. Every afternoon I would go to the club to practice, and in the back room, Ronnie was playing his alto sax. Every once in a while we would take a break, look at each other and smile... This tune came to me in one of those days. I always thought of it as a vocal tune, even though it has no lyrics. I am glad Boukas sang it; he did a great job on the tricky melody. "Escuridao da Passagem" (Darkness of Passage)— This piece for me is like Chopin meets Toninho I4orta. I specially like the deep harmony Boukas squeezes out of it. It has an almost formal vibe, like an ancient serenata sung to a shy lady behind closed shutters... "Capricho do Ventos" (Play of the Winds)—Another romantic Boukas piece that draws from the influence that the European composers had on Brazilian sensibility. The piece evolves into a guarcinia at certain points, and that keeps it very dynamic. "Hermeto" This tune was the title track of Hermeto's first album made in New York in 1970, with strings and a big band. I always wanted to hear it in a more intimate setting, and the duo brought back some of that bossa nova feel from the tune. As with Hermeto's compositions, the harmonic development is so surprising that one never tires of playing the tune, there's always something new to discover. "Vale da Ribeira" (Valley of Ribeira)--Hermeto wrote this bald° at 5 a.m. while we were sitting around a dirt road in the Parque Estadual do Alto Ribeira in southern Sao Paulo state in 1985, waiting for the sun to come up. It was supposed to be part of a sound track of the film Sinfonia do Alto Ribeira, but it ended up not being used. Sergio Mendes heard it and recorded it in his album Ocean°. It has always been a favorite of Hermeto's group in live performances. "Rosa Cigana" (The Gypsy Rose)—I wrote this valsa brasileira in 1997 to celebrate Pixinguinha's 100th birthday. I thought of his masterpiece "Rosa" as an inspiration. Boukas' voice adds a very special touch to the melody. "Chorobop" It is one of my favorite Boukas themes. He really captured the spirit of the choro, and his cavaquinho playing is brilliant here. This is an adaptation of an arrangement he made for the Modern Mandolin Quartet, led at the time by Mike Marshall, a [San Francisco] Bay Area mandolin virtuoso who fell in love with choro. Check out his CD Brasil (Duets) [Earthbeat 71674]. "A Mountain Atop a Mountain" This theme was written in 1993, as I was getting ready to leave Brazil and move to the U.S. It reminds me of the series of challenges in one's life, how one leads to the next, and how the work of a musician is never really done. It has a sort of circular or canonic form, that spirals up. This song was also recorded by my Quinteto in my new live CD [Ao Vivo em Olympia, Liquid City LQC 344521, with a very different arrangement. 45
Gismonti's "Sanfona." Ladston do Nascimento: A Voz do Coracilo (Voice of the Heart) MAL 71012 This talented singer from Minas Gerais, whose voice is eerily reminiscent of Milton Nascimento's, expertly interprets his own moving songs in a style that is firmly rooted in classic MPB. Paulinho Nogueira: Ref!exiles (Reflections) MAL 73001 The Brazilian guitar legend offers a solo career retrospective that covers some of his own compositions ("Reflexaes em 2 por 4," "Tons e Semitons"), bossa nova standards (Tom Jobim's "Chovendo na Roseira," Baden Powell's -Samba em Prelndio"), and MPB (Sergio Ricardo's "Zelao," Edu Lobo's "Cheganca").
Guitarist Romero Lubambo, bassist Nilson Matta, and drummer Duduca da Fonseca update the tradition of the Brazilian jazz trio, romping their way through Lubambo's and Matta's compositions and interpreting additional tunes by Rique Pantoja, Toninho Horta, and Duduca & Chico Adnet. Carlos Malta: Jeitinho Brasileiro (Brazilian Way) MAL 71004 The hurricane that is Carlos Malta sweeps through choro, maracatu, waltz, samba,frevo, toada, and baido—some composed by himself and some by Pixinguinha, Caetano Veloso, Jackson do Pandeiro, Guinga, Ary Barroso, and Luis Bandeira— all treated in profound and provocative ways. Juarez Moreira: Born Dia (Good Morning) MAL 71003 The guitarist/composer mixes the rich pastoral tapestry of his native Minas Gerais with the sophistication ofjazz. Featured
Filo Machado: Cantando um Samba (Singing Samba) MAL 71011 Machado's jazzy samba, vocal pyrotechnics, and instrumental showmanship recall Djavan and Joyce, but his swinging compositions and vocal/instrumental arrangements are uniquely his own. Ze Luis: Guarani Banana MAL 71010 Saxophonist and flutist Ze Luis, an alumnus of Caetano Veloso's, Gilberto Gil's, and Tania Maria's bands, shows off his relaxed jazz compositions, joined by the likes of Romero Lubambo, Paulo Braga, and David Finck. Café Jam: Mob() (Rhythmic Spice) MAL 71009 A contemporary quintet, composed of saxophones, flutes, guitars, piano/keyboards, bass, drums and percussion, gives distinctly jazzy readings to Djavan's "Mac" and Tom Jobim's "Samba do Aviao" and "Passarim" when it's not executing compositions by group members Paulo Pascali Jr., Marcelo Zanettini, Yoshiya Kusamura, and Benoit Decharneux. Terra Brasil: Mestico (Mestizo) MAL 71008 This delectable jazz album comes with gafieira (dancehall), choro, and fantasy flavoring courtesy of a Sao Paulo sextet incorporating reeds, electric guitar and bass, flute, drums, and percussion. Agua de Moringa: Sarocoteando (Strolling) MAL 71007 This outstanding choro group packs its second disc with brilliant renditions of the old (Ernesto Nazareth's "Fon Fon," Pixinguinha's "Sensivel," Jacob do Bandolim's "Saracoteando") the new (Hermeto Pascoal's "Intocavel," Guinga's "Choro pra Ze") and the regional (Canhoto da Paraiba's "Com Mais de Mil," Guerra-Peixe's "Suite Nordestina"). UZ 22: Renascimento MAL 71006 Milton Nascimento's melodies in new clothes woven in a weft of smooth jazz crossed with a warp of acid jazz. Trio da Paz: Partido Out MAL 71005 46
on several cuts are guitar legend Toninho Horta and saxophonists Paulo Moura and Nivaldo Ornelas. Ulisses Rocha: Moleque (Child) MAL 71002 Rocha's acoustic guitar, alone or accompanied by electric bass and percussion, improvises on tunes by Tom Jobim, Edu Lobo, Roberto Menescal, and Lulu Santos, as well as introducing the guitarist's own compositions. Rick Udler and Maria Alvim: Rhythm & Romance MAL 71001 Lovely vocals, guitar, and swinging arrangements that mix samba, bossa nova, and jazz in a tasty brew. Richard Boukas' interview will appear next month in Part 2.
For further information: Malandro Records: http://www.brazilianjazz.com Jovino Santos Neto: http://www.jovisan.net Richard Boukas: http://www.boukas.com Daniella Thompson is a writer and preservationist living in Northern California. She can he reached at daniv(&,ips.net BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
by Rodolfo David. Author Pires interprets Dalva, a transvestite who gets into the stage when he hears he is very ill. Getsemani—Tragicomedy by Mario Bortolotto who also directs. Bortolotto, is a prize-winner of the APCA-2000 for life achievement. A story of cultural terrorism. Four men kidnap an editor to force to publish literature they deem decent. With the group Cemiterio de AutomOveis and singer-compososer Carlos Careqa. Pret-à-Porter 4—Improv show created by the students from Centro de Pesquisa Teatral do Sesc under the supervision of director Antunes Filho. Three sketches: in a cybercafe, in a nursing home, in a school. Vern Buscar-Me Que Ainda Sou Teu
RIO
(Come Fetch Me That I'm Still Yours)—A theatrical troupe on the brink of bankruptcy keeps presenting the play Coracdo Materno (Motherly Heart) an adaptation of song by camp singer Vicente Celestino. Written by Carlos Alberto Soffredini, directed by Nelson Baskerville, with group Triboduscenicos. Musical comedy. Caixa 2 (Under the Table)—Comedy. It has been playing since October 1997 and as seen by more than 600,000 people. Angela, a secretary, is used by her lover to hide money from the Revenue Service. Directed by Fauzi Arap, with Juca de Oliveira and Mauro Mendonca.
Alta Sociedade (High Society)—A rich
and famous couple has to face the whims of the Justice. Written and directed by Mauro Rasi, with vete,ran actors Fernanda Montenegro and Italo Rossi who for the first time in 30 year are again sharing the stage. Anjo Duro (Tough Angel)—A raw-edged monologue presenting the difficult work of Nise da Silveira, the doctor who revolutionized psychiatric treatment in Brazil. From Luiz Valcazaras. Disk Ofensa—Linha Vermelha (Dial Offense—Red Line)—After finding a homeless woman who is good at offending people a couple starts taping her invectives to use in a 900-type telephone service. Written by Pedro Vicente. Mais que Imperfeito (More than Imperfect)—Couple discuss their own behavior. Second part of a trilogy started by E Al, Comeu (How was it? Did you screw her?), by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, in which men commented on women's behavior. With Clara Garcia, Ingra Liberato, Tato Gabus Mendes, and Antonio Gonzalez. Qualquer Gabo Vira-Lata Tern uma Vida Sexual Mais Sadia Que a Nossa (Any
Stray Cat Has a Healthier Sexual Life than Ours)—Girl asks a scientist to help her get back her fiancé. Written by Juca de Oliveira, directed by Bibi Ferreira, with Rita Guedes, Roger Gobeth and Marcos Pasquim. Dols Perdidos Numa Noite Suja (Two Lost Souls on a Dirty Night)— Plinio Marcos's text, which has become a classic. Two tramps trying to survive in the big city. Directed by Tanah Correa, with Alexandre Borges-and Jose Moreira.
SAD PAULO Antes S6 Do Que Mal Acompanhado (Bet-
ter Alone than in Bad Company)—Written and directed by Claudio Carneiro. A group of actors talks about the human condition and several human feeling like fear, greed and love. By the theatrical troupe Doutores da Alegria. Esta Noite Ouvirei Chopin (Tonight I Will Listen to Chopin) by Sergio Pires directed BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
With Murilo Benicio, Carolina Ferraz, Beth Goulart, Emilio de Mello, Irene Ravache and Alberto Szafran.
ooks best sellers FICTION 1 As mentiras que os homens contam, Luis Fernando Verissimo. Objetiva, Objetiva, R$ 16,90 2 Comedias para se ler na escola, Luis Fernando Verissimo. Objetiva, R$ 16 3 Ninguem é de ninguem, Zibia Gasparetto. Espaco Vida e Consciencia, R$ 22 4 Harry Potter e a pedra filosofal, J.K. Rowling. Rocco, R$ 22 5 0 deinfinio e a srta. Prym, Paulo Coelho. Objetiva, R$ 19,90 6 Harry Potter e a camara secreta, J.K. Rowling. Rocco, R$ 22 7 Os Maias, Eca de Queiroz. Ediouro, R$ 28,50 8 Harry Potter e o prisioneiro de Azkaban, J.K. Rowling. Rocco, R$ 25 9 A confraria, John Grisham. Rocco, R$ 27,50 10 As mile uma noites, Antoine Galand, org. Malba Tahan. Ediouro, R$ 43
NONFICTION Just-released American movies: Cecil B. DeMented (Cecil Bern Demente), The Body (0 Corpo), Finding Forrester (Encontrando Forrester), The Limey (0 Estranho), The Way of the Gun (A Sangue Frio), Before Night Falls (Antes Do Anoitecer), The Wedding Planner (0 Casamento dos Meus Sonhos), Chocolat (Chocolate), Enemy at the Gates (Circulo de Fogo), What Women Want (Do Que as Mulheres Gostam), Dr. T and the Women (Dr. T e as Mulheres), Dracula (Dracula), The Exorcist—Director 's Cut (0 Exorcista Verscio do Diretor), Chicken Run (A Fuga das Galinhas), Hannibal (Hannibal), Men of Honor (Homens de Honra), Vertical Limit (Limite Vertical), Malena (Malena), Cast Away (Ntiufrago), The Watcher (0 Observador), Almost Famous (Quase Famosos), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (0 Tigre e o Dragtio), Traffic (Traffic) 0 Chamado de Deus (God's Call)—Brazil/2000—By Jose Joffily. Documentary about the daily routine of six seminarians (Brasil, 2000). Three of them prepare themselves for the religious career following the philosophy of the charismatic Catholicism and the other three under a Liberation Theology perspective. All of them are also shown visiting their families, the highlight of the film. www.ochamadodedeus.com.br Amores Possiveis (Possible Loves)—Brazil/2000—Romantic comedy by Sandra Werneck. Once again the director deals with heartbreaks telling three different love stories but interchangeable between the characters. It all starts when Carlos waits for his sweetheart at the movie theater. He ends up meeting Julia. Fifteen years later Carlos has become a successful lawyer and unhappy husband, or a gay, or a chronic bachelor still looking for the ideal woman.
1 Como dizer tudo em ingles, Ronald Martinez. Campus, R$ 29 2 Limites sem trauma, Tania Zagury. Record, R$ 20 3 Um dia daqueles, Bradley Greive. Sextante, R$ 19,90 4 Os templarios, Piers Paul Read. Imago, R$ 40 5 Pal rico, pal pobre, Robert Kiyosaki. Campus, R$ 24 6 A arte da felicidade, Dalai Lama. Martins Fontes, R$ 32,50 7 0 livro da sabedoria, Dalai Lama. Martins Fontes, R$ 9,80 8 0 avantaj ado livro de pensamentos do Casseta e Planeta, Casseta e Planeta. Objetiva, R$ 15 9 Mantenha seu cerebro vivo, Rubem Katz, Sextante, R$ 18,90 10 A fantastica historia de Silvio Santos, Arlindo Silva. Editora do Brasil, R$ 23,90
CHILDREN AND TEENS 1 0 livro do riso do Menino Maluquinho, Ziraldo. Melhoramentos, R$ 14, 65 20 tesouro das virtudes para criancas, vol. 2, Ana Maria Machado. Nova Fronteira, R$ 23 3 0 pequeno principe, Saint-Exupery. Agir, R$ 18 4 Contos e lendas orientais, Malba Tahan. Ediouro, R$ 18.50 5 Mais coisas que toda garota deve saber, Antonio Vilela. Melhoramentos, R$ 11,40 6 Para gostar de ler, varios autores. Atica, R$ 11,90 7 0 homem que calculava, Malba Tahan. Record, R$ 19 8 Coisas que todo garoto deve saber, Antonio Carlos Vilela. Melhoramentos, R$ 11,40 9 Coisas que toda garota deve saber, Samantha Rugen. Melhoramentos, R$ 11,40 10 0 livro das virtudes para criancas, William Benett. Nova Fronteira, R$ 23 According to Jornal do Brasil, http:// www.jb.com.br 47
TABLETS AROGIDA HASEIRA DANIELLE (ASSUAN, [SQ. Erotica Civil & Criminal Membro, California State Bar
11835 West Olympic Blvd - Suite 745 Los Angeles, CA 90064
AIR-HOTEL CRUISE PACKAGf,S
Multilingual Staff
C
The best prices to Brazil, Mexico, and Latin America
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800-471-6333
Para consultas, ligue
www.latinamericanvacations.com rio2000@pacbell.net
(310) 478-8388
auk Os, Webue
ALL INFO ON ADS 'CILIA!! CAN BE FOUND AT:
b
http://www.brazzil.com/placead.htm
IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY • GREEN CARDS THROUGH MARRIAGE & FAMILY a EMPLOYMENT VISAS FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION MONTHLY PAYMENT PLAN AVAILABLE
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MARTA'S BED & BREAKFAST HOTECRIO DE JANEIRO" With TV, stereo, fax, e-mail, laundry, air-conditioning, large balconies and views 150 Meters to Copacabona and Ipanema beaches
Get the Right Connection
()%1 I RAZIk iw_pRODU,Tiows)s
For reservations rontact John & Marto Miller
AXE zcaian, )caz `6nsendlie
bring you Infectious r innovative
most andea We enert
Brazilian instrumental music
Tel.: +55 (021)521-8568
E-mail: milleri@glicom.br
(310) 839-3788 WHEREVER YOU ARE IN THIS GALAXY
WINIM11114 [SIi ATTORNEY AT LAYI/ABORADO/ADVORADO
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www.BrazilCaliforn lax() m 1801Ave. of the Stars, Ste. 1201-Los Angeles, CA 90067 E-mail: chamber@BrazilCalifornia.com
MEMBER, STAFF EVAR OF CAI IFORNIP
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il I WANT MORE INFORMATION ON ADVERTISING IN INIA PLEASE SEND ME A MEDIA KIT.
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For Ad, call (323) 255-8062 or E-mail: brazzil@brazzil.corn .48
dRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
flexible hours. Must have ownsewing machine. Some Portuguese preferred. Gail (310) 849-5922 [177]
1 011#
brazzil-ADS 13231 255-8062 ;00 S CANDANGO BOOKS: On-Line Sebo http:// www.candangobooks.com [184]
asses English Classes - San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City - $310 1 month - $675 3 months - $975 6 months, 1-20 provided, International Academy of English, 1-800-789-8068 PORTUGUESE CLASSES - Brazilian teacher. Fast, easy, efficient and pleasant way to learn Portuguese. (949) 240-8178 [184] 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 SemiPrivate. Phone (310) 379-0738 [181] Portuguese Courses in Salvador da Bahia, Dialog°, http://www.brazilstudy.com, E-mail: dialogo@brazilstudy.com, fax: 01155 71 336-6329
II or amnion Experienced "Brasileiro" Guitarist; Brazilian native Joao Junqueira (MFA in Jazz Guitar at CALARTS) is available to play, sing and record, solo or accompanied, his specialty, Authentic Brazilian Music, Originals and Jazz. Please call (818) 716-9053 or write unqueira@yahoo.com [179]
Or
ae
BRAZIL - Wildlife Refuge - 130 acres Atlantic Forest, near Recife. Also tropical fruits. Excellent income from tourism. $100,000. (310) 832-4367 [156]
ni
ore ,
Procuramos mulheres para trabalhar como modelo exotica na regiao do condado de Los Angeles e de Orange. Telefone para 310-2177615 e deixe mensagem e nOmero de telefone em I ngles, Espanhol ou Portugues. Fale Portugues muito lentamente para que possamos entender. [179] Wanted: garment maker to sew clothing for individual. Possible "start-up" business. Part-time/ BRAZZIL - APRIL 2001
Technical Recruiter (Head Hunter) needed for metallurgical engineer willing to move to Brazil from California. I have experience in nearly all aspects of Foundry Metallurgy, including Quality Control and Testing. Prefer work in a foundry that produces castings for automotive, power generations, or railroad. (This has been the majority of my work in steels, stainless steels, irons, brass, aluminum and a few exotics.) Would also consider work in any other industry where a metallurgist's expertise would be of need. (Power plants for corrosion project, etc). Would appreciate any help in gaining any contacts in Brazil. Résumé and references are available by request. E-mail me at: acsmeteng@hotmail.com [181]
isce anenus
Brazilian man, lam looking for American person. I am single, I am 28 years old. E-mail: lindos@msn.com [178] Americano, jovem 49 anos, branco, olhos azuis, sem/nao querfilhos, cavalheiro, honesto, mOsico, procura brasileira magra, jovem para casamento. Outramente procuro qualquer brasileira por amizade, ensinar Ingres, ou participar de musica folclOrica/rock. Escrevo portugues. John PO Box 10401, Glendale, CA 91209 [177] 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 corn brasileira ou americana. (818) 344-1881 [166]
Looking for partner to buy or build pousada in Northeast Brazil. See the Northeast with our 4x4 tour, Natal to Jericoacoara on the most beautiful beaches. E-mail: zo@planetguides.com Phone: (941) 774-7458 [178]
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 - E-mailtjorn_s@dataphone.se [164]
Brazilian Music in its totality. Samba, bossa nova, chorinho, balk), axe, and more. Merchant Express (954) 785-2131
ersnna ' an See S man
iewspapers Tagaz,nes
Brazilian bottom, 33 ylo, 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]
Jornais e revistas do Brasil. Recebemos jornais diarios e todas as principals revistas, incluindo masculinas e femininas. Tel. (954) 785-2131
'Erma amen see s man Educated, pretty Brazilian lady iso nice semiretired man. We'll teach English and enjoy beautiful nature in Maceio, Brazil, most of the year. Write to 41 Sutter #1033 San Francisco 94104 [180] Brazilian mulata lady—a knockout at 35—seeks young nice looking young boy 18+. Preference to dark skin. For good times. Letter and pict to: Cida, PO Box 894, Wildomar, CA 92595 [165]
mina an ee s "°man Handsome US Citizen, 5'8' tall, 159 lbs, seeks Brazilian or Latino girl, age 30+, friendship first. Fax or call (925) 609-9023. E-mail: petenaji@pacbell.net [183] American Male, 33, engineer, seeks sincere attractive Brazilian lady 21-35 for friendship and possible relationship. In the Bay Area/San Francisco, California. My interests are soccer, motorcycle, outdoors, travel, and Brazilian cultural enrichment. E-mail: acsmeteng@hotmail.com Prances-Americano, 45, delgado, atraente, olhos azuis, professor, falo francOs, Ingres, espanhol, urn pouco de portugues, procuro brasileira delgada, 18-38 morando em Los Angeles. William (310) 305-2090 [181]
'ell
a
Copacabana. Apartment for rent. Furnished, security, two blocks from beach, one bedroom, cozy. $65 per day. Call owner Maria (323) 6624667 [180] Historical Santa Teresa. Beautiful 2 bedrooms, all furnished, big balcony with view to the city. Close to samb6dromo (where the Carnaval parades happen), to the Christ statue and close to all beaches. For Carnaval orfor months. Owner lives in Los Angeles. Rent for only $50 per day. Call 310-450-7501 [179] • 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 • DEADLINE: The 25th of the month Late material will be held for the following month if appropriate •TO PLACE AD Send ad with check money order or your Credit Card number (plus your name and expiration date) to BRA ZZIL P.O. Box 50536 Los Angeles, CA 90050-0536. 49
• lublidu Brasil Brasil Cult. Ctr (310) 397-3667 Modem Lang. Center (310) 839-8427
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Elizabeth Almeida, MA. (310) 281-7536 Dr. Jefferson Se (213) 207-2770 Tania Haberkom, M.A. (310) 840-5380
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• listradii Approach Student Ctr (617) 787-5401 Braz. & Amer. Lg. Inst. (617) 787-7716
• MMus The Brazilian Monthly (617) 566-3651 Bossa: Braz. Jazz Guide (617) 262-9997
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Café Brazil (617) 789-5980 lpanema (508) 460-6144 Tropicana (617) 567-4422 Pampas Churrascaria (617) 661-6613
Chicago • Cusifire
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t Association
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• listriellii Capoeira Golpe Bonito (713) 463-6584 • ROSIIIINS Boi na Brasa (817) 329-5514 Fogo de Chao (972) 503-7300 (713) 978-6500 Samba Café (713) 961-7379
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• tliis llssulatius Brazil-Cal. Chbr of Corn. (310) 556-7958 Brazilian Sociocult. C. (310) 370-0929 Centro Cultural Gaucho (323) 256-6548 MILA • Samba School (310) 202-8091 Mov. Social Humanista (310) 281-6652 SambaLa -Esc. de Samba (562) 438-3996
• CUM* Brazilian Consulate (323) 651-2664
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• fiats Mann Brazilian Nites Prod. (818) 566-1111 Sayegh Promotions (562) 863-3463
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Cent. 21 Tanis Sayegh (562) 462-1564 Solon G. Pereira (562) 924-9633
• Redittririt lCaUs Bossa Nova (310) 657-5070 By Brazil (310) 787-7520 Café Brasil (310) 837-8957 Karla Bahia (310) 657-6306 Picanha (818) 972-2100 Rio Braz. Churrascaria (714) 739-2000 Sabor Brazil (310) 839-9196 Zabumba (310) 841-6525
• thistiliollitirp. Brazilian Int. Affairs (310) 854-5881
• 1111011/1ffirs 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 HIS. Internat. Tours (213) 613-0943 South Winds Tr & Tours (800) 533-3423
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Miami - S.Florida •&Ms TAM (888) 2FLY-TAM Transbrasil (800) 872-3153 yang (800) 468-2744
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(407) 354-5200 Cam. Corn. Brasil- EUA (305) 579-9030 ARARA - Amazon. As. (813) 842-3161
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All Braz. Imp. & Exp. (305) 523-8134 Brazil by Mail (954) 472-7163 Vanya's Sweets (954) 785-0087 Via Brasil (305) 866-7718
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Dra Henrietta Faillace (305) 935-2452 Dr. Roberto Shaffer (305) 535-1694 Dr. Neri Franzon (954) 776-1412
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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 Pod Tours (305) 372-5007 Br Online Travel (888) 527-2745 Via Brasil Travel (305) 866-7580
New York N. Jersey • Mks Luso•Brazilian Books (800) 727-LUSO
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(212) 382-1630 Brazilian Voice (201) 955-1137 OCA Magazine (516) 596-1853 Portugal-Brasil News (212) 228-2958 Samba Newsletter (718) 937-0574
• Ilittlirmits Brasilia (212) 869-9200 Brazil 2000 (212) 877-7730 Brazilian Pavillion (212) 758-8129 Cabana Carioca (212) 581-8088 Indigo Blues (212) 221-0033 S.O.B. (212) 243-4940 Tapajos River (201) 491-9196
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San Diego • WI
Car Mania Auto Repair (619) 223-7748 • Cliii I Asinine:is Clube Bras. San Diego (619) 295-0842 Sunday Night Cl. Brazil (619) 233-5979
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San Francisco • tirffsts yang (650) 794-1998 TAM (888) 2FLY-TAM
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Bay Area Brasilian Club (415) 334-0106 Capoeira Institute (510) 655-8207
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• Pelican Brazil Today (510) 526-1115 Brazzil (323) 255-8062
• Ilistairdnit Des Café Mardi Gras (415) 864-6788 Canto do Brasil (415) 626-8727 Clube Fusetti (415) 459-6079 Muzzarela Di Bufala (415) 346-2284 Nino's (510) 845-9303 Terra Brazilis (415) 863-5177
• Irmliffie Port. Lang. Services (415) 587-4990 Raimundo Franco (916) 443-3162
• NW Aguas Brazil Express (415) 749-0524 Paulo's Travel (415) 863-2556 Rio Roma (415) 921-3353 Santini Tours (510) 843-2363 Tropical Travel (510) 655-9904 Tucanos Travel (415) 454-9961
ashington DC
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Aquarela (510) 548-1310 Birds of Paradise (415) 863-3651 Ginga Brasil (510) 428-0698 Samba do Cora* (415) 826-2588
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In the United States, real per capita income grew at alongterm rate of approximately 1.5 percent per year in the nineteenth century. Long-term growth at that annual rate for a period of 91 years (the time interval between 1822 and 1913) implies a cumulative increase of per capita income from an initial level of 100 to an index of 388 at the end of the period. By contrast, the data available for Brazil suggest a very different economic experience in the nineteenth century. Although real output was able to keep pace with Brazil's rapid population growth (1.8 percent per year), real per capita income seems to have grown very little between 1822 and 1913. Further, most of the per capita income growth that took place in Brazil between 1822 and 1913 seems to have occurred in the period 1900-13. Those years were indeed a In 1900, railway period of rapid economic progress. By the same token, the years 1822-99 seem to have been a long period of disappointtrackage in the United ing economic achievement in Brazil. Disaggregation of these figures in terms of geographic States was almost 20 times regions is also helpful in understanding Brazil's economic as great as in Brazil. Even experience during the nineteenth century. The country's overall performance masks a significant differential in the after the large post-1900 pace of development between regions. In part, the poor aggregate experience of the Brazilian economy during the increase in Brazil's railway nineteenth century reflects the especially dismal performance of the country's large northeast region, where almost half of construction, in 1914 the Brazil's population resided. A rough estimate suggests that real per capita income in the northeastfell, by approximately country had only 26,060 30 percent between 1822 and 1913. Our first task, then, is to kilometers of track. This try to understand why the large northeast region did so poorly. We then proceed to a more general analysis, encompassing was a figure that the United the rest of the country as well. Exports were the main source of productivity growth in States had surpassed by nineteenth-century Brazil. International trade was important both for permitting higher income from available resources the 1850's. and for stimulating capital formation, including public-sector NATHANIEL H LEFF and foreign investment, in economic infrastructure. The northeast's negative economic experience during the nineteenth century stemmed largely from the poor export performance of the two products in which the region had an international comparative advantage: sugar and cotton. In 1822, sugar and cotton accounted for 49 percent of Brazil's aggregate export revenues, while coffee (produced in the southeast) accounted for 19 percent. In the course of the nineteenth century, Brazil's export receipts from sugar and cotton showed little long-term growth and actually declined in terms of receipts per capita. In 1913, sugar and cotton provided only 3 percent of Brazil's total export revenues. By contrast, real income from coffee exports increased at a long-term annual rate of approximately 5 percent. By 1913, coffee accounted for 60 percent of Brazil's aggregate export revenues. The decline of the northeast's sugar and cotton exports reflected the fact that nineteenthcentury Brazil had a stronger comparative advantage in coffee than in sugar or cotton. That is, a unit of foreign exchange could be earned with fewer domestic resources in coffee than in sugar or cotton. Because the domestic-resource cost of foreign exchange was much lower in coffee than in sugar or cotton, the northeast experienced a nasty case of the "Dutch disease." As the foreign currency provided by coffee exports grew as a source of supply in Brazil's foreign-exchange market, the country's overall exchange rate increasingly reflected the importance of coffee and its pressures for real-currency appreciation. Revenues of the producers of Brazil's various export commodities and the volume of output that they supplied varied in function of changes in the mil-reis (the Brazilian currency) price that producers received. Mil-reis prices for individual commodities, in turn, varied both with changes in the specific commodity's international price and with changes in Brazil's overall exchange rate. In fact, much of the variance in the mil-reis prices for Brazilian cotton and sugar resulted from changes in the mil-reis sterling exchange rate. Therefore, the coffee-dominated exchange rate squeezed factor returns and priced everlarger quantities of the northeast's sugar and cotton out of the world market. In introductory economics textbooks, when a new export activity emerges with a stronger comparative advantage than that of the country's traditional export activity,
Bumpy Road
factors are reallocated to earn the higher returns available in the new activity, and income rises. By contrast, in the Brazilian historical context, the northeast's adjustment was constrained by some rigidities imposed by geography. The northeast's specific types of land (arid climate) were not wellsuited to coffee production and were therefore not reallocated to coffee. Consequently, transfer of other productive factors from sugar and cotton to coffee required interregional migration. The large distances between Brazil's regions, however, meant high transportation costs, such that migration involved an investment. Brazil's slave market financed the transfer of slaves, and most of the northeast's stock of slaves was indeed bid away to the southeast. But much of the northeast's labor force was free, and large-scale transfer of free labor was precluded by the absence of a capital-market institution to finance free workers' investment in interregional migration. Economic theory points to a key condition that must be satisfied if the integration of multiple geographical regions in a single political unit is to constitute an economically optimal currency area, That condition is inter-sectoral factor mobility. As we have seen, nineteenth-century Brazil did not satisfy that condition. Under these circumstances, one may wonder whether the northeast might not have been better off economically as a separate political entity, with its own exchange rate. The northeast's trade and development would then have been governed by its own (rather than by Brazilian) comparative advantage. In fact, the northeast's political elite did attempt to secede from Brazil during the nineteenth century, but maintenance of the country's territorial integrity was a key priority for Brazil's political leadership, which used military force to repress secession. The northeast therefore remained within Brazil, and the region's monetary and trade conditions were greatly aggravated by its being part of a political entity that did not meet the conditions for an optimum currency area. The northeast's dismal economic experience was an important part of Brazil's overall poor record in the nineteenth century. The Elastic Supply of Labor In the southeast, coffee exports grew rapidly, with major linkage effects on the regional economy. But long-term increase in real wages, and hence in income for much of the population, was constrained by two labor-market institutions that provided an elastic supply of labor to Brazil's "advanced" sector throughout the nineteenth century. Accordingly, output and the demand for workers in the Southeast coffee region could increase rapidly without generating an increase in real wages. First, importation of slaves from Africa enabled Brazil's plantation owners to satisfy their growing demand for labor with relatively little utilization of workers from the country's domestic agricultural sector. Consequently, the export activities could expand their output substantially without bidding up wages within the Brazilian economy. In the first half of the nineteenth century, the British government attempted to stop the importation of slaves from Africa. The economic advantages that importation afforded Brazil's planter class were so great that the Brazilian state resisted British interventionism for half a century. Between 1800 and 1852 (when the British navy finally forced suspension of slave imports), approximately 1.3 million slaves were imported to Brazil. This amounted to more than one-fifth of the growth of the country's total population and an ever larger share of the increase in the Southeast's labor force. The increase in the supply of slave labor to the coffee sector seems to have been sufficiently great that the real cost of labor did not rise over the century. Pedro Carvalho de Mello has collected data on nominal slave purchase prices and rental rates between 1835 and 1888. (the year of abolition) in Rio de Janeiro. Regression equations estimated with Mello's undeflated data show an annual trend rate of increase of 2
percent for the lave-purchase time series and an annual rate of increase of 1.8 percent for the slave-rental series between 1835 and 1888 Deflated with observations for the price of coffee, Mello's time series can be regressed against a time trend to ascertain the rate of change of real labor costs in nineteenth-cen ry Brazil' s "advanced" sector. Over the years 1835-88, the re ressions show an annual trend rate of change of — 0.1 perce t (with a t-ratio of 0.39) for the deflated purchase-price eries, and an annual trend rate of change of —0.3 percent (w that-ratio of 1.43) for the deflated rental-rate series. These regre sions, in which coffee prices are used as the deflator, indica e that real labor costs for Brazil's coffee producers did n t increase in the half century between 1835 and 1888. We 1 ck an annual index of consumer prices that could be used t deflate the nominal slave price and rental series in order o assess rigorously the time trend in real consumption w ges for coffee workers. As discussed elsewhere, however data on the medium-term rate of increase of consumer price in Rio de Janeiro suggest that consumer prices rose at le st as rapidly as the current-price series for coffee labor. Th s despite the great growth of coffee production and the rapi expansion of the southeast's economy, the supply of labor apparently kept pace with the demand for labor, obviating upward pressure on labor costs or worker incomes. The second abor-market institution involved immigration. As noted, in 1852 the British government stopped Brazil's importa ion of slaves from Africa. Following alongterm interaction between domestic economics and politics, slavery was abol'shed within Brazil in 1888. From the viewpoint of maxim zing coffee-planter returns, the mounting pressures for a lition posed a potential problem. Unless accompanied by other changes in the labor market, abolition would bring a sh rp rise in labor costs. Accordingly, some of the coffee sector' political leadership sought a monopsonistic, class solution to protect planter interests. Their approach to the impending p oblem was, in effect, to shift downward the supply schedule of labor in anticipation of the planters' growing demand for workers. To achieve this objective, they developed anew abor-market institution that would maintain an elastic supply of low-cost labor from overseas. To endogeni e the supply of labor, the coffee planters pressed Brazil's entral government and the government of Sao Paulo provi ce to pay the transportation costs of immigrants from sout em Europe. Such subsidies had two important consequenc s for potential European immigrants. First, without raising razilian wages, transportation subsidies increased the net private returns from immigrating to Brazil. In
addition, the subsidies overcame the capital-market imperfection that might otherwise have prevented destitute Europeans from immigrating at all. By paying transportation costs, Brazil could attract immigrants who, if they could have financed their own immigration, might have gone to the United States or to Argentina, where wages were higher. The Brazilian policy intervention to attract European immigration achieved its objective. Immigration, mostly from Southern Europe, accelerated sharply. The increase was most dramatic in the case of the province where coffee production was expanding most rapidly, Sdo Paulo. Between 1880 and 1885, an average of 4,300 immigrants entered Sdo Paulo annually. In 1886, the figure was 9,500, and in 1887, the year before abolition, the figure was 33,000. Overall, between 1885 and 1909 some 2.8 million European immigrants entered Brazil. Almost all of these people went to the southeast. Between 1890 and 1913, the stock of coffee trees in Sdo Paulo province (a proxy for the demand for labor) increased at a rate of approximately 6.5 percent per year. In addition, the demand for workers also rose in manufacturing as well as in other activities in the booming southeast. Despite these pressures on the demand side of the labor market, however, real wages apparently did not increase. One may wonder why the supply of labor to the advanced sector in the southeast came from overseas rather than from within Brazil. In principle, workers from within Brazil might have come either from the domestic agricultural sector in the southeast or from the declining northeast. The inability to attract many workers from the domestic agricultural sector in the southeast is not surprising. Incomes earned in that sector made for an opportunity cost that was apparently well above the labor costs offered by subsidized immigration. The failure to draw on labor supply from the northeast is more puzzling. It seems unlikely that transportation costs for would-be immigrants from the northeast to the southeast exceeded the cost of transporting workers from Southern Europe to Brazil. Another possibility is that supply constraints (perhaps reflecting sociocultural rigidities or political restrictions) limited labor mobility in the northeast. In fact, supply constraints do not seem to have been a problem. There is evidence of considerable labor-mobility in the northeast. And as regards extraregional labor mobility, between 1872 and 1910 hundreds of thousands of northeasterners emigrated to the booming Amazon region. Migration to the southeast, however, involved greater distances, higher costs, and a larger investment. As noted earlier, the absence of a capitalmarket institution to finance those investments seems to have been important in limiting migration from the northeast to the southeast during the nineteenth century. Hence, our question reduces to, Why were the coffee planters in the southeast more willing to finance immigration from Europe than from the northeast? Part of the answer may have been then prevalent racial attitudes on the part of the coffee planters, which led them to prefer European to mulatto workers. The consequences of large-scale subsidized immigration from overseas are clear. The program continued through the beginning of the twentieth century the economic structure that importation of slaves from Africa had provided earlier. The highly elastic supply of labor from overseas meant that output could expand at a rapid pace in Brazil's advanced
sector without raising the wages of workers in the rest of the economy. The similarities between Brazil's historical experience in the nineteenth century and W. A. Lewis's celebrated model, "Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labour," are evident. There were, however, two important differences between Brazil's historical experience and the Lewis model. In the Brazilian case, the elastic supply of labor came from overseas. Also, in Brazil the elastic supply of labor continued "forever"—with ensuing long-term consequences for capital-labor ratios, wages, and technical progress. Continuing importation of labor from abroad enabled Brazil's planters to maintain their returns but had adverse effects on the rest of the population. This experience suggests that conclusions concerning the welfare effects of population growth in nineteenth-century Brazil may be a function of the observer's class perspective. Explicitly or implicitly, historians often discuss welfare effects over time, and their unit of study is usually "the nation." In the Brazilian case, class interests were so obviously disparate that it raises questions concerning the validity of using the nation as the unit of analysis. The Domestic Agricultural Sector Like most studies of Brazil's economic history before the twentieth century, we have focused thus far on conditions in the country's export activities. The greater availability of data for those activities should not lead us to exaggerate their quantitative importance. In fact, most of Brazil's labor force was engaged in the domestic agricultural sector: the production of food for local consumption and the internal market." Brazil's domestic agricultural sector in the nineteenth century has been little studied. In the words of two scholars (Reigelhaupt and Forman), the sector usually appears only "between the lines" of the country's historiography. Consequently, detailed information on this sector is scanty. Nevertheless, the domestic agricultural sector was too important a feature of Brazil's economy during the nineteenth century to be ignored. As a first approximation, the following statements can be advanced concerning the sector's size and composition. Socially, this sector comprised many of the people in Brazil's population who, in the words of historian Caio Prado, "were not slaves, but could not afford to be masters." This observation suggests one way of forming an impression ofthe quantitative importance of the domestic agricultural sector in the Brazilian economy: an examination of the proportions of free people and of slaves in Brazil's total population. This procedure obviously provides only a very approximate picture. All of Brazil's slaves were not engaged in exports or in urban-based activities; many free people did work in those activities and in roles other than plantation owners. Bearing this caveat in mind, let us see what analysis of the population in terms of its slave and free portions suggests. Brazil's social structure has often been conceptualized in terms of a master/slave dichotomy. That approach ignores the presence of a very large intermediate stratum of squatters, sharecroppers, and small farmers. At the very beginning of the nineteenth century, at least one-half and perhaps as much as two-thirds of Brazil's population was free. Relatively few of these people—poor whites, mulattoes, freedmen, and caboclos (peasants of mixed Indian and white ancestry)— were large slave owners engaged in production for the export market. Lacking alternative opportunities in a predominantly agrarian economy, many people in this intermediate social stratum were engaged in production of food for domestic consumption. In 1820, some 70 percent of Brazil's population was free. Until 1852 (when importation of slaves from Africa was stopped), only a small percentage of these people was employed in export activities, which relied heavily on slaves for
most occupations. With the decline of slavery, free people were increasingly employed in export activities, but by that time the free population had grown rapidly as a result of high rates of natural increase. Consequently, the number of people in the domestic agricultural sector remained large relative the country's total labor force. The impression that much of Brazil's labor force was not engaged in export production is corroborated if we consider ' disaggregated population surveys for specific locales during the nineteenth century. Further, the limited information available on the sectoral composition of Brazilian output also suggests that a large fraction of the labor force was engaged in the domestic agricultural sector. In 1911-13, exports accounted for approximately 16 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in Brazil. During the nineteenth century, exports had grown at a higher rate than output in the rest of the economy. Consequently, earlier in the century, the share of exports in aggregate economic activity had been even lower than 16 percent. Further, labor productivity was generally higher in exports than in other activities of the Brazilian economy. Hence, the export sector's share in the total labor force was even smaller than its share in GDP. There were of course other activities in this economy besides exports and the domestic agricultural sector. In absolute terms, many people were employed in transportation, commerce, crafts, manufacturing, and government. Those activities were located to a great extent in the cities, however, and as late as 1890 only 11 percent of Brazil's population resided in urban centers of 10,000 or more inhabitants. These considerations suggest that a large fraction of Brazil's labor force was engaged in the domestic agricultural sector during the nineteenth century. This sector seems to have consisted of two parts. First, there were people who lived as sharecroppers, smallholders, or squatters in or near the areas of export production. Because of factor-market imperfections, these people rarely engaged in production of the principal export crops. Their main products were such foodstuffs as manioc, beans, and maize. In addition, the observations of contemporaries suggest that these people took much of their total income in the form of leisure. Second, part of the labor force in the domestic agricultural sector was engaged in farming on the abundant lands in Brazil's interior, relatively far from the areas of export production. Output consisted mainly of cattle ranching and of semisubsistence agricultural cultivation. In the latter case, production was mainly in the form of small-scale family farming under the overlordship of a large local landowner. With labor scarce relative to land, cultivation was landextensive. Population in this sector was increasing rapidly, while abundant lands existed further in the interior. Consequently, the production frontier shifted ever farther from the markets and centers of consumption. As marginal physical productivity fell with soil depletion on the intensive margin, incremental production shifted, with rising transport costs, to the extensive margin. Until the end of the nineteenth century, it is hard to believe that the value of output per worker in the domestic agricultural sector was more than, at best, constant over time. Transportation Costs and the Slow Pace of Economic Development Because a large portion of Brazil's labor force was employed in the domestic agricultural sector, the modest rate of per capita olitput growth in that sector weighed heavily on the pace of aggregate development. We noted earlier that exports were the main avenue to economic development in nineteenth-century Brazil. The central importance of the export activities reflects a default, the poor performance of the rest of the economy. High transportation costs affected both the level and the growth of productivity in Brazil's domestic agricultural sec-
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tor, limiting the access of many agricultural producers to markets beyond their immediate locale. As a result, the volume of intr egional, interregional, and international trade was curtailed. I: ecause of the high ratio of land to labor, cultivation was land-extensive, and distances to the markets were large. Lo -cost transportation facilities were therefore crucial for deve oping a high-productivity agriculture. Unfortunately, the c o ntry's geographical and topographical conditions made • r relatively high transport costs from the production are s to the market centers. Rivers and s oastal shipping were used for transportation, but some of th country's rivers (the Amazon, for example) were poorly lo ated from the viewpoint of promoting economic develop ent. Other rivers flowed in a direction that was not advant geous from the perspective of production for markets. Geogr phical conditions also imposed another problem that hampe ed low-cost shipments of bulky commodities from deep in interior. Unlike the United States with its Mississippi and Great Lake systems, Brazil did not have an extensive netw k of navigable, interconnecting waterways. Further, road c nditions were also poor, to the extent that at the beginning o the period wheeled vehicles could seldom be used in the inte ior. Transport costs were so high that they absorbed a thin, of the value of coffee shipments during the prerailroad era. imilar conditions prevailed in the northeast. Thus the cost if shipping cotton from the Sao Francisco Valley to Bahia n the 1850's amounted to some 50 percent of the prices rece ed. Under these conditions of high-cost transportation d poor access to markets, abundant land was not associated ith a high value of output per worker in agriculture. The combin tion of high transportation costs and a large domestic agricu tural sector also had other consequences for the Brazilian e onomy. Because of Brazil's poor internal transportation f ilities, food produced on more distant land involved higher supply prices. Inelasticity in the supply of foodstuffs me t that when income and demand in the economy's adv.' ced sector increased, prices rose. Unlike many other con tries, Brazil experienced a long-term inflation during the nineteenth century. Price inflation was a feature of the B azilian economy that had its own welfare costs, both direc (higher uncertainty) and indirect (presumably, lower cash 'alances and lower investment). In addition, conditions in th domestic agricultural sector constrained Brazil's industri I development. Low income levels and high costs for transpo ing goods to the hinterland limited the size of the market for anufactured goods in Brazil. The Brazilian government imp sed protective tariffs on many industrial products during t e nineteenth century, but protection against imports could nit assure would-be Brazilian industrialists access to a mar et that did not yet exist. Industrialization based on the inte-nal market clearly required the prior emergence of a domestic market. More generally, high transport costs diminished the net receipts that producers obtained from shipment of bulky, lowvalue foodstuffs to the market. As a result, income in the domestic agricultural sector was reduced—both because of the low value received for output and because of the disincentive effect that unfavorable relative prices had on the quantities produced. Low prices in the domestic agricultural sector were reflected in a small marginal value product for labor and, as a consequence in widespread substitution of leisure for monetary income Finally, high transport costs for foodstuffs also had an impori ant intersectoral effect. The country's steep price-distance gradients in regional markets meant rising incremental costs for food, the economy's wage good, in the face of buoyant demand conditions. Expanding aggregate demand therefore reduced the returns to capital and the rate of expansion in the advanced sector, with little impact on higher real output levels in the economy's backward sector. Efforts at modifying geographical conditions and lower-
ing costs by construction of transportation infrastructure were slow to materialize in nineteenth-century Brazil. In contrast with the United States, there was virtually no canal construction. The country's rivers also remained largely without improvements. Consequently, the boats used for internal transportation were small and entailed high unit costs. The country's first railroad legislation was promulgated in 1835, but actual railway construction was late in coming to Brazil. The country's earliest railway, extending some 15 kilometers, was built in 1854. Ten years later, approximately 424 kilometers of track were in operation. As late as 1890, however, the country had only 9,973 kilometers of operating trackage. This did not amount to much in terms of Brazil's overall expanse of some 8.1 million square kilometers. Furthermore, the country's road network was extremely limited. As late as 1923, Sao Paulo state, one of the largest and most developed in the country, had only 1,025 kilometers of highways (of which 55 kilometers were macadamized) suitable for automobile use. Railroads might have helped this situation by lowering transportation costs. This would have provided a necessary condition for linking part of the domestic agricultural sector with the rest of the economy and permitting it to shift from subsistence to market-oriented production (for the domestic market or for exports), whether in the family farms or in large-scale agriculture. Lower transportation costs would also have provided producers with the stimulus of market demand and might thereby have induced higher output levels. On the supply side, producers would have been able to reap the gains from specialization and local comparative advantage. Hence even with unchanged physical productivity, lower transport costs might have raised the value of production in the domestic agricultural sector, both by increasing the quantities produced and, with new relative prices, by altering the composition of output. Notwithstanding these potential benefits, nineteenth-century Brazil was late in initiating large-scale railroad construction. Thus despite Brazil's vast territorial expanse, as late as 1884 the country had only 6,240 kilometers of track. This amounted to approximately 0.7 kilometers of track per 1,000 square kilometers of territory. Further, in terms of timing, the great increase in railway construction toward the interior began only in the 1890's. Indeed, the largest absolute rise in railway track occurred only in the twenty years before 1914. To gain some comparative perspective, note that in 1900, railway trackage in the United States was almost 20 times as great as in Brazil. Even after the large post-1900 increase in Brazil's railway construction, in 1914 the country had only 26,060 kilometers of track. This was a figure that the United States had surpassed by the 1850's. Why were the railways built so late in Brazil? The difficult terrain often led to high construction costs, but these would have been no obstacle if the railroads had also generated substantial benefits. Capital immobilities were also a problem. Although some of the first railroads in the coffee region were built with local capital participation, construction of Brazil's railways in general depended heavily on foreign investment. In the nineteenth century, this was largely British, and British investment was directed away from Brazil by such non-market considerations as imperial policy. In addition, private rates of return on Brazilian railway investments were apparently not high enough to attract substantial British capital from its alternative opportunities during most of the nineteenth century. Brazil's limited attractiveness to foreign investors, however, is not a sufficient explanation of the long delay before large-scale railway construction began. If private returns were low but investment in low-cost transportation facilities were justified in terms of external economies and high social returns, another approach might have been followed. In principle, the task of providing Brazil with an adequate
transportation system might have been undertaken by government—central, provincial, or local. That was the course followed with many of the "public improvements" that were supplied in the nineteenth-century United States. In fact, Brazil did not follow that approach until the end of the period. For reasons discussed below, during most of the century Brazilian governments failed to provide on a sufficient scale the infrastructure investment needed for the country's ecotrp osonsta, nomic development. Railroads and the Acceleration of Economic Development
Once the railways were extended, economic development seems to have proceeded along the lines outlined above. Even with unchanged output levels, the higher ex-farm prices made possible by low-cost transportation would have raised producer incomes. In addition, producers in the domestic agricultural sector responded to the new market opportunities opened by lower transport costs. Producers increased the volume of their output for the market, while the fall in transportation costs also led to new patterns of intraregional specialization. Another feature was a rise in the price elasticity of the food supply. Some numerical information on these developments is available for Minas Gerais. This large state had approximately 21 percent of Brazil's population in 1900. Despite its geographical proximity to Sao Paulo and that province's large regional market, Minas Gerais was not economically welldeveloped. In the 1890's, however, the province "caught railroad fever": half of Minas Gerais's pre-1899 trackage was laid in that decade. The process through which railroads promoted economic growth in the domestic agricultural sector had some special features. The railways helped domestic agricultural producers not only by reaching the distant interior, but also by existing in the zones of export production. Part of the country's food supply was produced in and around the plantation areas. Food producers in those areas benefited directly from the new availability of low-cost transportation to the regional market. In addition, the lines opened in the export zones lowered the cost of shipments that originated in the far interior and proceeded, via the railroad, to the markets. Under these conditions, even railways that had been built primarily to carry export commodities came to transport large volumes of products from the domestic agricultural sector. The growth in shipments of domestic agricultural products was facilitated by the Brazilian government's tariff and ratesetting policies. Brazil experienced considerable price inflation in the decades before 1913. As a consequence both of normal regulatory lag and of hostility to the foreign railway companies, however, the government's rate-setting authon-
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ties resisted efforts to raise transportation charges to keep pace with the country's inflation. Thus, not only did shipping costs fall when the railways were opened but, in addition, the price of railway transportation declined thereafter relative to the general price level. This rate-setting policy led to government subsidies for the railways and, eventually, to nationalization. What is important in the present context is that government regulation further lowered real freight charges for producers in the domestic agricultural sector. The structure of railway rates also discriminated in favor of the domestic agricultural sector. Between 1874 and 1900, the rates charged for shipments of foodstuffs on the railways ranged between 26 and 49 percent of the rates charged for coffee. For livestock and timber the rates were even lower. Moreover, in 1899 the government implemented a general policy that obliged the railway companies to lower their charges on domestically produced foodstuffs. As a consequence, the domestic agricultural sector drew special and disproportionate advantage from the fall in transport costs that the railroads made possible. For this reason, it is difficult to make meaningful comparisons with shipping costs in the prerailroad era, which might serve as a basis for comparative welfare analysis. In the earlier period, freight charges for the domestic agricultural sector's highweight/low-value commodities had often been so high in many areas that these products had not been shipped at all. The government's policy with respect to import duties also promoted economic growth in the domestic agricultural sector. At the turn of the century, the government imposed protective tariffs on many foodstuffs produced in Brazil. The fact that politicians from Minas Gerais took a prominent role in this policy initiative suggests that the new measures should not be viewed as determined randomly or by a process that was completely exogenous. The advent of low-cost transportation had greatly increased the potential economic returns that protective tariffs offered to domestic food producers. Political returns rose correspondingly for the political entrepreneurs who would implement the necessary policy measures. From this perspective, provision of the import tariffs can be regarded almost as endogenous to the process. The economic consequences of the new import duties were clear-cut: reduced uncertainty and a larger market for the domestic agricultural sector. Moreover, the fact that part of the sector's market growth came at the expense of imports helped avoid a potential pitfall. That would have been a situation in which large increases in domestic food supply pressed on stationary, price-inelastic demand and thus reduced aggregate revenues for producers. The policy initiative also had broader economic effects. As noted, the new tariffs were implemented in conjunction with the heightened domestic supply response that low-cost transportation made possible. Under those conditions, the import tariffs led to import substitution in many food products and intensified intersectoral linkages within the Brazilian economy. The northeast also benefited to some extent from a decline in transport costs. In areas where railways were built, internal freight charges for sugar and cotton appear to have fallen some 50 percent from their level in the prerailroad era. Railways could promote economic development only when they were built, however, and because of the poor economic prospects of the northeast's export activities, little railway construction took place in the region. In the southeast, however, extension of the railways seems to have opened a new period of generalized economic development. Prior to the extension of the railways, a rising value of output per capita in Brazil had been limited mainly to the export sector. By lowering transport costs in a vast, land-rich
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country, railways permitted more rapid growth of income in the large domestic agriculture sector. The downward shift in internal freight harges also led to other structural shifts and new intersector 1 linkages within the Brazilian economy. Thus the intern 1 market for manufactured products also expanded. Sup orted by ample tariff protection, Brazil's cotton textile in ustry increased its output at an annual geometric rate of!, percent between 1885 and 1915. As noted earlier, Brazil's onomic development proceeded much more rapidly after 19 0 than in the preceding century. For the reasons discussed, the extension of the railways seems to have played a key role in the shift to the new development trajectory. This expeilence is also consistent with interpreting Brazil's slow economic development during the earlier period as stemming largely from an absence of the external economics that rilways would have provided. Because of the country's factor ndowment and geographical features, the availability of lo -cost transportation was of special importance for econonhic development in nineteenth -century BraThe Brazilian State and the Public-Finance Constraint on Public Investment The preceding discussion raises an obvious question. We can well underst4ind the failure of private entrepreneurs to invest in railwa s in the Brazilian interior. Much of the economic benefi s of that investment came in the form of external economies, such that the railroads' social returns exceeded their private returns. But why did the Brazilian state not provide the r sources—either through direct investment or through subsi ies—to equip the country with railways earlier, so that Br il could have been launched on its path of long-term econorliic development much sooner in the nineteenth century? One possibil4 is that the vision of implementing a rational public-investment policy was distorted by the lens of Brazilian politics; The large landowners had considerable influence in Brazilian politics during the nineteenth century, and they are generally not considered to have been a very "progressive" or "development -oriented" group. In fact, what was needed in this context was not an interest in development but an interest in wealth maximization. Brazil's landowners displayed ample evidence of such an interest. Thus, responding to the prospect of favorable returns, Brazilian planters allocated sufficient resources—even to products with a long gestation period, for example, cocoa in Bahia and coffee in SAo Paulo—to make possible sharp increases in output. Further, far from explaining the failure of Brazil's governments to pr vide large infrastructure investments, an interpretation that emphasizes the role of the large landowners in Brazilia4i politics only sharpens the question. For, following Joseph chumpeter's insight concerning the convergence of mono oly and socialism, one would expect large landowners to be specially energetic in pressing for public investment. This is because landowners with extensive holdings and market p wer can internalize and appropriate most of the social benef s of infrastructure investment. Therefore Brazil's internal p e litical conditions should have led to large government inves ent in economic infrastructure. Another possiblity is that ideology inhibited a rational public-investment olicy. In principle, Brazil's political leadership may have .een constrained by nineteenth-century doctrines of laissez faire. Voices of economic liberalism were heard in nineteenth century Brazil, but, in practice, Brazilian governments did in ervene in the economy, imposing protective tariffs as well providing subsidies—for example, for
57
European immigration and for technological modernization of the northeast's sugar industry—when these did not require a large financial input. Likewise, the Brazilian state was so little bound by the canons of nineteenth-century economic orthodoxy that it ran frequent fiscal deficits and maintained economic policies that led to chronic inflation and long-term exchange-rate depreciation. Another possible explanation for the government's lack of support for new railroads suggests that it would be naive to expect the Brazilian state in the nineteenth century to demonstrate an interest in promoting economic development. The country's political and administrative elites are generally considered to have been more interested in self aggrandizement and bureaucratic expansion than in economic development. Such concerns, however, are perfectly consistent with a large promotional role for the public sector. Expanded state investment and subsidy programs would have meant more government jobs and greater control over society's economic resources. Thus the existence of self-seeking motives is hardly an adequate explanation of the Brazilian state's failure to pursue a more active public-investment policy. One set of conditions does seem to have constrained the Brazilian state's developmental activity: public finance. Through most of the nineteenth century, the fiscal resources the Brazilian state had at its disposal to pay for infrastructure investment and subsidy programs were small relative to the country's development needs. During most of the century, Brazil's fiscal system was highly centralized. Until the 1880's, the tax revenues of the central government were approximately 4.5 times larger than those ofthe provincial governments. The central government's share in total public-sector expenditure was even larger, for the central government had much greater access to foreign and domestic borrowing. Likewise, the tax revenues collected by local governments in nineteenth-century Brazil were a small fraction of total public-sector revenues. For the first four decades after independence, the central government's expenditures per capita were well below £1. It was only with the Paraguayan War (1864-70) that per capita expenditure exceeded £1. And it was not until the first decade of the twentieth century that central-government expenditure in current prices approached £1.5 per capita. Different measuring rods may be used to assess these expenditure levels. In the present context, the most pertinent comparison is with the magnitude of the development task that Brazil faced in the nineteenth century. As noted earlier, the country's initial conditions with respect to social overhead capital were poor. In addition, difficult geographical conditions meant that the costs of providing the country with a low-cost transportation system were high. Viewed in terms of providing infrastructure investment adequate for the country's development needs, the fiscal resources available to the Brazilian state until the end of the nineteenth century seem to have been relatively small. The central government's low expenditure levels reflected basic features of the fiscal situation that confronted the Brazilian state in its efforts to raise tax revenues. Public finance was constrained by the paucity of tax bases that would yield revenues commensurate with the costs of tax collection. Consequently, government expenditure levels did not reach the scale that would have been socially optimal if such transaction costs did not have to be considered. As noted earlier, the Brazilian state had major incentives (if only for its own self-aggrandizement) to enlarge the volume of economic resources at its disposal. The country's landowners, who would have appropriated most of the benefits of expanded public investment, also stood to gain. But a large increase in fiscal penetration (increase in the size of the tax base) within the broader society also involved significant economic costs. The net marginal social benefits of public-finance expansion were thus low. As a result, such fiscal expansion understand-
ably (and rationally) encountered resistance on the part of Brazil's socioeconomic elites. Because of the great distances, poor communications, and low literacy rates present in nineteenth-century Brazil, the costs involved in tapping most potential tax bases were high. By contrast, the administrative costs of collecting taxes on imports and exports were relatively low. Accordingly, the Brazilian state's revenues and expenditures depended heavily on foreign-trade duties. Between 1830 and 1885, some 70 percent of the government's revenues came from taxes on imports and exports. As this number indicates, generalized taxes on agricultural land were not an important source of government revenue in nineteenth-century Brazil. In this respect, Brazil contrasted notably with countries otherwise as diverse as India and Japan in the nineteenth century. Not only would the administrative costs (including a cadastral survey) of generalized land taxation have been high, but the revenue prospects of such an effort were meager. An important difference with India and Japan was Brazil's abundance of land and the ensuing low ratios of labor to land in the domestic agricultural sector. With little pressure of population on land, Ricardian rent, the basis for land taxation, was small. These conditions, which made for high transactions costs and a low economic surplus in the domestic agricultural sector, meant that the net fiscal yield of generalized land taxation would have been small. Fiscal prospects in Brazil's foreign-trade sector were more attractive. There, transactions costs were not so large relative to the size of the economic surplus as to lower sharply the net social gains of taxation. Because of these differences between the foreign-trade sector and the domestic agricultural sector, government revenues and expenditures depended heavily on the value of Brazil' s foreign-trade receipts. The tax rates imposed on this base, however, could not be set at arbitrarily high levels lest exports and imports diminish to the point where tax revenues would fall. Unfortunately, through most of the nineteenth century, Brazil's foreign trade volume was too small to provide the fiscal resources needed to finance infrastructure development. A comparative perspective from the United States is useful in this context. The central government in the United States also relied heavily on foreign-trade duties as a source of tax revenue in the nineteenth century, but foreign trade provided a much larger tax base in the United States. From the 1820's through the 1850's, U.S. export receipts were approximately five times larger than those of Brazil. In the subsequent four decades, the ratio was even higher, 6.8 to 1. As these numbers indicate, the central government in the United States could draw on a much larger tax base to support its expenditure programs. The Brazilian state attempted to supplement its revenues by borrowing, both at home and abroad. In 1864, before the sharp rise in government expenditure that came with the Paraguayan War, government debt (including money issued by the government) amounted to £5.5 per capita. Moreover, the Brazilian state's borrowing was not limited to foreign sources. Between 1841 and 1889, the share of domestically held obligations in the government's total debt-service payments ranged from 42 to 62 percent. Although borrowing afforded the Brazilian state a welcome short-term addition to its fiscal resources, it did not solve the country's publicfinance problem. The scope for borrowing was set ultimately by debt-service capacity and hence by tax revenues. Until the end of the nineteenth century, the volume and growth of Brazil's foreign trade were too small to permit a high level of government expenditure. This text was excerpted from How Latin America Fell Behind—Essays on the Economic Histories of Brazil and Mexico, 1800-1914, Edited by Stephen Haber, Stanford University Press, 1997, 316 pp
BRAZZIL-APRIL 2001
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