Your music is as simple as the way you present yourself to the public. Is that the secret to your success, simplicity?
I have always tried to make music that is not hermetic, seeking a simplicity that becomes special. My melodies are popular, one could say, I’ve never liked doing things that people have a hard time saying; but at the same time, my songs are well detailed in terms of musicality.
Do you have a brand on you?
We can say that my songs are filled with a bit of sophisticated romance and are inspired by everyday life.
More than half a century of careers and keep learning says, looking for new chords and harmonies. What is your most important musical discovery of recent times?
The feeling of constant renewal and continuous improvement continues. Each year strengthens the next, and decades are diluted in the discovery of new techniques and the spread of increased vitality by conquests and achievements. Time does not erase what burns in our souls. This long history can only be achieved with great dedication. I see myself as a craftsman powered by the guitar, which represents the beginning and development of everything. And music has always been and will always be a flame to warm my commitment to the instrument with which I work every day in search of new chords and harmonies. The stage is an extension of my house, so I am friendly and candid with the public. I love what I do, there is no one to stop it: my rest is my work of art and my guitar is my balance with life.
So you never got mad at the guitar?
Never. The guitar is provocative, always ready to be played, offering new love with every touch, as if challenging me to unravel the mysteries behind its strings. And I dare to caress it. Between the guitar and me there is a kind of flirtation that requires a seductive atmosphere, dedication and warmth; it was as if we embraced each other chest to chest, with a constant dedication to the art of making music.
La Fusa’s album, consisting of Vinícius de Moraes and Maria Creuza, left its mark on several musical generations. Don’t you think that sometimes it casts a shadow on your career for a long time, hides other albums, other interesting stages of your career?
Instead of being a shadow, La Fusa album became a light that pushed me to the new season shows. Because it’s a lively and incredibly up-to-date album, as if it was a backup for me and could show the future.
“Songs are born from the joy of living,” you summed up about the creative process a few years ago. Do they still come from there or could the song come from elsewhere as they get older?
Time heals the pleasures life has to offer, and youth is renewed in this development. My music is the expression of my daily life as my life changes. I transfer the emotions of my experiences with people, my dreams and achievements into music in a transparent and uncomplicated way.
You said before that you felt more like a craftsman than an artist…
In reality, art requires constant mastery, research and research, doing and remaking… Creating chords and harmonies is like cutting a diamond, modeling a piece, painting a picture. But music is born from the invisible that lurks in the soul. Craftsmanship has more appeal.
Do you think Brazilian music lives with nostalgia or do interesting musical phenomena still happen?
It is not possible to change the nature of a people, and we Brazilians inherit nostalgia and preserve it in our music, even if it is implicit and transformed, following the dynamism of trends. Rhythms and themes have been revamped, but the lack of musical quality is noticeable. However, in the midst of this harvest of values, there are always those who can prosper and stay.
So now there is no poet in Brazil at the level of Vinícius de Moraes?
There are those of us who are poets in their words, yes, but Vinícius brought the original architecture of the poetry of his sonnets, poems, and ballads to music. He was also a great musician with a keen inner ear, writing beautiful melodies; found the exact word for each chord and the easy and at the same time noble rhyme. He made poetry an act of passion and lived for it, giving up important parts of his life. There may be great poets, but Vinicius is exceedingly great.
Could a bossa nova-like move occur now? On some occasions he said that in Brazil talent is not lacking, it is “Brazilianism”.
It emerged in a time of pride in Brazil, unlike what is happening today, then there was an air of freedom and optimism. The new capital was being born, Brasilia was shining with modern and bold architecture, we were champions of football, basketball, tennis, boxing and even track and field. And even in the cinema, ‘Black Orpheus’ won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. At the same time, a talented generation of musicians emerged in Rio de Janeiro, young people from the blue sea and sun-drenched beaches, who are inclined to bring the lively freshness of the country into music. And the birthplace of Bossa Nova. Today that would be impossible: we live in times of doubt and discouragement, a reflection of a voiceless and directionless youth, a disoriented and lame government. There are talents, but they lack that drive and pride experienced during the fifties.
Source: Informacion
