|
|
 |
Interview w/Seu Jorge
|
| Click Here to go back. |
Tokion, Interview w/Seu Jorge >>
Tokion: What is it like playing for an audience here compared to playing at home in Brazile, where people really understand your lyrics?
SJ: People in Brazil are just interested in listening to the new sound of Brazil. They know about Bossa Nova like Tom Jobim and 'Girl from Ipanema'. Now they want to hear Portuguese used differently than the maestros of the past used it, right? The formal poetry that was being used back then was almost rigid, but my style is looser and about the soul of the songs. I'm using the language in a different way than what they were using before, but it's all because of the way I was raised and how I learned things.
T: Is it more contemporary, more like pop, or just more like how people speak now?
SJ: I sing directly to the people. With the new sound in Brazil now, it's like a fresh breeze coming in. I feel like I own a piece of it myself.
T: What made you decide to cover David Bowie songs in Portuguese for "The Life Aquatic"?
SJ: That was Wes Anderson's idea. But I took the context, the moral, if you will, of Bowie's lyrics and really tried to make it the language of the character. If you've seen the film, you know he's a bomb maker, and any chance he gets he's just picking up the guitar. He's not trying to present himself as a formal singer--this is just his passion. For me, it was also a way of bringing Portuguese out into the open again. It's a language that is complicated. It's not a predominant language in the United States or in the world, and this is just a way of re-framing it.
T: What you were saying earlier about people reacting to a fresh sound. One of the things I reacted to about your music was that it had a very classic sound. It reminded me so much of classic samba, but updated, whereas a lot of the stuff we've been hearing from Brazil recently is stuff like funk, afro-reggae.
SJ: The industry is very strong and has a lot to do with that. It always just gets the commercial music into the hands of the people, and that becomes the problem. But there are so many new and exciting artists. I know the people will fall in love with Nacao Zumbi and Chico Cesar and Marcelo D2 (if they hear them). They are the new generation that capture the roots in very free way. We have to enjoy this moment because it is very interesting to know what Brazil has to offer right now. Brazilians are going to rediscover themselves in their music by being observed by the rest of the world, because finally the world is looking to see what we are doing, and we are looking at ourselves again to really see what we are all about. Brazil is very big, with many different cultures and races. But we all think we are Brazilians. We all speak the same language. But different regions of Brazil have kept their own way in music, food and theater. I am influenced by Rio, which is where I come from and is where samba comes from. So that influences the kind of music I make--I grew up with samba music.
T: I'm curious about that idea of rediscovering yourself by being aware that other people are aware. What do you mean by that?
SJ: The new politics in Brazil now--that' really where I'm coming from. We have an opportunity now. It's a great time. Brazilians have to think about how to mold the country in the form that they want it to be. It's a democracy, but it's a democracy with faults and also some achievements. We have resolved our various problems and crises over the years through peace, never resorting to armed violence. Now (President) Lula is such an icon, because he comees from the people. He wasn't well educated. He worked for a very long time, and he was elected democratically, so that was a big triumph. And as Brazil discovers its identity through this political movement, it has called the world's attention to Brazil. It's also helped Brazilians get out of Brazil and see the opinion the rest of the world has about Brazil. Like, English people say Brazil is about 'drums and asses.' I guess, but Brazil has all the things that they don't have. You know, we have the palm trees, the beach, the different types of food, the flavor...And they don't have drums or asses either.
T: I want to go back to the idea of being from Rio and the music tradition. I'm wondering about when you were growing up listening to music. At what point did you think of yourself as a musician, as compared to somebody that just plays music?
SJ: I grew up in a very poor (favela) community in Rio. The Samba was part of the social life. We would get together on the weekend, for example, to help some guy who didn't have enough money to build a roof on his house. So everybody would get together. Somebody would make a dish of rice and beans, and we would build the roof, and then we would start a very informal samba with the buckets and tools. And that was really the only recreation available for people at that level I was raised.
My dad was also a musician. His job was in an amusement park in the 70s and 80s in Rio. In the middle of the park, at the bandstand, I saw a guy playing saxophone. That was it. I was enchanted. I had to play sax. At ten years old, that's what really got me started, and I knew that I was a musician. I was already singing--actually, I sang much better back then because I didn't smoke or drink and all that other crazy stuff yet. But it was very difficult to get enough money together to buy a saxophone, so I worked changing tires on cars to try to earn money. Then I went into the military when I was 20, and when I got out is when I started working in theater and music. That's when I really started more professionally, but I knew I was a musician from the time I was a kid.
T: What role do you see your music playing in society and life? Obviously, music is why you are here in New York, but it began with that idea of how the samba was a way for everyone to get together...
SJ: It's a lot of fun. I'm very lucky. I'm a worker but my profession happens to be art. The great thing about music is that, first of all, I have fun with it, but it's a doorway to adventure, to making friends, to seeing things I've never seen before. And music never makes enemies, unless the managers get involved. I could suddenly start playing music here and people would look and come over. It's like a magnet to bring people together. The other main thing is to educate my two daughters and to bring them up in an environment of music. There are no emotional problems with music. There's no conflict over it. It's just the joy of singing, the joy of community and being together. I just want to give those vibrations to my girls. 09/01/05
|
| Click Here to go back. |
|
 |
|
|
|
