Current Tunes and Bye Bye Botafogo!

So I have this habit when I get up every morning (bright and early at 6:30 for class) of blasting music from my computer to help move me along as I get my day started. Lately I have been listening to a lot of Brazilian music (go figure) and to one singer in particular named Wilson Simonal. We actually used to sing his version of the song "País Tropical," originally written by Jorge Ben Jor, at Mar e Floresta (the Portuguese language camp) but I never knew anything about the singer until two weeks ago when I watched a documentary about his life in class.

Talk about swag-- Wilson Simonal with his signature headband look.

The film, Simonal - Ninguém Sabe o Duro que Dei, was a comprehensive overview of the singer's precipitous rise to fame from an extremely modest background. He was raised in poverty by a single mother, yet achieved a level of fame and fortune in the 1960s and 70s that resulted in red carpets literally being rolled out for him in Leblon, the very chic neighborhood where his mother used to work as a housekeeper. What is interesting about Simonal's story is that despite his amazing talent and immense initial popularity, he was largely shunned by the public after a gaffe from which he never recovered. Basically, given his modest background and celebrity status Simonal did not know how to handle money and hired an accountant to do so. Whether Simonal simply blew his fortune on trivialities himself, or if his accountant actually stole from him is unclear to this day, but what happened next is what really screwed Simonal over. He was arrested for extortion towards his accountant in which DOPS (Department of Political and Social Order) agents allegedly tortured the accountant on Simonal's behalf (his actual involvement in the torture accusations is debated). Simonal freaked out and to escape going to jail he pledged allegiance to the Brazilian government, which was under a military dictatorship at the time.

 

Here's a video of him singing in English with the American singer Sarah Vaughan. He seems so likeable on stage: his smile and charm remind me of Obama while his style reminds me of a young Michael Jackson.

Branded as an informant for the military dictatorship, Simonal's fans completely shunned him and his career never recovered. Although he had the potential to be one of the greats of Brazilian music, his name rarely makes the cut unlike other singers such as for example Chico Buarque and Caetano Veloso. I think it was a pity that his career was stunted because he clearly had so much talent, and out of ignorance he threw it all away. However, the Brazilian public also seemed overly harsh. After all, Simonal was an entertainer, not an intellectual. He had little education, and not fully understanding the effect that taking the dictatorship's side would have, he impulsively did so without necessarily being a bad person. But, at the end of the day he still made great music that if anything helped Brazilians take their minds off of tough times and the military dictatorship. We had a discussion in class about whether he would have been so abruptly rejected by his fans if he had been white. Also, we thought that the fact that he rose out of poverty so quickly may have been a cause of envy for the public. What do y'all think? 

Anyway, in terms of my news tomorrow is the last day of my Portuguese intensive and tonight is my last night in the Botafogo neighborhood. Tomorrow I move to Ipanema, where I will be renting a room just a block away from the beach! I wanted to move to Ipanema because that neighborhood has a great location close to school, the Lagoa, other students, and like I mentioned before, the all-important beach :) Also I will be living with two other UC girls (they will have a double, I will have a single) which is nice because I felt pretty isolated all by myself here in Bota. It's wierd though, right as I'm getting ready to move out, it's growing on me...I'll definitely miss how "real" Botafogo is, aka the lack of tourists/gringos, the cheaper prices, the overall less glitzy-ness of the neighborhood, and of course the wonderful view of Christ the redeemer!! Oh and last but not least my homestay apartment here also has a view of the Dona Marta favela, where Fast Five (that's Fast and the Furious 5 for all of you that don't know haha) was set :-)

Last night in my bohemian apartment :) My homestay mom is an artist and plays bossa nova guitar (hence the canvases and guitar)

Alright that's all for now! On Saturday I am off to the Salvador, Bahia in the northeast of Brazil. I can't wait, it's supposed to be very different from Rio. Beijos
Marie