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Top4 by DMLR - The marketing magazine
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"Saudade is like Waters of March..."
Carnival 2006
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Archive 2000::01
(INTRO) Have you seen that old Terry Gilliam flick titled "Brazil" (1985)? No one could grab the spirit of Brazilian people, well represented by social entertainments as Capoeira and Carnival, if not for that musical theme --not a soundtrack but a regular intermezzo-- that justifies the title.
The man living in the rational society pictured in the movie is going insane because of a machine error, so only the fantasy inspired by a woman dancing on the bossa nova would save his destiny from the personal blackout. Like that man we all want to be saved by the Brazilian style of living, but who will help Brazilians win their homesickness, also known as Saudade? The national soccer team plus the wireless technology...
DUALIDADE1
"Rio is a very beautiful city... the truth is that it is a divided city, the rich living on the beach, the poor into favelas. The poverty is the big issue of Rio and the whole Brazil..." --Oscar Ribeiro de Almeyda de Niemeyer Soares, architect.
Rio de Janeiro is a mix of forest, mountain and sea. His people love the curves and the soft lines as designed by Copacabana beach or Corcovado peak. A thin line seems to divide the legendary fun of Brazilian postcards and the lives of too many men and women menaced by very grave imbalances faced currently by Luis Ignaco da Silva government...
Carnival Postcards @ www.ipanema.com
DESAFINADO2
Brazilians have a thing about music. Their master musicians have set up a school full of ginger exporting the bossa nova all over the world. For example, a well known saxophone solo, generally accepted as being a standard, is a vibrato on music by Antonio Carlos Jobim. The success of this theme is dependent on the position of the jaw, so blow a note and say "ah-ah-ah-ah" in groups of four, moving the jaw up and down slightly! Bossa Nova @ www.jobim.com
CENTRAL DO BRASIL3
You think of Brazil and immediately the futebol comes to your mind. First the absolutely creative kickers wearing the N.10 shirt or the speedy powerful ones wearing the N.9 shirt, those futebol players controlling the sphere as fine as jugglers everywhere from the beach to the ground. Typical Brazilian players the kind you find in major clubs around the world from North America to Japan. But European stadiums have been even more stomped by the feet of another kind of players, those enormous defenders coming from Brazil, even though someone suspects of their origin... From Luis Edmundo Pereira to Rodrigo Dias da Costa, called Alex, this central defender (zagueiro) has always been underpaid by the managers because his function is to preserve what the futebol jugglers have scored for their own squad. A sort of central bank. These players don't have a personal website because a defending Brazilian doesn't get interest by anyone on this planet, except for some coach. Escola Brasileira de Futebol @ www.ebfnet.com.br
WONDER BRA4
Brazilian beauties are so much in fashion. Would you be one of the most beautiful girls in the world just like them? The secret is revealed here, it's the Guaranà plant growing in the Amazon forest, also known as the youth fruit. Guaranà-based drinks help tired bodies restore and tone up. Moda Brasileira @ www.lenny.com.br
PROJETO AXÉ5
The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) denounces that 40% of boys and girls under age belong to families whose monthly income is less than 70 reais, about 25 euro. In order to help their family make ends meet many children coming from favelas and poor districts have to give up the school and amusement by working precariously for lowest wages. UNICEF supports the Axé project launched 1990 in Salvador de Bahia to recover and protect the children forced to living as low life --meninos de rua. The social educators are led back to the Pedagogy of Desire and the word Axé means vital power... it actually belongs to Yoruba, a West-African language. Statistics @ www.ibge.com.br
NIKEFUTEBOL6
2006 FIFA World Championship will produce in Brazil a turnover estimated in 2.5 billion euro or 6 billion reais. Every four years the products, campaigns and events linked to the World Cup help Brazilians dream and consume much more. The labour economy will realize 40 thousands new jobs within several manufacturing sectors, that produce t-shirts, beers, televisions and so on. For example, Nike is expecting to bolster sales thanks to the brand new jersey worn by the national team, the Seleção. Its retail price is 180 reais, about an half of the minimum wage in Brazil... Manifesto Futebolista @ www.nikefutebol.com
TRIBALISTAS7
In the age of downloading music from the Internet and reproducing short jingles on mobile phones, a Brazilian pop group has delivered one of the most successful tune to the worldwide audience. If you remember the kickin' melody of "Já Sei Namorar" but don't know the name of the three artists behind it, well the female singer is Marisa Monte... @ www.marisamonte.com.br (em construção)
BRAIN DRAIN8
1998 the legendary former top world player Edson Arantes do Nascimento, best known as Pelé, was in charge of the Ministry of Sport and issued a law to help small soccer clubs gain advantages when they had formed a young player destined to the major teams in the country. 2005 almost 900 pro kickers have left Brazil to sign up for foreign clubs, European first of all. In spite of the rich contracts they usually achieve, many Bazilians are suffering of saudade, the homesickness... Clube do Pelé @ www.santosfc.com.br
WIRELESS9
Brazilians are more than 186 million, Web users more than 12 million, but only 6 percent of these have broadband connections. In Brazil 1 out of 20 Net users have gone wireless, almost all living in the biggest cities. Two years ago Piraí, a former rural town, has got a wireless network that is bringing digital data to public schools, health clinics, municipal facilities and even open-air kiosks where passer-by can log on for free (source: Newsweek, June 2004). Wireless Pioneers @ www.pirai.rj.gov.br
Quick dictionary to the Brazilian soccer (Futebol) - the national team is Pentacampeão because they have won the world championship five times; next June they try succeeding on this entreprise again, i.e. Rumo ao Hexa;
- Fla-Flu is not a bad word for kicks, it's the short way to name a game between two famous sides of Rio; by the way Flamengo is the oldest club of Brazil;
- Craque is a young world-class player, usually a N.10;
- don't mistake Goleiro for Artilheiro --two very different roles-- neither Pedalada for Bicicleta -- two acrobatic feats;
- Baixinho is the nickname of the only player able to score almost 1000 goals after Pelé;
- Colorados, Peixe, Timão and Verdão are all familiar names for big teams;
- besides Emperador, Fenomeno, Principinho, Rei, are frequently used titles to qualify an undisputed champion; some of them has formerly belonged to street people: "I have been growing up within a district where at times the ball was just a plastic shopper full of paper"..., that district was Vila Cruzeiro in Rio;
- Maracanâ is the largest stadium in Brazil where fans (Torcida) can easily play instruments and dance at the beat of a jamming session; fine, Ginga is called the art of playing ball like dancing;
- as for the nicknames, a player owes his parents his own Apelido (Nilmar=Nilton+Marisa); instead Lula could be at the same time the nickname of a left winger or that of the country's president;
- finally a goal is not ever a simple sporting exploit, because it ranges from the usual Golaço to the extraordinary Gol Iluminado --it was scored 1975 in Porto Alegre probably inspired by the sun!
(OUTRO) Wired into Brazil? Be that as it may, I'm loving it thanks to their prime Feitiço --object with curative powers and thing so damned Brazilian (even if ably fetishized, that is, sent elsewhere!). For kicking back to the tune of the jazzy blues, just in case Saudade is like the Waters of March (Águas de Março)...
São as águas de março fechando o verão
É a promessa de vida no teu coração
É pau, é pedra, é o fim do caminho
É um resto de toco, é um pouco sozinho
É um passo, é uma ponte, é um sapo, é uma rã
This song is available on the Internet to download as lyrics, music lines, ringtones. Such godly performers as Elis Regina and Mina Mazzini have sung it in Portuguese and other languages...