REMEMBERING THE PAST

 REMEMBERING THE PAST

In these simple verses

My beauty, my love

For you I want to tell

My suffering and my pain

I'm like a thrush

That when she sings it's just sadness

From the branch where he is

On this viola I sing and moan for real

Each toada represents a longing

(Angelino de Oliveira)

Today is Saturday, the day to remember the past. Who said that? I don't know... I'm saying it now, but I'm sure someone, at some point, said that phrase. And that's why I decided to remember my childhood time. Yes, I'm from the time when we woke up to the sound of the viola on the radio stations. Early in the morning, the only musical style heard on the main stations of the time... Rádio Piratininga, Rádio Nacional de São Paulo (which later became Rádio Globo), Rádio São Paulo, Radio Bandeirantes... all of them, from four to six in the morning had country music from the southeast on their schedule. I make the term "southeast" evident in all my chronicles for a reason... when talking about country music these days, the State of São Paulo is not even remotely imagined as a production center for this type of art... soon it is associated with the Northeast and Midwest of the country. But there was a time when São Paulo was the Mecca for hillbilly artists, who came from all over the state... and the country... to try their luck in the artistic world. And several were the names that became big, due to their talent and art. Among them, undoubtedly the greatest were Tonico and Tinoco, the Perez brothers... but there were several others... Liu and Léu, Sulino and Marroeiro, Zé Fortuna and Pitangueira, and Zé Fortuna was one of our great poets from the hinterland , Cascatinha and Inhana, the Galvão sisters and many others... if I were to mention all these artists who were part of my childhood, it would fill at least a hundred pages and still be missing names in the list. I cannot forget to mention Juvêncio, played by Vicente Lia. The latter was not a singer, he was a hero of the western genre who had his adventures narrated every day, from Monday to Friday, on Piratininga radio before Voz do Brasil... in fact, even Voz do Brasil deserves to be mentioned in my memories . When the chords of "O Guarani" started to sound on the radio, I simply traveled in its notes. Fairies, princesses and princes, elves and dragons, all these beings spontaneously appeared in my mind, and I simply traveled with their ballet in my imagination. Detail... I didn't even know what ballet was...

Tristeza do Jeca, whose opening stanza opens this chronicle, was the theme of a sertanejo program, on Rádio Nacional, if I'm not mistaken. Of course, the artists on that show were Tonico and Tinoco. And for half an hour we listened to the duo parade their songs. It was simply sensational. Almost as good as seeing them in the flesh. And I, with my family, enjoyed several shows of the duo live. It was a simpler time, when all an artist needed to put on a show was his instrument and his voice. If he had a troupe to stage a play before releasing his voice, even better. And Tonico and Tinoco, in addition to being excellent singers, were also some of the best actors. And your group was really good. I watched several plays from the duo's repertoire, always using their songs as the central theme of the plot. It was very beautiful.

I believe it is important to clarify that at that time artists came to their fans, performing in circuses that were set up on the outskirts of the city. Tickets fit in people's pockets, unlike these days when an artist charges an absurd amount for his performance, and it's not always worth it... but that's beside the point, each one charges what they think it's worth, and pays. who wants...

Yes, those were other times... I won't say they were better than today, because the older people of my time said the same thing about the time when they were young and I'm sure that today's young people will say the same thing about same thing for their descendants some time from now... what happens is that we remember the past with the eyes of longing and everything that passed seems better to us today, even if it wasn't like that. This is normal. It's our affective memory coming into action. But still...

What I liked at the time was the walk itself, even if we didn't leave the neighborhood. When we knew that a circus was going to be set up nearby, we were anxious to know if our favorite artist would come to show us his grace... and many artists have built their careers performing in these venues. To get an idea of how much of a reality this was for them too, when Tonico and Tinoco performed at the Municipal Theater of São Paulo, it was an unprecedented event...

It is for this reason and others that, when I hear "Magoas de Boiadeiro" or any other song from my childhood, I start to travel mentally through the green meadows of my sertão... which was right here, in the neighborhood where I still live... .

It's eight hours and fifteen minutes into this beautiful and wonderful Saturday that is now beginning... we're at 21ºC right now and the forecast for the afternoon is for rain. Tomorrow will be the same. And Monday, according to the weather report, it will rain all day...

Stay with God, and see you tomorrow, if He allows it... kisses...