An earlier dose of Edu Lobo discussed the “music festivals” of Brazil in the 60s
Some say the dictatorship encouraged them as a promotion of jingoistic nationalism
But the songs in the contests were often social critiques, and many winners came out of the vanguard left and student movements
Geraldo Vandre won two of the festivals in 1966 with his songs Porta-Estandarte and Disparada
The second was a huge hit; he even briefly got his own tv show out of it
He was born in Paraiba (in the northeast) but moved to Rio in the 50s, still a teenager
He studied law and was active in the student movement
He also met Carlos Lyra and composed his initial songs with him
In 1968, he was back at the Record TV’s Song Festival
This time his entry was Pra Nao Dizer Que Nao Falei das Flores
It slayed
The kids loved it
The left loved it
The artists loved it
It became an anthem
But it didn’t win
It was voted runner-up behind a song from Tom Jobim and Chico Buarque
There were grumblings that it was a set up
A TV executive gave an interview in the 90s saying that a general had put in a call to make sure Vandre’s song didn’t win
Like many songs during the dictatorship, its lyrics were subversive but with enough vagueness to achieve plausible deniability
“Vem vamos embora que esperar nao e saber
Quem sabe faz a hora nao espera acontecer”
“Those who know, make the time, they don’t wait for it to happen”
Apologies for the clumsy rendering, I’m an awful translator
The song was (and continues to be) alternately known as “caminhando e cantando” (walking and singing), a reference to the marches and revolts
After the song came out, Vandre became a direct target of the military regime
In fact, some say the song and its success was one of the key instigators of the AI-5, the emergency decree that severely intensified the suspension of rights and instituted heavy censorship
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_Act_Number_Five
It came out right after Caminhando had blown up at the festival
(When the winner was announced, it was drowned out by massive booing by the crowd for half an hour)
The song was banned
And Vandre had to flee the country
He went to Chile (remember Pinochet’s dictatorship didn’t start until 73)
And eventually settled in France in exile
But his story is a weird one
He ends up coming back to Brazil in 73
Under tight surveillance by the military
He puts out a song “Fabiana” an ode to the Air Force (FAB = Brazilian Air Force in Portuguese acronym)
Most people assumed he had been tortured, or in some way coerced
But even long after democracy returned to Brazil (and the leftist Workers Party took power), he strictly maintained that nothing of the sort had happened
He lives in Sao Paulo to this day
Though he basically never performs
But has insisted that he never suffered torture or ill-treatment after his return
He claims his songs are not protest or leftist, but merely “Brazilian”
There is rampant speculation that his change of heart and denials of coersion are evidence of post traumatic symptoms of the dictatorship’s abuses
The song, in any case, remains a hymn of resistance and activism
“Nas escolas, nas ruas, campos, construções
Somos todos soldados, armados ou não”
“In the schools, in the streets, in the fields, in the buildings
We are all soldiers, armed or not”
