Text: Miguel Arsénio | Illustration: Margarida Batista | Translator: João Diogo Rocha Pereira
It was by believing, since the beginning, that most of AZUL’s contents would share a common passion for Ericeira that I accepted the invitation of taking the role as this column’s writer. After all, was there really any other option for someone who has loved the village for over thirty years and is now able to write about it for such an energetic publication? During a zealous brainstorm session focused on AZUL, it ended being my fellow writer Rui Miguel Abreu who chose “Blue Note” as the name for this chronicle. And so was assembled a machinery that would only require ideas and guidance to function properly onwards. Although those assembled ideas might be the most diverse, they are guaranteed to deal with all the subjects that make us feel Ericeira in a more intense way.
With that being said, it seemed only logical that the first sample of this sentiment would focus in one of the many legends the village holds. And it is precisely here that João Braza appears, wearing a proud moustache and with a body structure much similar to those roguish old Western sheriffs. For those who don’t know, João Braza is also a remarkable Fado singer known for his impromptu abilities. Furthermore, it was his’ name written in big letters in a Fado night that made the Feast of Our Lady of Good Voyage (Ericeira’s patron saint) an unforgettable event that year. The people that gathered around the Ribas Square would only expect João Braza to provide just another Fado show, but what took place that night was history itself.
And, as happened in the legendary first concerts of the Sex Pistols or Joy Division, few were those who remained to tell what happened in that magical occasion. That’s why even today I feel that I was extremely lucky to have been present to see João Braza. After having dinner at the tavern known as “Mulher do Homem” with a meal that must’ve surely had its fair share of wine, our artist comes on stage and then explores a fancy repertoire of Fado songs. The audience responds enthusiastically to João Braza’s versatility and passion – who, from one point, outperforms the role of a simple singer and now looks like a boxer unwilling to admit defeat. There it was, on the stage next to Saint Anthony’s Chapel, a representation of all the struggles of men: a middle-aged gentleman clinging the front stage ropes to avoid falling and determined to keep singing, no matter what happened.
The Legend then takes place as the singer descends from the stage and starts walking through its audience, formulating improvised lyrics concerning what he considered to be everyone’s personal stories. As an enlightened observer who travels down the big road of being Portuguese, João Braza was particularly incisive: he saw lonely women as they were, sang the life of little boys and girls and counselled a few men to return home and cherish their wives and children. During those twenty minutes, the Fado singer stood alongside José Mario Branco and his epic song “FMI” or the rapper Halloween with his not less grand “Dia de um dread de 16 anos”. Even with his drunken stagger, which only makes it more real, João Braza narrated life as few are able to do and proved that the sublime might surprise and occur anywhere, and not only where we expect to find it. And so he fully deserves the highest Blue Note.
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Esta publicação também está disponível em | This article is also available in: Portuguese (Portugal)
