The Colors Of Brazil

Three or four blocks from where I live downtown in Campinas, there is a bar called Tonico’s. Tonico is a nickname for Antonio, like Tonny for Antony. The name of the bar is a tribute to Campinas famous maestro Antonio Carlos Gomes (Campinas, 11 de julho de 1836 — Belém do Pará, 16 de setembro de 1896). It is a regular bar decorated with motives that recall the memory of that great man, but instead of opera it boasts, with good reason, to be a Samba temple.

Every night of the week a different artist presents his work there. From the well-known to new comers, samba players have a stand to perform at Tonico’s. Last Saturday night I went there to see the Samba singer Carmen Queiroz.

Carmen has been on the road for some 20 years now, and besides interpreting great names of Brazilian Samba, she has three Cds of her: Flor da Paz, Leite Preto, and the last one, Do Meu Jeito. She told me her music is greatly influenced by Carmen Miranda, Clara Nunes, Elizete Cardoso and other great women names of traditional Samaba.

Like Tonico’s does, she also sings songs of well-known composers and young ones as well, so they can show throw her their potential. “Musicians have to help each other, for the mainstream media is not very likely to do so,” she told me.

From the early morning that day I was already worried about the colors of my country and what all the mix of people have got us to. I am the grandson of Italian, Spanish, German and Portuguese people. They all met here got married and started the family. This kind of mix is very common in Brazil.