Word: sao
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Janeiro is the city in Brazil that people all over the world know. They know the cathedrals and the samba clubs, the curved white strip of Copacabana beach, the spread-armed statue of Cristo Redentor on the peak of Corcovado mountain. Sao Paulo, on the other hand, is the city that foreigners don't know. They don't know that it is in many ways Brazil's musical center, accounting for 57% of record sales in the country, vs. 13% for Rio. They don't know that, with a population of 17 million, it is not only far larger than...
...most outsiders are almost certainly unaware that Sao Paulo is home to Max de Castro, 28, a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who just might be the most original musical talent to have come out of Brazil in three decades. That's no small statement. Music in Brazil is like sunlight: it's natural, it's elemental, it illuminates every building, every river bend, every aspect of life. "Dancing and music are in our blood," says William Nadir, 23, a Sao Paulo motorcycle deliveryman. "You can spot strangers by the stiff way they move their hips...
...visionary, the young performer lives modestly. He shares a three-bedroom apartment in Sao Paulo with his mother, his sister, his collection of 4,000 vinyl LPs and his three favorite guitars (a Gibson B.B. King Little Lucille model, a Les Paul and a Fender Telecaster). De Castro isn't rich. Samba Raro sold about 30,000 copies, and last year De Castro pulled in about $70,000. Not bad but also no more than, according to a New York City tabloid report, Sean (P. Diddy) Combs spent on champagne one night this summer...
...time was suffering through one of the worst phases of the military dictatorship that ruled from 1964 to '85 (it is now a democracy). Simonal was never proved to have snitched, but his reputation was destroyed and he became unemployable. The family moved to a downscale neighborhood in Sao Paulo. Simonal became bitter, and left his wife and children in 1991, when De Castro was 18. Simonal died, broke and broken, last year. Wilson Simoninha, De Castro's older brother (also a musician), paid his father's hospital bills and funeral expenses...
...best music, no matter how far away its origins, makes you feel right at home and speaks directly to your heart. Tom Jobim's gentle Desafinado, once "exotic," now seems neighborly and familiar. If De Castro has his way, people around the world may soon know all about Sao Paulo. But they may forget that it's in another country...