Geraldo Maia

Geraldo Maia is a singer and songwriter from Pernambuco,Brazil, who owns beautiful voice with a sweet northeastern accent. He recorded his first album during 1987 and after he went to Portugal where he lived for ten years. He returned in 1999 bringing with him an album, "Green Water/Agua Verde" released at the same year.
His music bring an harmonious elegance with a great sense of the basic Brazilian rhythms such as coco, samba and baião.
Below you can read the interview that I did with him last month.
You can also listen to some of his beautiful songs of his impressive discography.

http://www.geraldomaia.com.br/

1. How did music come into your life?
Since I was young I had the "intuition" that I would become a singer. My first "singing school" was the bathroom. I used to sing a lot in the shower, imitating Maria Bethania; I knew Rosa dos Ventos lyric by heart. Then, people started talking about my voice, and that was kind of giving me the north, in a way…

2. When did you learn to play the guitar?
In my early teens. We were a group of young people very interested in music, and got inspired by the local sources, specially The Ave Sangria, from Marco Polo, a band that marked a generation. Although the group had broken up when I was entering adolescence, I was crazy about them, the songs, the attitude, rebellion, and, in particular, the iconic and iconoclastic figure of Marco. That’s how I learned to play guitar, so playful, in the binge, through osmosis. Then, much later I did try to systematize some study, some knowledge.

3. What did come first: the singer or the composer?
The singer, but the composer came almost simultaneously. At that time of adventure and youthful transgressions, I composed a lot, along with a friend, Edezel. Then I went into a phase, only interpreter, which lasted decades. Only recently, I came up with the CD recording Peso Leve, my first recorded copyright.

“Tenho Onde Morar”(Luiz Gonzaga/Dario de Souza) Samba do Mar Quadrado (2004)


4. On your home page you talk about the impact when attending a Caetano Veloso’s concert at "Geraldão" in the '70s. First of all, excuse me for the ignorance, is Geraldão a theater in Recife? And what impact the show has had on you?
"Geraldão" is a gymnasium, like a little Maracana. It used to have a lot of shows there. I went to see Caetano in 72 or 73, I do not remember for sure. But he had at that time returned from his exile. This show marked me very deeply. I will never forget him singing 'Assum Preto' on the guitar. He made a few grunts from the verses, something very guttural. Then someone in the audience shouted "Yeah, suck on it, you queer!" He left the stage, the lights lit up, there was confusion and anxiety until he was escorted back to the stage by the police, and he made a brief, yet angry speech against close mindedness and continues the show. Everything caused a deep impact on me. I was 13 to 14 years old and was a restless teenager, unhappy and problematic. Without knowing exactally how or why there was a possibility of freedom, a silver lining amid during the repressive dictatorship, then in full resurgence of the “Medici” era.

5. You own a very strong voice. You call yourself a self-taught, but I wonder if you've done singing lessons or something like that, and how you take care of your voice.
Since very young I took vocal technique classes, voice lessons, correct use of the diaphragm and other stuff. I had some great teachers, including when I was in Portugal. Even nowadays I do the exercises at least once or twice a week, to keep the voice "in place". But my best school was listening to my idols, attempting to how they work their voice.


6. How do you define your music?
In a succinctly way, I would say that I make contemporary Brazilian popular music with a certain 'accent' from Pernambuco.

“Sodade de Pernambuco”(Manezinho Araujo) Samba de Sao Joao (2004)


7. What do you think of jargon MPB (Popular Brazilian Music)? Is your music a MPB?
Like all jargon, generalizes and flat, leaves out many subtleties, but, broadly speaking, I think, yes, MPB. Only that I am a very restless guy, then those labels fit me more than I fit into them, you know that? I hate frameworks, movements, trends, labels and anything that might be cause for confinement. The grace for me is to have the freedom to be exactly pop today and 'cheesy' tomorrow, grace is getting out with your armor unscathed.

8. You are a Samba composer?
No, but I have an 'instinctive' attraction with the genre.

9. Do you agree that in Brazil there is a barrier, or trend, which poses the musical production of the Northeast in a less privileged level than the one made in Rio or Sao Paulo?
Without the slightest doubt. Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo are hegemonic centers, and end up calling the shots, trends and everything. This imposition, in the end, is supported by the mainstream media. That also maintains that hegemony.

10. You lived almost a decade in Portugal: how do you see the standardization of Brazilian music over there? Is there a positive aspect on it?
I think there is still a valid and prevailing vision of Brazil (the land of samba, carnaval, football, sensuality, and so on ..., in spite of the efforts of some people to the contrary.That was in part what made me to come back to Brazil, because I started getting tired of singing to gringos who only wanted to hear samba, bossa nova sang in English, preferably, and all those standars of 'old' Brazilian music.

11. How was your life away from Brazil?
Aside from this aspect of the work itself, which I was getting tired with the passage of time, I loved, loved Portugal and, in particular, the region where I lived. I spent the first year in Lisboa and then went to live in Albufeira, Algarve, a region of beautiful beaches, almost tropical climate and a very cosmopolitan area, a beautiful place, fantastic quality of life. I made good friends. I have great memories from there. And things sounded all too familiar, my parents are Portuguese, I have dual citizenship, always lived with the accent, some customs and such.

12. The fact of having lived many years out of Brazil, when you came back, at some point, did you get the feelling of being a tourist in Brazil?
Yes, coming back was a difficult process, especially on the artistic side. I left Recife in 1990, President Collor era, and I returned in 1999 after the outbreak of the swamp beat and the premature death of Chico Science. I found a very different city from what when I left.

“Olinda”(Jose Antonio Madureira/Carlos Pereira Filho) Agua Verde (1999)


13. How is the Lusitan contribution or influence in your work?
Not sure. Perhaps it is a more subtle, indirect, perhaps a little in my diction, the choices of repertoire, which eventually emphasize a certain melancholy in spirit; something that, perhaps, has to do with the Lusitanian soul, the universe through the gloomy “fado”.


14. Your musical compass ranges from traditional samba to maracatu Zen, or the samba trip hop, the other popular rhythms with extreme facility. How do you explain this aspect?
I think I have answered part of this question before. I have a concern, something that I was born with, that I consider one of my best virtues, it is the aspect of freedom, able to transit through seemingly antagonistic structures. Some people see this as a defect, a lack of unity, coherence and such.

15. You could say that the album, “Agua Verde” (1999) was fertilized in Portugal and was born in Recife?
Exactly! It has even been recorded there, most of it. And it is an album entirely stripped free of any commitment, I sing it in an entirely random, intuitive, no strings ...

16. How did you find "Sejam bem-vindos”, by Cartola, performed in "Verde Agua”?
I took to Portugal a wealth material on tape (they were still alive!) and in one of those tapes there was him talking and singing, an interview to a radio. And he was singing “Sejam benvindos”.
“Sejam Benvindos”(Cartola) “Agua Verde”(1999)


17. Is it correct to say that on your album "Astrolabio" (2001), you musically translated what the new and exciting thing you found in Recife after returning from Portugal?
Exactly. While Verd'água was a reunion with myself, 'Astrolabio' was very difficult disc to produce and that ended up reflecting all my restlessness and desire to reinsert myself into the Pernambuco scene. I think it is a kind of confusing CD, despite moments that I consider it singular.

18. Is Recife a special city?
Despite the difficulties, some of them chronic, historical; on the artistic side, the city, especially from the 90s to today, always seems to be under the "umbrella" of species of concern, people are constantly in search of something, of making art, giving a voice to their projects, ideas etc.. In that manners, yeah, it is special ...

“Estrada”(Geraldo Maia/Paulo Marcondes) Peso Leve (2008)


19. In "Samba do Mar Quebrado" (2004) and "Samba de Sao Joao" (2007), mainly are works of historical research. How did these projects happen? What motivated you to make this connection with the past? Is it something that goes beyond your personal memory?
The 'Samba do Mar Quebrado' would not be an album of samba, but turned into it, half of that came randomly. Actually, I was in Rio, thinking about making my next record, and I used to talk to João Falcão a lot about the shape of the work, the possible paths. I went back to Recife and began researching the repertoire at the Fonoteca at Fundação Joaquim Nabuco. With Renato Phaelante’s help, friend and great researcher of folk music, I got a few sambas of Luiz Gonzaga, who seemed very unique and atypical in his work. The idea of making an only samba CD came from there. Then I continued this research with Renato, which resulted in 'Samba de Sao Joao'. Both works rescued several old songs, which is something I am very proud of it. But it has nothing to do with my personal memory, but much more with a possible construction of identities, facets of my artistic personality and a kind of nostalgic bias which is known to inhabit me.

20. How important was it to publicize your work and participation in the soundtrack of the excellent film "Lisbela and the Prisoner" (2004)?
It was a very important experience, especially having recorded alongside Yamandú.
“Sao Jorge” (Publius/Magrao) Lundum (2009)


21. How do you produce your work? Are you on the control of the distribution of the albums? Do you have any idea on how many copies have sold?
Yes, I control (almost) everything. My sister takes care of part of the distribution to the stores, but I am in charge of the whole process.


22. The copyright issue has recently created a strong reaction from expressive artists, such as Joyce Moreno, Antonio Adolfo, Ana de Hollanda and Mario Parahyba, challenging the new law of copyright that the government wants to deploy. Do you havean opinion about it?
No, I need to learn them urgently.
“Santa Luzia”(Geraldo Maia/Nilton Jr.) Lundum (2009)

“Pega o Peixe” (Geraldo Maia/Paulo Marcondes)


23. What do you think about the "free download" music from the Internet?
I think it is okay, I'm not against it. I am against the fetishes, having 700 songs on an I-pod and not hearing to any of the songs right ...

“Um Samba”(Henrique Macedo/Paulo Marcondes) Samba do Mar Quadrado (2004)

“Ronca o Bizouro na Fulo”(Joao Pernambuco/Stefana de Macedo) Samba de São Joao (2004)



24. Your last two albums "Peso Leve" (2008) and "Lundum" (2009) present more of your authorial side. Is this a new process in your life, or it is just now that you felt confident, comfortable, in presenting this aspect of your work?
It is a new process, and I love it, but, being quite frank, I feel better as a performer, it sounds as if it is more real, you know ...

25. Is there a new album coming? What prospects do you have for this year?
No, for now I want to work the 'Lundum'. New Cd, I believe, only for next year.