The meeting of Nelson Motta and Arthur de Faria in the Auditorium of Strength and Light Spaceon Saturday (11), within the schedule of the 69th Porto Alegre Book Fairhad the flavor of a meeting between two old comrades, who, full of stories to tell, relive memorable facts and moments from the cultural life of a country.
The conversation was supposed to be about Lupicínio Rodrigueswhose biography written by Arthur, would later have an autograph table at the Fair, but when Nelson Motta starts talking about Elis Regina and Tom Jobimyou can’t hold back, your heart explodes and the subject takes over the script, revealing memories and moments that go beyond any prediction.
Thus, the journalist, writer, film and theater scriptwriter, composer, music producer and many other activities, Nelson Mottawas interviewed by Arthur de Fariajournalist, musician, pianist, arranger and composer, on a rainy afternoon at the Book Fair, talking about popular music, of course, but above all about its omnipresence in almost all of the country’s major musical moments, from the 1960s onwards.
In a masterstroke, Nelson says that “I anticipated Facebook, because I was always liking and sharing my experiences”, he says, proud to have been in so many historic productions, recordings of great idols, meetings of geniuses, memorable parties and coverage of events and cultural launches that have become history. Just to name a few, Nelson produced the LP in which Elis Regina turned her career around, in 1972; he produced Elis’ meeting with Ti Maia, recording the two singing together; he was one of the mentors of Dancing Days, a nightclub that made the Disco genre explode in Brazil; joined the Frenéticas, created the Carioca Nights, nightclub with rock and pop shows in Morro da Urca; revealed Marisa Monte, he was the first journalist to talk about pop music on TV Globo, among many other successful initiatives. “I think luck accompanied me, I even wrote a memoir called From To Moon. But I also experienced a lot of pain, failures, sadness and disappointments, like everyone else”, he concludes.
Among the best insights, he recounted pearls of his relationship with Tim Maia, for example, who called him saying “Nelsomotta”, come here because the biggest commemorative triathlon is going on”, in other words, a private party filled with drinks, cocaine & joints To which Nelson dismissed by saying, “Tim, you don’t have a body, you have territory.” From Vicente Celestino to João Gilberto, including Rita Lee and Fernanda Takai, Aloísio de Oliveira and Caetano Veloso, there were plenty of fun stories and memories.
Finally speaking about Lupicínio, he recalled that Elza Soares was the one who brought back the work of the composer from Rio Grande do Sul, almost forgotten in the 1960s, recording If by chance you arrived, once again being rediscovered by the new voices of Tropicalismo and MPB. Meetings like this are worth like a therapy session, a documentary, the showing of a film that is in the head of Brazilians who follow cultural life over the last 50, 60 years. A true lesson in culture and entertainment.