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CLASS IS CLASS
Ary Quintella
Carlos Lyra - Carlinhos – is one of the last surviving “cariocas”, although he has lived long years out of the country, driven by ideological reasons.
But class is class, and he never lost the subtle irony of our country, the joviality grafted by the sweetness of the carioca, the will to live, to sing and to compose. Happily, manfully, and participatingly. And with all personal dignity preserved, as I saw happen in the cities of Porto Alegre and Rio Grande, when Subdesenvolvido (written with Chico de Assis) was acclaimed by young students as it had been acclaimed by us at the beginning of the sixties when we believed intensely in our country.
The bursts from the machinegun that perforated the old site of the UNE, there in Flamengo, also shot Carlinhos to Mexico, from where he returned one day, married to Katherine, the sweet Kate, after touring the world with the Stan Getz quartet.
Profoundly playful, he helped create the music, carioca-style, that until today is a trade mark of Brazil in the countries up north: Bossa Nova; merely another facet of the cultural revolution which took place in the country at the end of the fifties and beginning of the sixties, revolution which didn’t happen politically for known reasons.
This companion of so many years who said: “Success is to manage to do that which we judge to be best” works without equivocal fanfares, with all sobriety and, of course, with all his good humor. As he does on jogging every day around the Rodrigo de Freitas Lake. And I sincerely wish that he continues running around the Lake for many years, producing many songs and contributing, once again, to the creation of new Popular Centers of Culture.
After all, class is class.
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