It is as the samba recorded in 1982 says: “there is always a story, and you have to be attentive”. Who was not, missed an unusual meeting this Monday (04). While all eyes and spotlights were focused on the elevator from which the former president would descend Michel Temer after meeting the president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Souza, the always discreet Paulinho da Viola passed, undisturbed, through the lobby of a hotel in Jardins, an upscale neighborhood in São Paulo.
The sambista crossed the hall to meet researchers from Instituto Glória ao Samba, who went to the place to give him a copy of the recently released vinyl Portela 59, a compilation of very rare compositions by the Paulinho samba school.
Surprised to see the amount of cameras and not knowing that it was Temer, Paulinho looked for and sat down to talk to Paulo Mathias and Eduardo Pontin, researchers at the Instituto Glória o Samba, created in 2007 to research and promote little-known songs and samba musicians, especially from the 1920s to the 1960s.
An hour of conversation later and the Portuguese Minister of Culture, Pedro Adão e Silva, realized that he was in the presence of one of the greatest Brazilian sambistas. Following the greetings, came the president of the country, Marcelo Rebelo de Souza.
“Paulinho told him he was going to do shows in Portugal in 2020, but he couldn’t because of the pandemic. The Portuguese president, a figurehead, took a selfie with us. A chance encounter”, Eduardo Pontin told CNN.
But, as the lyrics of the samba, recorded in 1982, continue, “there is always a movement, which changes the direction of the winds”, and Paulinho da Viola was left empty-handed: the president of Portugal liked the conversation so much that he ended up taking the single LP Portela 59 for small land. And the samba singer promised to receive a copy of the record at home.
Source: CNN Brasil
