Translator: Giorgia Zanfardin Reviewer: Michele Gianella
Federico Sacchi: May 15th, 1983.
A day that for most of you probably means nothing;
but I promise you, it's imprinted
in the memory of millions of Roma FC supporters.
It’s when the team wins its second Italian Championship:
a victory dreamt for 41 years
and conquered with four vantage points
over Juventus FC.
A scudetto marked by a three to one victory -
at the expenses of my beloved Torino FC -
in front of the 60,000 fans standing at the Olympic Stadium.
That night, the new Italian champions are guests at La Domenica Sportiva:
a historical national broadcast
that was at the time, a must-watch show for fans.
Mid-show, a guest is announced
and on the screen appears a 40-something man
fully white dressed, with a shoulder strap guitar.
By the looks of it, he’s probably having technical problems with the guitar.
But when suddenly the background music starts,
he goes with it and starts singing.
(Music)
Andrea Anania: There’s a handsome man in Italy,
who lives in Rome, who lives in Rome.
A funny football player,
who plays with his heart and soul,
who calls his ball “my love”.
Honey, the goal.
Hello, hello, hello, hello.
This man, this prince,
this man, this magician,
this marvel, this artist,
this good one, this human.
His name is…
FS: The song gets brutally interrupted here,
but it’s clear who the protagonist is:
Paulo Roberto Falcao,
the Brazilian ace,
called by his fans “The Eight King of Rome”,
one of the main players responsible for winning the Italian Championship.
The guy dressed as a house painter,
who won over Roma FC players
and made them laugh,
is called Jorge Ben,
and is the artist that more than anyone contributed with his songs
to the creation of Brazilian football mythology.
"Falcao" is an instant hit,
but it cannot hold the candle with masterpieces from the past.
Yet, it shows three features that make Ben’s songs unique.
First: a catchy melody, that sticks in your mind for weeks.
Second: simple lyrics, but only on the surface.
The funny football player who calls the ball “my love”,
makes us smile,
but if I told you that until adolescence Falcao did sleep with that ball,
that line gets a whole new meaning.
The third is irony.
Here’s how the song goes on.
AA: (Sings in Portuguese) He's called
Falcão, Falcao, Falcone, Falsao,
Falcon, Farson, Falcone, Farsao, Falcon, Farcon.
FS: These are just some of the ways in which his name was mangled.
Ben knew it, because during interviews
he was asked more questions about Falcao than about his music.
A classic grotesque Italian situation,
that the artist exploits to compose a catchy refrain.
One of those things that only great composers do.
And Jorge Ben is great, for sure.
I can surely state that we are in the presence
of one of the main pop artist of the twentieth century,
but I see your faces.
(Laughter)
Have I overdone myself?
Let’s do this: raise your hand
if you had never heard of Jorge Ben before.
Well,
I can bet my bottom dollar
that each of you, at least once in your life,
have heard six of his songs.
Too bad you did it in the worst possible way,
because of the crime perpetrated by a band called Two Man Sound.
These three beautiful examples of Belgian manhood,
became millionaires at the end of the ‘70s
by adapting Brazilians hits into dance music.
Their masterpiece is the seven-minute “Disco Samba”,
a song also known as “Conga line”,
(Laughter)
the diabolical song that on New Year’s Eve turns us into toddlers
and makes us dance in a single line, frantically.
“Disco Samba” is a medley of big Brazilian hits
in which Jorge’s repertoire gets literally sacked.
AA: (Sings) Pe pee, pee pe, pee pe, Pe pee, pee pe, pee pe.
Zazueira, Zazueira.
Fio Maravlha, we only want you.
Ay Ay Caramba.
I live in a tropical country.
Blessed by God and naturally enchanting.
FS: These are the first five songs spoiled in “Disco Samba”.
You never paid attention to the sixth one, probably,
because it’s at the end of the medley,
at which point, on New Year’s Eve,
we are all too drunk to pay attention to something.
It’s actually the one that everyone knows.
AA: (Sings in Portuguese)
Oh lariá laiô
obá obá obá.
Come on,
get out of my way 'cause I want to pass.
Because the samba is vivacious, and what I want is to do the samba.
FS: Are you familiar with the expression “To start off with a bang?”
Well, “Mas que nada” is the first song written by Jorge Ben at 21.
He releases it in 1963 in “Samba Esquema Novo”,
first of nine albums with which he revolutionizes not only samba,
but all popular Brazilian music,
coding a sound that critics defined as Samba rock, Samba Soul or Samba funky.
Forget it, and trust me:
this is music from another planet.
The grooviest acoustic guitar in history,
a unique voice, for both timbre and flexibility, amazing musicians
all at the service of marvelous songs.
It’s a journey that climaxes in 1972 with the release of “Ben”,
the album that features Jorge’s first song about football.
A song inspired by an episode connected to his favorite team,
Flamengo FC,
the legendary Carioca club where he played as a kid,
before an injury nipped in the bud his soon-to-be career.
We are at Maracanà Stadium, in Rio de Janeiro.
It’s January 15th, 1972, Flamengo - Benfica.
It’s the second half of the game, the score is a tie zero.
Fans start chanting a name: Fio.
João Batista de Sales, known as Fio, is a midfielder with a bizarre technique
and incredibly protruding teeth.
Two features that made him Torcida’s favorite.
As usual, Fio is benched, because he rarely gets to play.
But that day, fans want no excuses:
they are still chanting his name.
(Background guitar)
44,000 voices plus one:
Jorge Ben’s,
who was witnessing the events,
when an exasperated Zagalo decided to put Fio in.
AA: (Sings in Portuguese) And again he arrived with inspiration
With a lot of love, with emotion, with an explosion and...goal!
Shaking the crowd at minute 33 of the second half,
after making a celestial play ending in a goal.
He did a one-two, dribbled two defenders, touched and dribbled the goalkeeper.
He just didn't enter in the goal with the ball
Because he was humble and goal!
It was a classy goal
where he showed his maliciousness and his race.
It was an angel's goal, truly a brilliant goal
to which the thankful crowd was enchanted:
Fio Maravilha, we want only you.
Fio Maravilha, score one more so we can see it.
FS: In Fio Maravilha,
Jorge elevates to an epic event an ordinary sports chronicle.
An action that symbolizes the harmony of Brazilian football,
made of fantasy, improvisation, and respect for the opponent.
He gets his inspiration
for the lyrics from Brazilian football commentators,
and builds music as a climax
that only peaks in the end, with the jingle we all know.
The result has an epic power,
a power that turns a player into a legend, an action
that would be otherwise forgotten.
In the album that contains “Fio Maravilha”,
Jorge pays tribute to another hero of his:
Saint George from Cappadocia.
Nothing weird, if we think
that in Brazil, football players are as venerated as saints.
But Jorge has another bizarre passion:
alchemy.
In 1974, this passion leads him to release “A Tabla de Esmeralda”,
album in which he sings about
hermetic philosophers, Saints, alchemists, alien gods, and celestial agriculture.
I know you won’t believe me, but the album is an absolute masterpiece.
To prove that I’m not crazy,
in Rolling Stone Brasil's rankings of the greatest Brazilian albums,
“A Tabla de Esmeralda” ranks sixth.
In 1975, Jorge releases another masterpiece:
“Solta o Pavao”, the album that contains Ben’s second football song.
This time,
the protagonist of the song is not a specific football player,
but a position:
(Guitar strums)
the “zagueiro” (defender).
AA: (Sings in Portuguese) Goosebumps, defender,
he’s a good defender
he’s the guardian angel of the defense.
But to be a good defender
he can’t get too sentimental.
He has to be slim and graceful,
be cold-blooded, self-confident and loyal.
The defender has to be a rascal.
In case of emergency, with the ball on the pitch,
think fast and concretely,
or you can go back to playing in the forest,
because the Championship is at stake.
Defender.
FS: “Zagueiro” is not a simple celebration of a less praised position,
but a handbook for those who aspire to become a football legend,
but just aren't cut for the point man role.
I’ve always thought that Ben wrote it for all the kids
to teach them the values of a great defender:
loyalty, sacrifices, and responsibility,
to create an honest example to inspire tomorrow’s champions.
In 1976, Jorge releases “Africa Brasil”, yet another masterpiece,
that leaves in a vinyl's grooves
the essence of Afro-Brazilianity.
Because Jorge was one of the very firsts
to bring African elements in Brazilian music,
and address certain topics.
With “Africa Brasil” he goes further
and writes three songs
about three legendary characters from the African-Brazilian community.
The first one is “Zumbi”, the slaves’ liberator,
the last leader of Quilombo de Palmares, a sort of Brazilian Spartacus.
The second is “Xica De Silva”,
the legendary slave who became queen
by marrying a diamond merchant.
The third is “Umbabarauma”.
AA: (Sings in Portuguese)
Umbabarauma, goal scorer.
Play ball play ball player.
Jump, jump, fall, get up, go up and get down, run,
kick, find a hole, thrill and give thanks
See how the whole city empties out
on this beautiful afternoon only to watch you play.
Umbabarauma goal scorer.
This is the story of Umbabarauma
an African point man whose mind is set up,
Umbabarauma.
FS: Football fans among you
will be probably digging in their memory
to find out who this damn Umbabarauma is.
Forget about it.
There’s no football player with this name.
Umbabarauma represents all black football players
and Brazilians’ passion for football itself.
Because Umbabarauma is both the supreme point man
and African warrior at the same time.
Umbabarauma is African and Brazilian; and thanks to the power of Ben’s music,
Umbabarauma now belongs
to Brazil’s collective imagination.
It’s the glorification of Jorge Ben as an author.
He generated, with a song, a mythological figure.
(Guitar strums)
It’s the glorification of an Ethiopian immigrant’s son
raised in one of Rio de Janeiro's most miserable suburbs
who had a dream since he was a kid: to become a football player.
Dream torn apart from an injury
right when he joined his favorite football team.
It’s the glorification of a kid that throws in the towel,
embraces the music and works hard, for years,
until he becomes a music legend,
just as idolized as the football players he was admiring so much.
Because Brazilian football, with that injury,
might have lost a future star,
but gained its biggest poet-songwriter:
Jorge Duilio Lima Menezes,
also known as Jorge Ben.
(Guitar strums)
(Applause and cheers)
Thank you.
(Applause)