Music Union : Live Your Music

Mariana Knabben, Brazilian, Journalist

Caetano Veloso. When you hear his name, for those who know him, automatically you associate it with one of the best and most popular musicians from Brazil. That’s how I know him, considering that he started his career way before I was born, back in the 60’s. When I read that he was coming to LA for a concert, I thought, “Wow, this is the kind of concert I can’t miss”. I knew it would be memorable, quite an experience. It certainly was, but not exactly in the way I had expected.

For that occasion, I invited my great Brazilian friend, Karima, and her husband, who doesn’t know a word in Portuguese. I mean, I practically had to convince her because the location of the concert was at the Greek Theatre, a place I hadn’t been before and neither had she. It has an open sky dome and, she was afraid of getting really cold. Luckily, the weather collaborated that day. It was a beautiful spring day with a gorgeous sunny, blue sky, not too hot, not too cold, just perfect.

As we made our way to the theater, we were very excited and were also explaining to Karima’s husband, Soren, who Caetano Veloso is and what he represents in Brazil’s music. Getting there was easy and fast. We found our seats as we waited anxiously for his concert to begin. It got chiller at night but we had enough warm clothes.

Soon, came the first song… which none of us knew, but sounded interesting from the rhythm side. The second song came and again, another one we didn’t know. Then, the third, the forth, and the fift song were pretty much, all the same. This scene repeated during his entire concert. Karima and I kept saying, “Perhaps the next one will be “Você É Linda” (You Are Beautiful)”, which didn’t happen at all.

Well, what I considered to be his major moment in the concert was that he sang four songs only followed by his guitar. That’s when I thought he was going to sing “Sozinho” (Alone), one of my favorite songs of all time. Instead, he made a cover of “Billie Jean” from Michael Jackson!!! Unbelievable! In the true sense of the word! Unbelievable because he didn’t sing the one I wanted to hear. Unbelievable because MJ’s cover was too slow for me and a few other people that I overheard talking about it.

Another thing that I felt missing was his interaction with the audience. It was minimum. Just a few words here and there, but nothing really catching. He sang mainly the songs of his new album “Zii e Zie”, released in 2009, which explains why I didn’t know most of it. His voice is still amazing, and the tone is beautiful. However, besides the interaction, I felt something else was missing in the concert. To me, he lacked enthusiasm in his performance. I mean, he danced and everything, but still there was something not quite right. To be honest, unless you were there, it’s difficult to put to words. Perhaps one of the reasons was like I said before, his little interaction with the crowd.

With all that said, I will change to the good things. There were some songs that I found very interesting from the beat and arrangements to the lyrics. They talked straight to my heart, making me feel warm and cozy like when someone gives you a bear hug. Even though I didn’t know these songs, it didn’t mean I didn’t know how to appreciate them. That’s also what Karima told me. She felt the same way. Caetano sang in English as well, which shows he recognizes that not everybody in his concert speaks his native Portuguese. I am sure Soren felt very grateful for that. It gave him a better sense of who Caetano is as a musician.

As time went by, we realized he wasn’t singing any of the songs we came to hear. Just like that, it came to an end. That’s when the audience shouted “Bis, bis”, making him came back and sing the only song I knew from that evening, “Tieta”. I have to admit, it was a nice surprise. After that, we left with astonished faces processing what had just happened. It certainly was quite an experience, very much different from what I had envisioned in my mind. That’s why it probably didn’t meet Karima’s and my expectations, but it fulfilled our emotions in a distinctive way.