An uncommon artist with an uncommon sopranino voice, Ney Matogrosso fell in the Brazilian popular music scene like a bomb in the '70s aboard the Secos & Molhados. The end of the group marked the beginning of a fertile and successful solo career in which he began exploring his sensuous and charismatic persona through satiric and ironic repertories. As time passed, he substituted self-contained and deeply sensitive interpretations of classics for the popular and classical Brazilian music. Along with his representative and prolific solo discography, for which he received three platinum and three gold records, Matogrosso recorded in Itália with Astor Piazzola, performed in Argentina, Uruguay, participated in two Montreux Jazz Festivals (Switzerland), and toured Portugal several times. He also performed in Israel and the U.S., but always refused invitations to develop an international career. Matogrosso also worked as an actor in Sonho de Valsa (by Ana Carolina, the director, not the singer/composer) and Caramujo Flor (short subject by Joel Pizzini), and directed shows by RPM, Cazuza, and Simone.
Arriving in Rio de Janeiro in 1966, Matogrosso became a hippie leather artisan and divided his time between Rio, São Paulo, and Brasília, where he was a close friend of singer/composer Luli. Through her he met João Ricardo, who had a vision for a groundbreaking group and was searching for a high-pitched male voice. Invited by Ricardo, Matogrosso moved to São Paulo where he spent one year dedicating himself to exhaustive rehearsals, artisanship, and theater plays. With the explosive success of Secos e Molhados and the group's final dissolution, Matogrosso started his solo career exploring his unusual voice timbre, his mesmerizing scenic persona, and his androgynous visuals, enhanced by innovative and exotic costumes. A second solo album, Água do Céu - Pássaro, was supported by the show Homem de Neanderthal, in 1975, with which Matogrosso opened in Rio de Janeiro, drawing both raves and packed houses. "Barco Negro" and "Homem com H" appeared amongst considerable polemics aroused by the usual conservatives on duty. In that period, he worked with Astor Piazzola in Milan, Italy, where he recorded a double single with the Argentinean composer. A cleaner Matogrosso recorded Bandido in 1976, having his first national hit as a solo artist with "Bandido Corazón," written especially for him by Rita Lee.
A Cara Do Brasil
Ney Matogrosso Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
jeca urbanóide de papo pro ar
me bateu a pergunta, meio à esmo:
na verdade, o Brasil o que será?
O Brasil é o homem que tem sede
ou quem vive da seca do sertão?
Ou será que o Brasil dos dois é o mesmo
o que vai é o que vem na contra-mão?
procurando o doutor nalgum lugar
ou será o professor Darcy Ribeiro
que fugiu do hospital pra se tratar
A gente é torto igual Garrincha e Aleijadinho
Ninguém precisa consertar
Se não der certo a gente se virar sozinho
decerto então nunca vai dar
O Brasil é o que tem talher de prata
ou aquele que só come com a mão?
Ou será que o Brasil é o que não come
o Brasil gordo na contradição?
O Brasil que bate tambor de lata
ou que bate carteira na estação?
O Brasil é o lixo que consome
ou tem nele o maná da criação?
Brasil Mauro Silva, Dunga e Zinho
que é o Brasil zero a zero e campeão
ou o Brasil que parou pelo caminho:
Zico, Sócrates, Júnior e Falcão A gente é torto igual Garrincha e Aleijadinho... O Brasil é uma foto do Betinho
ou um vídeo da Favela Naval?
São os Trens da Alegria de Brasília
ou os trens de subúrbio da Central?
Brasil-globo de Roberto Marinho?
Brasil-bairro: Carlinhos-Candeal?
Quem vê, do Vidigal, o mar e as ilhas
ou quem das ilhas vê o Vidigal?
O Brasil encharcado, palafita?
Seco açude sangrado, chapadão?
Ou será que é uma Avenida Paulista?
Qual a cara da cara da nação? A gente é torto igual Garrincha e Aleijadinho ...
In Ney Matogrosso's A Cara do Brasil, the singer contemplates the question of what is the true face of Brazil. Laying comfortably in a hammock, he wonders if it is the man who suffers from thirst or the one who lives in the dry hinterlands. He ponders if it is the poor guy who seeks medical attention or if it is Darcy Ribeiro, a renowned anthropologist who escaped a hospital to treat himself. Ney Matogrosso paints a vivid picture of the contrasting realities of Brazil, questioning if it's the Brazil with silverware or the one who eats with their hands, the Brazil that plays music with tin cans or the one that pickpockets in the train station. He challenges us to identify which one of them is the real face of the nation.
Matogrosso summarises Brazil as a country filled with contradictions. They have a rich and vibrant culture but they also have a population that struggles with poverty. The title of the song, "A Cara do Brasil," translates to "The Face of Brazil" highlighting the question that he presents. The lyrics challenge the listener to investigate what the country represents, morally and socially. It shows the juxtaposition of life in Brazil, portraying the contrasting sides of its society.
Line by Line Meaning
Eu estava esparramado na rede
I was lying on a hammock
jeca urbanóide de papo pro ar
a rural-looking person from the city, idle and relaxed
me bateu a pergunta, meio à esmo:
a random question suddenly came to me
na verdade, o Brasil o que será?
what is Brazil really like?
O Brasil é o homem que tem sede
Brazil is the man who is thirsty
ou quem vive da seca do sertão?
or is it the person who lives in the drylands?
Ou será que o Brasil dos dois é o mesmo
or maybe both are the same Brazil
o que vai é o que vem na contra-mão?
where everything that comes also goes the other way
O Brasil é um caboclo sem dinheiro
Brazil is a poor mixed-race man
procurando o doutor nalgum lugar
looking for a doctor somewhere
ou será o professor Darcy Ribeiro
or is it the scholar Darcy Ribeiro
que fugiu do hospital pra se tratar?
who escaped from the hospital to take care of himself?
A gente é torto igual Garrincha e Aleijadinho
We are crooked like Garrincha and Aleijadinho
Ninguém precisa consertar
Nobody needs to fix us
Se não der certo a gente se virar sozinho
If things don't work out, we'll figure it out on our own
decerto então nunca vai dar
if that doesn't work, nothing will
O Brasil é o que tem talher de prata
Brazil is the one with silver cutlery
ou aquele que só come com a mão?
or is it the one who only eats with his hands?
Ou será que o Brasil é o que não come
or maybe it's the one who doesn't eat at all
o Brasil gordo na contradição?
the contradiction of a fat Brazil
O Brasil que bate tambor de lata
Brazil is the one who beats a tin drum
ou que bate carteira na estação?
or is it the one who picks pockets at the train station?
O Brasil é o lixo que consome
Brazil is the garbage it consumes
ou tem nele o maná da criação?
or does it have the mana of creation within it?
Brasil Mauro Silva, Dunga e Zinho
Brazil is Mauro Silva, Dunga and Zinho
que é o Brasil zero a zero e campeão
who is Brazil, drawing with zero goals, yet still champions
ou o Brasil que parou pelo caminho:
or maybe it's the Brazil that stopped on the way:
Zico, Sócrates, Júnior e Falcão
Zico, Sócrates, Júnior and Falcão
A gente é torto igual Garrincha e Aleijadinho...
We are crooked like Garrincha and Aleijadinho...
O Brasil é uma foto do Betinho
Brazil is a photo of Betinho
ou um vídeo da Favela Naval?
or maybe it's a video of Favela Naval?
São os Trens da Alegria de Brasília
Brazil is the Joy Trains of Brasília
ou os trens de subúrbio da Central?
or is it the suburban trains of Central?
Brasil-globo de Roberto Marinho?
Is Brazil the globalized version of Roberto Marinho?
Brasil-bairro: Carlinhos-Candeal?
or is it the neighborhood Brazil of Carlinhos-Candeal?
Quem vê, do Vidigal, o mar e as ilhas
Who sees the sea and the islands from Vidigal
ou quem das ilhas vê o Vidigal?
or who sees Vidigal from the islands?
O Brasil encharcado, palafita?
Brazil is immersed in water, with stilt houses?
Seco açude sangrado, chapadão?
Or is it a dried-out, bloodied reservoir in the plateau?
Ou será que é uma Avenida Paulista?
Or maybe it's Avenida Paulista?
Qual a cara da cara da nação?
What is the true face of this nation?
A gente é torto igual Garrincha e Aleijadinho...
We are crooked like Garrincha and Aleijadinho...
Contributed by Adeline Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.