“I dreamed of being the inspiring muse of a poet, a painter. Rhymes, prose and verses of a composer”. These words were written in 1957 by the then teacher from Pará, Ionete da Silveira Gama. Thiago Padovan / TV Brasil Now 83 years old, Dona Onete, as she became known, fulfilled the wishes she once wrote in poetry: she became an inspiration for fans and artists of Brazilian culture and popular music. To celebrate the career of the singer and songwriter, Itaú Cultural inaugurated Ocupação Dona Onete, which runs until June 18. The manuscript that opens this article, in addition to becoming the song Sonho de teenager, from the 2016 album Banzeiro, is among the more than 120 items that make up the exhibition. Divided into four thematic axes, the exhibition brings original and unpublished photos, videos, music and manuscripts, as well as testimonials from the artist, her friends, family and musical partners. For curator Andreia Schinasi, the exhibition seeks to live up to the various aspects of the artist’s work. “Dona Onete is very unique, it was a challenge to think how to translate her into this 100 m² space. Dona Onete is sound, territory, poetry, far beyond music”, she emphasizes. About the route proposed for the occupation, Andreia explains that “we enter through the territory, to bring all aspects from birth until the moment it ends up in Belém. She takes a deep dive into Pará, then talks about enchantments, religiosities, something that is very strong for her, storytelling, legends. And then she plays with a big stage that is her consecration, and she dives into the work and into the sound too, not only hers, but also from Pará”, she explains. When questioned about what she thinks of an exhibition about herself , Dona Onete rethinks her trajectory. “I’m very happy. When I found out that Itaú was interested in my story, I even thought I didn’t have a story, but they found so much and it just flowed, and today I think that I have a lot of stories to tell.” Militancy and music Dona Onete was born on March 18, 1939, in Cachoeira do Arari, in the municipality of Ilha de Marajó, in the interior of the state of Pará. Later, she moved to Igarapé-Miri, in the municipality of Baixo Tocantins, known as the “world capital of açaí.” It was there that she became a history and studies teacher in Pará.Based on the teachings of educator Paulo Freire, she was active in union movements for better teaching conditions for students and work for teachers. acted too m as Secretary of Culture, focusing on groups linked to popular culture. Still in Igarapé-Miri, she created, in 1989, the folk group Canarana, in which she debuted with 12 original songs. In the mid-1990s, she worked at Coletivo Rádio Cipó. It was only after she retired, at the age of 62, and already living in Belém, the capital of Pará, that Dona Onete was able to dedicate herself entirely to music. It was from there that Ionete became Dona Onete and became known as “Queen of Carimbó Chamegado”. The greatest recognition came when the artist participated in the Terruá Pará Festival, which brings together different rhythms and cultural manifestations from the state, and was invited to participate in the film I Receive the Piores Notícias dos Seus Lindos Lábios, starring actress Camila Pitanga. About the changes that occurred in her life after retirement, Dona Onete says that, despite her dream of being a singer, she couldn’t put her work aside. “In this fight of mine at CUT [Central Única de Trabalhadores]of all, they already said that I was [cantora], but I said: ‘I can’t quit my job for something I don’t know what will happen. Let me retire’. ‘Ah, but when you retire you’ll be old’. But it doesn’t matter. I’ll at least write something. But I retired and still spent about three years giving music to other people to record. Suddenly, you already know the story, I went to a carimbó soup, I joined a rock band and from that rock band I went to Camila Pitanga’s movie, sing in the movie there, in Santarém”, he explains. From then on, Dona Onete started to perform in other Brazilian states and also in international festivals, such as the Womex Festival, in Finland, the Muziekpublique, in Brussels, in addition to shows in England, Germany, Portugal, among other countries. With four solo albums and many legends and stories to tell, Dona Onete is today one of the greatest disseminators of Pará culture in Brazil and abroad. When questioned about which Dona Onete she likes to show the public, the singer says that she sees herself as “a cabocla from Pará”. “I brought as a goal, after retiring as a teacher, to have an opportunity to talk about our interior, about our things from Pará, things from there that many people left aside, passed over, stepped on and didn’t know it was culture. And I found the culture and brought it: it became a flower, nowadays everything is in bloom ”, she jokes. Carimbó Chamegado Carimbó, a cultural expression from the north of the country, emerged in Pará around the 17th century, based on indigenous dances and customs. The name comes from the musical instrument “curimbó”, a drum used in artistic and religious manifestations. Thiago Padovan/TV Brasil For Dona Onete, the rhythm, in line with the dance, makes carimbó a “cuddle”, a way of involving people. “The carimbó is a skirt that is also in motion, it goes up, it goes down, it suspends the skirt, it ties a knot like that. Because it is a very coquettish dance. The man comes, I compare the swing of a rosebush with a flower and a hummingbird wanting. Go, get there and come back! This is how the carimbó dance is: the rosebush swaying and a hummingbird wanting to, because you go here, go there, surrounding it, it’s a type of protection. It is very beautiful, ”she says with emotion. Some of her songs reflect well this called way of singing the carimbó. One of her biggest hits, Jamburana, from her first solo album, Feitiço Cabloco, released in 2013, brings that sensuality described by Dona Onete associated with the richness of Pará cuisine. Jambu, a typical plant from Pará that causes numbness in the tongue, is used, according to the singer, in dishes such as duck in tucupi, tacacá, rice from Pará, the stew in Pará and even vatapá and caruru, typical dishes of Bahian cuisine that, in the Paraense version, are “decorated” with jambu. However, for Dona Onete, jambu also makes “tremble”, it comes down, it comes up, “it reaches the roof of the mouth” and “the mouth goes very crazy”. In addition to the exhibition A Ocupação at Itaú Cultural, there were two performances by Dona Onete (March 16 and 17, with sold-out tickets), as well as the participation of the singer and composer from Pará, Aíla, this Saturday and today (March 18 and 19). . The singer was the first to partner with Dona Onete. She says she met her in 2009, rehearsing in a studio in Belém. “A crowd full of people, Dona Onete was there rehearsing with a group at the time, Rádio Cipó, alternative medium, rocker. I found it curious that a 70-year-old lady was rehearsing, full of young boys. I found her very open and she invited me over to her house to listen to some songs she had written. And there were many, I don’t know, 300, some unfinished. And I chose one called Indecent Proposal. She said: ‘But you’re going to record this song, are you? What will you think of a 70 year old lady writing this?’ I said: ‘Ah, that’s what you are, a sensual, strong, beautiful woman, I’m going to record this one,’ she emphasizes. Aila says that she asked Dona Onete to sing on her first album and that, from then on, their work started to be recognized. “We made a clip that went viral, it has many views in an organic way, very cool for my work and hers. Very proud to have been the first artist to release something of her own, to record with her. And I think that paved the way for a lot of other people to meet Onete,” she explains. Several other young artists, from samba to rap, partnered with the artist. Among them are names like Gaby Amarantos, Jaloo, BNegão and Emicida. For Aila, Dona Onete “is a figure in her late 80s who is willing to listen to others, from other generations, to exchange, to compose together, she is a figure full of vitality. I think that takes her further. So, for sure, that makes people more easily connect with her, that whole openness,” she concludes. For Dona Onete, this openness to dialogue is a way of embracing the other through her music: “I don’t know if it’s my way of receiving, of speaking, of singing, of making people happy, because we really need that. . After we came from that, I bring it to my music now: I want to feel the pulse in a hug. In a tight hug, the heart racing “. * Collaborated by Sarah Quines, TV Brasil reporter Veja on TV Brasil:
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