Jorge Baptista de Figueiredo isthe heteronym of José António Santos, musician, teacher and writer. While musician won the Portuguese musical youth prize and also the award for young musicians. Throughout his career he recorded albums with Dulce Pontes and Ala dos namorados, but the music is not his only artistic facet, writing also holds a firm place in his life, as is the case of this book of poetry .
Why choose a heteronym ?
Jorge Baptista de Figueiredo : To be an extension of who we are, our identity, a sort of upgrade and must be a heteronym that has to do with us . The history of this name is not taboo, because Jorge is the name of my younger brother, who obviously love , Baptista comes from a Judeo- Christian tradition , if you will, is someone who tells the truth and Figueiredo because I was on a site in Brazil called Figueira for three weeks at the beginning of the nineties, which struck me very positively .
The fact that you have chosen a heteronym also comes from the fact that you are a great admirer of Fernando Pessoa?
JBF : He is the master of poetry , it is impossible to remain indifferent in such a way with the appearance of Perssoa because poetry has never been the same . He operated an unprecedented revolution in this literary style , made it lighter, more accessible and deeper simultaneously. When I read it I was completely infected, electrocuted , the way he writes, the depth he addresses in his books definitely contributed to the way this book was written.
What was the line of thought that you followed for the selection of poems that are part of Opus 1 ?
JBF : There was clearance of poems, there was a whole set of poems that was selected, chosen and then formatted to fit inside the book. My poetry is very sentimental, autobiographical, very intimate and had to be adapted to be included in this book .
Adapted in what sense ?
JBF : Poems that were dedicated to third parties in order not to be too obvious from the inner point of view, and so had to be formatted and adapted so that it had the consistency of a book and could pass the message of poetry. Then there was the framework, much more than the miter is the substance basically the book includes sonnets, two blocks of 4 rhymes and two triplets, which is par excellence the system used . I have 70 % of sonnets and then 2 pentaptych, two sets of 5 poems and a hexaptych which are six, that speak of the stations of the year and senses therefore was to create a general consistency in terms of content.
You need a certain nostalgia for writing or not ?
JBF : This was my first book, which is very sentimental at the same time that was written was developing a certain angularity in the literature. Gave so much to the book as it gave me, for the development of writing and the research itself of what it means poetry. I think essentially in Pessoa in mastery of what his name means he is the great portal and inspirational on key issues of poetry like love, the Portuguese soul, the elements and all that is covered in the writing.
Your poems have a certain musicality, a certain cadence that is due to the fact that you have musical training ?
JBF : Yes, absolutely. My background is musical, I took the course in the college of music, went to the conservatory and give music lessons , that's my profession. Inevitably my poems had to have a musical notation, which applies in rhyme and structure, alsoin how much of the poems are reported, some of them may seem lyrics while I intend to have that lightness, that connection that the art of music has .
Many poems are dedicated to other Portuguese writers who wrote poems, why? Do you think poets are not praised enough in Portugal, although it is said that we are a country of poets .
JBF : I definitely think that poets are not praised enough in Portugal. Are posteriori, by the way, I would go further to say that poets are praised more abroad than here and in our country are honored unfortunately only after death. This book was written over a period of four to five years, during which time I acquired a number of influences especially in relation to some authors as Lobo Antunes, Saramago and also the people that contacted personally, such as Marisa and others. Are personalities who influenced me as a writer , also because I read their works and because it touched me a lot and enter in these universes, I thought would be the least from my behalf to write poems dedicated to them.
