The voice of Peter Barroso has cross several generations of Portuguese because it speaks of love, hate, passion, pain and anger. He sings his heart out and that message is timeless. His music is like a historic retail of a people, the Portuguese and all these features make him universal.
You are an author and composer with a somewhat revolutionary side. How is that new generations see it?
Pedro Barroso: I am happily cross. Otherwise, I wouldn't filled shows and had a 43-year career, so it was not possible to endure all this time, if what you were doing now was not felt by audiences. I disagree that I make revolutionary songs, only in the sense that appeal to a society with other tenderness, with other values, not those who govern us in today's society. But, that is existential, not only in Portugal, is a problem of values worldwide. We extol all that is mediocre and forget what is profoundly beautiful. Those who are competent and very good are neglected and harmed by what we call the "mainstream", which are waves of galloping successes of "lady gaga" who are bad musically, resulting from a marketing construction, that lives from that and rarely correspond aesthetically in terms of musical and poetic language in something profound and worthwhile. We have to realize that it appeals to values of mediocrity that are rarely transformers of society, towards a different attitude, with other intelligence, a more cultured one, is in that sense I may try to intervene thru the so call revolutionary music. When it was necessary I was on the first line to make songs that led to the revolution of April of 1974, I am proud to belong to a generation that had a lot of courage to conquer democracy to Portugal. Right now I believe that the greatest achievements are those that say I have a different sensitivity in living every day.
You think that is why we hear very little Portuguese music in the media?
PB: It's an observation. It's a fact. Television shows series, movies, but does not have a single program on Portuguese music made with serious musicians and live. It made a television made of ordered packages, canned and rarely invites Portuguese artists to make a night of live music and songs. The song festival was a great party with great music in its time, now it has some acquaintances who will happy doing some songs which people rarely like and forget the next day, it is not longer the time of great song of Ary dos Santos, Nuno Nazare Fernandes, José Niza and Fernando Tordo, those were songs that left a mark and a memory. There were things even of TV Globo, 40 years ago, before April 25th, when artists played and today they won't, we are rarely called to do a show. Instead, they make these "idols" and "operations triumph" that fill the heads of those young people with ideas of wealth, success and after a year nobody knows them, so some are more victims of this marsh fire that is now Portuguese culture. We needed to defend our values. So, no wonder we killed Camões of hunger and Carlos Paredes, a genius of the Portuguese guitar had to be Archivist of Radiology in the Hospital of Saint Joseph. This is a country that does not respect the great values in education, in science and in the art. These had to be all slaves and others were princes without any value what so ever. The ones that really matter and mark the Portuguese culture were rarely understood and accepted in their time.
Going back a little to your discography, you sing Portuguese poets and write poems for your songs, are we still a country of poets?
PB: We are certainly. It's one of the things we leave, the ability to make poetry about our own misfortune. We have a lot of sensitivity that is true. We have a country of wonderful poets. I do not sang many, many poets, did one of Cesario Verde, Sofia Melo Breyner and Jose Saramago when no one speak of him, we were friends and neighbors and I discovered a poetic work that is yet to be appreciate, since he became essentially a writer in another semantics, in another language. I grabbed for this last CD some anonymous poets that nobody knew and I caught some poems worked by me, in my own way, in co-authoring. The rest is always all mines, but I suppose my work covers the main themes, the woman, sensuality, sensitivity, the utopia and the history of Portugal.
You like singing women.
PB: Yes, and I have had very good feedback. Women tell me that I am a singer who had more sensitivity to address the feminine side. Seeing it how they feel it, how they think thru things normally, which is not much discussed in poetry. Just go to the comments of "youtube" and see that they say about my songs, they thank me very often.
What is rare in a singer.
PB: I do it with some ease, it is easier to approach the topic of love, I understand how difficult is to be a woman, some perplexities that are difficult to explain, to understand, some reactions that are complicated to comprehend and even some things that men do not accept, but it has its reason for being when we put ourselves for a minute on their skin, the sensitivity of the eternal feminine.
In this latter work which you tried to express?
PB: This is the time for us to say with some serenity and some experience of life, (those who had the courage to conquer democracy, being alive, although many have departed of this generation) we pay attention to national politics and do not liked that Portugal is being controlled from the outside and somehow we have to obey to Germany, or other European Union countries. It is a loss of national identity, responsiveness and respect for our ancient history. And as such, I carefully make me available as a public figure of the song and thought a revolt try to summon people to reflect, to indignation. The "Chronicles of passion and revolt" are that. There are corners of tenderness, of falling in love, being one with life, because we have an element of love in our life that classify us, but is also a permanent fixture of attention and outrage, as now when things are reaching limit of endurance for the Portuguese people.
It is a wag for the Portuguese people, who are characterized by certain apathy, but are always complaining.
PB: Yes, it is to shake a bit. When Manuel Alegre wrote there is always someone who resists, there is always someone who says no and wrote the ballads of the wind passing by, that wind blows and sometimes returns and we must return to sing it.
http://www.pedrobarroso.com/f_opinioes_p.htm
