Written by journalist from Campinas (SP) Bruno Ribeiro, the book reveals the singer’s life from the beginning, reliving the heyday and the revolution she commanded within the Sertanejo, and revealing littleexplored aspects such as her passion for literature. The love of writing which is one of the origins of the artist’s compositional talent was so great that it began in childhood, so much so that the biography reveals a poem Marília wrote for her mother Ruth at the age of 7.
“What struck me the most is her love of books and literature and how that influenced her creative process. There’s a chapter just about that. For example, Marília’s favorite author was Bukowski [Charles Bukowski, escritor alemão que morreu em 1994]She had a biography of the painter Frida Kahlo on her shelf. She says she started reading a lot when she was a child because she was shy, so she would cling to books, and that’s where she wrote the poem that she wrote for Dona Ruth when she was seven, a very beautiful poem,” she said the author.
The little verse written by Marília as a girl tells of her relationship with Dona Ruth and says that her love for her mother will not be “complete even in infinity”. Alongside Bukowski, the artist has also been very fond of Brazilian and North American literature, even recommending books to her social media followers during the pandemic. Among the works was The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, considered one of the greatest of his time.
On g1, Ribeiro explained the entire research and production process of the book “Marília Mendonça, a Rainha da Sofrência Biografia e Crítica”, which will be published this Friday evening on his Instagram profile (@brsamba). The work with 15 chapters and 270 pages also catalogs the 331 compositions recorded by the singer and partly contains the author’s comments.
2 of 3 Cover of Marília Mendonça’s biography — Photo: Reproduction
Cover of Marília Mendonça’s biography — photo: reproduction
Bruno Ribeiro is a samba lyricist, music critic and has been working in the cultural sector for the press in Campinas for ten years. Although never as attached to the sertanejo, the journalist has always been a fan of Brazilian romantic music influenced by his mother and was enchanted by Marília’s authenticity and how much she managed to synthesize all the feelings of the Brazilian people in hers compositions and form. to sing.
“When she died I was very upset and wondered why I was so upset at the loss of someone who wasn’t part of my music bubble. And I came to the conclusion that she was one of us. She was essentially popular and embodied everything that we are,” said Ribeiro, who met the composer in a 2016 interview for the release of her first album.
After the artist’s death, he decided to write a text about her, which until then was only intended to be a biographical profile. However, the material gathered during the research proved so rich that he realized it could be turned into a book. From there it was a hop into the print press, internet, TV shows, radio and Marília’s social media to pen the biography. The author also conducted several interviews with fans and people who knew the singer.
“I researched hundreds of reports and articles in vehicles across Brazil. I dug a lot, a lot of material was collected. I compared everything to see if there were any contradictions and grouped them to create the storyline. I also used some of the interviews she gave, including excerpts from the interview I did with her, to write the book,” he explained.
The Marília Mendonça Revolution
Marília Mendonça is known in country music for spearheading one of the most important revolutions in the history of the segment, singing love and relationships from a female perspective in a way that had never been done before. In doing so, she opened up new horizons for the genre and paved the way for more women to become protagonists within the segment, giving birth to the movement known as “Feminejo”.
The role of Marília in the sertanejo is addressed in the biography as well as the phenomenon of aftermath that was her first album “Marília Mendonça Ao vivo” in 2016 after building an already solid career as a composer. The singer’s work even opened a new chapter on Thursday night (20) with the release of a posthumous EP featuring four songs taken from an April 2021 live.
“She had a great sensitivity to composing and choosing songs that talked about selflove, empowerment and everything else in a very spontaneous way. She has never said she is affiliated with any strand of the feminist movement. She had a libertarian attitude in the sense of being a very natural, free woman and at the same time very romantic, which made her a sometimes contradictory character,” the author pointed out.
The book begins on November 5, 2021, the date of the plane crash that killed Marília and four other people, and then returns to Cristianópolis (GO), where the singer was born, to tell her full story.
The work focuses on the artist’s relationships with her family, from her parents’ childhood quarrels, which forced her to lock herself in her room with her ears closed and humming to avoid hearing the screams, to her complicity with her mother, the strength of her friendships with Maiara and Maraisa and Henrique and Juliano, and working with Juliano Tchula, his biggest songwriting partner.
“I also rescue the whole process of building country music from the viola fashion of the 1910s to explain how a Marília Mendonça comes into being. I defend this thesis in the book and go further, I even see Marília as a bolero singer, although these boleros were dressed in a pop outfit that could fit under the compatriot’s umbrella,” he added.
3 of 3 Bruno Ribeiro, author of the book about Marília Mendonça — Photo: Personal archive
Bruno Ribeiro, author of the book about Marília Mendonça — Photo: Personal archive
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