Singer-songwriter Taiguara
Singer and songwriter Taiguara. Photo: Personal Archive / Publicity / Kuarup

Born in Uruguay, in Montevideo, during a series of presentations by his father, maestro Ubirajara Silva, in that country, the singer and composer Taiguara, who died in 1996, would have turned 72 this Monday (9).

As revealed by Janes Rocha, author of the biography The Octobers of Taiguara – An author Against Dictatorship: music, censorship and exile (Editora Kuarup), the politicized interpreter of classics such as Today e Universe in Your Body was the most censored composer during the lead years.

Only in 1974, reveals Janes in the book, of the 61 songs recorded by Taiguara, 36 were vetoed by the censors of the DCDP (Department of Censorship and Public Entertainment), a body created with the AI-5 that operated until 1988, when it was extinguished by the new Constitution.

In times of a new flirtation with the gag, this time on the initiative of opportunistic social “movements” that, in the name of a project of power, manipulate the infamous public opinion around visual arts exhibitions, it is also worth remembering other astounding numbers found by Zuenir Ventura, during the production of 1968: the year that didn't end , and that dimension the oppressive environment of that period.

In the decade of AI-5 alone (1968-1978), around 500 films, 450 plays and 200 books were censored. Operation carried out with the use of more than a hundred agents of the DCDP spread across several states of the country.

What do we lose from this crusade? What setbacks were imposed on the country's culture? Difficult to measure, but certainly not little. Precisely for this reason, to paraphrase Taiguara, it is essential to recognize the marks that we carry today in our “social body”. An exercise more than necessary to, attentive and strong, confront the threat of a remake of this sad and anachronistic film.

taiguara this is not hours of madness
Fac-similar reproduction of the lyrics of “This is not hours of madness”

Facsimile reproduction of the lyrics of “Isto Não São Horas de Loucuras”, vetoed in December 1973. Censors highlight the expression “essa cana” and point out “pornofonia” (an obscene word or expression; swear word), however Taiguara was referring to the cachaça consumption. Photo: Publicity / Kuarup

More

read the report Lead memory, an assessment of the impact of the dictatorship on the country's culture, published by the magazine Brazilian in 2014, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the civil-military coup of 1964.  http://old.brasileiros.com.br/2014/06/memoria-de-chumbo/


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