“I see music as I see a painting, an airplane, a cow…”

He is from the generation of Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso. At 86, the “Sorcerer”, who is a master of improvisation, still composes every day. This Wednesday, the Brazilian musician is in concert at the New Morning, in Paris.

You grew up in the forests of the state of Alagoas, Brazil, and you call yourself “100% intuitive”. What kind of child were you?
Modesty aside, I was a child who picked things up before anyone else. I didn’t know how to walk yet, but I was already scaring people, my mother, my family… in a good way! I had a particular perception of sounds. I ran to listen to the birds singing, the ox mooing, those marvelous sounds of nature. I was born with. And somehow I’m still a kid. The soul does not age.

You can’t see well because of your albinism. Does your hearing compensate for your sight?
Yes, my perception of sounds allows me to overcome this problem. I live a lot on feeling. I perceive things before everyone else. And I see music the same way I see a painting, an airplane, a car, a cow, a horse, birds, human beings… It is an infinite source of joy, of pleasure.

“I compose every day, even more today than in the past”

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