Maria de Madeiros is not only a multifaceted actress, is an artist of the world that moves through the various valences of the arts, from acting, filmmaking to singing, she takes it all with a huge maturity and desire to achieve further without any limits.
Only after all these years that you decides to launch a music career. Why only now?
Maria de Medeiros: I think on one hand it was great to grow up surrounded by so much music, the other was a limiting factor, because in my family music is taken very seriously. I always been surrounded by great musicians, great songwriters, so I dared and that took time. And also to understand that I could still do something much simpler, composing songs that are not symphonies and now somehow like everything in life, the encounters made things happen.
Why bossa nova and jazz?
MM: I've always loved Brazilian music, BPM (Brazilian popular music), jazz and bossa nova. Are my genres besides classical music, they seduce me and now recently turned samba.
Because of his trip to Brazil.
MM: Yes, I've going a lot to Brazil, made a film as a director for the commission of amnesty and reparation that is doing very important work for the Brazilian state, which is apologize to the victims of the military dictatorship and a theater play. And now I have several friends been forming me in samba, it's wonderful, is a musical fountain of wisdom and extremely popular.
You also sang Portuguese music.
MM: I sang almost exclusively Portuguese music composed by me, or Legendary Tigerman and two Italian songs, in the album because there are only two songs that are covers, of Ivan Lins and Adriano Celentano, the 24 mila baci, everything else is original, because I'm Portuguese. And even composed a fado.
What inspired you?
MM: I think it was the encounters. Compare this record when someone offers you your first camera to take pictures, it's a toy, so I decided to write songs, say I had this toy in the hands and "photographed" everything that influenced or impressed me. The songs happen to be dedicated to bossa nova, the Flemish, the fado, visited various styles, it is like pointing the camera in different directions.
So all of these genres which has been the hardest to master?
MM: I do not dominate any. Are all sui generis. Are all revisited in the background from my perspective.
You are an artist who moves through various valences, as an actress, made several films, including Portuguese. How do you see the current Portuguese cinema?
MM: I was always very fan of Portuguese cinema. I think it's full of great creators, but it is evident that I regard his moment we are going through with concern, because the cinema has basically stopped and public financing was suspended so far and this is cause for great concern. For example, a movie like Taboo fills me with joy, it is a great movie that finds its audience worldwide, is a great incentive to continue to believe in Portuguese cinema.
So at this stage you will continue as a director?
MM: Yes, indeed, I will now go to Paris to show this film in the film festival of Brazil and I'm very happy to perform other cinematography's. In this case it is a documentary.
There are other projects at the moment?
MM: Yes, before I participated in a play in Brazil I was in Montréal, on the set of a movie called "encounters with a young poet" is a fiction built around the figure of Samuel Beckett.
