The article by Kathleen de Azevedo in your January 1997 issue ("Back Home")
is to me surprising. She seems so ignorant about the realities and contrasts in Brazil. I
am a Brazilian who has been living in Europe for the past 10 years and am always surprised
to see how Brazil keeps up with technology. The regional differences in Brazil are impressive and to take Bahia and Alagoas (one of
the poorest States) as an example of Brazil is bad. It is like taking the US for
Louisiana. I wish you had some better quality standards in the articles you publish. By the way, I was happy to see the amount of information available on your WEB site
(http://www.brazzil.com). However, the design is poor. It loads miserably slow and the
frames are not well placed. The layout is bad. Please do consider some dramatic changes in
your web site. I am a professional Internet software consultant in Switzerland and if you
need any advice, just let me know. I enjoyed your article on Brazilian female singers very much and I agree with you that
recently the most important singers have been all female. What I think you overlooked in
your article though is the tremendous contribution these artists had from the opposite sex
when it was time to compose. After all Marisa Monte's best songs are with Nando Reis and now she sings almost
exclusively Carlinhos Brown's songs. Adriana Calcanhoto's first record was a flop and she
only started developing songwriting skills after composing with the likes of Antônio
Cícero, Arnaldo Antunes and Péricles Cavalcanti. Leila Pinheiro has had enormous success
with her recent album of songs by Guinga and Aldir Blanc. Cássia Eller isn't much of a
composer at all, so she relies on the works of Renato Russo and the late great Cazuza whom
I've had the immense pleasure of working with. Also when you mentioned Zélia Duncan you stated she composed all the material for her
recent album. Well it so happens that I composed 8 of those songs (OK, so now you know why
I even bothered to write in the first place). Zélia wrote the lyrics to those songs but
that hardly makes her a composer in the classical sense of the word now, does it? Well now
that I set the record straight, let me wish you good luck on your future articles. Who
knows maybe even about the real composers behind the singers. Best wishes to you and your
publication. Your article on Carla Perez and É o Tchan in the February edition was brilliant, and
simply reflects Brazil's exciting and open attitude towards dance, music, and sex. More
articles like this please, and may the prudes stick to Reader's Digest! I am a Brazilian from Curitiba married to an American and live in Haula, Hawaii. I
didn't know Brazzil until a neighbor "found" some issues at a local
library and I was very happy to see a magazine with news about Brazil. The only thing that
made me sick was to see the way Rio de Janeiro was described. It is a crime to send
tourists to a city that obviously does not have (and never had) the infrastructure to meet
the demand. It is time to tell the truth because Rio is giving Brazil a bad name: uncivilized,
promiscuous, and, naturally, very violent. Please show the things that we can be proud of,
not a bunch of semi-nude aborigines, who at the first opportunity will do away with your
wallet. During the 20 years that I lived in São Paulo I was never robbed. But the two
times I had to go to Rio... Please, show that Brazil is more than Carnaval and victoria
regia. I am from England, but I live in the United States. Last year, for the first time I had
a chance to go to Brazil. It was fantastic. I have lived in many different places in the
world, but I never felt so comfortable as I did in Brazil. When I arrived there the first
time I told myself: `this is my home.' Since then I went back in February (Imagine,
Carnaval for the first time. That was unbelievable). I flew there again in June and I am
going back this October. I was very happy to see your page on the WEB because I want to know everything I can
about Brazil. I have been practicing my Portuguese for 10 months, but here in Tennessee it
is impossible to find a teacher or a course of Portuguese. I can't wait for my first issue
of Brazzil. Congratulations for you interesting and beautiful site. I would like to suggest that
you create a Portuguese version of it in order to allow Brazilians to read it too. That, I
am sure, would bring more visitors to your page. I publish Revista Virtual Valeparaíba,
a magazine about Vale do Paraíba in São Paulo, a region that comprises 39 cities. It
would be an honor to have a link from your site to ours at http://www.virtualvale.com.br. I am a current subscriber in need of the following information: I am considering living
in Brazil. Could you please tell me which past issues have dealt with the problems facing
foreigners in Brazil? I am particularly interested in how an American can establish
permanent residency there. Are these issues available for purchase, or can they only be
accessed through the Internet? Could you also suggest some books or other resources on
this topic? Please note that I will be leaving on my trip in a few weeks, therefore I will
greatly appreciate your prompt response. I love your magazine. I am far, far away from Brazil here in the desert of New Mexico
and you give me a taste of my favorite country on earth. I invest in several Brazilian companies such as Telebrás, Petrobrás, Brahma, and
that's why I enjoy reading about Brazil. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso is
privatizing Brazilian industries and this seems to be beneficial to the country. Good luck
to the people of Brazil. The award-winning Christian Science Monitor newspaper's daily web site has linked a
story to your amazing Brazzil site. It is an article on the War of Canudos. We know
our readers will be interested in looking at your site—and we think your visitors
would enjoy our article at http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1997/10/02/feat/feat.1.html
Send us your E-mail:LETTERS
Lack of
Standards
Paulo Cysne
Via Internet, Switzerland
Lost in
Translation
Christiaan Oyens
Via Internet, Brazil
Let Them
Read Mush
Robin Nuttall
Nuffield College,
Oxford, United Kingdom
Too Kind
to Rio
Eveline Altheia Bacon
Haula, Hawaii
Can't Get
Enough of
Brazil
Brian Tigger
Via Internet, Tennessee
Portuguese,
Please
Celso Carpinetti
São Paulo, Brazil
See October '96
Lewis Levine
San Francisco, California
Going for
Seconds
Andreia Huff Spencer
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Good for
Business
Thomas Dalton
Lakehills, Texas
One More
Link
Christine Roane
Via Internet
And what do
you think?
brazzil@brazzil.com
