Conversing with Estadão, the singer recounts the episode on stage that made him rethink his life and says he is moving towards retirement
Sidney Magal is very good. About to turn 73, the singer, in a video conversation with Stadium, was willing. He didn’t run away from any question, on the contrary. There seems to be no sensitive or forbidden topics with Magal. Not even when he recounts everything that happened to him in May, when he had to leave the stage after a pressure surge.
In conversation, the Latin lover, Magal, is just a character created by Magalhães, Magali’s husband, to whom he declares himself at all times. He is also the father of Rodrigo, Gabriela and Natalia, as well as the grandfather of Madalena, who is four years old. The singer believes that his fans also know how to do this parting. “The public knows why I created Magal,” he says.
Although he plans to return to the stage in August, the medical recommendation for now is to rest. Magal is also sincere in saying that, yes, he is already thinking about retiring from the stage after almost 60 years of career – and leaving successes like Sandra Rose Magdalene, My blood boils for you, If I catch you with another guy, I’ll kill you AND call me i’m going.
On June 20 the exhibition Sidney Magal: much more than a Latin lover will celebrate his legacy in São Paulo. A postage stamp with Magal imprint will be issued (see full service below).
I scare him on stage
On the night of May 25, during a performance in the city of São José dos Campos, in the hinterland of São Paulo, Magal felt her legs shaking. They seemed to “fail,” in his description. Strange. Never drink before a show. He had to leave the scene. Backstage, Magal was assisted by an ambulance that was on site. Her blood pressure was extremely high.
“I got scared. But, when I got to the hospital, the doctor said to me, ‘Thank God. It was a very small stroke. It was a minor thing, in a region of the brain that’s not going to affect you at all.” And it didn’t affect. No movement, nothing, nothing,” says the singer.
Magal is now able to prank the episode. “It gave me a tremor when I sang ‘my body trembles and it can’t stop’ (she says, referring to the song call me i’m goingone of his greatest hits).
She likes it even more. “At 72, I joke that I can’t sing call me i’m going looking up, because suddenly…”, says the religious Magal.
love for the public
The order from the doctors who still preceded him behind the stage was that he keep quiet, sit down. The pressure had to go down. Magal, on the other hand, was thinking only of the warm audience that was watching him even a few minutes earlier.
If I have to sit down, I’ll sing from here, he thought. And that’s what he did. From backstage she announced: “Guys, my blood boils for you!”.
The audience sang four more songs, led by the band’s keyboard player.
the excesses of life
“It was the excesses of life that gave me this sudden scare,” she says. Magal sees everything that has happened to him as a signal to change his life. Sedentary, the singer, despite being tall, exceeded 130 kilos. He has never abused the drink, but he likes to drink beer, especially in the heat of Salvador, where he has lived for decades.
He doesn’t like to sleep before the show. He wants to be full, with energy up there, to face the audience. At the end of each presentation he ate everything, without moderation. He immediately tried to find out which was the best restaurant in the city where he performed. He does not exercise, despite the insistent requests of his son Rodrigo.
Magal never blames work. For this month of June alone there would be 16 concerts. Five or six more were already on the agenda for the next month. “The excesses are of the man himself. ‘Shall we go to a restaurant?’. Let’s go! Do we rest? No!’. I’ve always been like this”.
On stage everything is different. “I feel like I’m slipping,” says Magal. “I take care of Magal and leave Magalhães aside. Only this is real”.
A moment to reflect
Magal wants to take advantage of the stage incident to rethink the pace of life and work she has maintained in her nearly 60-year career. Travels, concerts, television programs, radios, interviews. Everything still makes a lot of sense for him – and the appointment schedule is fulfilled with pleasure and good mood.
However, the singer realized that he could not continue at the same pace. “I was already aware of it, but I thought it would last for about 90 years.” He understood the “ear pulling” which he attributed to divine power.
“I won’t stop having the same energy on stage, but I’ll get ready. I’ve never focused 10 minutes before I go on stage. I’ve always loved going out and screaming,” she says.
Makeup up to the neck?
Magal has attributed his success with audiences for decades to his authentic and unique way – it is incredible to think that he scored hits in the 70s. It was with these songs, with the exception of lambada call me i’m goingfrom the 90s, which he has kept in the spotlight all these years, both as one of the ‘brega’ idols and as a cult artist of recent years.
“They tried to do Magal 2, Magal 3, Magal 4, and they couldn’t,” he comments.
It wasn’t easy. Magal was called a mix of Elvis Presley with John Travolta. One reporter wrote that it would soon be forgotten. Today Magal picks up the book in which the text was published and laughs, she says.
Perhaps the greatest ‘attack’ has come Paul Coelhowith whom he co-wrote Rita Lee the song Arrombou a Festa II, full of provocations at the top of the music charts of the late 70s.
Coelho wrote and Rita sang “Sidney Magal rolls more than Matogrosso/Cigano made him up to his neck”. Magal was not injured.
“I found it very funny. Everyone has a vision. I knew only time would prove I wasn’t the one.”
He was called effeminate, gay, fag. Today, he says, men walk into his dressing room and thank him for being part of the soundtrack to their lives.
“The public knows very well why I created Magal. She’s a character,” he says.
A pension right there
Magal knows her career is about to retire. The singer speaks about the hypothesis quite naturally, without a trace of regret.
At a show days before she felt sick on stage, she told the audience. “You can see me with four dancers. Soon there will be four carers,” laughs Magal, recounting the speech to the Stadium.
This idea of saying goodbye to the stage, Magal confesses, had already appeared before the pandemic. With the break forced by the interruption of the shows, she had second thoughts and decided to return to the shows when the world returned to normal.
Sincere, Magal says she doesn’t want to physically suffer in front of an audience. He cites the heroic example of Elza Soares (1930-2022), died at 91, as she wanted, singing until the end, consecrated by the public. But that’s not what she plans.
“It depresses me so much to have seen an artist like Elza Soares, the talent she’s had all her life, physically deteriorate and people clap, clap, until the very last moment,” she says.
Currently, Magal says that in the mirror she only sees Magalhães, no longer Magal. “When life no longer presents itself intensely to me on stage, I will only be Madalena’s grandfather,” he says.
An exhibit to call your own
The exposure Sidney Magal: much more than a Latin loverwill be released to press and guests on June 19, the date Magal turns 73.
The singer intends to be at the Centro Cultural Correios São Paulo, where the exhibition will take place.
“My doctor has cleared it. I will only have an emotional effort, not a physical one,” the singer believes. The show was already scheduled even before what happened on stage.
Directed by Rodrigo West and curated by Bruna Ramos da Fonte, author of the biography that bears the same name as the exhibition, the show will feature costumes, photos and other materials narrating Magal’s life and career across different platforms, such as television, cinema and theatre.
On the date, Correios launched a commemorative stamp with Magal imprint.
The day after the inauguration, Magal will undergo a new tomography to check if everything is really in order. With a positive response, she will return to her home in Salvador.
The exhibit is yet another unfolding of a celebration that began when Magal turned 50 in her career, in 2016. At the time, Rodrigo put on a commemorative show. Ney Matogrosso, Roger Flausino AND Alexander Pires participated.
Then came the biography, a musical and the documentary directed by Joana Mariani. The film will be released in 2024 My blood boils for you, with the musical love story of Magalhães (Magal always likes to separate her very well) with Magali, his wife and the great love of his life. The two have been together for 43 years.
Show Sidney Magal: much more than a Latin lover
- From 20/06 to 28/07
- Monday to Saturday, 10am/5pm
- Correios São Paulo Cultural Center – Room 01 and Atrium
- Pedro Lessa Square, s/n, Centro
- Free
Source: Terra
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
