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Daniel Mendes, 30, teaches 5- and 6-year-olds at EMEI Cândido Portinari, in Santo André, São Paulo
Summary
Professor Daniel Mendes, from Santo André, promoted an educational project for 5 and 6 year old children on the work of Gilberto Gil, which resulted in an emotional meeting with the singer during his farewell tour.
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The beauty of this meeting truly seems like Gilberto Gil’s music. In the midst of his farewell tour from the stage, the artist received a group of children enchanted by a recent discovery: his musical work. The little ones, between 5 and 6 years old, attracted the attention of Bahians after telling their story in a video produced by professor Daniel Mendes, of EMEI Cândido Portinari, in Santo André, Greater Sao Paulo.
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The tribute went viral and touched Gil himself, who returned the affection by inviting the group to his show last Saturday, the 18th. The adult fans may have been embarrassed at the time of the meeting, but the little ones acted as if they were close friends of the idol. Without ceremony or shyness, around 20 students ran to hug ‘Seu Gilberto’ backstage at Allianz Parque, in Sao Paulo.
“Can we sing you a song?” asked one of the students, who immediately changed it to the song. Waiting at the windowcomposed by Targino Gondim and immortalized by the Bahians.
The one who was there watching everything with shining eyes and a “flirty professor” smile was Daniel Mendes, 30 years old. It was during his lessons that the little ones discovered Gil’s work and fell in love with compositions such as Peace, walking in faith AND Stage.
She worked as an early childhood education teacher in public education for two years, Daniel said Earth which has always tried to introduce children to the great Brazilian artists. “There’s a song by Elis Regina that says, ‘Brazil doesn’t know Brazil.’ We really have this habit of not knowing ourselves and only valuing what comes from outside. But our country is very rich in every way! And bringing this to young children is transformative,” she says.
“Children’s” music is music that transforms
When we talk about children’s music, different groups of children come to mind. Galinha Pintadinha, Palavra Cantada and Mundo Bita are some of the best known names. Despite having these resources at his fingertips, Daniel chose to introduce children to less “conventional” artists.
Before Gil, classes that walked through the classroom led by the teacher also learned about the compositions of Tim Maia and Milton Nascimento. “And obviously Galinha Pintadinha talks to the child and has the good side of recovering the popular songs, the tradition. But the child already has very easy access to this, right? So the school has to expand this world,” he explains.
Music education became compulsory in schools thanks to law 11.769, which amended the Law on Budgetary Guidelines and Bases (LDB) in August 2008. Daniel is keen to remember this right: “The school must broaden the world of these children and not simply reproduce what they already have. In early childhood education, it is a common practice to underestimate children and offer simply ‘simpler’ things.”
It is precisely to broaden the children’s vocabulary and cultural repertoire that the teacher focuses on presenting works by composers of Brazilian Popular Music (MPB). “There was a mother who commented this year that the family was at a karaoke barbecue and everyone was ‘shocked’ when her daughter asked to sing Gilberto Gil. No one believed it. What kind of kid is this asking to sing Gilberto Gil, right?” he says.
“It really expands their world. Not just in terms of sound, in terms of recognizing more instruments, making the music a little more thought out, worked on more, but also the words, the vocabulary, the rhythm and so on,” he explains.
To put together Gil’s playlist for little ones, Daniel preferred to prioritize songs with simpler vocabulary, such as Peace, walking with faith, embracing and dancingwith MC Hariel. “His discography is very rich, it contains metaphors and figures of speech. Some songs might be too far away, because the child is still very literal,” he argues.
Unexpected viral with tribute to Gil
On October 7, Daniel posted a video on his personal account. Titled Joys in the garden: a mini-story by Gilberto Gilthe project retraced the singer’s journey from his birth to the present day. According to the teacher, the little ones enjoyed acting, helping with the script and also making models to best represent what was being told.
The video was the result of an entire semester in which the little ones explored and learned about the work of the Bahians. Daniel says the ‘spur’ for the production came through a rare biographical book on the singer. “I brought him and asked if they wanted to tell Gil’s story and to other children in their language,” he recalls.
The assigned mission was a mission accomplished. With charisma and a certain intimacy with the cameras, the little ones concluded the challenge together with the teacher. “I didn’t demand anything from them, I didn’t force them. Everything was very organic, as early childhood education should be,” she says. With his family’s permission, Daniel posted it on social media on October 7.
Watch the full video
The video soon caught the attention of the Doces Bárbaros portal, an account dedicated to the group of the same name that Gilbert Gil follows on social media. The profile suggested a collaborative post to increase the project’s visibility and Daniel, of course, agreed.
This is how Gilberto Gil’s team became aware of the video. “Her producer sent a message on her official profile saying that Maria Gil liked the video and asked if I could send her the file. I said: ‘Of course, if you want I’ll call the collaborator too’. Then when she put him as a collaborator, it started to go really viral.” The video currently has more than 820 thousand views on Instagram alone.
To take advantage of the contact, Daniel explained the project in detail and gave the idea of a meeting between the students and the idol, but without much hope. “It was a dream, in my head, impossible. Anything would have been a lot. A discount for me to collect the change and I would have conquered the world,” he admits.
“It was very human”
The expected news arrived shortly before the presentation, which saw the surprise participation of Roberto Carlos. “The opportunity came up and they were very helpful. They offered a couple of tickets for each child to bring a family member, a couple of tickets for me so I could take it to someone at school and a couple of tickets for the principal as well,” she explained.
“It was a very human, very warm thing. An honor,” he adds. The meeting between Daniel and his group with the Brazilian music icon went far beyond what was expected. The teacher says the little ones were excited, while he, an adult who is also a Gil fan, was moved by the moment.
“Everything in the children’s world is a game. I was there waiting to come in, they were playing and running, I was trying, at the same time, to cry and control them a little. And then when the production team opened the door, they came in, hugged them, grabbed Gil’s leg and offered to sing. I was very touched by their welcome,” he says emotionally.
After the hug, even the little ones appreciated the presentation. According to the teacher, the occasion was a first for many students and parents in attendance. “Most of the children and most of the families had not been to a show. They were very beaming, very happy, they were screaming…”, he says.
See the meeting
“If I had this as a child, I would have a better life”
After having lived this whole experience together with the students, Daniel is sure that he will continue to present the MPB classics in subsequent lessons. According to the teacher, art is one of the most important pillars of early childhood education.
“If I had this as a child, I would have had an even better life. Art helps us live better. If I’m going through a moment where Clarice Lispector has already written about it, I’ll get through it more easily,” he explains.
“And MPB, especially Gil’s music, is very broad in every way. It deals with many themes and rhythms. They are songs about joy, sadness, grief. A lot of children this year ended up losing someone close to their family and the songs comforted us in a way,” he continues.
The introduction of popular songs and artists of Brazilian culture is part of the educational project that Daniel defends. “Even today people see little children as creatures. It doesn’t matter what they think, it doesn’t matter what they feel, what matters is that they should go to school, learn to read and write. Okay, but what will they read and write? What in the world did they know if they were so cut off?”
“It’s important to know that the film [sobre Gilberto Gil] it existed only because today there are study programs, laws that guarantee this early childhood education as a protagonist, this early childhood education that conceives children as producers of culture and enriches all their languages and not just mathematics and linguistics”, he underlines.
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.
