A book on the history of the rock from Brasília

Journalist interviewed the punk rockers who originated bands like Legião Urbana, Paralamas do Sucesso, Capital Inicial and Plebe Rude in the capital of Brazil

Silvio Essinger
- Hello, Babu, this is Renato. Can you play the bass?
- No, Renato. I can only play loud.
- (laughs) Ok, bye.

And then, because of a silly joke, Babu wasted his chance to play with Legião Urbana, which, within a few years, would become one of the greatest rock bands in Brazil. This is just one of the stories that journalist Paulo Marchetti, 30 years old, reproduced in the book O Diario da Turma 1976/1986: A Historia do Rock de Brasilia, due to come out this month.

The journalist interviewed more than 100 people. Some of them are well-known, such as Dado Villa-Lobos and Marcelo Bonfá (from Legião), Herbert Vianna and Bi Ribeiro (from Paralamas), Dinho, Lôro, Fê and Flávio (from Capital), Phillippe Seabra and André Muller (Plebe Rude) and Bernardo (Escola de Escândalo). But he also went after people who never made it to the top, such as Boticão, Ana Resende, Marta, Cris and the (now) legendary Babu.

Unfortunately, Paulo was unable to talk to a few important people. Two of them died in 1996: Renato Russo and Feijão, guitarist with Escola de Escândalo. "Feijão was an excellent musician, he played the bass and the guitar really well", he remembers. Other people, like Negrete (bassist with Legião) and Jander Bilaphra (guitarist and vocalist with Plebe), were impossible to find, because they are now living in the woods.

Family values
Paulo says that he had always wanted to write a book, and decided to start out with a theme that he knew well. His memories were reactivated in 1997, when he was working at MTV Brasil and preparing a special show to remember Renato Russo one year after the singer’s death. He interviewed Dado and Bonfá. That’s when he had the idea to write the book and started using his spare time to do so.

By the time when the whole saga happened, the journalist was a kid. But around 1982, his two older sisters were friends with the punk guys. "My middle sister, Fernanda, was friends with Aninha, Dinho’s sister. All I wanted was to ride my bike and play table soccer, but I like rock and eventually met with the musicians. Since I was too small to go out at night, I used to listen to the tapes that they brought home – some of them had Renato Russo with his guitar, others had Legião, or Plebe Rude...", he tells. Years later, still in Brasília, Paulo would become vocalist with the band Filhos de Menguele, whose drummer, Digão, would later line-up with Raimundos.

The scheme went like this: whomever was traveling to London – a common thing, since many of them were the diplomats’ offspring – would bring the latest punk records, which would then be copied on tapes. Thus, the music of bands like The Clash, Sex Pistols, Damned and Stranglers was enjoyed by an increasing number of kids.

The book features tales of the gang, like when Lôro and Gutje (drummer with Plebe) went walking around town, looking for some punk girls they had heard about. "I tell the weekend stories, the Rockuanas (parties with music and weed which would finish when the police arrived), the fights with rednecks and drugs", Paulo explains.

The book is divided in two parts: The Gang and The Bands. The second part features more or less known names, such as Aborto Elétrico (the band that originated Legião and Capital) and Detrito Federal, as well as totally obscure names like Diamante Cor-de-Rosa, Oasis and Nirvana (yes, they have the same names, but were founded at least a decade before). Besides, Paulo produced a list with the favorites of the gang, such as Buzzcocks, Talking Heads, Stranglers, etc.

O Diário da Turma is a cake with a lot of cherries on top, even for those who think that they know everything about the history of rock in Brasília. Anthropologist Hermano Viana, Herbert’s brother, allowed Paulo to print a letter that Renato Russo had sent him. The book also describes Renato’s suicide attempt in 1984, and the author gathered 500 pictures from his interviewees. "The pics are badly taken, but we can see Bonfá, Negrete and André Muller at school, five years prior to forming their bands", he says.