Alone in the Crowd

My hubby gave me a book this week, about Maysa. Unfortunatelly the book is not yet for sale at Amazon.com. The only way to get in touch with the story is buying the book at a brazilian book store, like Livraria Culturaand read it in portuguese.

Maysa was a brazilian singer and composer from the 50’s, already dead. I spent the last two days reading this marvelous book, totally immersed into her life’s story.

Maysa was a very strong and admirable woman. I thought the first time I heard about her was just a few months ago, in a documentary on television. But I was wrong - I’ve been in touch with Maysa since always.

When I was a kid, my mother gave me a long player from a brazilian soap opera named Estúpido Cupido (in portuguese), from 1976. I used to have a great time hearing the music and playing with my friends (most of the time alone, actually) imitating the singers and dancing.

I remember I had a huge curiosity about that woman, singing in such a sad and depressed way…

Maysa was a rich girl, with amazing green eyes. She got married young, with one of the richest man in Brazil and they had a kid.

She left the traditional husband to start singing and never stopped. Maysa had a bunch of lovers, fame and money. Traveled and lived abroad in the US, Argentina, Spain, France and Italy. But she always returned to Brazil.

Maysa’s first song compositions were about a broken heart and love’s frustrations in general. Even in other languages, the message is the same, as you can see in her interpretation of the music Ne Me Quite Pas from Jacques Brel.

Then she got in touch with the brazilian Bossa Nova, singing fantastically well some successes like O Barquinho, music from Roberto Menescal and Ronaldo Bôscoli.

Beyond the fantastic voice, she was an admirable woman, courageous, strong, independent and most of all a very intense person. But alone, very alone. She was alone in the crowd, like the book title says.

She was alcoholic and was always fighting against the weight. Tried to kill herself many times. She died in 1977, in a car accident in Rio de Janeiro.

It wasn’t an easy life. Living with intensity hurts… She always said she wasn’t happy. Even though, (or perhaps just because of it) she is an inspiration for all women, including myself.