HS Culture 26.2.2002 - Seu Jorge says music saved his life

By Harri Uusitorppa

In his documentary, Mika Kaurismäki emphasises the social significance of Brazilian popular music: it is both the social putty that keeps the system intact, and a tool of social work that helps save people's lives.

Singer-songwriter Seu Jorge (31) has felt this on a very personal level.

"Music saved me from an early death", says Seu Jorge, or Jorge Mário da Silva, who lived on the streets of his native Rio de Janeiro for four years, and in the storeroom of the university library for another three.

"I reached a point from which there did not seem to be any return", says Seu Jorge, who ended up on the street after his family broke up.

This was preceded by a discharge from the army, and the violent deaths of two of his younger brothers: one died of a policeman's bullet, the other during a robbery at a bakery.

"Then, as a last chance, I started to sing and play the guitar. And as the result of a series of coincidences, I am here now", says Seu Jorge, who was in Helsinki last weekend with Mika Kaurismäki. He also speaks about his life in Moro no Brasil and sings the title song of the movie.

Seu Jorge's first band was Farofa Carioca, which recorded the song Moro no Brasil already in 1993. Last year he saw the publication of his first own album, Samba Esporte Fino, whose opening track Carolina was something of a hit in Rio de Janeiro.

Seu Jorge no longer needs to wander the streets of the city without a home, or bear the idea that his mother has to sleep in a railway station toilet. But he has not forgotten that many sleep on the city's park benches because they have nowhere else to go.

"Now it is my turn to do something about it", he says.

Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 23.2.2002