Multi Maiden: BR is for BREGA.

(Hello Kitty in “A cheesy happiness”.)

Hello, my dear readersLong time no seeBy the way, I hope I still have readers!It seems all bloggers spend a while without updating their blogs, when they don’t write for a living. The only thing I can say is that I miss Multi Maiden and will do my best to be here more often! I need to remember how to deal with this blog! Of course, many things happened from my last post. It seems 2014 will be an exciting year in Brazil, we’ll have the World Cup and elections, for instance. But if you think that we’re all excited about the World Cup, you’re wrong! … Actually, the situation in Brazil is pretty tense nowadays. Many negative things happened in the past months and we’re still learning to deal with democracy. Maybe I’ve been away from this blog also because of this. When everything around me is too negative, I need to take a deep breath and remember what’s positive. Brazil is much more than a country where progressive and conservative people hate each other, where women are sexually abused in a train or subway and where many people think that women who wear “sexy outfit” deserve to be raped! Annoyed Usually I read many news on internet, watch some tv and pay attention at everything around me to have some inspiration to write on this blog. But I realized, a few days ago, that I need to look for inspiration somewhere else, because it has been rare to find something inspiring on internet or tv! Today, against all odds, I found something interesting! A playlist on UOL (Universo Online, a big Brazilian internet portal) . About cheesy songs Sarcastic smile . The name of the playlist is: Para ouvir escondido. I think I’m not able to translate it properly, but it’s something like: Songs you like to listen to but refuse to admit it. Cheesy songs. Cheesy and kitsch mean BREGA in Portuguese. And BREGA, in Brazil, is a lifestyle! We are kitsch, all Latin America is kitsch and, first: this is not bad at all. Second: we, Latin American people, should like it! Our kitsch is spontaneous! Of course, people can manipulate it for profit, but it happens to everything in this society!

What’s cheesy, kitsch or brega is related to a tricky situation: elite x people. Usually middle class people, like me (and many of you, my dear readers) don’t want to look or sound like people. Poor people. Have you ever realized that everything poor people do or like is considered brega, kistch, cheesy? They always have a bad taste! Simple people are always kitsch, it doesn’t matter if they are poor or not. So, of course the concept of cheesy is subjective, but it’s usually related to a bias. Created by the financial elite who rules the world, absorbed and repeated by the middle class. Popular stuff are also kitsch. We, middle class people, want to be cool, glamorous, cult! We don’t want to be cheesy! (I hope my readers understand that this paragraph contains sarcasm …) When I was at college, studying Portuguese and Italian (language and literature, something very cult and elitist, I must say, but completely useless when it comes to make money … ), if someone said: “I’m reading Harry Potter!”, this creature would be fulminated by wrathful looks, including mine Embarrassed smile . We reacted like: “Hey! We are the intellectual elite of this country (I studied in one of the most famous and traditional universities of Brazil)! How can you read Harry Potter?! Burn this creature! Burn it, before it lays eggs!” Elite people read the classics, not bestsellers. Back then I was very proud to belong to the intellectual elite of Brazil. Yes, to be more intelligent than “the rest”. Because one of my favorite books is The Odyssey, by Homer, ok?! Smile with tongue out It really is. I’m probably one of the most feminine women of this planet, but I’ve always loved adventures, stories of brave people, warriors, full of challenges! I’ve always been intelligent and Odysseus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odysseus) won everything in his life thanks to his intelligence! The Odyssey tells his adventures away from his home and kingdom, Ithaca. If you still didn’t read The Odyssey, my dear readers, do it! It’s a great book! Thumbs up Usually my tastes are elitist. They are, it’s something spontaneous. But I’m getting more open-minded and I’ve always had a kitsch/cheesy/brega side (you can see by this blog) Rolling on the floor laughing . I like colors, gifs, blinkies, cuteness in general. Cheesy things are colorful, sometimes exaggerated, emotional, sentimental, simple, made without any worries about what other people will think. The elite (and great part of the middle class) are usually very worried about other people’s opinions. They fear to be ridiculed. That’s why they usually don’t allow themselves to have some fun or be who they really are. We all have a cheesy side! We all love a terrible pair of sneakers, an old fashioned sweater, we all dress the way we want not the way fashion experts want. We live in places full of objects which don’t match to each other and some of them are very cheesy and even useless, but we like them. We all (at least the healthy people) fall in love and listen to terrible songs, thinking about our beloved ones. We create ridiculous nicknames to our boyfriends (girlfriends), write ridiculous love letters and be too emotional sometimes. And what’s the problem? I think that happiness is kitsch. Joy is kitsch. When we don’t fear what people will think about us, we are being cheesy. And Brazil is an extremely cheesy country! I think I will write a series about it, I even thought about to write a monograph about it, for college! We like colors, our Carnival parades are huge combinations of things which don’t match to each other, we, women, like huge hoop earrings (I have a small collection), many accessories and many girls have a very … peculiar style, when it comes to outfits. Our parties and traditions are very cheesy! We are very emotional people, sometimes dramatic and exaggerated. Of course, I don’t like every cheesy thing or agree with every cheesy behavior. As I said before, some things are manipulated for profit in this society. But the real kitsch is part of all of us, Brazilians, even the ones who want to pretend that they are too cool to be human. That’s why the UOL team played with cheesy songs and the way we react to them. When I was younger, I would think twice before to show you a “top 5” of cheesy Brazilian songs , but now I just admit: I like them! Yes, they are terrible, but they are cool! Funny. Or authentic. Emotions and feelings or ideas expressed without any kind of sophistication. The way they are. Listen to them, my dear readers, you will realize that there are cheesy people everywhere! Smile These are five classics, from five icons of our BREGA MUSIC! And people like these songs, but only a few is brave enough to admit it. Let’s go :

Sandra Rosa Madalena – Sidney Magal:

This song is absolutely awesome! Cheesy to the bone! Sidney Magal is an icon, when it comes to cheesy singers! He has never been a Gipsy man, but in the beginning, Paulo Coelho (yes, the writer!) decided to release Sidney Magal as a Gipsy man in the music industry. Sandra Rosa Madalena is a song about a beautiful and stunning Gipsy woman (Sandra Rosa Madalena). An epic!

Eu não sou cachorro não – Waldick Soriano:

Imagine a man who was cheated by his woman. He is sad. He will drink, my dear readers. He will cry. Especially if he listens to this song. Waldick Soriano is a real icon of brega music, usually love songs without any sophistication. Many songs about men who were cheated by their women. It must hurt. Eu não sou cachorro não (“No, I’m not a dog”) is about a man, opening his heart to that evil woman who decided to be with another guy. He is not a dog to be so humiliated and despised! He will go away! But before he will sing a song. The way Waldick sings this song makes me want to cry too Crying face …

Lambada – Kaoma:

Don’t believe if someone says that he/she doesn’t like this song! He/she is lying! This is an international classic! From the Golden Age of Lambada! Kaoma is not exactly a “one hit wonder” band, but they disappeared after the “lambada fever”, in Brazil. This song is really nice! ^^ I was 10 years old and used to dance lambada with my “boyfriend”, an 11 year old boy, naïve like me. It was cute! Sweet memories!

Fuscão Pretoooooooooo – Almir Rogério:

Actually, the name of this song is Fuscão Preto (“Black Volkswagen Beetle”, a big one). Epic, classic, give a microphone to a drunken man in the karaoke and he will sing this song! Another sad story about a man who was cheated by his woman. He heard about it and didn’t want to believe Laughing out loud . But a few minutes later, he saw his woman and another guy in a black Volkswagen beetle. Sad. Very sad.

Balada Boa – Gusttavo Lima:

This is a recent song, released last year. It seems that even people from other countries like it! Surprised smile I love this song! I don’t know why. There’s nothing special about it. It’s already a cheesy classic. The rhythm is nice … nice rhythm, meaningless lyrics about a party, an even more meaningless chorus (you will be persecuted by this tchetchereretchetchetereretchetche …) … I love it! It was a huge success in Brazil last year!

What about you and your favorite cheesy songs, my dear readers? Are you ashamed to admit that you like them? I hope not. Life is short, so we shouldn’t care about “being cool and glamorous all the time”. Well, that’s all for today! I hope to get back as soon as possible, anyway, stay tuned! And be cheesy!

Luna