Buarque conquered in 2019 the Camões for the whole of his work, a kind of Cervantes Prize in Spanish.
Lisbon, April 24 (RHC)--The renowned Brazilian writer, composer and singer, Chico Buarque, 78, received this Monday, four years after winning it, the Camões Prize, the most prestigious literary distinction in the Portuguese language.
Buarque conquered in 2019 the Camões for the whole of his work, a kind of Cervantes Prize in Spanish. However, the defeated president Jair Bolsonaro did not endorse the nomination.
When asked by the press, the ex-military officer answered on that occasion: "Do I have a deadline? I sign until December 31, 2026". A possible reference to his reelection that did not occur. His term expired in 2022 and, if he had been reelected, it would be until December 2026.
"The attack on culture in all its forms was an important dimension of the project that the extreme right tried to implement in Brazil," said President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is on an official visit to Portugal and was present at the ceremony.
He considered that, with this award to the author of "O que será", finally "democracy won in Brazil".
Also in his speech, the ruler of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, compared Buarque with the American Bob Dylan, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016.
In such sense, he pondered the versatility of the South American who, like Dylan, composes, sings and also has commended works in literature and theater.
Regarding the award and Bolsonaro's position, the Brazilian artist said at the ceremony that he was consoled "to remember that the former president had the rare finesse of not dirtying the diploma of my Camões Award, leaving space for the signature of our president Lula".
He specified that he receives the distinction "less as a personal honor and more as atonement to so many authors and artists humiliated and offended in these last years of stupidity and obscurantism", alluding to the term of office of the ultra-right politician (2019-2022).
His first fiction book Hacienda Modelo, Buarque presented it in 1974 and three years later he published the children's book Caperucita Amarilla (Little Yellow Riding Hood).
The first novel, Estorvo, was published in 1991 and four calendars later Benjamin. In 2000, the artist released Budapest (2003) and Leche derramada (2009). His latest was Hermano Alemán (German Brother), from 2014.
For theater, Buarque wrote the plays Roda Viva (1968); Calabar (1972); Gota D'Agua (1974) and Ópera do Malandro (1978).
The Camões Award is a partnership between the governments of Portugal and Brazil, created in 1988. Among the Brazilians who have already been laureates are Raduan Nassar (2016), Ferreira Gullar (2010), Lygia Fagundes Telles (2005) and Jorge Amado (1994). (Source:PL)
