Rio de Janeiro Favela (2001) — Abstract Art by kenne
In the Favelas
‘Slum tourism’ sneered a moralising friend.
I thought of this as our small group trekked through alleys, deep in the favelas, climbed interminable steep small stairs, gazed curiously at faces that stared back indifferently.
Their world, ruled by drug lords, Crime bosses, poverty and need … How do these people of Rocinha, see us, the dilettante tourists, stepping carefully on broken ground? Don’t wear your rings or watches! Leave your wallets back at the hotel! Cautiously, we pick our way, cameras snapping at the sight of tangled wires for stolen power, of deep canals that take the sewerage to the sea, of grinding cycles of a poverty that no one can escape.
And we who walk among them, do we have the right to drive away, return to luxury hotels, download our photos for display to friends back home, while shaking heads in wonder that anyone can live like this?
My friend was right, for we have been, to our eternal shame, ‘Slum tourists!’
The things that happen to us in life do so because we act.
The more we act, the more opportunities we have upon which to act,
the more we connect creating a vessel filled with learning moments.
If we don’t act on the moments,
each will become an opportunity lost.
Even so,
it’s essential to not think about what may have been left behind.
My vessel is an alchemy of acts
from which new opportunities are poured – acts attract acts.
Paulo Coelho wrote in his bestseller, The Alchemist, “There is only one way to learn,” the alchemist answered.
“It’s through action. Everything you need to know
you have learned through your journey.”
It was fifteen years ago that I first read Coelho’s enchanting fable.
It was in preparation for leading a group of four young professionals
to the state of São Paulo in Brazil that I learned of Paulo Coelho and his 1988 novel.
The book fits well into my philosophy
and set the tone for the trip and remains instrumental in my life.
I’m pleased to be reading this inspiring book fifteen years out. The Alchemist is the gift that keeps on giving.
Some years ago after reading my poem “Solstice Night,”
my brother Tom wrote to me that my poem reminded him
of the first lines from Conrad Aiken’s long poem, “The House of Dust.”
The sun goes down in a cold, pale flare of light.
The trees grow dark: the shadows lean to the east:
And lights wink out through the windows, one by one.
A clamor of frosty sirens mourns at the night.
Pale slate-grey clouds whirl up from the sunken sun.
In turn, his reminding me of Conrad Aiken, and my return to The Alchemist,
that reminded me of the following from Aiken’s poem, “A Letter from Li Po.”
what’s true in these, or false? which is the ‘I’
of ‘I’s’? Is it the master of the cadence, who
transforms all things to a hoop of flame, where through
tigers of meaning leap? And are these true,
the language never old and never new,
such as the world wears on its wedding day,
the something borrowed with something chicory blue?
In every part we play, we play ourselves;
even the secret doubt to which we come
beneath the changing shapes of self and thing,
yes, even this, at last, if we should call
and dare to name it, we would find
the only voice that answers is our own.
We are once more defrauded by the mind.
Defrauded? No. It is the alchemy by which we grow.
It is the self-becoming word, the word
becoming world. And with each part we play,
we add to cosmic Sum and cosmic sum.
Who knows but one day we shall find,
hidden in the prism at the rainbow’s foot,
the square root of the eccentric absolute,
and the concentric absolute to come.
Brazilian music is a reflection of the people; full of passion, sentiment and joy – a mixture of Indigenous, European and African influences. All music lovers are also familiar with the very popular Brazilian influence on Jazz. Less know is their love of the Blues and let another Brazilian sound, Brazilian Blues. In a country with so many great guitarists and a love for Fender and Gibson guitars, why wouldn’t one find many of guitarists digging deep into American Blues as their genre of choice. Among them are Igor Prado and his band. Self-taught, Igor is a very skillful left-handed guitar player, so it’s not surprising that his choice of Blues sub-genre is “Jump or Swing Blues,” providing a very jazzy feel.
In his most recent CD (Brazilian Kicks), The Igor Prado Band has teamed up with Lynwood Slim, a widely respected and in-demand vocalist/harmonica player, having worked with many current Blues greats, such as “Mr. Blues Mandolin,” Rich DelGrosso. This new album is surprising Blues and Jazz lovers on both continents. This album is being played on Marty Kool’s Blues Review, Tucson’s community radio station, KXCI.
In 2001 while leading a group study exchange team in Brazil, we were in Ribeirao Preto, which is in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Our friend, Plauto Garcia Leal Fiho took us to a park on a weekend morning. It was then that I bought this 6×9 painting, which I still have displayed unframed. It has a special place on sitting in a small display tripod on my office book selves. I love it!
Vessels — Image by kenne
