"''Pra não dizer que não falei das flores''" ( Portuguese for "Not to say that I haven't spoken about the flowers"), also known as "Caminhando" ( Portuguese for "Walking" or "Going forward"), is a song composed by

Geraldo Vandré Geraldo Vandré (born Geraldo Pedrosa de Araujo Dias, September 12, 1935) is a Brazilian singer, composer and guitar player. In 1966 his song ''Disparada'' (''Gone Off''), interpreted by Jair Rodrigues, was a success at the ''Record Festival''. ...

that ranked second in the third Festival Internacional da Canção in 1968. Although it was the most applauded song of the night and very well received by the public, the music did not guarantee to Vandré the prize thanks to orders given the station

Rede Globo TV Globo (stylized as tvglobo; , ), formerly known as Rede Globo de Televisão (; shortened to Rede Globo) or simply known as Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965 ...

by the first Army command who condemned the composition because they considered it extremely critical of the government. The first place prize went to the song "''Sabiá''" ( Portuguese for "Thrush") of

Tom Jobim Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name. Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tom'' (1973 film), or ''The Bad Bunch'', a blaxploitation film * ''Tom'' (2002 film) ...

and

Chico Buarque Francisco Buarque de Hollanda (born 19 June 1944), popularly known simply as Chico Buarque (), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer, playwright, writer, and poet. He is best known for his music, which often includes social, econom ...

; the authors ended up being booed for about 23 minutes while the people continued to sing Vandré's song. Considered a violation of the sovereignty of the country and a mockery of the armed forces, public playing of the song was forbidden by the

Brazilian military dictatorship The military dictatorship in Brazil (), occasionally referred to as the Fifth Brazilian Republic, was established on 1 April 1964, after a coup d'état by the Brazilian Armed Forces, with support from the United States government, against presi ...

the following day along with the edition of

AI-5 The Institutional Act Number Five (), commonly known as AI-5, was the fifth of seventeen extra-legal Institutional Acts issued by the Military dictatorship in Brazil, military dictatorship in the years following the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état. ...

, and the composer had become one of the most hunted persons in the country. The general Luís de Oliveira França, Security Secretary, warned that the music would serve as a slogan for the street manifestations hereafter. All the registers of Vandré's presentation at the festival were deleted.

Structure

The

melody A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of Pitch (music), pitch and rhythm, while more figurativel ...

has a

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' d ...

and march

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular r ...

, and the lyric, with the verses in an easy rhyme scheme (almost all of them end with the same

syllable A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...

: "''ão''", sounding like "oun" from the word "sound" and equivalent to "on" from "nation" in English), to aid memorization, was widely played.

Content

The content of the song was seen as an incentive to resistance and the armed struggle thanks to some verses as: "In schools, on the streets Fields, buildings We are all soldiers Armed or not" "Certainty in front History at hand" "Who knows makes the time Doesn't wait for it to happen" Also, the song was considered an affront by the government, mainly at the part that Vandré refers to the ''"old lesson"'' that was taught in the barracks; something that was also seen as a reference to the torture inflicted for those accused of subversion, the suspects were commonly taken to police stations and military institutions and were subjected to all kinds of abuse that often ended up victimizing them.

Military opinion

One of the best known critiques of the time came from colonel Octavio Costa, whose article "" ('Vandré's flowers') spoke against the public and the singer that won the second place. At the end of the article, he noted that three injustices were committed that night - one by the jury, one by the public and the last one by Vandré - and added, menacingly, that "there is still time to fix it." After these events, Vandré was persecuted.

Legacy

One of the most important Brazilian songs and an everlasting symbol of the resistance, is regarded by many as the true Brazilian national hymn. Writer and journalist

Millôr Fernandes Millôr Fernandes (August 16, 1923 – March 27, 2012) was a Brazilian writer, journalist, cartoonist, humorist and playwright. Born Milton Viola Fernandes, his birth was registered on May 27, 1924; the handwriting on his birth certificate re ...

supports this hypothesis, saying that it was born during the fight and came being sung emotionally and in a spontaneous way by a large number of people. ''Walking'' is still used to remember the situation that the country was going through at the time and to keep alive the memories of those who were victims of those hard times as occurred recently in the burial of Antônio Carlos Bicalho Lana, a 24-year-old student and one of the leaders of major resistance group

ALN Aln, ALN, or AlN may refer to: Organizations Paramilitary * Ação Libertadora Nacional, a Brazilian Marxist–Leninist guerrilla movement * Armée de Libération Nationale, the armed wing of the nationalist National Liberation Front of Alge ...

, killed under torture by army officers in 1973. Artists such as

Luiz Gonzaga Luiz Gonzaga do Nascimento (standard orthography 'Luís'; ; December 13, 1912 – August 2, 1989) was a Brazilian singer, songwriter, musician and poet and one of the most influential figures of Brazilian popular music in the twentieth century. ...

and Zé Ramalho re-recorded the song that was also voted by the Brazilian edition of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' as the 28th greatest Brazilian song.

References

External links