“My biggest dream is to try to sing better than I've ever sung, and sing until the hour of death”:

Interview with the Prince of Popular Poets, Pedro Bandeira [In Memoriam]

Abstract

Pedro Bandeira de Caldas, or just Pedro Bandeira, was — and still is — one of the repentists singers in Brazilian history. Symbol of the art of the sudden, his name remains, even after his death, relevant and current in the music scene of popular culture, both for his outstanding performances and for the understanding of one of the most significant poetic-musical arts in the country. The interview trans(des)cribbed here took place in three moments, and was part of a project to map singers, linked to the Federal University of Cariri, called De Repente em Ação. The first part of the interview took place on October 31, 2016, at radio Verde Vale, in Juazeiro do Norte, Ceará, where he hosted a daily program about singing (78 years old at the time). The second on April 12, 2018, also on radio Verde Vale, he, at the time, was 80 years old. The third and last record of the report occurred on August 30, 2018, at his residence, in the same municipality (81 years old). We hope that the topics addressed in this interview can bring some conceptions about singing in Brazil based on the report of one of its greatest exponents.