Oh...
I know better than to judge from first impressions and I know it is pointless to have the why-Peninha-is-better-than-[insert-anyone-and-everyone-here] conversation again (though it came up several times in the two hours that Stephanie and I spent talking in her driveway when I dropped her off), but so far Passarinho is a bit disappointing.
He sat there the whole time with his girlfriend, Sophie, both looking bored and clearly unimpressed with Roberto’s attempts at showing off (which at one point resulted in Roberto falling nearly flat on his face). He sort of participated in the roda, though Gen called it: “the least amount of participation he could get away with without looking ridiculous.” He took the pandeiro away from Cortez, nearly dropping it, without saying anything, and just played pandeiro and mumbled along to the choruses the whole time and looked like he wasn’t even watching. Which was a shame because it was actually a really good roda, and I felt like I played really well, at least for me. I guess he was watching some, though, because he later told Gen we played very well for first cords.
We went out to dinner afterwards but there wasn't a big enough table for all ten of us, so Roberto and Emma sat with Passarinho and Sophie, who didn't speak English or Portuguese. Gen went over for a bit so she could have someone to speak French with but she came back, saying Sophie was bored.
Me: Bored or boring?
Gen: Both.
Gen: So what do you do?
Sophie: I work at H&M.
Gen: Oh... do you like it?
Sophie: Well I will like it when I become manager.
Gen: Oh... so do you play any capoeira?
Sophie: No.
Gen: Oh...
Granted he was jet-lagged and hungry - nhem nhem nhem! Whatever, when Peninha first got here, he had just spent twenty hours on a bus and was still the most energetic person in the room, taught us two new songs and made a point of playing with every single person in the roda... as if you could compare.
I didn’t hear Passarinho say a word all night, though they say he did said “see you guys tomorrow” at one point. So we will. He’s giving a workshop tomorrow and we shall see about this fellow. We shall see...
He sat there the whole time with his girlfriend, Sophie, both looking bored and clearly unimpressed with Roberto’s attempts at showing off (which at one point resulted in Roberto falling nearly flat on his face). He sort of participated in the roda, though Gen called it: “the least amount of participation he could get away with without looking ridiculous.” He took the pandeiro away from Cortez, nearly dropping it, without saying anything, and just played pandeiro and mumbled along to the choruses the whole time and looked like he wasn’t even watching. Which was a shame because it was actually a really good roda, and I felt like I played really well, at least for me. I guess he was watching some, though, because he later told Gen we played very well for first cords.
We went out to dinner afterwards but there wasn't a big enough table for all ten of us, so Roberto and Emma sat with Passarinho and Sophie, who didn't speak English or Portuguese. Gen went over for a bit so she could have someone to speak French with but she came back, saying Sophie was bored.
Me: Bored or boring?
Gen: Both.
Gen: So what do you do?
Sophie: I work at H&M.
Gen: Oh... do you like it?
Sophie: Well I will like it when I become manager.
Gen: Oh... so do you play any capoeira?
Sophie: No.
Gen: Oh...
Granted he was jet-lagged and hungry - nhem nhem nhem! Whatever, when Peninha first got here, he had just spent twenty hours on a bus and was still the most energetic person in the room, taught us two new songs and made a point of playing with every single person in the roda... as if you could compare.
I didn’t hear Passarinho say a word all night, though they say he did said “see you guys tomorrow” at one point. So we will. He’s giving a workshop tomorrow and we shall see about this fellow. We shall see...