Cazuza always lived very publicly, even going so far as to die this way, at age 32, in 1990. It is therefore not surprising that a documentary about one of the biggest names in Brazilian music of the 1980s would reveal revelations about him.
This is the case of “Cazuza – Além da Música”, a documentary series launched by Globoplay this month. But it is also true that the four episodes produced by Conspiração Filmes and directed by Patrícia Guimarães add valuable context to the artist’s story embedded in the country’s pop memory thanks to compositions such as “Brasil”, “Exagerado” and “Faz Parte do meu Show”.
The material is mainly a collection of testimonies from people who lived with Cazuza, such as his mother, Lucinha Araújo, Barão Vermelho’s ex-partner Roberto Frejat, ex-boyfriends Sérgio Maciel, Denise Drummond and Ney Matogrosso, as well as friends, journalists and other musicians of the caliber of Gil and Caetano.
These memories are interspersed with statements from the artist himself in interviews, letters and in his diary, as well as excerpts from his father, businessman and music producer João Araújo, who died in 2013.
Thus, in flash, emerge the moments experienced by Cazuza and the country when he wrote each of his compositions, from the punch that is “Brazil” to the delicate romanticism of “Codinome Beija-Flor”; from the provocative “Ideologia” to the incisive and deliciously bitter “Blues da Piedade”.
Delicately assembled, these pieces show how his compositions moved from rock/pop with lyrics about the life of a boy from southern Rio who grew up in money and love to the melodic musings of a man battling AIDS when the epidemic exploded, but information about it was scant and prejudices dominated.
The disease in fact occupies the majority of the documentary series – the launch took place on December 1, World AIDS Day. By telling the story of Cazuza, the production ends up revealing a part of the recent history of the country that is still little studied.
Another series, “The Oxygen Masks Will Not Automatically Fall Off” (HBO), paints a beautiful portrait of the times, of a generation (or group of people) who responded to the imminence of death with an intense life, and Cazuza is probably the embodiment of this.
I went to Leaf that the musician confirmed for the first time publicly that he had AIDS. His colleague Zeca Camargo, then the newspaper’s correspondent in New York, recalls what the interview was like and the kind of test of virtue to which he was subjected by the artist.
But relations with the press, especially during the illness phase, were also turbulent. The interview given to Veja magazine, printed on a historical cover and described by Cazuza and his friends as disrespectful, seductive and manipulated, occupies a large place in the storyline.
The year after publication, Cazuza would die of HIV. Today, the virus no longer kills like before, but it is impressive to see how current his songs remain.
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