Nara was sensational, Elis phenomenal.

Renato Terra's documentary about Nara Leão, which is captivating the nation, is stirring up artistic passions in the observations and discussions unfolding on Facebook, degenerating into preferences that arise between the great artist and her magnificent contemporary Elis, incidentally, it seems to me, based more on irrelevance than on anything truly substantive. 

Nara Leão and Elis Regina, before dividing us on which was the most brilliant in their performances in Brazilian popular music, unite us through history; they give us a lesson in sociology, considering that both present antagonisms within themselves given their class origins in the social, political, and cultural environment in which they lived, with Rio de Janeiro as the main stage in the development of their professional careers; Nara was a daughter of the Rio bourgeoisie, above all, a daughter of Copacabana, a refined little princess of the sea, loved by all Brazilians, crazy about the marvelous city; Rio was, for Nara, her home, her garden, her cradle, her essential nature; she was, from the beginning, inserted in that context, in which her family was a product of a class whose assumptions were to dictate the dominant thinking of the wealthy, who directed those below with that arrogance, you know? From this arrogant bourgeoisie, nothing of the people, of roots, would emerge, as it never did?

Wrong, he came out, he painted Bossa Nova as the art of the middle class, to copy/rival/integrate with American jazz, as the master Carlinhos Lira says; samba, for these sophisticated people, was roguery, in short, prejudice, a name, incidentally, of the brilliant samba by Geraldo Pereira; a great mistake, because as João Gilberto said, everything that was done, in the end, was samba.

Well, Elis, unlike Nara, was a daughter of the south, from a humble family, originating from the wonders of Rio Grande do Sul, with its geographical and psychological expanses stretching across the burning pampas, integrating, since colonization, more with the western than with the eastern part of the nation, let's say, to summarize, okay?

Pimentinha, the fiery artist, arrived in Rio in the late 1960s, wanting to make a name for herself, to disrupt the neat and organized order, to turn the well-behaved reality upside down, because everyone was fed up with the status quo imposed by the elite; in this environment, an artistic cultural clash occurred, following the gradual evolution of music since the 1950s; the interesting and wonderful thing about both artists was their propensity, in a combined (conscious or unconscious?) brilliant display, to engage with the most creative movements underway in Brazil during that tormented historical period, as an artistic resistance to the darkness that then prevailed in the national landscape.

Both Elis and Nara, socially antagonistic, loved and sang, at the same time, Cartola, Nelson Cavaquinho, Zé Keti, João do Vale, etc., that is, the favela, eternally persecuted by the bourgeoisie, in its inglorious attempt to color dramatic realities, to construct sweetened scenarios outside of reality; the two muses revealed the best that Brazil has to offer, awakening new, vibrant, transformative consciousness and values ​​in the post-Bossa Nova phase (does that even exist, if it's still very much alive, expanding throughout the world?), in which Nara was an exponent from the beginning; the clashes between them, however, did exist, one cannot deny; they divided fans and supporters, as, in the 1950s, occurred between Emilinha Borba, on one side, and Marlene, on the other, with their respective fan clubs, a culture that was eminently from Rio de Janeiro; The fact is, however, as is happening now, thanks to untimely, intelligent, provocative, and stimulating observations, that, with the social barriers and economic polarities that came from their origins eliminated over time, what we see, to the general happiness of the nation, is a greater understanding of the substantive struggle in which they passionately engaged, to simultaneously show the national miseries they fought against and the beauties they sought to highlight as the cultural ideal.

These two brilliant artists were crucial in building, beyond the abstract, a liberating political consciousness; differences and disagreements in personalities and opinions end up dissolving if the greater purpose is the liberation of the people; in this sense, Nara and Elis, Elis and Nara, are a spectacular mix of the best that Brazil has produced.