Rita Lee is veiled by hundreds of fans at Ibirapuera, in São Paulo
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By 9:30 am, hundreds of fans had already gathered outside the Planetarium. They are people of different ages, from seniors to teenagers. They sang the singer’s hits at the top of their lungs, such as “Lança Perfume” and “Ovelha Negra”.
Admirers of the singer enter the planetarium crying at all times. Some of them leave flowers and dedications at the foot of the coffin. Fascinated by the cosmos -a frequent theme in her songs-, Rita Lee used to visit the Ibirapuera Planetarium on a weekly basis. The idea of holding the wake there came from her manager, Silvia Venna, who had this idea when the singer asked to go to the place.
In the planetarium, a projection shows the map of the sky on the day Rita was born. Due to the brightness, the projection is not very sharp. Inmate in recent years, the singer received a diagnosis of lung cancer in 2021. After treatments, in April 2022, the disease would have gone into remission.
Son of the singer, João Lee said that Rita was his hero for the simplicity and honesty with which he faced life. “Her sensitivity to dealing with people was crazy. The way she had to communicate with the world and with the public. She is a very unique person. I had the privilege of having spent 43 years learning a lot from her”, he says. John. “For me and everyone else, she will be forever.”
The musician Beto Lee, eldest son of Rita and Roberto, says that the moment is for a celebration that goes beyond the family, given the presence of several moved people saying goodbye to the singer. “As she said herself, she managed to get into the collective sheets. We are here to celebrate my mother’s life and work”, she says.
“The teachings remain, the different positions she assumed, the joys, the longing. And the music remains forever. In 300 years, people will continue to listen to her songs. I am happy to be here, despite all the process that brought us to this moment.”
Upon leaving Rita Lee’s wake, journalist Pedro Bial said that the singer faced death very courageously.
“I think the day would have been more difficult if Rita hadn’t eased our way out of it. The courage she had to face life was the courage she had to meet death”, said the presenter. “Rita didn’t run away from death. She danced with her and staged her departure in the most extraordinary place for her”, he said, referring to the planetarium at Ibirapuera Park, in São Paulo. “Rita goes to heaven where she belongs.”
Singer Marina Lima, aged 67, was also moved when talking about Rita Lee. “It’s very difficult to talk about her legacy, because she is an immense woman. The size of a Fernanda Montenegro, that’s the level. She touched the soul of all Brazilians. This woman is a free spirit who came to leave an enlightenment for the people.”
In line, one of the most emotional people was Soraia Abras, 57 years old. A fan of Rita since she was a teenager, she says the singer is a feminist icon. “She represents everything in my life. She is an example for all women. She has always fought for us to be free from any dictatorship”, she says, wearing glasses with red lenses like the ones the singer wore.
Beatriz Alencar, 26, echoes Soraia’s opinion. “She meant female freedom. She did things that women didn’t do at the time. The songs bring a lot of thought to us. Her work is eternal”, says the tattoo artist.
Isabella Machado, 24, from Espírito Santo, stayed inside the bus for about 17 hours to go to the wake of singer Rita Lee, who died on Monday at the age of 75.
Born in Vitória, capital of Espírito Santo, she left at 4 pm on Tuesday and arrived in São Paulo at 9 am on Wednesday to attend the wake.
“As soon as I found out about the death, I took the first bus I had and came. I’m leaving in a little while. I’m a big fan of her. Rita changed my life in a way that I can’t explain”, says the lawyer. “It’s more than lyrics. It’s presence. Her light. Rita represents rebellion and avant-garde.”
A fan of the singer since she was a little girl, she says that the distance wouldn’t stop her from saying goodbye to her favorite singer. “I would spend 200 hours on the bus to see Rita.”
Rita’s death provoked enormous commotion in the political and cultural circles. Deputy Eduardo Suplicy said upon arriving at the wake that Rita was an extraordinary singer and songwriter.
“We want to make a very special tribute, because she gave us a lot”, said the congressman, remembering that Rita already invited him to go up on stage during a show. “And we both sang Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ In The Wind. It was a wonderful experience.”
Known for her irreverence, Rita has already written in a book asking politicians not to go to her wake, otherwise she would stand up and curse them. “But I’m sure that in my case, she would treat me like a friend,” he says.
O President Lula decreed three days of mourning and stated that the singer is one of the most brilliant names in Brazilian music.
A Minister of Culture Margareth Menezes was moved to learn of the death and asked for a minute of silence during a hearing in which he participated in the Senate. Artists such as Fafá de Belém, Carlinhos Brown, Anitta, Marisa Monte and Xuxa mourned the singer’s death. “Comadre Rita, Anibal, little goat, capricious Capricorn, friend. Rest easy, my sister. I love you”, wrote Gilberto Gil.
The singer emerged on the music scene in the 1960s, with the band Os Mutantes, formed by Rita, and the brothers Sérgio and Arnaldo Baptista. They produced five albums, between 1968 and 1972, which combined the rock turmoil that toured the world with a peculiar vision of Brazilian music.
After leaving the band, in 1972, Rita pursued a solo career and released the album “Atrás do Porto Tem uma Cidade”, in 1974, accompanied by the band Tutti Frutti, with whom she would also record the next four albums. With ten tracks, the album includes “Eclipse do Cometa”, “De Pés no Chão” and the hit “Mamãe Natureza”.
In 1975, the album “Fruto Proibido” marked the singer’s new phase and a rupture in Brazilian music. With a pink cover and female-themed songs, such as “Luz Del Fuego”, “Ovelha Negra”, “Agora Só Politics Você” and “Esse Tal de Roquenrou”.
In 1976, she was arrested for possession of drugs, in a rare moment that she was sober. “If they had come a couple of months ago, they would have found a lot, but now I’m pregnant and there’s not even a butt here,” she told police officers who entered her apartment. Rita was in the third month of pregnancy with a recent boyfriend, Roberto de Carvalho, guitarist for Ney Matogrosso’s band.
When she had a bleeding in prison, Elis Regina went to the police station and didn’t leave until a doctor was called, in an episode that started a strong friendship between the two.
After the birth of the first of the couple’s three children, Rita left the Tutti Frutti family and began the third phase of her career with her husband, which would be the definitive and most successful one. Between the late 1970s and early 1980s, it exploded with an autobiographical soundtrack of the couple in love, in which a woman for the first time sang shamelessly about sexual desires.
In a sequence of hits that would make her a phenomenon in the phonographic market, she invited her partner to relax in the bathtub, without any guilt, in “Banho de Espuma”. Wearing costumes and taking off their clothes, wet with sweat from kissing so much in “Mania de Você”. Getting down on all fours and demanding “See if it gives me the pleasure of having pleasure with you” in “Lança Perfume”, which has versions in several languages, including Hebrew.
She just wasn’t successful with censors. In 1981, for example, of the 30 songs she submitted to censorship, only nine were released for the recording of the LP “Saúde”. Almost all of them exploded on the radio. The following year, the LP “Flagra” sold two million copies.
In 1991, he released the LP “Bossa’n’roll”, his most financially successful project. But singing saw her problems with alcohol and drugs increase, which is why she received an ultimatum from her husband and decided to live alone on a farm. In 2005, however, she turned away from drugs after the birth of her first granddaughter.
After retiring from the stage, in 2013, she lived with Roberto in a country house where she painted, cooked, wrote and took care of the pets that kept her company.
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