Uzbekistan, from all places, seems to be the destination of choice of retiring Brazilian soccer stars. World champion Rivaldo plays in Buniadkor, the team from Tashkent. Zico trained the team at some point.
But even more than Ronaldo and Ronaldinho and whatever "Rs" Uzbeks can come up with, it’s the Brazilian soap opera that really connects Brazil to Central Asia. There is a facination for us, exotic Brazilians.
When I was in India a few years ago, a Tajik classmate told me she loved Brazilian films. How the hell the Brazilian cinema reach Tajikistan, I wondered. Then she said she really enjoyed Isaura. She was referring to Escrava ("Slave") Isaura, a soap opera from the seventies that for some reason was a phenomenon in the communist world. Its main actress, Lucélia Santos, who played the white slave of the title, was (and still is) greeted as a star in all the former Soviet Republics, as well as in China and Cuba. Just two weeks before my arrival in Kazakhstan, there she was as the guest of honor of the Brazilian Film Festival in Astana. In Kyrgyzstan, a tour guide told me that the time in the evening when our soap operas played was the one favored by thieves, that would enter the houses and steal their bounty while the family kept their eyes glued to the screen.
But even more than Ronaldo and Ronaldinho and whatever "Rs" Uzbeks can come up with, it’s the Brazilian soap opera that really connects Brazil to Central Asia. There is a facination for us, exotic Brazilians.
When I was in India a few years ago, a Tajik classmate told me she loved Brazilian films. How the hell the Brazilian cinema reach Tajikistan, I wondered. Then she said she really enjoyed Isaura. She was referring to Escrava ("Slave") Isaura, a soap opera from the seventies that for some reason was a phenomenon in the communist world. Its main actress, Lucélia Santos, who played the white slave of the title, was (and still is) greeted as a star in all the former Soviet Republics, as well as in China and Cuba. Just two weeks before my arrival in Kazakhstan, there she was as the guest of honor of the Brazilian Film Festival in Astana. In Kyrgyzstan, a tour guide told me that the time in the evening when our soap operas played was the one favored by thieves, that would enter the houses and steal their bounty while the family kept their eyes glued to the screen.
6 comments:
Puxa, que viagem! Não faço idéia de como é essa região do mundo, parece mesmo outra dimensão. Bem, agora tenho alguma idéia, ao ler seus posts. Muito bom!
Recomendo. É muito legal. Principalmente Uzbequistão pela história e Quirguízia pela natureza.
Muito bom seu relato das novelas, Rodrigo. O titulo desse blog entry tambem eh um toque de mestre; nao tem como nao ler ...
Rodrigo - adorei seu blog- conheço Tashkent, Ashkabar, Samarkand e esta região..mas infelizmente fui em grupo...quero voltar sozinho....como vc fez para obter visto?
rgds
Niels
sorry, o Alertotal sou eu - Niels - não sabia como me identificar aqui ainda....
Niels, o visto não foi fácil, tirei em NY (Uzb, Caz), em Washington (Quir) e em Astana (Turc e Taj).
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