In June, Brazilian singer and songwriter Ivan Lins turns 72 years old. More than half of this journey is dedicated to melody. The chemical engineer who discovered his true vocation in the combinations of chords that would result in the formation of MPB asserts that music has a transformative power: “Music works miracles. Music heals, saves, unites, it socially includes, music does fascinating things. And if it were, within a serious cultural policy, accompanied by education, which is the basis of human survival, and music as an absolute priority, the world would not be this way.”
On April 30, Ivan Lins was again in Havana bringing his music to the celebration of International Jazz Day. The event, organized by UNESCO and partners, also featured other international names such as Quincy Jones and Herbie Hancock, who is a Goodwill Ambassador for the agency.
In this conversation with ONU News, Ivan Lins spoke a bit about the reason for his nearly five-decade success, analyzed the current music market, and said he is a tailor of melody. “It’s as if I were the Giorgio Armani of harmony,” comparing his music to a model that must be well-dressed.
Read the full interview.
ONU: Is this your first time in Cuba?
Ivan Lins: No, no, it must be the twentieth time or something like that.
ONU: Ivan, what is your analysis of Brazilian music today? Some people say that the best music has already been made, like bossa nova, Brazilian Popular Music. What analysis do you make today?
IL: It continues like this, I mean, there is a youth producing very well. Very beautiful things have been appearing. But the great difficulty in reaching this quality is that open media no longer plays this kind of thing, both television and radio, etc. So the great vehicle today is the internet. If someone doesn’t tell you to go look for it, you won’t know. So there are many people I discover like that when someone says, this is another so-and-so, another such-and-such, then I go listen, and interesting beautiful things appear, usually through these new singers who are recording. It’s another generation that is appearing within a 
different reality of the industry, without CDs to sell, with copyright really harmed by the internet, which pays nothing, pays very poorly. So they have a different behavior, they are not unhappy. Those who are unhappy are us who went through a much more favorable phase, my generation, we are much more upset about this, we feel more harmed and everything. But this young crowd, no. This young crowd was born with this situation. So they got used to it and are doing very well. They set up their tribes on the internet. There are those people who follow them. Occasionally I see a name I’ve never heard of putting 5,000 people in Circo Voador or in another theater, three thousand or two thousand people. It’s all internet followers.
ONU: The way to promote today is different, right?
IL: Yes. And it is all sectorized. It is all spread out. There are tribes that distribute themselves, and to discover, you have to be digging, calling people to find out, otherwise you won’t know…
ONU: And what advice would you give to someone who wants to enter the market now with this new reality of promotion and also music?
IL: I think it’s just to try to follow what their generation is doing. Try to do it. I think music… My formula is this: it’s a more accessible melody with very good lyrics and knowing how to dress well, appropriately. That would be the trick. And get on the internet and do what others are doing. It’s the only way.
ONU: The Director-General of UNESCO said today that jazz brings people together, cultures, it breaks prejudices, it helps you improve as a person and improve your life. Do you agree?
IL: I totally agree. Music… that’s what I think people, for example, rulers and politicians don’t realize about a reality
with the power that music has. Music works miracles. Music heals, saves, unites, it socially includes, music does fascinating things. And if it were, within a serious cultural policy, accompanied by education, which is the basis of human survival, education associated with culture and music as an absolute priority, perhaps a good priority, the world would not be this way. Now, how are you going to deal with the mentality of politicians? They think that culture, all these things, is superfluous. And with this level of education, especially here in the Southern Hemisphere, excluding New Zealand, Australia, education is treated as something trivial. They talk a lot before elections about how they will govern, manage, but they don’t do it, they don’t fulfill what they say. In Brazil, education is going downhill, despite promising for four decades that they will invest in education.
ONU: So we need more music?
IL: Yes, more investment in music. For example, UNESCO, being behind, organizations of this same category, if they invest in international music, in the union of peoples, I think music can play a fundamental role. I always say the following: there are three things that if taken from the planet, the planet ends, which are water, air, and music.
MONICA GRAYLEY
RADIO ONU
News in New York for The Brasilians Newspaper