Popular poet and sudden northeastern viola singer born in Serra de Santana, a small rural property, in the municipality and three leagues from the city of Assaré, in the South from Ceará, one of the greatest popular poets in Brazil, a portrait of the arid universe of the northeastern caatinga, whose work was recorded in cordel pamphlets, records and books.
He was the second child of a modest farmer couple Pedro Gonçalves da Silva and Maria Pereira da Silva. He lost his right eyesight, during the teething period (1913), as a result of a disease commonly known as Dor-d'olhos. At the age of eight, he lost his father and had to work alongside my older brother to support the younger ones.
At twelve, he attended for four months his first and only school, where, without interrupting the working as a farmer and almost self-taught, he learned to read and write and became passionate about poetry. From thirteen to fourteen, he started writing his first verses that were free to neighbors and known, because the meaning of such verses was St. John's nighttime jokes, testaments of Judas, mockery of the lazy etc.
At the age of 16, he bought a viola and started singing impromptu. At the age of 20, he traveled to Pará in the company of a relative José Alexandre Montoril, who lived there, where he spent five months making great success as a singer. Back in Ceará, he returned to Serra de Santana, where he continued in the same life as a poor farmer and singer.
He married a relative, D. Belinha, with whom he became the father of nine children. His projection throughout Brazil began with the recording of Triste Partida (1964), a migrant tune by him recorded by Luiz Gonzaga, o Rei do Baião. He had numerous cordel pamphlets and poems published in magazines and newspapers and published Invisão Nordestina (1956), Cantos de Patativa (1966).
Figueiredo Filho published his commented poems in Patativa do Assaré (1970). He recorded his first LP Poemas e Canções (1979), a production by singer and composer Fagner from Ceará. He performed with singer Fagner at the Guarujá Summer Festival (1981), during which he recorded his second LP A Terra é Naturá, also released by CBS. Politics was also the subject of his work and life. During the military regime, he condemned the military and was even persecuted.
He participated in the Diretas-Já campaign (1984) and published the poem Inleição Direta 84. In Ceará, he always supported the government of Tasso Jereissati (PSDB), whom he called a friend. When he turned 85, he was honored with the LP Patativa do Assaré-85 Anos de Poesia (1994), with participation of the duos of improvisers Ivanildo Vila Nova and Geraldo Amâncio and Otacílio Batista e Oliveira of Cookware. Regarded as a phenomenon of popular northeastern poetry, with its clear versification on themes such as the country man and the struggle for life, his books were translated into several languages and became subjects of study at the Sorbonne, in the chair of Universal Popular Literature, under the direction of Professor Raymond Cantel.
He proudly recounted that since he started working in agriculture, he has never gone a year without putting up his little garden, except in the year he went to Pará. Almost without hearing and blind since the late 90's, the great and modest Brazilian poet, just five feet tall, died in his house, in Assaré, in the interior of Ceará, 623 kilometers from the state capital Fortaleza, aged 93, after multiple failure of the organs in consequence of double pneumonia, in addition to a gallbladder infection and kidney problems, and was buried in the São João Batista cemetery, in Your hometown.
Other important books of his authorship were Inspira nordestina, Cantos de Patativa, Rio de Janeiro (1967), Cante lá que eu sing aqui, Filosofia de a northeastern troubadour, Editora Vozes, Petrópolis (1978), Ispinho e Fulô, SCD, Fortaleza (1988) and Balceiro, SCD, Fortaleza (1991), Here's something, Multigraf/ Editora, Secretariat of Culture and Sports of the State of Ceará, Fortaleza (1994) and Cordéis, URCA, Regional University of Cariri, Juazeiro do North. The films Patativa de Assaré, Um Poet Peasant, a short documentary film, were produced about him. Fortaleza, Brazil (1979) and Patativa do Assaré, A poet of the people, documentary short film, Fortaleza, Brazil (1984).
Figure copied from the FUNDAÇÃO DEMÓCRITO ROCHA website:
http://www.fdr.com.br/
Source: http://www.dec.ufcg.edu.br/biografias/
Order P - Biography - Brazil School
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/biografia/patativa-do-assare.htm