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Characters in the Neighbourhood Ronoel Simões
From Guide to Bela Vista http://www.guiabelavista.com/Personagens/simoes.htm 21/10/2010 Text by Marcelo Lanzoni Photos by Flavio Guarniero
Ronoel Simões – Favourite Son of the city of Misiones
The Beautiful guitar of Bela Vista
No-‐one walking through the streets of Bairro da Bela Vista in Sao Paulo today would imagine -‐ or could know -‐ that in one of those discrete traditional houses resides a living musical legend. His name is Ronoel Simões, a Brazilian guitarist who has devoted much of his 90 years to perfecting, teaching, revering and promoting the classical guitar. Born in 1919 in Araraquara, in São Paulo state, he moved to the capital at an early age, and began to study the art of guitar, an art that became his life’s work and his greatest passion. Years later he began to teach, helping to train guitarists many of whom are today renowned and respected professionals. But as well as being a talented musician and dedicated teacher, Ronoel Simões, or ‘Professor Ronoel’ as he is affectionately known to his students, is also the owner and guardian of a true cultural treasure. In his home he keeps a myriad of musical scores, records, CDs, DVDs and literature related to the guitar. It is a huge collection, assembled slowly and patiently over a lifetime of dedication and love for music, and for the guitar in particular. Among these relics are recordings that may no longer exist anywhere else in the world. There are original scores given to the ‘Professor’ as a present by the composer, maestro Heitor Villa-‐Lobos. There is the album of original compositions recorded exclusively for him by the guitarist and composer Anibal Augusto Sardinha, ‘Garoto’. Both men were personal friends of Ronoel Simões, as were many other talented and established figures in national and international music. But despite all this, ‘Prof. Ronoel’ does not betray the slightest hint of vanity. He is a simple man -‐ humorous, extremely pleasant and attentive. It was this amazing personality that the Guide to Bela Vista had the pleasure and privilege of interviewing. The conversation was as follows:
The Interview
GBV How old were you when you started playing the guitar, and where did your interest in it come from? RS I started studying the guitar in 1941. I wanted to learn music and I chose the guitar because it was the cheapest instrument at the time. That's how it started. GBV Who was your teacher? RS My only teacher was Attilio Bernardini. He was recommended by colleagues as being the best in Sao Paulo at that time. So I decided to study with him. That was from 1941 until 1947. GBV What style of music most interested you? RS Classical and popular, both styles. But always with the intention of playing the guitar seriously. No rubbish, no 7-‐string guitar, none of that. Strictly six strings, played with the fingers, that's how it should be. GBV Have you stuck to that line all your life? RS Yes, I‘ve always played like that. For me it’s the only way to play the guitar -‐ seriously, without artifice. GBV Are you a composer or a performer? RS I've always been an interpreter. I’ve never written anything. GBV When did you start teaching, and what were the lessons like? RS I started teaching in 1953 and stayed in that job until 1988. That’s 35 years of lessons. They were individual lessons, an hour long. GBV Have any of your students become famous? RS Yes, some did well, yes. There's one that was very good, but didn’t want to be a professional guitarist because he trained as an aviator – he said he earned better as an aviator. There’s another, Carlos Iafelice, who went on to open the conservatory here in Sao Paulo. He still teaches the guitar today.
GBV What was your profession before you became a musician? RS I’ve always worked with the guitar. But when I was young, I worked with my father. He had a shop and we sold cigarettes, rum, rice, haberdashery and things. But when I started lecturing in 1953, I stopped that. GBV Have you ever played in bands or musical groups? RS Yes, but all in the folk music genre. I have been in various trios and quartets for guitar, but I’ve also played as a soloist several times.
GBV Which famous national and international musical personalities have you met over the course of your career? RS I’ve met many, many guitarists and other musicians. In Brazilian music I’ve met Villa-‐Lobos, Reis Guilerme, Anibal Augusto Sardinha (‘Garoto’), among others. Garoto recorded some things privately for me on acetate discs, things that weren’t published at the time. I was friendly with all those people. I had a radio program on Radio Gazeta, during the late 60s, where I played recordings by a lot of guitarists, including Garoto. I ended up keeping a lot of that material. I met people from the international guitar scene too. Some of them visited me and we ended up becoming friends and playing together. Like Alice Artzt, the Ameriacan guitarist, who is still playing today. She lives in New York, but she used to stay here with me often. We played together many times. She always sends me recordings. And I met musicians from other countries like Canada and Argentina and played together with them. GBV Was Villa-‐Lobos a close friend of yours? RS Yes I got along very well with him. In 1948 there was a guitar contest on the radio. It was the " Villa-‐Lobos International Guitar Competition”. His wife, Mindinha, asked me to be a judge. It went on for about two years, from 1948 to 1950 or so. It was very well known and well publicized. After that I got to know Villa-‐Lobos more and more. He recorded some material for me on disc, including Choro No. 1, that I still cherish today – unusually, for me. GBV They say you have an enviable collection of records and sheet music for the classical guitar. How and when did you start the collection? RS Yes, my collection is pretty big, yes. I started the same year that I began studying the guitar, in 1941. I relaized that the one thing was linked to the other, and it also served as study material. So I bought everything that I found interesting that was related to the guitar. And from there I’ve never stopped.
GBV Have you decided what you will do with the collection in the future? RS I’m going to leave it to my wife. A lot of people have wanted to buy but I haven’t, I wouldn’t sell it, not to anyone. I’ve never put a price on it and I couldn’t even tell you what it’s worth. Not long ago a lady came from the Museum of Sound and Image -‐ Mrs. Gracia, if I remember correctly. She’s the director of the Museum. She and her secretary came, and asked me if I was prepared to sell the collection. I just told her I was buying, not selling, and asked her if she had anything I could buy (laughs). GBV You hold guitar sessions on Saturday nights at your home. How long have you been doing that? RS Yes, since I started studying guitar, with friends, I’ve always opened up my home for the evening. People even come from other countries to play here on a Saturday. Not so many people nowadays though. GBV Are the evenings open to the public? What styles do you play? RS Yes it’s open to the public on Saturdays, from 8 to 10 or so. We play classical and popular music, but it’s more classical, classical style. GBV Who do you consider to be the greatest guitarists of today? RS There are a lot of good people there. Some have become famous, like Carlos Ferreira Pinto Filho – he’s very talented. His repertoire includes a lot of classical works and folk, but it’s predominantly classical. But there are other excellent guitarists, like Thomas, Geraldo Ribeiro and Edson Lopes. I think those are the best at the moment. GBV How long does it take to study the guitar correctly? Is it the same in Brazil as abroad? RS About 7 years of daily study, both here and abroad. In Argentina, for example, there is a collection of methods for guitar called Arenas. It’s in seven volumes. Each one is one year’s study. After those seven years there’s progress. To tell the truth you never finish studying the guitar. It’s a process of constant improvement. GBV Have you ever studied abroad? RS No, never. I’ve always studied here in Brazil. In fact the opposite has happened -‐ people have come here from abroad to study with me. But no I never went to study the guitar in another country. GBV Do you still play? RS No, I’ve stopped completely. I haven’t played since 1984. I realized the difficulty I was having with the movement in my fingers was only getting worse, and that from that point on I wouldn’t have the agility in my hands to go on practising. But I'm still very much involved in
the music, the guitar world. I have the discs, CDs, DVDs of the great guitarists here and abroad, and whenever I can I stay in touch with musicians. GBV Do you think young people today are interested in classical music? RS Very little. Interest in the classical guitar generally has been on the wane recently. The enthusiasm isn’t there as it was before -‐ people don’t find the style as attractive. Up until the 70s the classical guitar was very popular. That’s much less the case now. There aren’t many people devoted to classical music today, unfortunately. GBV What advice would you give to young people today who want to study guitar? RS I’d advise them to study the classical guitar with discipline, dedication and respect. To try to enrich their repertoire with classical composers like Bach, Beethoven, Debussy, Chopin and Schumann, and always to follow the original score, no inventing things or writing arrangements. Choose challenging works, like Bach's Chaconne, that can be played on the guitar. That’s a very difficult piece. It’s 13 minutes long and needs a lot of practice, but it’s very beautiful and when you can play it, it’s rewarding. In the end, things are only worth doing if you try to do them to perfection.